Raiden was right. If I wanted to talk to anyone, I needed to calm down. While my little brother didn't pick up—as he was a heavy sleeper, and probably didn't hear his phone go off—I still left a voicemail. I owed him that much. Since I calmed down, I was able to leave a meaningful message without breaking down too much.

The phone call to my mom was a bit different. She picked up, half asleep as she had probably lost sleep these past couple of days I went missing. As soon as I started talking, Mom started to flip out, demanding that I come home as soon as possible, or at least, stay where I was at. When I explained that I was staying with another classmate, whose sister found me, she reminded me to use my manners and to send me the address, so she could pick me up first thing in the morning. I had to be the one to remind her that she had work, causing her to curse on the phone, and tell me to stay where I was at until she could pick me up, not to worry about school, and a whole list of things I needed to do.

While it was a bit overwhelming, I was just relieved that she wasn't going overboard like she could have. After all, I had caught a glimpse of her past, and that could've made things even worse if she knew...if she even remembered.

It didn't surprise me that when I called Sakura, it went straight to voicemail. Knowing Sakura, her phone had probably died, meaning she was probably getting ready for bed. It was either that or she had blocked Raiden's phone number for some unknown reason. Either way, I wouldn't be surprised.

My last phone call was a tad disappointing. I thought Kaito would've picked up, but it went straight to voicemail. Seconds after the machine told me to leave a voicemail, I was silent as I wasn't sure what to say. Raiden made it seem like he was worried about me. I thought Kaito would've been worried about me. Still, after the long pause, I left a voicemail, explaining that I was alright, and I was calling from Raiden's cell since his sister found me and brought me home. When I was done, I stared at the phone for a moment, hoping he'd call back.

That phone didn't ring once.

"I hope you like tamales," Raiden said as he walked into the dinning room with a rather large plate of these long rolls wrapped in...corn husks? I wasn't sure if that was what it was, but it reminded me of the husk that would wrap around corn, even though it was a light tan color. The warm smell was comforting, but I couldn't say I was familiar with the dish that he sat in front of me on the table.

There were six of them. Six long corn husks with steam rolling off of them. While the smell made my mouth water a bit, I wasn't sure how I felt about eating corn husks.

Before I could ask Raiden about it, he left the room leaving me alone with the plate full of tamales. My stomach moaned in protest, craving any sort of food I could get my hands on. It had been days since I had last eaten as I refused to eat the moldy food that was left in that room I was stuck in. I drew in a deep breath, not caring about that corn husk at that very moment. Instead, I grabbed the tamale that had laid on top and took a bite out of it.

As I thought, the corn husk itself wasn't very satisfying. It crunched and had a very weird texture. I even felt the hard husk scratching my tongue and throat, no matter how hard I tried to chew it. The inside, on the other hand, was worth it. There was this warm and soft dough that just seemed to melt in my mouth. Inside that, I could taste the shredded chicken making its way through.

The more I ate it, the more I started to get more of the flavor. Spices started to roll onto my tongue, but it came from this sauce that covered the chicken. It was a bit like diced tomatoes, but there was something more to it, like a spice that exploded into my mouth. Despite the slight heat to it, I enjoyed it.

"What are you doing?"

I looked up to see Raiden standing on the other side of the table with two plates in one hand and a fork in the other. I forced whatever I had eaten down my throat before I answered.

"I'm, uh, eating a tamale," I said.

"You don't eat the corn husk!" Raiden argued as he swiftly glided into the chair beside me, placed the plates down on the table, and grabbed the tamale out of my hands, placing it on one of the plates. I watched as he carefully unfolded it, letting the steam from inside unroll into the air, releasing the warm smell that was trapped inside. "They're used to keep the flavor inside, nothing else. Here, now try it."

Raiden handed me the fork, which I carefully took from him and stuck into the dough, scooping up a small chunk of it. He watched as I slowly lifted it into my mouth. Without the corn husk, the crunchiness was gone, and the flavor that was trapped inside was much more welcoming.

"Better?" he asked.

