Leaving Nedzu’s office after her morning classes, Yui didn’t bother to muffle the yawn that escaped her, heading for the cafeteria to wait for her friends. She had to figure out something else to curb the plague of nightmares that had started up. Staying up until she was too exhausted wasn’t a good tactic, maybe she should try the melatonin gummies Amajiki suggested? She could look up some good brands while she waited, Hado had texted her that they were staying behind to talk to Midnight about an assignment, so she’d be on her own for a little bit.

Yui was pretty excited, maybe a little nervous, for the outing with her friends. Sunshine’s seemed like a good not-school place to meet up. If anything, she could just hide with the cats if things got too awkward. Maybe she could convince Izu to drag Toshi to the café, at least the green bean’s chatter could fill any awkward silences. Ugh, no, that’d be too cowardly.

She scanned the lunchroom, frowning softly when their usual table was already claimed by some third years. Oh well, they could find another, it wasn’t that important, she just had to make sure there was enough room for the four of them and Haya, since the girl had become attached to Hado. She was fun to talk to, real down to earth.

She blinked when she saw an odd situation at the tables. Todani was sitting oddly, back to his peers, elbow on the table supporting the spine of the textbook with his knee, while behind him the others at the table had shoved their stuff almost in a makeshift wall separating him from them, made up of their empty lunchboxes, and bookbags. It didn't look outright intentional. Yui couldn't help but ponder as her steps faltered. Yui didn't often speak to the Owl-Quirked teen, but he'd never been anything but respectful towards her or her friends. She walked closer; her steps silent on the linoleum.

"Hey, Todani?" Amber eyes blinked up at her voice, flicking around uncertainly before settling on her. "Things look a little...cramped here. Hmmm....oh, a group just vacated a table over there by the wall. Want to join me and my friends?"

Todani watched her for a moment long enough that Yui thought that she'd misread the situation, shifting her weight to her other foot as she tried not to fidget. He silently closed the book and grabbed the strap of his bag. "I appreciate the invitation, Yamazawa."

Yui breathed out a small sigh of relief before she grinned, "Hey, no problem! Wasn't sure if i was intruding or something."

“I’m fine. It’s nothing I’m not used to, I’m sure you understand the disadvantages to having a mutant-type Quirk.” His voice was deep yet soft, his lips quirking up in a millimeter smile, “But thank you. I was going to just wait them out until they realized what they were doing or at least got used to my prescence enough to be less blatant.”

“Well, if you wouldn’t mind the company, could my friends and I sit with you? You don’t have to socialize if you’re uncomfortable but our presence should deter stuff like that happening, right?” She offered, it sounded correct anyway. She grinned at his nod, sitting down across from him, “If you need any help with homework, I’m happy to help.”

He blinked, looking like he was considering his words before he hesitantly asked, “How are you at English?”

She couldn’t stop another grin, at least it was a subject she was confident in. “Pretty fluent. Are you having trouble speaking or writing?”

“Both...”

“Hey, there’s no shame in not getting something instantly. And English is weird.” She chuckled, pulling out her bento and holding her hand out for his assignment, looking over it, “Okay, you have some trouble with switching between the tenses, and some spelling, and punctuation...here, it should look like this.” She pulled out a piece of paper, working through the sentences with him. That was how her friends found them, easily joining in on the conversation and lunch-time study session.

“Okay, Yui! Today we are going to help you with your Quirk!”

Yui blinked at Hado, the bubbly girl looking up at her with a fire lighting up those light blue eyes. “Um…we do Quirk training every other day?”

She huffed, putting her hands on her hips as she shook her head, “We are going to help you get over this block you have with not using your Quirk!”

“Yeah, you really don’t use it and you should. It’s a part of you.” Togata smiled gently at her, putting a hand on her shoulder, “You can’t neglect your Quirk, it can cause a lot of problems for you down the road.”

“I don’t neglect it…I use it on electronics.” She mumbled, rubbing her arm as she looked away from him.

“But that’s only a part of it. You can control people with it, and if you don’t use it like that, it could backfire on you when you need it.” The blonde patted her shoulder, “Come on, you can use it on us! Nejire says it doesn’t hurt, so you don’t have to worry about us.”

She blinked up at him, her nose crinkling a bit at the thought of using her Quirk on them. He chuckled softly as he sat down on the gym floor, pulling her down with him, Hado and Amajiki joining them on the floor and sitting in a sort of circle. Hado reached over to take her hands, holding them palms up. Yui frowned down at the thick electrical burn scars that formed jagged, lavender tinted marks over her skin.

“The chips come from your palms, right? Do the scars make it hurt?” Hado’s voice was gentle as she asked, tracing over one of the scars on her palm. For whatever reason, it sent a jolt of warmth up her arm.

