Chapter Text
Ochako feels her vision blurring, the edges darkening as her adrenaline fights a losing battle against her own eyelids.
Hot tears cut streaks through the blood and grime smeared across her cheeks but the cold press of Himiko’s nose still sends shivers down her spine.
It’s getting colder by the second.
She’s pretty sure she’s screaming but everything has turned to white noise.
Himiko’s weight goes limp on top of her and that’s when the darkness finally drags her subconscious under.
Her last thought is mourning the beautiful smile she’ll never get to see again.
And a prayer for something impossible.
------
Hell was a lot colder than she imagined it would be.
And slightly itchy.
There was also a distinct lack of burning and screaming, which was partially what she expected from all of Touya-kun’s passionate rantings and ravings about the place.
A cautionary sniff brought the scent of sterile alcohol and floor cleaner.
No sulfur or ash, no burning flesh or fresh blood.
Himiko cracked an eye open and immediately regretted it as harsh blinding white light seared her pupils.
White light? Was she in heaven then? She'd be a bit surprised given her long list of felonies…but maybe that final act of sacrifice was enough to just sneak her in?
Himiko didn't really believe in either of the two but she was definitely dead and certainly somewhere.
The silver spots dancing in her vision finally faded enough for her to take in her surroundings.
Everything was stark white. The walls, the ceilings, the floor, the sheets, her hospital gown….
Hospital gown? Wait.
Himiko squints down at the offending garment, rubbing the itchy material between her thumb and forefinger.
So polyester and so not cute.
She was starting to suspect that she was not in the afterlife after all.
Unless heaven or hell was a medical facility, but she had serious doubts about that.
Himiko's entire body tensed up, fight or flight kicking in as she rapidly tried to process the situation.
Despite her best attempts, she wasn't dead. Her arm was connected to an IV. She was alone. She didn't know how she got here or who was keeping her.
There was no one around to fight so the only option was to flee.
Himiko ripped the IV out of her vein without even flinching, tumbling out of the hospital bed and making a mad dash for the door.
She half expected it to be locked but the thing swung wide open, revealing a long hallway with seemingly endless doors filled with other patients.
Himiko skidded to a halt, breath heaving out in anxious bursts.
Maybe she was with the creepy old doctor guy?
Maybe…maybe they won?
The idea once would've filled her with a sense of ecstasy but now the hopefulness was tainted with unease.
What about Ochako then?
Himiko slowed, gingerly stepping past each door. She ached to erase her presence, but under the bright fluorescent lights she was left completely exposed. No corners to hide behind; no shadows to melt into.
The hallway felt eerily long, as if she’d barely made any progress at all while dragging her heavy body further from her room. She let her fingertips graze the wall as she stumbled along, ready to catch her weight if she fell.
Just when she thought about conceding and just collapsing down to the floor (since when did all her energy get sucked away?), she heard a voice from around the corner.
A sweet, kind voice, that very last one she ever heard.
“Ochako-chan?”
As soon as the question left her lips the voice stopped, cut off abruptly with a short gasp.
When Ochako appeared in front of her, rounding the corner with such haste and a burst of hysterical joy, Himiko considered the possibility of this actually being heaven again.
But Ochako felt too real, her flesh too warm and full of pumping blood as she sank to her knees and wrapped Himiko into a crushing hug.
Himiko hadn’t even realized she’d crumpled onto the floor.
“You’re awake! I can’t believe I almost missed it to go home and sleep!” Ochako rushed out, voice full of relief and maybe something like affection, but that had to be too good to be true.
Himiko felt like she was floating.
No, huh, she was actually floating.
Ochako fussed over Himiko while she hung suspended mid-air by the power of Ochako’s quirk, fretting anxiously until a stranger appeared behind her.
The doctor looked nice enough and a bit like the cute little dinosaur from one of Shiggy’s super retro games.
“Toga, if it’s alright with you, Uraraka can escort you back to your recovery suite. It would be my recommendation to rest a bit before we discharge you, since you just woke up.”
Himiko felt agitated again, she didn’t like being told where to go and what to do, even if on the surface it seemed like he was giving her a choice.
But she didn't really have one; she had no energy left to fight or run.
Ochako was looking at her so hopefully, tears budding at the corners of her big brown eyes.
Himiko huffed.
“Fine.”
