(Written while listening to: "Birds" by Imagine Dragons on YouTube)
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"...till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
Genesis 3:19 (KJV)
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[4 months later]
The place reeked of antiseptic.
A deathly pale father-son duo sat with terrified looks on their faces, inside a brightly lit hospital corridor. The world outside hospital widows was completely dark.
A rush of hospital workers were running back and forth along the corridor to complete their tasks. Whether that would be moving patients, delivering medical supplies or just passing rushed messages.
But the orderly chaos of the hospital didn't register in Laito's mind.
His brain felt too numb from shock and sheer terror.
[Retrospection]{The same day earlier, afternoon}
Laito just returned home from school.
'Huh? Nobody's home I guess. Dad and mom are probably doing over-time.' He thought to himself while untying his shoes with his quirk and then taking them off.
'I don't really like them overworking themselves. But what can I do? They want to get a bit more money before mom has to go on maternity leave.' He put on his slippers and headed to the kitchen to prepare a dinner portion that's left for him.
He just turned on the stove and moved the pot with soup on the top of it, but just at this moment…-
"Kids!"
'Huh? Dad?'
Laito quickly turned the stove off and turned to the front door, while feeling in his guts that something is not right.
"What's going on dad? You look…- bad."
He did looked bad. Extremely pale, eyes bloodshot, but his glasses covered face was fully focused.
"Laito, is Masaaki back home?" he asked quickly.
"Eh? I don't think so… wh-" Laito responded and started to ask, but his dad has cut him off mid question.
"Damn it! Ok, no time. Just dress yourself quickly, we are going. He can handle himself."
"Bu-" Laito tried.
"I got a call. Mom is at the hospital now."
"Something is really wrong. They didn't tell me any specifics."
At that, Laito felt like a heavy stone had fallen down his stomach.
"Sure dad, just 10 seconds and we are out."
He just slid on his shoes, that tied themselves while he was closing the door behind him.
They got themselves into a car and headed to the hospital as fastest as they could.
Though the time felt diluted to the extreme.
Each second stretching into prolonged nerve-wretching minutes, that really felt like hours.
They finally reached the place and rushed to the entrance.
Inside they were greeted with a busy lobby with a long reception desk adjusted to the wall. In front of it was a short line of people waiting for their turn to talk with the staff.
They approached the line and waited nervously, bordering on panic, though they tried their best to control themselves.
It moved very fast and soon they were standing in front of the reception clerk.
"Good afternoon. We are here for my wife Yogami Hikari. I was told she was brought here recently. My name's Yogami Tomio, here's my ID"
The nurse glanced at the ID, then at Laito standing at his dad's side and then quickly searched the database on her PC.
"Ah, yes, unfortunately sir I have…- bad news for you sir."
The father-son duo hearts skipped a beat or two at that.
"She is currently undergoing a life-saving emergency operation… She appears to be in a critical condition right now. The doctors are doing their best to stabilize her."
–
–
"And…" Tomio started with a wavering voice.
"...What about the baby? How is our daughter?" He addressed the topic he was perhaps the most scared to ask about.
The nurse hesitated for a moment.
"Actually sir I would need you to head towards the waiting area near the room she's undergoing the operation. You will be led there by an assisting nurse which will provide you with further information."
She said professionally, though pity was still visible in her eyes.
Next, she stood up and quickly headed to the nearby staff room.
Within a few seconds she returned accompanied by a nurse.
"Please follow me." The nurse said solemnly.
At this point Tomio and Laito expected the worst. Still, they obediently followed her, though their movement was stiff from the scare.
The corridors, the elevator, the corridors again.
Each step Laito's felt like they elongated into endlessness on their own. The journey to the right corridor, short in reality, in his mind felt like an entire infinity.
They reached their goal.
"You can sit here if you want."
She pointed at the simple chairs arranged in a row under the wall.
Laito instantly plopped onto one of them.
Tomio paused his movement for a moment.
"Sir I would recommend for you to sit first before continue"
He had no mental fortitude left to argue, so he obediently sat down next to his son.
"I'm listening."
The nurse hesitated and glanced at Laito.
"Yogami-san are…"
"The kid stays." He quickly cut her off.
"He's somehow more mature than I ever was anyways. So please, just tell us."
The nurse took a deep breath and then exhaled.
"Yogami-san, the reason why your wife was brought here in the first place was… eclampsia…"
–
"Which is a severe disorder of pregnancy."
"That poses a serious threat to the life of both the fetus and the mother… and in your wife's case…-"
The father-son duo breathing hitched and they froze completely staring at her wide-eyed.
"Yogami-san I'm afraid that… even before your wife was brought here…- the baby was already…-"
–
"-...gone."
–
–
She finished speaking and silence descended between the three for a few moments.
Although the corridor was full of people rushing task to task. Laito's brain has tuned it all out. His vision formed a "tunnel".
Thoughts in complete chaos.
'I… can't do nothing.'
'Damn it, where are the heroes? Such a "reincarnator" I am, useless piece of shit.'
'Somebody with a healing quirk. There must be someone!'
And other similar thoughts were swirling in his head.
–
"For now please wait here until the operation ends. The doctors will continue until her condition stabilizes…"
–
'Or not' Was left unsaid.
[4 hours later]
–
–
–
"I'm sorry" the doctor said just as he left the operating room.
–
"We lost her."
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[5 years left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet