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A pair of pail violet eyes lingered on him, watching for some time, and yet—
The first time—
…
A random panic attack hit, and at first, Amajiki didn ’t remember why the panic attack occurred that particular time, let alone why he ’d left class—that he’d even left class.
He stood there, leaning against a wall of the school building, a hand clutching the white button-up shirt of his school uniform while Tamaki attempted swallowing back the anxiety that—
“Tamaki!”
His eyes blinked, his head turned, and he turned to see a familiar sunshine face, never noticing a pair of violet eyes lingering on him. His lips trembled as he said the person ’s name. “Mirio?”
“You okay?” Nejire piped up, floating nearby.
“Uh, yeah. I think.” His eyes blinked, his mind unsure.
“You sure?” she asked. “I mean, about them coming?”
“Them?” Tamaki stiffened, taking a deep breath.
And then came the uncharacteristic frown from Mirio, who repeated after Tamaki. “Them?” And then Mirio placed a hand on his forehead. “You don’t remember? What sensei told us?”
“Them,” Tamaki muttered, then he brushed Mirio’s hand away. “I don’t have a fever.”
“Still,” Mirio took a deep breath. “A trip to Recovery Girl?”
“I’m not…” Tamaki took a deep breath, catching sight of the two, making puppy dog eyes at him. “Alright. Alright.”
…
The pair of violet eyes arrived with them , the ones that the sensei announced were arriving at school and that the U.A. students should be prepared for. In the same way, Tamaki wandered away from class, and the pair of violet eyes wandered away from them, only to hear their voices call them back while Tamaki ’s friends found him, resulting in the unseen disappearing like a ghost.
And yet the nurse ’s office—
…
“I’m fine,” Tamaki told the school nurse, his voice low while he looked away, or at least he tried saying that, only for the words not to come out.
“What caused the most recent episode?”
Tamaki sighed. “ I ’m fine. ”
“Let Amakiki’s sensei know he’s here, resting. Oh, and that I want to talk to them regarding what caused his anxiety this time,” Recovery Girl said.
“Will do!” Mirio said.
“It’s…” Nejire started asking Mirio to clamp a hand over his mouth.
“It’s about them arriving,” Tamaki wanted to say as his friends left him in the care of Recovery Girl, taking a deep breath instead.
“I wish I could cure what ails you like I can other students,” the school nurse said, turning to her desk and waving her head, indicating he should pull the curtain shut.
Tamaki took a deep breath, lying down, dozing off, trying not to think whatever caused him to panic up, not wanting to go into another attack, while knowing he ’d have to find some way of making up the lessons he missed because of his sudden panic. “ Were we even in the classroom? Or were we headed to meet them, whoever … ”
He drifted to sleep, his chest rising and falling in a steady, calm rhythm, not noticing the pair of violet eyes peeking behind the curtain, let alone feeling—
Or hearing —
His eyes opened a wet cloth on top of his head, his fingers reaching up. He frowned, grabbing the damp cloth he ’d not felt someone place on his forehead and opening the curtain. Recovery Girl turned as he held up the fabric, his question unvocalized.
“Ah. No. I didn’t.”
“Then?”
“Then?” Recovery Girl looked up at the ceiling, not making eye contact.
“Mirio or Nejire?” he choked out, not looking at Recovery Girl, or he tried to—maybe he did.
“Oh. No. One of the students from…”
“From them?” Tamaki said, his voice straining. “I—uh, the group. I can’t remember. They, uh.”
“Well, it isn’t easy for you to meet new people, let alone speak to your fellow hero classmates,” Recovery Girl said. “But strangely?”
“Strangely?”
“She seemed to know you?” Recovery Girl said, frowning. “Or seemed to insist she did, and thus—well, I told her to leave rather than linger here, though she still lingered longer than I would have liked.”
“Ah. Oh.” Tamaki took a deep breath and then looked away, sitting cross-legged on the bed.
“Actually, it was Eraserhead dropping off your assignments to catch up on that managed to chase her away. It felt a bit…” Recovery Girl frowned, tilting her head. “You really can’t remember? The name of the school that is visiting us and staying for a bit for joint training?”