Ochako smiled brightly, her rosy cheeks stretched with relief as she grabbed Himiko's hand and gently pulled her floating form down the hallway.
“I'll contact the others, they'll be here shortly,” the doctor called after them.
Others? What others?
Himiko didn't know what to do, too stupefied to properly react to anything going on around them.
Ochako floated her back to her room, gently setting her down with a press of her finger pads only once Himiko was safely above her bed.
“How am I…”
“Alive?” Ochako offered with a sad smile.
Himiko nodded dumbly.
“Well, you weren't really for a little bit. But I一”
Ochako's pink cheeks quickly blazed into a bright red.
“I don't actually remember this part, since I was unconscious but, um… apparently I just wouldn't let go of you…”
Himiko's eyes widened at the girl's admission.
Ochako's eyes avoided her questioning gaze.
“Um, yeah! So, the paramedics didn't want to force me to move too much because I was also in bad shape so they just took us together and when I came to I, uh, well I insisted they try.”
Ochako began to nervously twirl the longer pieces of her hair.
“You lost all your blood, um obviously, so you needed about 8 pints and the hospital was really overrun but I told them what you did and well, people wanted to reach out and help.”
“You're kidding, who would willingly give me their blood?” Himiko whispered in awe.
Ochako laughed, a short, airy, high pitched thing.
“Well me for one, unless you forgot my offer already? But no actually, I wasn't able to…”
Himiko just blinked, waiting for her to continue.
“Well for starters, the news reporter lady and her camera woman.”
Himiko felt her jaw drop dumbly.
“They said they felt horrible that they couldn't capture your sacrifice on film and they wanted to make sure you could live to tell the story yourself.”
“The doctor from earlier actually too. He said there's no way I could've survived a stab wound like that without what you did so he wanted to try his best for you and so did his assistant nurses.”
“Recovery Girl couldn't heal you, since you had no stamina, so she gave some blood instead.”
“My classmate, Aoyama, said everyone deserves a second chance.”
“And well finally…”
“I had a little left to spare, so I figured I could part with it,” a new voice offered cheekily.
Ochako jumped to attention, bowing respectfully.
“Haw一 I mean, Mr. Takami! You got here so quickly!”
“Not as fast as I used to be, but I can still move with some haste.” He flashed them a wink.
He turned to face Himiko with a lopsided smile.
“Hey Toga, how ya feeling? We're all pretty glad you were type AB. Universal recipient really worked in your favor.”
Himiko drew her lips into a snarl.
“What are you doing here?” she gritted out bitterly in response.
Hawks dragged over a stool and sat down with a short sigh.
“Good thing Uravity was the first face you saw if this is the hello I get, huh?”
Ochako let out a very cute little squeak of embarrassment but didn't interrupt further.
Hawks slouched a bit in his chair, loosening his tie with a soft groan. Himiko noted the faint bags under his eyes, making him look older than she knew he was. He was younger than Touya-kun, she recalled with a bit of surprise.
“Bubaigawara was a good guy.”
Himiko’s eyes stung at the mere mention of Jin's name.
“Don't you dare talk about him! You don't deserve to!” she spat viciously.
“Himiko…” Ochako tried softly, placing a gentle palm on her shoulder.
Himiko didn't brush it off but her body remained tense and on guard.
“That's fair,” Hawks replied calmly. “I don't expect forgiveness, but I am sorry that he's dead.”
Himiko narrowed her eyes.
“I don't regret my choice,” Hawks said bluntly. “At that point, he was going to hurt a lot of people and I had to stop him.”
Himiko seethed. She didn't care for his lame justification.
“But,” Hawks continued, leaning forward in earnest despite Himiko's hostility, “he was a good guy. And I am sorry that society failed him, that heroes, like me, failed to save him earlier. Something that Uravity here was able to accomplish with you.”
He smiled something bittersweet.
“Bubaigawara used his last moments to help you, so I thought the least I could do was carry on his mission.”
Himiko edged away from him, hackles raised at the offer of assistance.
“I don’t want your help.”
Ochako’s hand on her shoulder squeezed gently, the press of her fingers lifting some of the tense weight off her shoulders.
“Himiko, please, just hear what he has to say.”
Hawks hung his head with a short sigh, lifting just his pupils to meet Himiko’s sharp glare.
He reached out a hand, palm facing up open and vulnerable.
“My goal was always to make this a world where heroes had too much time on their hands. And lately I’ve been thinking, maybe for that to happen we need a world that’s a little easier to live in, for heroes and civilians alike. I always strived to be the fastest, to eliminate all problems quicker than anyone could even notice them in the first place. But ignorance isn’t always bliss, and neglect can breed something even worse. Maybe we all need more time on our hands, time to notice problems and to learn from them.”
Hawks lifted his head fully, leveling Himiko with an unshaken gaze.
“I may not be a hero anymore, but I am the Commission president, which means I still have the power to achieve that goal.”
“And how do you plan on makin’ that happen, birdbrain?”
Hawks’ lips quirked into the ghost of a wry smile.
“I think I know where you learned that insult from.”
Himiko crossed her arms with a huff. She wasn’t going to accept his attempt at reconciliation so easily. Did he think a nod to the amicable times they had together was enough to sweeten her up? Sure, it had been fun hanging out with him and Jin, but all that joy was just a lie.
Hawks’ eyes looked a bit sadder at her silence.
“We’re not so different, you and I.”
Hawks chuckled at her raised eyebrow.
“Nah, not as crazy as it sounds, I swear.”
Toga rolled her eyes but uncrossed her arms, gesturing for him to get on with it.
Ochako let out a small squeak at her lack of respect but otherwise stayed quiet.
“You didn’t get to hear about my tragic backstory since I was undercover, but boy is it a doozy! Neglectful mom, abusive dad… I was more of a problem than I was a child to them, I’d wager. But luckily my father let me stick around ‘cause of my feathers, the only thing useful about me I suppose, and it almost made up for being another mouth my mother had to feed.”
Toga’s eyes narrowed but her lips twitched in sympathy.
“Not trying to get pity points or anything, I know you had it rough too. I know you lived a normal life as a teenage girl with loving parents and a good home, well, until the little issue of your ‘perverse’ quirk appeared…”
Hawks trailed off. She knew the rest. Obviously.
Himiko huffed. “And telling me my own life story is supposed to teach me what exactly?”
Hawks kept smiling like he hadn’t even heard her insult.
“There’s one common denominator in these stories. Quirks.”
Himiko went still.
“A child reduced to their quirk. For better or worse. We weren’t people, just utility or burden.”
Hawks held her gaze. “Bit harsh, right?”
“It seems our humanity takes second place to quirks, but sometimes, the number 2 spot is just as important,” Hawks winked.
Himiko clenched her teeth in lieu of laughing at his dumb annoying joke.
“I might have never walked in your shoes, Toga, but my boots sat on the same rack. Our quirks decided our future before we even got a chance to consider anything else, and that’s not how things oughta work in my book. So, it’s time to try doing things a bit differently, and we’d like to let you try it out first.”
Himiko blinked two times slowly, trying to pick apart what the hell stupid birdy was saying. How was he one to sympathize? It pissed her off. And yet…she couldn’t help but admit he seemed to…get it, in his own way. It was a goody two shoes hero way but…she was a tiny bit more agreeable to that these days.
Still, she had no clue what he was even talking about, like what was she supposed to try?
“It sounds like you want me to do something and I don’t do anything I don’t wanna do,” she muttered petulantly.
“No, you don’t and you won’t. But, the offer is yours to take if you choose to do so.”
She knew what he was doing, talking in that annoying roundabout way to get you to fold first, dangling bait for you to snatch at just for him to grab your wrist first.
It was so annoying because it always worked.
“What. Offer.”
“Uh, well!”
Himiko jolted a bit at Ochako’s sweet voice chiming in. She had been stuck in a game of chicken with Hawks for so long that she almost forgot Ochako was part of this too.
Ochako smiled, a genuine but definitely nervous wobble.
“I’ve had some ideas…barely ideas, even that’s too much credit, just crazy thoughts really, but um, after our…talk, I couldn’t stop thinking about what you said that uh一” Ochako chanced a look at Hawks before jerking her slightly redder face back to Himiko. “If you had found this love sooner you’d maybe um…realized you wanted to give blood to others too and be happy.”
Hawks’ smile seemed a bit more smug now but Himiko did her best to ignore it.
“And I was just thinking if only you felt understood and people learned how to understand, things could be different, but also there needs to be a system in place to make that happen.”
