"An unfamiliar ceiling..."
The girl who had just woken from her slumber stared upward with dead-fish eyes.
Reaching up to touch her neck, Konata discovered that the wound had already healed at some point, leaving not even a trace of a scar. This surprised her quite a bit.
She distinctly remembered the cut being quite deep at the time. If the blade had been sharper or if she had nodded just a little harder, she might have ended up playing the role of a budget version of a headless senior. Guess she was just lucky?
So, what exactly had she been thinking back then? Having a blade pressed against her neck and still deciding to nod... That habit of unconsciously nodding when she figured something out was truly terrifying.
Sitting up in bed, Konata noticed that her clothes had been changed into a standard hospital gown. Not that it was unexpected-her original outfit must have been completely drenched in blood, making it unwearable. She wondered who had changed her clothes. Probably one of the hospital nurses? But this place didn't look like a hospital room at all. The setup was more like a school infirmary, though slightly larger and much more luxuriously furnished than the one at her school.
Glancing at the bedside table, she spotted her wallet, keys, and the newly purchased phone-all her personal belongings neatly arranged.
After a brief hesitation, she picked up the phone.
"Hmm... So it's already the next day? Twenty-seven missed calls, all from Tsuyu Asui. I did send her my contact info as soon as I got the phone, but twenty-seven calls is a bit excessive..."
Her lips twitched slightly as she stared at the missed call notifications. After a moment of thought, she placed the phone back on the table.
"She's probably in class right now. No need to disturb her. I'll be heading back soon anyway. Though I'll definitely get marked for skipping... Seriously, when did I even unlock this '100% Hostage Magnet' passive skill? Ugh..."
Covering her face with her hands, she sighed deeply before slipping into the slippers that had been thoughtfully placed by the bed.
After a night's rest, she had recovered well, though the aftereffects of severe blood loss left her feeling somewhat weak.
"Wonder if the money I have left is enough to cover the hospital bill... How did things even turn out like this? It was supposed to be such a happy day-making a new friend and buying a new phone. Two joys combined should've made for double the happiness... Happy my foot, damn it! Someone beat up that pretentious scholar!!"
"All Might, the girl you brought in is fine now. She's probably still resting-"
The infirmary door swung open, and a voice rang out.
However, upon seeing the scene inside the room, the two people who entered visibly froze for a moment.
Turning her head stiffly, Konata saw two figures walk in through the door-one was the towering, impeccably suited All Might, and the other was a fashionably dressed elderly woman barely over a meter tall. Both were staring at her in shock.
"..."
After a brief silence, Konata wordlessly lowered the hand she had raised above her head, climbed back onto the bed, pulled the white sheet straight over her head, and lay motionless, pretending to be a corpse.
"....…"
Recovery Girl-that was the name the elderly woman gave Konata. The reason her injuries had healed so quickly was entirely due to the other's Quirk-based treatment. Otherwise, with such severe wounds, Konata wouldn't have regained mobility so soon.
"This is U.A.? Shouldn't I be in a hospital?"
Hearing Recovery Girl's words, Konata felt her brain short-circuiting.
"Oh my, oh my. Ordinary hospitals couldn't provide treatment as good as mine for those injuries. Given the circumstances, All Might had no choice but to bring you here for emergency care."
Gently tapping Konata's head, the kindly smiling elderly woman began lecturing her.
"This is a lesson for you. In such situations, you should wait patiently for heroes to rescue you, not recklessly attempt to save yourself with an unmastered Quirk."
"Quirk self-rescue?"
Konata looked utterly bewildered.
Many witnesses had seen her throw herself onto the blade yesterday. While plenty were baffled by her suicidal act, someone soon offered a plausible explanation: the blue-haired ahoge girl had likely done so to activate her Quirk, but due to her lack of control over it, things had gone awry. This explanation quickly gained widespread acceptance.
Thus, after her infamous identities as the "loli maid who serves customers with disdain" from the maid café and the "vending machine killer"-a urban legend haunting midnight streets to destroy vending machines-she gained yet another widely known title.
"So, what the heck is this 'clumsy, adorable ahoge girl' nickname supposed to mean...?"
Covering her eyes in secondhand embarrassment while reading the news article Recovery Girl had dug up on her phone, Konata groaned.
...And suddenly, she remembered her teacher's infamous "Caped Baldy" moniker. What now?
"Most top heroes were already widely known for their deeds during their student years. From All Might, I've learned about your story. Self-reliant since childhood, refusing to succumb to despair but instead facing the world in your own way, stubbornly isolating yourself in solitude. Yet, inspired by others, you began to change. You started yearning to become a hero, watching the light from the shadows, quietly striving alone for your dream."
Recovery Girl smiled and handed over a handful of candies.
"I believe you can become a hero."
Konata: "…"
So, can someone please tell me what she's talking about? Why can't I understand a single word...