“No, it doesn’t hurt.” She sighed softly as a black microchip with glowing teal wires came out of her skin, her eyes and the tips of her hair glowing as the other girl’s eyes widening as a smile stretched her face. She’s like how Izu was in the beginning…so amazed by another person’s Quirk. The thought had a smile curling her lips before she noticed.

“How does it work?” She reached out to poke the chip, tilting her head.

“Once it attaches, I gain control of the other person’s body for several minutes…I guess the other person goes into a sleep-like state where they don’t remember what I have them do? I can create four chips, once the fourth is created, I have to wait an hour before I can create another.” She raised her shoulders in a shrug, “If they don’t connect, I still have to wait an hour. So I have to have to be pretty accurate where they land.”

“I bet you’d be really good at darts!” Togata chuckled, miming the action, “You hit Nejire’s neck while she was moving!”

Yui let out a small, awkward chuckle, a memory of Miyu having her practice with darts, throwing knives, and even regular microchips until she could hit targets to her satisfaction flashing in her mind. “We could always play some rounds of darts?”

“Not yet! Can you use your Quirk on one of us?” Hado asked, inching closer to her. She still was holding her right hand in both of hers.

“What about your own Quirks? Is this really how you want to be using our time here?” She asked, looking away from those inquisitive eyes.

“We always works on our Quirks, and you focus on cardio or strength training.” The other girl pouted, pulling on her arm as she swayed back and forth like she was trying to shake her frustrations out. “If anything bad happens, we can just go to Recovery Girl. It’ll be okay, Yui!”

She bit the inside of her cheek before she slowly nodded, “Okay…Hado, can I control you?” Her voice was soft as she held the chip between her fingers.

Hado beamed at her as she nodded, holding her hand out to her, “Of course!” Yui slowly pressed the chip into the back of her hand, the wires connecting and pale blue eyes going dull. She winced as a jolt of pain went through her head, reaching up to rub a temple.

“Hado…uh, walk around the gym.” She commanded, the other girl bouncing to her feet to do as she was told.

“A-Are you okay, Yui?” Amajiki’s soft voice spoke up, Yui glancing toward him to see navy eyes full of concern.

“Y-yeah, just a headache…” She mumbled, watching as Hado walked around by the walls.

“Did you get headaches before? How long have you avoided using your Quirk like this?” Togata asked as he turned to her. The question made her pause, the fight with Voltage didn’t count since it hadn’t connected…

“Um…I think around three years?” She said softly, she hadn’t used her Quirk on a person after the Trigger incident, just on electronics.

“Three years?! No wonder you’re getting headaches. That’s a long time to avoid your Quirk.” He rubbed the back of his head, “Does sensei know?”

She crinkled her nose as she shook her head, ignoring the jolt of pain that went through her head at the motion. “It never came up. I just have to work through this.”

“You won’t be doing it alone! You have us.” Togata grinned, “We’ll help you get caught back up so you don’t have to worry! Can you control more than a person at a time? Do they do whatever you say? Can you make them talk?”

She blinked at his barrage of questions, before she chuckled softly, “Yeah, at least I was able to before. I could control up to three people at a time, and yes, as long as it was within the time limit. If I tried to control past the time…then I’d get headaches. If I kept holding on, I’d get bloody noses, or I could faint.”

“Can people break free?” Amajiki asked.

“Yeah, if I lose focus, or get hurt enough, the ‘grip’ I have on their minds can weaken or break. That usually hurts me though, like a mental rebound? I could just drop the control like this.” She let go of the hold she had, the chip falling off of her as Hado blinked, looking around dazed as Yui’s hair and eyes stopped glowing.

“Woah…hehe I feel floaty…” Hado giggled as she swayed back over to them, taking her seat on the ground, stretching her arms over her head as she yawned.

“She should be back to normal in a few minutes.” Yui blinked when the girl leaned forward, gently tugging on a lock of her bangs.

“It’s so pretty when your hair glows! Does it only do it when you use your Quirk? Why are only the tips teal? What happens if you cut it?” She rambled, a somewhat dopey smile on her face.

Yui reached back, pulling her bag closer and rummaging around until she pulled out the multi-tool she kept in it and unfolded the knife part. She made Hado move her hand before she held the longest part of her bangs, slicing an inch off the end. The three of them watched as the teal part of her hair spread upwards.

“It has something to do with my Quirk. If I cut my hair really short, you’d basically only see the teal. And the more I use my Quirk, the more the teal spreads.” She shrugged as she put the tool back.

“That’s so cool, you have magic hair!” Hado giggled as she wrapped her arms around the other girl, leaning against her side.

“Yeah, maybe you should be Rapunzel.” Togata grinned, she pointed a finger at him.