“And that’s where I come back in,” Hawks interjected with a comical fluff of his feathers. “I have the resources now to try and get that ball rolling, but we need to start with a smaller, more voluntary scale.”
Hawks wiggled the fingers of his outstretched palm. He hadn't withdrawn the whole conversation, the hand was still there. Just waiting.
Himiko lifted her hand a fraction but then jerked it back to her chest.
“No way,” she cut sharply. “I’m not gonna be your weird experiment and let a quack shrink ‘fix me.’”
“No, Himiko! Never, not like that!” Ochako cried earnestly and Himiko shivered at the use of her given name again.
“Then in what way?” she questioned quietly.
“No one wants to fix you, you’re perfect, uh, perfectly fine the way you are.”
Himiko stilled again but with bubbles threatening to pop on the surface.
“I think kids should be able to talk about their feelings with someone who can help…it’s just awful to keep things in. I used to think that was the best way to stay on track, but that tunnel vision is so straight and narrow. And people should be given opportunities to grow and change. I know this must all sound like silly make-believe but一”
“No it doesn't,” Himiko surprised herself by speaking.
But it was true, it sounded…nice. In a perfect world.
“You didn’t get those things,” Ochako said softly.
Himiko glanced up to find big brown eyes swirling with emotion as they gazed back at her, and an open palm一this one with cute pink dots on the fingertips.
“And that wasn’t fair. But I think it’s never too late and they should be given to you. Right now. Not what if or what could’ve been.”
Ochako’s irises solidified with intensity.
“What could be.”
Himiko opened her mouth and inhaled, and it felt like a first breath in some ways.
She reached forward and let just her fingertips rest on top of the ones held out for her.
“Okay.”
--------
When Ochako went to Aizawa with her crazy idea, she had expected him to scoff, to look at her with such derision she would’ve shriveled up on the spot.
Yet, he didn’t. He stared at her silently for a long moment, then looked a little sad, before shifting back to normal sensei and just nodded.
“Let me make some calls.”
Before she knew it, Ochako was in a very intimidating board meeting with Hawks, All Might, Nezu, Tsukauchi, and Endeavor himself. It was only a little less scary because Deku was there too. Every time they looked at each other she felt the echoes of that talk they had, just the two of them.
When she wasn’t helping rebuild or talking with the living debris of hero society, she visited Himiko in the hospital.
Himiko never looked scary to her. Still, her face always held an intimidating kind of beauty that made Ochako question everything she once knew. But now, she looked softer and something in her features made Ochako certain she was doing the right thing.
Although, Awake Himiko up on her tentative feet didn’t seem as sure.
She hovered over everything in her empty dorm room, like a curious butterfly deciding where to land. Her heels never touched the ground as she twirled warily around the room. It was the nimble dance of a girl who never knew permanence.
“At least it’s a cute cell!”
Ochako pouted. “It’s not a cell, it’s a dorm room.”
“I’m still not allowed to leave.”
“None of us are allowed to leave without teacher supervision or approval, that’s normal for us.”
Himiko caught her eye at the word “normal” and her eyes softened a bit but it might’ve just been Ochako’s imagination.
Himiko simply hummed in response and then suddenly twirled fast around directly into Ochako’s personal space. The tips of her bangs grazed Ochako’s cheek for a split-second before she whirled back away.
Ochako’s skin tingled where the strands had kissed it.
“So where’s your bedroom?” Himiko asked with a suggestive note.
Ochako backed up with burning cheeks.
“Uh, it’s in the building across the green. This dormitory is for faculty and their families.”
“Great,” Himiko drawled, “I’m stuck with the cement block and the caterer! And all the other ancient beings.”
Ochako cringed at her rudeness but let her have this one. “That’s not entirely true! Eri lives here and she is really fun to play dress up with! I also think you’re not the only new resident…but I can’t be sure.”
Himiko appeared mildly intrigued by those comments but didn’t offer up any significant sign of appeasement.
Too quick for Ochako to even prepare herself for, Himiko side stepped behind her and caught her in a hug, tucking her chin over Ochako’s shoulder.
“Are we going to be like normal teenage girls and have sleepovers, wearing cute pajamas and sharing a bed, giggling all night, holding hands, while we talk about our crushes?”
She whispered it giddily into Ochako’s ear, so close that she could feel Himiko’s breath like a warm breeze against her ear, yet it made her shiver like the chill of winter.
“M-maybe, if the teachers give us permission.”
Himiko released her with a sigh but still seemed to enjoy the fact that she’d rattled Ochako.
“Bleh I know I have to earn it or whatever,” Himiko huffed but then her grin turned sly, “I’ll be extra good for you Ochako~”
Ochako stuttered some nonsense about going to get the rest of Himiko’s things and made a swift exit. It wasn’t until she got inside the elevator did she let a rush of air leave her lungs.
It did nothing to cool the warm flush settled in her face.
Ochako ran it over her head.
Could this really work? She meant what she said, she believed in what could be, she believed in Himiko. But part of her couldn't believe in herself to see this through. What if she made a mess of things? What if someone else could do this better?
The adults had all looked at her like…well like she was a leader.
Yet, she still felt like she had no idea what she was doing.
After the meeting, Nezu had lingered behind to speak to her.
“You had already convinced me before the meeting even started,” he had said with a pleasant smile.
“What?! How?” Ochako had questioned.
“Your speech, your plea, on the roof of U.A. You convinced everyone to listen. And I've been hanging onto each word ever since!”
He had smiled again before he walked away, leaving Ochako feeling stunned but also…stronger.
She let that memory resurface and gripped onto those feelings. This wasn't going to be simple but she was determined to see it through.
When the elevator doors opened she was surprised to see someone had already picked up the last box of Himiko's belongings. She didn't have much to begin with, but apparently she had a stash of personal effects hidden from before the war that somehow survived.
Deku had the box hoisted easily onto his left shoulder.
“Deku! Hi! I didn't expect you to stop by. Are you here to see Eri?”
Deku looked a bit different these days. The side shave made him seem less school-boyish and the scars made him seem older. He still had that sparkle of idealism in his eyes but they weren't so wide-eyed anymore. Ochako wondered if she looked that way too.
Still, he smiled that same nervous smile that always made her heart flutter. Yet her heart remained still right now.
“Well, uh, yes! Yeah, that is the plan but I also wanted to maybe stop by Toga first? I just wanted to talk to her about um, the last time we talked.”
“The last time you…oh!” Ochako startled at the memory. That felt like a lifetime ago.
Deku was turning beet red and nearly dropped the box in his grasp.
“Yeah well I, you see, I was telling my mom everything that happened and she demanded to know every detail and well when I mentioned that…conversation, she insisted I apologize and give Toga a proper and respectful um, ‘no thank you.’”
All of Ochako's worries fled from her mind as she tried to stifle the shrill giggle with her palm.
“Iida and Kirishima said it was the kind and chivalrous thing to do but I don't know what to say! This is too embarrassing. What if I insult her? How do you let someone down easily after they tried to kill you?” Deku rambled anxiously.
It was strange, but Deku's muttering made a comforting warmth grow in her chest. It used to feel like bubbling hot springs but now it was more reminiscent of a cozy blanket.
“It's funny, we learned to be world-saving heroes before we even learned to just be normal awkward highschoolers.”
Deku's anxious spiral cut off abruptly at her statement.
“Yeah, I guess we did.”
Ochako tapped the box so it floated off Deku's shoulder and hovered by his head.
“Good luck, Deku. Do your best!”
Deku laughed, a little shy thing.
“Thank you, Uraraka. I'll try!”
-----
Himiko grit her teeth and hissed at what could potentially be her greatest foe yet.
A fitted sheet.
Dramatics aside, it had been a long time since she had a proper bed of her own with clean sheets, and if she couldn’t even make it herself then she really was a lost cause after all.
The joke fell flat even in her own head.
Couldn’t she even just make a simple bed with perfectly normal sheets like any other teenage girl?
Before Ochako even crossed the threshold, Himiko sensed her presence approaching; heard her footsteps round the corner.
She quickly unclenched her frustrated grip on the sheets to lean charmingly against the mattress.
“Well, good thing you got back so quickly, save me the trouble of making a bed we were just about to ruin,” she sing-songed slyly.
The choked yelp she got in response was not the bashful squeak she’d just started getting good at eliciting.
Izuku froze in the doorway with a bright red face and promptly dropped the box under his arm, onto his toe, which prompted an even louder yelp of pain.
Himiko hopped off the mattress with a skeptical snort.
“Oh. It’s you. What do you want?”
Izuku sputtered and muttered all frantically as he tried to collect all the crap he’d just spilled while also nursing his smarting foot.