Instead of answering, I just looked at his phone which lit up. The fork dropped out of my hand and clattered onto the plate. Deep down, I hoped it was Kaito, but instead, it was a message from someone whose name I didn't recognize. My heart sank as I was tempted to make another phone call to Kaito, but if I did that, I had a feeling he wouldn't answer.

It was late. Kaito was probably sleeping. For all I knew, he could've been a heavy sleeper like Ollie. I shouldn't worry, but I wanted to let him know that I was alright. I wanted him to understand what was going on. I wanted to hear his voice, telling me it was all going to be okay.

"What is it?" Raiden asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing."

Instead of saying another word, I took the fork off the plate, cut into the tamale that was on my plate, and took another bite. The taste wasn't as satisfying as it was before, but I wasn't sure if it was that or if it was the fact that Kaito wasn't answering.

No, I couldn't think much of it. Kaito was probably just asleep.

But...his phone went straight to voicemail. There wasn't even a ring. Not one single ring. Was his phone dead? Did he forget his phone somewhere? Then there was the worst thought that came into my head; what if something happened to Kaito?

"You've been through some tough shit these past few days," Raiden exhaled, "but things aren't going to get better if you keep lying. So cut the crap and spit it out."

I turned to look at him, noticing that he took two of the tamales off the plate and was unwrapping one of them and placed the other one on the same husk. He then wrapped his hands around one of them, contemplating whether or not to take a bite out of it. In the end, he just looked at me, waiting for some sort of response.

As he did that, I bit my lip. All he was trying to do was help out. Him and his family were willing for me to sleep here for the night and eat whatever food they had. Even Raiden was eating with me, so I wouldn't be alone. Either that or he was hungry, but he could've easily ate in another room or waited until I was gone or something.

Here I was, just wanting anything but that. All I wanted was to hear from Ollie, Sakura, and Kaito and let them know I was doing alright. Raiden lent me his phone. He didn't have to do that. All he was asking in return was to be truthful. That shouldn't have been so hard.

Just thinking about what happened made my hands shake.

"Sorry," I apologized as I looked back at my own food. "I'm just tired. I don't want to be a burden to you or your family like I was bef—b-but I-I just don't, well, I can't."

"You can't what? Be truthful?" Raiden asked.

I shook my head. "It's not that. I just can't talk about it. I miss them. The people I want to hear the most from, they—they won't pick up. It's late. It's late, and the last thing they're thinking about is me. I—"

"Tami, that's not true," Raiden argued. "Trust me when I say they all care about you, and no one, whether that's your family or Kaito, Sakura, or me, sees you as a burden. Kaito and I searched all over the city for you. Your parents notified the police everywhere. Sakura had to be the one to take care of your brother because he wanted to find you, but we all know that's the last thing you wanted was for something to happen to him. If Kaito's not picking up, he has to have some sort of good reason for it. I bet you the first thing in the morning he'll call or come rushing through that door by the time you're awake. If not, I'll knock some sense into him."

My head snapped to him, noticing that the brunette slowly bit into the tamale, finishing it. I wasn't sure how he managed to inhale an entire tamale in that small amount of time, but he did. After he swallowed whatever was left, he lowered his eyes to his plate, refusing to look at me.

"Kaito is going to be thrilled that you're back. Everyone is," Raiden muttered as his hands slowly wrapped around the last tamale on his plate. "How's the tamale?"

"Oh! Uh, well, I, uh—" I stuttered a bit, surprised by his question, especially since he changed the subject so quickly.

He turned to look at me. "You don't have to lie. Not many people here are fans."

"No no!" I argued. "It's really good! Honestly! Much better than Japanese food. Not that Japanese food is bad. I just—"

"Don't like it," Raiden finished before giving a short laugh. "That's why you pack those oddly shaped chicken nuggets everyday in your lunch."

My face started to heat up in embarrassment. This entire time, I thought Sakura was the only one who noticed. No one really said anything about them, not even Kaito.

"They're not oddly shaped, they're dinosaur shaped," I corrected. "They're much better than the chicken here, which is much more condensed and airy. Dinosaur chicken nuggets have the breading on the chicken, and you get more chicken to it. Plus they're fun to look at."