“Nuh-uh! You don’t get to ditch your nickname by giving it to me!” She huffed, before she grinned, “You fit the role so much better than I do.”

He chuckled as he grinned, “I’ll think of something, Yui. Anyway, how are you feeling? Think you could control two of us?”

She rubbed the back of her neck, rolling her shoulders. The headache had dulled, so it should be fine, right? “Yeah, who wants to-“

“Oh, do me again! This is fun!” Hado giggled, smiling up at her.

“Y-You can do it to m-me…” Amajiki mumbled, fidgeting with his hands before he held his hand out, Hado sitting back and copying him. Yui nodded before a chip formed in each palm, she pressed them to the back of their heads and took control.

She couldn’t stop the gasp as two jolts of pain went through her head, like she’d just been hit into the head with a two-by-four. She reached up to hold her head, her legs curling up as she grit her teeth.

“Yui? What’s wrong?” A warm hand cupped her shoulder, “If it’s too much just drop the control, okay?”

“N-No…this is fine.” She grit out, cracking open an eye. “Hado…Amajiki, walk around the gym.” The two started to do as she said, the pounding in her head getting worse. She could do this, it was her Quirk, dammit! She controlled both her donors long enough for them to get to the police station while she’d been getting things together to get out of that apartment. She couldn’t let her Quirk be this much of a liability.

“Yui! Stop!” She blinked up at Togata’s shout, feeling something wet slide down her skin. She raised a hand to wipe it away, seeing the crimson smeared across her skin had the grip she had snapping back at her. She grunted as she closed her eyes, holding her head like she was going to keep it together as her skull felt like it was cracking.

“Yui? I’m going to pick you up and take you to Recovery Girl, okay?” She hissed as strong arms picked her up.

“N-No..F-Fine. I-I can’t-“ She growled out. She couldn’t see her again so soon, it would only worry her and her dads…

“Yui, your nose is gushing blood and you’re burning up. I’m taking you.” His voice was firm as he walked. She wanted to argue more, she really did, but as she opened her mouth she was suddenly falling in the black, her body going limp against his only made him start to run through the halls.

Yui groaned as she cracked open an eyelid, groaning softly when she saw the curtains that separated the bed she was on from the rest of the room. She almost cursed when she heard Chiyo’s voice call out, “Alright Shimizu, Tomono, off you go. Get home safe, alright, dearies?” A door clicked closed before the curtains parted to reveal granny shuffling up to the bed, her forehead crinkled with worry lines.

“How are you feeling, dearie? You can rest some more if you’d like to.” She kept her voice soft and gentle as she came to stand next to the bed.

Yui groaned as she sat up, her head throbbing but it was manageable. “I’ll be okay, granny...how late is it, I should get home before Izu or dads worry.”

“We’re already here, kiddo.” She almost sighed when she heard Yamada’s voice, looking up to see both of her parents peeking in past the curtain. “How are you feeling? Do you remember what happened?”

She rubbed her neck, “I...pushed my Quirk too hard and it rebounded.” She admitted softly.

Granny frowned softly, “Your friend that brought you in told us you hadn’t used your Quirk to control a person in almost three years. Yui, it’s very dangerous to repress your Quirk like that.”

She grit her teeth, why did Togata have to tell her that? She could handle this, it was her Quirk, her problem. “I...It's not like I haven't used it at all...just not on people. I use it on machines all the time.”

“That’s just one facet of your Quirk. Dearie, it’s a part of you. Not using your Quirk will only weaken it, and cause it to go out of control or it will fail you and hurt you when you try to use it. What were you doing when it became too much?” She patted her hand gently, giving it a little squeeze that only made the pressure in her chest worse.

“I...I was controlling Hado and Amajiki...we started out with just Hado, and...I got a headache but I could keep control. When I tried to control them both, it...it was worse. Then my nose started to bleed and I lost control and it rebounded...then I...I fainted.” Her voice dropping into a monotone as she gripped the sheets with her other hand, her shoulders hunching as she looked down at her lap. Kami, she felt so...weak. Was she going soft? Was she not doing enough? Was the training she was doing now…not as effective as what Miyu had her do?

“Alright, for now, we need to be careful with your Quirk. So, start with just controlling one person at a time, alright? Do you usually have issues with headaches or migraines?” At her nod she clicked her tongue, “Dearie, you can always come to me. I know you’re used to going without a doctor, but I am here for you. We’ll get you on a medication that should help curb the headaches, okay? Hopefully as you use your Quirk more, they will fade. I’d like to see you control one person a day, alright? Unless the headaches are too much.”

She nodded again, “Yes, ma’am.” She can’t really mean that, she must be so busy with work and she still helps people as a hero, she’s just being nice. I need to get a handle on this so I’m not bothering them. I have to be better.