“Uh—no?” Tamaki looked away, standing to grab the papers. “I’ve been out that long?” He took a deep breath, muttered a thank you, and headed to the library.
…
With the pale pink eyes, she arrived, concerned, having seen Tamaki react the way he was. She was not sure what was going on with him beyond knowing a couple of his friends found him, yet she still headed to the nurse ’s office to check in on him before seeing him asleep.
The school nurse, an older lady, didn ’t like her lingering there, but then—
She didn ’t let that stop her.
The teacher who stopped powers, though—
He did manage to chase her away, threatening to call her sensei in before dropping off the schoolwork he ’d missed so far.
…
The library—
It felt like a safe place to go, with his two friends who helped him during the lunch hour catch up on the school work—so—
The library—
A quiet place—
A place where he didn ’t notice her or the rest of them, nor—
What might have happened if the rest of them had noticed him—
He wouldn ’t even begin to know or think of such things, remaining calm, heading out to grab something to eat before heading to the afternoon classes.
…
She did, however, notice.
“Where did you get to, Nezuko?”
Nezuko shook her head, grinning ear to ear at her brother.
Tanjiro let out a sigh. “You’ve got your secrets, I guess.
…
Lunch—
Lunch went well, with him not noticing—
He didn ’t notice the pair of pale pink eyes lingering and watching, instead noticing the boar head and suddenly heading in a completely different direction—
—back to the classroom—
“Please don’t see me. Any of you.”
He then sat in the classroom, face against his desktop, mouth twisted into a frown while Nejire and Mirio attempted to entice him to eat.
However—
In the back of his head lingered memories of a kid wearing a boar head attempting to feed him—
Tamaki let out a sigh and closed his eyes.
….
“The food is amazing!” the person wearing the boar head said, splattering the food all over the place.
“Can you eat with your mouth closed?” another of the visiting students sighed, rice splattered on his face, while—
Nezuko laughed while Tanjiro shook his head. “You know that Inosuke is, well, the way he is, Zenitsu.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Then—
“HEY!” Zenitusu said. “IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG NEZUKO?”
“Huh? Is there?”
Nezuko shook her head, swallowing, realizing—
He ’d avoided them, or perhaps—
“Me? He’s avoiding me?”
…
“So?”
“What does Eraserhead Sensei want?”
“Your class is meeting up with the students training to be a part of the Oni Kari hero group, so…”
And then he tensed up.
Eraserhead said something about the whole thing not being an option, that—
He froze up, hiding behind Mirio and Nejire, taking a deep breath, his hands grabbing onto their school uniforms, taking deep breaths, keeping his eyes closed, waiting for—
Yelling or something.
“Someone grabbing me to shove something down my mouth to eat, or someone yelling very loudly about how messed up things are.”
And then—
Eraserhead pulled him aside into the dorms.
…
Except, perhaps he wasn ’t.
When they joined the class, Nezuko caught sight of him hiding behind his two friends, avoiding eye contact with everyone.
And then that teacher—
Nezuko watched the teacher pull Tamaki aside into the dorms.
“Hey?” Her brother asked. “Where are you going, Nezuko?”
She didn ’t reply, simply following her instinct, the instinct of a pale pink-eyed demon.
…
Eraserhead pulled him aside into the dorms, forcing him to look him in the eye. “Look. I don’t know what is going on, but they ’re staying. And by staying, they’ll be doing with your class.”
To which came the strangled gurgle from Tamaki.
Eraserhead rubbed the back of his neck. “And you know that Togata dorms in the other dorm rooms, right? Leaving you with just Hado. So you need to, uh…”
“I know! I know!” Tamaki said, not looking him in the eye, but then--
Eraserhead folded his arms across his chest, not catching sight of what Tamaki did, what made Tamaki freeze up, although getting lectured by a teacher would make anybody freeze up. “That’s not very reassuring, you know. You…”
The person with pale pink eyes came closer, frowning, while Tamaki waved his arms quickly, trying to say—
Eraserhead turned in time to negate her powers as she came at him. “What the? Why are you?”
