Blooming of Tears
She knew something was wrong when that girl was so quiet and aloof in class. It never was in Orochi's system to slack off, not without doing everything she had to do first, this way she could say she finished her lessons of the day before goofing around.
When she, of all people, slept in class, Rosethornm as the classroom teacher should’ve known better. A hard-working student, no matter how problematic, slacking off so suddenly? Something had to be wrong.
There aren’t other explanations. ‘I should’ve read the signs better. The fact not even those hyperactive dragon heads were doing anything, they…’ While no one dared to say it to the girl’s face, even the adults, everyone saw those dragon heads as pets permanently attached to the girl.
While her exposure to the girl was limited to the classroom only and some other events, she never saw those dragon heads as anything but active and searching for problems or beef with anything that breathed near them.
They were limp, almost lifeless. ‘What type of teacher ignores a sign so obvious?’ Rosethorn bites the inner wall of her left cheek. Uneasiness breathing in as the more she thinks of it, the worse things become.
While her classroom is anything but pacific, given the run-down of some of her students with villains, she never thought that a girl like Orochi would clash against one of them. Worse, one like Hitomi aka “Feral”.
She saw herself a lot in the young girl. When she was her age, they weren’t so different, tomboyish with a lot of energy and fever to use, the difference is that Orochi had more common sense, maybe because of her harmful mutations.
She had to have to live in society, lest one got hurt. Rosethorn feels sick thinking about it now. “Orochi is a strong girl, she can deal with her problems herself, right?” The curse of their society, of bottling problems until they reach a breaking point.
Everyone, including her family, must’ve thought the girl would make good use of her quirk’s name, “Headstrong Hydra”, to go through her problems and rise. After all, the girl was as close of a determinator as you can get with a sliver of sanity left.
She was crazy, but not reckless. This is why it came as a surprise to see her loafing around in class, ignoring everything around her. Until then, it was nothing out of the ordinary, all students have a point where they refuse to do anything in class for a time, it is a normal behavior.
The surprise came when her father, Yamamoto Atsushi, called Shiketsu asking where his daughter went. Of course, Karaburan almost had a heart attack when hearing those words. The girl attended school and exited it, but hasn’t come home.
While it is normal for others, Orochi never had shown this behavior to their family, not without calling before to warn them of anything she would be doing. ‘With a mother like Nabiki, I can’t blame her for always calling home.’
With the Feral incident still fresh in the minds of everyone, her parents’ careful attention is not displaced, yet they don’t know where she went this time. They don’t. She didn’t go to the arcades, Yui’s house, Chris… as if she just vanished from everywhere she used to hang out.
‘Is she running from home? No, it doesn’t make sense. Her files say nothing about family infights, and she adores her little sister. Something smells wrong.’ Rosethorn feels sick to her core. She ignored a girl showing the most obvious signs that something WASN’T right with her.
She survived an encounter with a S-Rank Villain as a student for God’s sake. To expect a student to bounce off it unscratched is ludicrous! ‘And yet we did because we thought of her strong enough to deal with that…’ A mentality that is not abnormal in Japan, hell!
You are expected to deal with things on your own and suppress anything else from ever showing on your face. For a teacher, one with the monicker of “Motivational Hero” to ignore those warnings, red flags…
‘I feel ashamed.’ The redhead places a hand over her face. After the call from her father, she was the first to go searching for Orochi. Gladly some members of the student council had seen her walk by by the end of classes, but she didn’t take a route that led to her home.
She… walked at random. That is never a good sign. Her only option was to follow suit and go asking around establishments if they saw a girl with three tails that ended in dragon heads.
Glod bless Orochi for her discernible appearance impossible to miss. ‘If she was a normal student, tracking her down would be near impossible.’ If this disgusts or brings discomfort to herself, Rosethorn doesn’t show it on her face.
Wearing a perfect poker face with a smile, cultivated through years of experience and service. Even then, it cannot hide or shield her heart from the doubts and darkness. From her mutant students, even if Orochi's appearance is not monstrous or strange, she is harmful.
Hazardous to others even if she doesn’t mean to. The amount of control over herself, discipline, and kindness to not just go around and hurt others exceeds an excruciating amount. Not only is she poisonous, but she also has three dragon heads that can dismember a person like it is a sandwich.
She always kept them under control and kept her distance from others, and her quirk was not a problem for everyone else. One of the worst cases of functional mutation she had seen, yet she managed to pull it through with a smile and wish to be a hero.
‘That girl should’ve snapped long ago. Yet she didn’t, only now… girl, you should’ve at least told me, or your family!’ Rosethorn Never would scream at a girl who may have snapped, it would only cause things to become worse, but for someone so mindful, to ignore such basic acts of humanity and emotion… it is not good.
You cannot bear the weight of the world on your shoulders. No one can. ‘How much were you holding inside yourself since the Feral Incident, Orochi?’ A simple question yet so hard to answer.
She didn’t show signs of PTSD, just… what you expected from surviving these events. Chris had a similar rundown, but he didn’t seem as bad as Orochi if she snapped. ‘I fell into another pitfall from this job, I see.’
Rosethorn explores the streets in search of her missing student, a sickening feeling worms in her chest. One of the worst pitfalls of her job, of comparing students. No student is like another, they are all different, and they are people.
“Brat… I will never forgive you if you die on me…” While death may be too much of a stretch given her quirk and love for her family, people don’t think straight when under stress, doing things they never would do otherwise.
This is Japan after all. The chances of a student killing herself after snapping are always high. ‘I thought it would be a normal school year for our hero school, that it would be like the last four years, peaceful. I think I was too näive in thinking it would be peaceful.’
She ignored things and let them grow out of control, now it is her duty, as a teacher, as Rosethorn the motivational hero, to pick up the slack and fix the mistakes made by her lack of hindsight and wishes for a peaceful year.
Feral’s attack should’ve shattered this conception already, but it seems that it only dawned on her when a student suddenly vanishes and doesn’t come home. Her hands tremble, and the bite on the inside of her left cheek becomes stronger, as the stress and repulsion for herself, for failing a teacher’s job, to be a mentor, someone her students can rely on, failed them.
But she won’t keep on failing. It is not too late to make amends and fix this, prepare them all for what is coming. Her instincts honed by years in the hero's career tell her this is only the start of something bigger.
Rosethorn feels sick inside, but she won’t stop doing her job, and her duty.
(...)
The sun had already fallen out of the skies. The cicadas sing their song on a deep blue night, a night without a moon and stars, the only light left are faint white glimmers from light poles.
A night that becomes colder by the minute, a reminder that the winter season draws close. In a deserted park, Rosethorn walks. This is where Orochi was last seen. This wild goose chase went on for too long now, three hours tracking this girl.
‘I assured Kanburan, and Atsushi Nabiki that I had it under control, I would find her student.’ The loud sound of a snake hissing comes to her ears. The hissing was directed at her. Rosethorn turns on her heel to stare at the source of the hisses.
On an isolated bench near a vending machine, Orochi is there, her eyes vacant, two tails limp on the bench, while the middle one hisses at her. Desperate and aggressive hisses, like an animal cornered against a wall.
Their eyes meet. Orochi’s reptilian purple orbs without a glimmer of light, were absent-minded. Rosethorn’s shining with worry and concern, piercing through her poker face to show clearly the emotions bubbling inside.
On the ground beneath Orochi’s feet, a depleted energy can, its contents spilled over the ground beneath her feet. The only show of consciousness is the middle dragon head which hisses uncontrollably, trying to scare her off.
Rosethorn walks towards her student, ignoring the uncontrollable hisses of the red-faced dragon head. She stares at those black orbs, unblinking, without pupils or any way to discern what feeling is behind them.
Yet she can feel its fear, how scared it is, the hisses becoming louder the closer she is, the poor thing hissing louder, impotent to do anything else. It rises, attempting to appear bigger as it hisses, putting its body before Orochi’s like a shield.
‘You are trying to protect her, are you?’ The other two can’t be bothered to do anything, the difference between corpses and them is little, and their leader is absent-minded. If they answer to her feelings, it makes sense for them to reflect her mood.
Yet this one stands tall, defending Orochi even when her mood should be reflecting on it. “So you guys are more than just limbs, huh?” Or at least, this one, who trembles and shakes in fear as she comes closer to Orochi.
Hissing with heart-wrenching despair and worry. It is scared for Orochi’s life. Even if its eyes cannot reflect emotions, Rosethorn, no, Aiko can be sure it is feeling fear. It is scared and without Orochi to guide it, yet it stands before her.
It recognized her as a threat, and it knew she would notice them soon. Rosethorn approaches Orochi, stopping at striking range of the tail, enough for it to attack, but not enough for it to attack her without leaving Orochi open to an attack.
Instead of lashing out, it stands before Orochi. The dragon head growls and hisses, but doesn’t leave her unprotected. “Guess a part of you or your ideals lives in one of them, huh?”
Rosethorn smiles with melancholy, looking down at the ground. Her student is there, motionless, only her tail and the motions of her chest inflating and deflating show any life. She passed out on a bench, away from the prying eyes of everyone else.
If a villain wanted to attack her, kill her, and God, do so much worse, it could. The only line of defense on her before she can wake up to respond to the threat is one of her tails. Those little guys can chop people to bits, but they are three generally and are backing Orochi, the mind.
Now? Only one of them is awakened, scared of its surroundings, trying its best to protect Orochi. “How could I have failed so badly?” Rosethorn face palms, her lips starting to tremble.
A bit of sweat ran down the side of her face. Grinding her teeth at the feeling. She feels light-headed, how did she miss something as bad as this? Passing out from burnout or stress is not uncommon, the signs are obvious, yet she left a child go to this stage when she is supposed to be the coach hero…
Her limbs shake and tremble with anger, a leftover of the times when she was reckless and young, yet how can blame her? Rosethorn bites her tongue, feeling her body shake with rage for a few seconds.
A hero shouldn’t want vengeance, but some people, the one who torments Chris’s life, Feral who left her precious student like this… how can a good teacher not feel wronged? Outraged at this?
With deep breaths, Rosethorn manages to calm herself, to show this level of anger towards a scared dragon head won’t bring anything good to herself, or Orochi. “Girl, I won’t leave you in a ditch like here.”
With a last sight, Rosethorn crosses the distance left between her and Orochi, ignoring the looming threat of the remaining dragon head, it may be dangerous, but it can, or should, recognize her, even if it doesn’t, it will take more than a toothy Gekko to stop her.
“Hiss!” The remaining dragon's head snaps at her, yet its movements are sluggish. She saw the armadillo stance and how fast those things can attack someone, Noah was at the receiving end of it.
Yet, its attack is slow, almost in slow motion. Rosethorn takes time to see some scales falling off its body, an unhealthy purple hue beneath the scales around its black eyes, its breath hard, with an open mouth, not only to bite, but it is panting. ‘It is tired?’
They are creatures too. It isn’t too far-fetched to think they can become tired and weak… “I…” Rosethorn bites her lower lip and walks forward. It is doing this to protect Orochi and not attack anything that comes near it out of maliciousness.
Even if it can’t recognize who she is, it may be able to recognize her intentions. It is a stupid, emotion-fuelled move, but… ‘I feel this is the right thing to do.’ It bites her on the elbow, its teeth piercing through her clothes, but surprisingly, not reaching her skin.
The force of its bite is weak, just enough to keep her arm held in place, from the tip of its horns to the base of its body, it is shaking uncontrollably. It growls, almost sounding like a car engine in an attempt to scare her off.
