Age: 15 (POV Himiko Toga)
The world smells different to me than it does to everyone else.
Izuku-kun says people smell like soap, sweat, or cheap perfume. Katsuki-kun says people smell like fear or stupidity.
To me, people smell like what they carry inside.
The math teacher smells like thick blood and high cholesterol. The girl who sits in front of me smells like sweet iron, type O negative, very sugary. The world is an endless buffet where everything is wrapped in skin and I am forbidden to touch it.
Before, that used to drive me crazy. The noise of the hunger was so loud I couldn't hear my own thoughts. But now... now I have earplugs.
"Toga. Stop staring at Sato's neck. You're going to drill a hole in it with your mind."
Katsuki-kun's raspy voice cut through my trance.
I blinked. We were in the courtyard of Aldera Junior High during lunch break. I had transferred here at the beginning of the year thanks to Katsuki's parents (Mama Mitsuki is the best!) pulling strings with my biological parents.
"I wasn't staring," I lied, shoving a spoonful of rice into my mouth. "I was just thinking he has a very prominent vein."
"That's staring," Izuku-kun said, without looking up from his notebook, where he was drawing a schematic of the route to the bridge tunnel. "Eat your liver, Toga-chan. You have to keep your iron levels high for today's training."
I smiled. I love this. I love that they don't tell me "how gross," but "eat to train."
Suddenly, a high-pitched scream interrupted our peace.
Near the basketball court, a second-year girl tripped and fell badly on the asphalt. It was an ugly fall. She scraped her knee and the palm of her hand.
The smell hit me before the sound.
Copper. Salt. Life.
My pupils dilated instinctively. The world focused on that bright red spot welling up from the girl's knee. My mouth filled with saliva. She's pretty. I want to be her. I want to know what it feels like to be her. Just one lick...
My body tensed, ready to run toward her.
But then, I felt a boot gently tap mine under the table. And a warm hand touching my shoulder.
"Control," Katsuki said. It wasn't a shouted order. It was a statement of fact.
"Breathe, Toga-chan," Izuku whispered beside me. "4 seconds in, 4 seconds out. Like we practiced."
I looked at my boys.
Katsuki wasn't looking at me with fear. He was looking at me with that analytical expression, waiting to see if his "soldier" followed protocol. Izuku was looking at me with concern, but not for the injured girl, but for me.
They didn't want to protect the girl from me. They wanted to protect me from myself.
I closed my eyes. I inhaled deeply, filtering the smell of blood through the smell of Katsuki's gunpowder and Izuku's soap.
"I'm fine," I said. My voice came out a little hoarse.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out an extra-strong mint candy, one of those Katsuki buys by the kilo for me. I bit into it. The explosive taste of mint burned the phantom taste of iron on my tongue.
I stood up.
"Where are you going?" Izuku asked.
"Social protocol," I replied, imitating Katsuki's bored tone.
I walked toward the girl crying on the ground. The other students looked at me with suspicion. I'm the "weird girl" who transferred and hangs out with the Explosive Demon and the Quirkless one.
"Hey," I said, crouching in front of her.
The girl looked at me, scared. Blood ran down her shin. It smelled delicious.
Not food, I repeated mentally. Civilian subject.
"You're going to get infected if you leave it like that," I said, pulling a colorful band-aid from my pocket (Izuku always makes me carry them). I held it out. "Go to the nurse's office."
The girl blinked, surprised. She took the band-aid with a trembling hand.
"T-thank you... Toga-san."
"You're welcome. Be more careful. Blood is hard to wash out."
I turned around and went back to my table. I felt everyone's eyes on my back, but only two mattered.
Katsuki nodded slightly as he went back to eating his spicy curry. Izuku smiled brightly at me and gave a thumbs up.
"Good job, Toga-chan," Izuku said.
"It was hard," I admitted, flopping onto the bench. "Smelled like B positive. Very tasty."
"I'll buy you a strawberry protein shake after school," Katsuki offered, without looking at me.
I smiled, showing my fangs. That was his way of saying "I'm proud."
(...)
Hours later, the bubble burst.
I had to go home.
Ever since that afternoon two years ago, when Katsuki and Izuku invaded the living room and turned the coffee table into their base of operations, the dynamic in my house had changed. There were no screams, no contracts, no signed "laws." Simply put, my parents realized they could no longer intimidate me because I was no longer alone. Their response was retreat.
If they couldn't control me, they would pretend I wasn't there.
I walked through the front door.
"I'm home," I said to the empty air.
My mother was in the living room, watching TV. She didn't turn her head. My father was reading at the table. He didn't look up. They acted as if I were a draft of cold air that had just slipped under the door.
The house was spotless. White. Silent.
I went to the kitchen. On the counter was a plate covered with plastic wrap. Rice and fish. Cold. It was my dinner. They didn't eat with me. They didn't want to watch me chew, nor see my teeth.
Three years ago, this would have made me cry in my room, wondering what was wrong with me. I would have tried to be the perfect daughter, smiling until my face hurt, just so they would look at me.
Now...
I took the plate and threw it in the trash. I wasn't hungry for their cold, sad food. I had already eaten with the Bakugous before coming.
I went up the stairs to my room. I passed my father in the hallway. He moved slightly toward the wall, pressing his lips together, as if I were contagious. He didn't even look me in the eye. They are afraid. Not that I'll attack them, but of what I represent: a stain on their perfect life that refuses to disappear.
I entered my room and locked the door.
I sighed, dropping my backpack. In here, the air was different. My room was full of things Katsuki and Izuku had given me. Weird plushies from claw machines, anatomy books, practice knives hidden under the mattress.
I threw myself on the bed and pulled out my phone.
The "Delta Squad" group chat (named by Izuku, obviously) had new messages.
Izu-kun:Remember to check gear for tomorrow. Forecast says it'll be cloudy.Katsuki-kun:Don't be late. If I have to wait for you in the tunnel, I'm exploding you.Izu-kun:Kacchan, don't be like that! Toga-chan, did you get home okay?
I felt a warmth in my chest that had nothing to do with blood.
Me:Yup! All good at the Ghost House. My parents successfully ignored me today :)
Katsuki-kun:Good. Rest. Tomorrow everything starts.
I left the phone on my chest and looked at the ceiling.
My parents think I'm a monster living under their roof out of charity. They think I'm broken.
They don't know that tomorrow, the monster is going out to hunt villains.
Tomorrow is the day Katsuki has been waiting for for years. I don't know exactly what's going to happen (he's always mysterious with his "predictions"), but I know one thing:
If Katsuki says we fight, we fight. If Izuku says we win, we win.
And if anyone tries to hurt them... well, then my parents will truly see what a monster is.
I closed my eyes, with the lingering taste of mint in my mouth, and for the first time in a long time, I didn't dream of blood. I dreamed of explosions.