“Well! Uh! Actually this is a good segue to um一well you see!”
Himiko squinted at his blubbering for a moment, racking her brain for an explanation for his nervousness. He beat Shiggy, so little ol’ her shouldn’t spark this much fear anymore…
Finally Izuku collected himself enough to drop into a formal 90 degree bow.
“I- I apologize but I’m not一I don’t think一well, I mean. What I want to say is I’m sorry but I can’t, um, return your feelings. I hope you can understand!”
Himiko raised an eyebrow.
“Jeez relax, I was just teasing, plus I thought you were Ochako anyways.”
Izuku jerked up at that, face going pink in seemingly a different way than before.
“Oh! Right! Well, even so, um, I also was talking about what you said to me…before, um earlier, during the fight…”
Himiko blinked a few times as the realization dawned on her.
That was…unexpected. And also totally not necessary and really already super obvious.
But, a small part of her supposed, it was also kinda nice of him.
“Aw Izuku! How cute of you to be so gentlemanly for me! You don’t have to fret though, I only liked you because you looked like the first boy I killed! His blood was so sweet!” she chirped happily with a grin.
The pink in Izuku’s cheeks paled in a flash as a wobbly smile fought its way across his jaw.
“Well, um, that’s flattering? I’m glad that I didn’t…hurt your feelings?”
Himiko had to giggle at his bewildered bumbling. He seemed less like the shining star of 1A, savior of Japan, and more like a normal teenage boy.
Huh.
Izuku bowed again and as he lifted his head, she saw his eyes catch on the sad crumpled mess behind her.
He approached slowly, a hesitant question hanging in his gaze so she huffed and stepped to the side with an approving wave of her hand.
Izuku only smiled widely in return and made quick work of fitting her sheet to the corners of the mattress.
“It’s trickier than you’d think! I couldn’t get it right for the first few weeks either. Kacchan kept making fun of me for it. It got on my nerves so much that I actually practiced making my bed over and over every morning! There,” he sighed contently as he finished but his forehead wrinkled a bit at the bumps.
“Well, it's still not perfect but it’s good enough for now!”
“You heroes really can’t resist helping people, huh?” she tried to snark but it came out more grateful than she meant it to.
Izuku just smiled sheepishly and made his retreat, but then he paused in the doorway, hovering a bit with uncertainty.
“Yes…?” she prompted sweetly.
Izuku flushed again but seemed overall far less rattled than when he had first entered the room.
“I hope we can become friends one day,” he said surely, a weirdly amicable determined glint in his eyes.
He made to leave but stopped short. His big doe green eyes suddenly sharpened with alarmingly analytical focus.
“And good luck with Uraraka, do your best!”
The softly shutting door was the sole witness to her quiet blush.
Himiko sighed and flopped onto her freshly made bed, pulling the fuzzy pink blanket she'd stolen 3 years ago over her legs. As her back sunk pleasantly into the soft mattress she tried to remember the last time she felt so comfortable.
Maybe that bean bag chair at the PLF mansion, where she ate some decent sushi surrounded by the rest of the league.
She had tossed a piece at Touya but he had just incinerated it mid-air. She had whined and pestered to know what kind of food he actually liked but he never told her.
She knew he was alive, Hawks admitted that much. But when she pushed for more he insisted it wasn't information he was at liberty to share without family permission.
Shiggy was gone.
She had no idea about Compress or Spinner, and had been too afraid to ask at the time.
She felt…lonely.
Lonely in a way that scared her because it reminded her of the worst years; of hiding and watching as the world went on loving each other…everyone but her.
Could she really hope to fit into a place like this? Would anyone really care if she just disappeared again?
A funky chime interrupted her thoughts. She reached over to the bedside table and picked up the tablet thingie placed there.
Ochako had mentioned something about U.A. giving everyone these things recently with some specific programs installed, but she hadn't been really paying attention to the words Ochako's lips were making in favor of the lips themselves.
It came to life with a glow as she tapped it, revealing a notification.
[Ochako Uraraka]
sorry for disappearing!
deku said he could bring the rest of your things :)
i'll see you tomorrow !! :3
sleep well
<3
Himiko closed the tablet and hugged it close to her chest. She couldn't stop her brain from cycling through all the different escape routes she could take to flee this place.
But she could decide to stay, at least for a little bit.