Yet she can see its fear. It is scared, it knows that the chances of defeating Rosethorn are impossible, yet it tries to scare her. In the wild, you need to be active and aggressive to scare predators and survive, this is how cats survived so long, and the source of their courage.
It is no normal beast, even if its eyes are emotionless and doesn’t have a body of its own, it shows recognition and emotion. It is scared, yet it is trying to the best of its ability to protect its leader.
‘The greatest show of courage is not lack fear, but act despite it.’ Breaking off its hold is a child’s play. She can do it without a thought, yet what will this accomplish? Scare it more? Startled an unconscious Orochi?
No, she knows better. Rosethorn feels somber, the lingering rage dying out in the face of this small dragon head doing its best. “You did well protecting here, little knight. Now, leave it to me, okay? I will protect her from now on. Rest, you deserve it.”
With her other hand, Rosethorn pats its hand, between its horns. It is not wrong and is not leashing out, just protecting his leader. There is nothing wrong with it. It should be praised for not giving up like its siblings.
The shakings stop, the dragon head going still. It drops her arm and looks up. Its silly goofing eyes meeting hers. It looks back to Orochi, boops her on the arm, and then comes back to stare Rosethorn in the eyes.
“Yes, I will take care of her, don’t worry.” Rosethorn pats it on the head again, smiling. Her reflex on those stark black eyes. The dragon head moves away, to rest on Orochi’s lap. ‘There is no way to know what is in your head, but I think I got your approval.’
Rosethorn stops before Orochi, hands placed on the unconscious girl’s shoulders. “Hey, Orochi. Wake up, people are searching for you, your parents are worried sick about you.” Rosethorn dry swallow.
It may take some more to wake up Orochi… She shakes her body a little, controlling the speed and strength to not make her startled when she wakes up.
“Hm. Where?” Orochi opens her eyes, half-lidded and heavy, but she is awake. Orochi stares at her surroundings, confused. With a better look at her face, the trails of dried tears are visible.
‘Did you cry yourself to sleep?’ Crying yourself until you pass out in a place like this is no normal thing to do. Breaking the dam in a place where no one can see it. “It is me, Orochi. Rosethorn, your teacher. Do you remember anything?”
“Rosethorn? I… messed up, didn't I?” She doesn’t try to change the topic, or do anything. Orochi’s voice is deadly cold and aloof, a crawling stinging pain in the Hydra girl’s chest as she speaks.
Gone is the hyper tone full of joy and eagerness. Her voice sounds raspy and rough, too tired to bother to put any effort into her speech. The only part of her old student that remains in that voice is her unwillingness to take the easy route and make excuses, asserting she did something wrong.
“No, Orochi you—”
Her student cuts the speech before it is made. The coldness vanishes to give way to something else. “We are not in the school or my house. I messed up big time. It is already night… I passed out here.” Tears fell from Orochi’s eyes, not bothering to care about holding them back anymore.
She failed her friends, she disappointed her mother, and now is making them worry about her because she didn’t have the maturity and capacity to go home after throwing a tantrum. “I’m such a disappointment.”
Orochi presses her lips together, biting them as if it will stop more tears from falling off, or keep her face from looking teary or sad. For a moment, Rosethorn loses the air in her lungs. The confident girl that had a beef with her, admitting weakness so easily, that she is a “disappointment”.
The eyes of the teacher freeze without a movement, processing this information. Whatever damage was done, it ran deeper than she thought. Wordlessly, Rosethorn gets up and embraces the girl. Hugging Orochi tightly.
Not bothering with words. She is aware of the girl’s poisonous nature, and how harmful even things like tears can be if exposed to someone, yet she doesn’t care. Poisonous or not, dangerous or not, she is HER student. Her RESPONSIBILITY to turn in a hero.