Tamaki took a deep breath and then covered his eyes much in the same way he approached Nejire. “Uh! Kamado-san! Please don’t attack my sensei! He’s just trying to help, alright!”
“Wait,” Eraserhead said, still preoccupied with staying down Kamado Nezuko.
“Tama-chan!”
And then—
He wasn ’t expecting the tackle from behind, her hug resulting in him stiffening uncomfortably as she wrapped her legs around his middle, particularly since—
They ’d both gotten older since he’d last seen all of them , having not seen them since he moved and transferred schools, thus meeting Mirio. His breath sucked in.
“Tama-chan wasn’t avoiding me!” Nezuko said, and unfortunately—
Tamaki let out a squeak as Eraserhead released Nezuko ’s abilities; her strength always has been formidable.
“Hey? Nezuko?” another called out while Tamaki kept his eyes covered, his face turning a bright red. “You shouldn’t be…”
“Tama-chan wasn’t avoiding me, nii-chan!”
“Huh?”
Tamaki took a deep breath, realizing the person speaking was Kamado Tanjiro, who often kept his younger sister in check when they were younger, as she usually didn ’t know her strength. However, somehow, he managed to get out—possibly because his eyes were still covered. “I’d not noticed you until now.”
“Nezuko’s glad to see Tama-chan again!”
“Tama-chan?” Tanjiro asked.
“What is going on here?” Eraserhead sighed. “And can you get off…”
But before Eraserhead could say anything, Nezuko bit the tip of Tamaki ’s ear lightly, causing him to let out a yelp as his face heated up, and Tanjiro sighed. “Nezuko, don’t do that. It’s been forever since we’ve seen Tamaki-san, so being so informal…”
“No!” Nezuko said. “Nezuko likes Tama-chan!”
“Yes,” Tanjiro said. “I remember. I remember quite well.”
“Why did you just chuckle?” Tamaki asked. “And why are you covering my eyes, Kamado-san?”
“It’s Nezuko-chan,” came the reply. “And you were covering your eyes and speaking much easier, right?”
“Uh…” The corner of Tamaki’s mouth twitched.
“She has you there,” Eraserhead said. “I’m still…”
“WHERE DID NEZUKO GO!”
Tamaki ’s mouth twitched, recognizing the loud voice, which always indicated a person was in a panic and tensed up.
“Ah!” Nezuko said, still clinging to Tamaki’s piggyback style. “Don’t yell, Zenitsu! You know Tama-chan doesn’t like it!”
“Tama-chan!” There came another loud voice, though not as loud, the chuckle—
“Boar head,” Tamaki groaned, not seeing what was going on but quite sure a certain someone was already—
“DON’T YOU DARE FEED HIM ANYTHING GROSS, INOSUKE!” Zenitsu yelled. “I DON’T WANT TO SEE ANY GROSS TRANSFORMATIONS BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU SHOVE INTO HIS MOUTH!”
“Yeah. They know you and your Quirk, don’t they?” Eraserhead said. “This is quite tiresome, you know.”
“Sorry,” Tamaki muttered. And then, he felt someone grab him and instinctively used the tentacles to hold them back, which resulted in Zenitsu yelling again about how gross the tentacles were while Inosuke laughed, insisting—
He didn ’t want to know what the boar head grabbed to shove down his throat. Tanjiro let out a sigh. “Can we please just be nice to Tamaki-san? Particularly since…”
“What’s going on here? Why aren’t you…”
Tamaki tensed, took a deep breath, and knew who the person was. Eraserhead, on the other hand, simply said to that person, “Please, will you get your students under control?”
There came, of course, the awkward silence between the two teachers as Zenitsu continued screaming at Inosuke about the gross tentacles, but then—
“OUCH!”
“Seriously. This is why the other sensei don’t like you,” a female voice said. “And I do apologize for our student’s behavior. What are you doing, Nezuko?”
“It’s Tamaki,” the other said.
“Huh?”
“I assure you, while it was confirmed that I was having a discussion with my student here, it wasn’t—“
“You’ve grown.”
Tamaki felt the corner of his mouth twitch. “That’s what…”
And he stopped speaking, catching himself off guard upon realizing he ’d almost called that person out for simply saying that to him.
“It’s Tamaki?” the female said, and then—
“What the?” Eraserhead said upon hearing her—someone who was supposed to be a teacher squeal with delight.
“You mean it’s my Konchu no Akachan?”
Tamaki let out a groan, blurting out as Nezuko still covered his eyes. “ You became a teacher? ”
“How rude! I don’t remember your tongue ever being as sharp as your nii-sama!”
“Stop pouting, Shinobu-san,” the other said. “It’s not cute.”
“You’re not cute either, Giyu-san. And why isn’t he questioning you becoming a teacher?”
“Wait!” Tamaki blurted out. “Of course I wouldn’t! Nii-san is…”
“Now that’s the cute, adorable Konchu no Akachan I remember!”
“Stop being annoying,” Giyu muttered. “And Tanjiro? Regarding your sister?”
“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll get Nezuko off of him.” Only for Tanjiro to say. “Well, maybe.”
“Hashibira, stop trying to feed him the cushion,” Giyu said.
“Yeah, but…” Then came the sigh, and Tamaki found himself retracting his tentacles and letting out a sigh.
“Hey,” Tamaki muttered. “Can you let go, Kamado-san? Please?”
“I don’t want to,” Nezuko said. “I’ve not seen Tama-chan in forever.”
“Wait. Are you…” Zenitsu said, having calmed down, but then, “LOVE RIVAL! NO!” And then, there came a loud ouch.
“Enough of that. Please, Nezuko-san,” Giyu said.
“Yes, NEzuko-chan,” Shinobu Kocho said. “No squishing our Konchu, no Akachan, right?”
“You’re not helping,” Giyu said.
But then, Nezuko let go, and—
Tamaki found himself unable to say anything, his mouth trembling as he could not speak to any of the individuals there. His eyes darted around, looking for some kind of visual escape, when—
Mirio decided to make his presence known, which, of course, resulted in Zenitsu screaming again, this time about the naked person in the room while—
“Don’t you dare strip as well!” Kocho snapped, then glared at Eraserhead. “Can you get your students under control?”
“My students?” Eraserhead let out a laugh. “I’m in charge of Amajiki’s class while you’re here, so no.”
“So, no?”
“Mirio?” Tamaki muttered, looking at his friend.
“Wait?” Kocho asked, resulting in him looking up at her and seeing her frown. “Why doesn’t that faze you, Konchu no Akachan?”
“Baby bug?” Mirio asked. “Why’s the strange lady…”
The strange lady in question thumped Mirio on the head hard. “Don’t call me strange when you’re streaking in front of my students.”
Tamaki stammered, wanting to say something, waving his hands when—
Gentle hands covered his eyes.
“It’s his powers! Mirio really doesn’t mean to, Shinobu-san!”
“Wow! That’s a mouthful from you!” Mirio laughed. “Though, uh…”
“That is a mouthful from you,” Kocho said. “You’re normally far less talkative than him.”
“Thanks,” Giyu muttered sarcastically. “Nezuko, can you please stop?”
“But it’s easier for Tama-chan!” Nezuko said.
“Ah. She’s got our Tama-chan down quite well,” Mirio said, laughing. “And I do apologize for…”
“Mirio!” Nejire called out. “I have your clothes!”
“Ah! Thanks!” Mirio laughed. And then, “Sorry for barging in like that, sensei, but I was worried about Tamaki here.”
“In other words, the usual trouble from you,” Eraserhead said.
“Sorry!” Tamaki said.
“Oh!” Nejire said, “Did Tamaki get himself a girlfriend, Mirio?”
“I think so.”
“NO!” Zenitsu screamed. “Nezuko-chan’s mine!”
Tamaki blurted out rather quickly that they weren ’t dating and noted that Nezuko didn’t belong to anybody and was her own person.
He didn ’t expect to hear her say, “Nezuko is Tama-chan’s!”
“Yup. Tamaki has a girlfriend,” Nejire said while Eraserhead sighed.