It hadn’t happened in Orochi’s house or outside of the school. It started in the school, in plain sight. No one noticed because they trusted Orochi to be strong, unwavering, and a pillar. To think her, one of the sturdiest students in the class can break is unthinkable for those who know her.
However, she went through a life-or-death situation recently. “You are not a failure. You are a teenager, a hero trainee. You are doing your best. Screw-ups are normal, you are young, and it won’t be anything. We all make mistakes in your age, but we grow, and learn with them.”
Orochi takes a sharp breath, even if her student is taller than herself, Rosethorn can’t help but feel that the girl she is hugging is small, smaller than she ever was. So easy to enwrap around her arms, so weak…
“Ah… ah…” With soft whispering wails, Orochi holds on to Rosethorn’s clothes, something inside of her cracking open, her lips quivering with an overflow of feelings. “Teacher… I… I failed everyone!”
Orochi mutters, pausing to breathe with a sensation of a lump forming in her throat. Her voice was like a whisper, a sharp razor-like whisper but brittle like glass, ready to burst into a powdery cloud.
“I couldn’t see what was happening with Chris. I couldn’t help Kaylee. I can’t help anyone! I… I should be their friend!? What am I doing? I… I thought everything would be normal! This would be a normal year… yet I was so wrong!”
Orochi tries to scream out but lets it out as a roar. Scream out to this mad worse, but much like her will, and performance against a true villain, she whispers afraid, a low muttle in this world of infinite noises.
Her tears staining Rosethorn’s clothes, as the Top Ten Hero stops her own tears from falling, understanding the words of her student, enough to bite her own lip, fighting the urge to let out a few stray tears, but she has to be strong, for her student to not go further down in this darkness.
“I… thought I was strong, but my strength couldn’t do anything to Feral. I was so weak… so weak. I made them worry about me when they had their own problems too… I thought I was a good friend, but what friend can’t protect her friends?”
Rosethorn holds Orochi close, the tears of the girl don’t stop falling, her voice wet and barely audible between sobs and grasps for air. “I thought I could protect the weak… but I can protect anyone… I… am a failure. I can’t hold my promises. I. I. I!”
Orochi's voice choked on tears as she cried, bringing Rosethorn closer to her as Orochi cried, a heartbreaking feeling coming along with each sob her student let out, her and Orochi’s hearts alike.
A painful emotion of impotency, of making everything wrong, wanting to do better but unable to. “Orochi… Chris's life, Kaylee… all of this class is a mess, I’m sad to say this, but things are escalating far from the control of one or two people.”
Their lives are not their own anymore, each one of them has a bigger stake at hand than trying to get high grades at the end of a semester. They have fought against evil and villains. They don’t have the luxury to stop now, lest these problems catch up to them.
But can a dutiful girl like her understand this? if her friends are in trouble, she would throw herself on fire for them, coupled with what Feral did… “The only thing we can do is… to be better. We can’t stop problems from coming into our lives, or make them vanish mysteriously.”
If they could, life would be so much easier, yet it isn’t like that. Life is a struggle, a constant battle between good and evil, in villains, in heroes, in herself, and inside her student.
“We do what we can do, and strive to thrive so we can help others. We cannot be everywhere at once, and few can get insights into other’s minds. You couldn’t have known, and I don’t think they would want to hurt you either…”
Rosethorn takes a deep breath, melancholy bleeding in her voice. “Just as you don’t want to hurt them, they don’t want to hurt you either. They don’t want you to worry and get hurt for them.
You are strong, Orochi. One of the best I’ve seen in diligence and hero thinking. You are not a failure, a disappointment. You are young. You will become stronger, you will make up with your friends. I believe in you, and so do they. Don’t sell yourself short, or I will cry with you too.”
Rosethorn continues to hold Orochi close, fighting off her tears as she does so, letting the girl vent her emotions, to cry as she wants her to. Uncaring if it stains her clothes, or makes her belly numb.