Again, Raiden laughed. It took me off guard that he was laughing at me that I just looked at him. For the first time, I noticed that he was smiling. I didn't think he knew what a smile was.

"So you're a food critic?" Raiden asked.

"No!" I defended myself. "There's just a-a difference between the chicken that you get at restaurants and the chicken I like to eat. I'm sure if you had one, you'd understand. N-N-Not that you have to try one or anything, but—but, oh never-mind."

Raiden picked up his tamale. "Guess I will have to give them a try sometime," he agreed before shoving it into his mouth.

My eyes widened at what he said. Not once had someone offered to try the food I'd eat on a normal basis. Not even Sakura as she just tried finding simple foods for me to eat, so we could enjoy going out to places, like the mall or the festival. If I talked to anyone else, they tried to push their food preferences onto me. Oh, you don't like dorayaki, it's probably the red bean jam you don't like, so try a chocolate flavored one. Oh, you don't like rice balls, try a dorayaki as it could be texture. Not a fan of any sort of Japanese food, well, you just haven't tried my cooking.

Having someone want to try something I enjoyed was different. I knew it was something weird to think about, but I think this was the first time someone asked me not to change. There was nothing expected of me, but I could just be who I wanted to be. Even if it was something as small as food preference.

Warmth filled me the more I thought about it. My body relaxed even more into the chair. Here, I could be myself. I could actually be myself without asking to change. Maybe Raiden was only just saying that after all that I've been through, but it didn't matter.

The boy glanced over at me and raised an eyebrow. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked.

I shook my head, trying to force the smile off my face, but I couldn't. It was a small gesture, but it was something I had wanted to hear from someone for a very long time. Maybe not that someone wanted to try the food I enjoyed, but the underlying message to that, that someone wanted to take the time to understand me rather than have me change.

"It's nothing," I told him as I started sticking my fork into the tamale. "It's just, I-I like seeing this side of you. Not that there was something wrong with you before, I mean, you're not like a different—different person, but it's just that, well, I don't think I've ever seen you been so, uh, kind before? I like it."

Before I could say anything else that would have embarrassed me any further, I shoved the fork full of food in my mouth and looked at Raiden in the corner of my eyes. After what I said, I thought he'd be mad, or do something to shrug it off. He didn't. Instead, his face had turned as red as a tomato, and he tried to hide it by looking down.

Raiden shook his head when he caught me looking at him. "Don't get used to it. I just don't have to worry about anyone now. That's all."

While I knew it was a lie, I didn't say a word about it. Instead, I was just going to enjoy seeing this side of him while I could. After all, it was a lot better than what I had to deal with these past couple of days with no food. There was food, but it was already rotten by the time I could eat.

Of course, if I had just listened to that man, I might not have had to worry about it, but I couldn't listen to him talk about my friends that way. Over the past month of being at U.A., I had learned that not every hero was as selfish as he was. They were good.

But that didn't stop him from turning evil. Who was to say he wasn't the last hero to turn into a villain? Who was to say he wouldn't come back, searching for me? Would he send Goro after me, and turn all my friends into human meatballs? Would Nightshade help him out, forcing all my friends to fall asleep, just so that man could make them forget everything?

The fork fell out of my hand as I thought about it. It would be my fault. I left that place. Somehow, I managed to get out. What if they came after my friends? What if they made sure they would all suffer just so I would be forced to work for them?

What if they made them forget about me, forcing me to be alone? I didn't want to be alone again. I didn't want to see that man again, or anyone, but luck hasn't been on my side. After that run-in at the mall, Nightshade and Goro kept finding me. They'd find me again, wouldn't they?

Hands grabbed my shoulders, gently shaking them, so I'd snap back to reality. It wasn't until then I realized that my own body was shaking worse than being outside in December with no coat on, which was different from the sweat that was pouring down.

"Tami! Tami, listen to me!"

My head snapped over towards Raiden, seeing that the chair he was sitting in had fallen to its side as he had stood beside me. It was his hands that were on my shoulders, and it was him who had snapped me out of my thoughts.

The worry in his eyes frightened me. I dropped my head to look at the half-eaten tamale on my plate.

"I-I-I'm sorry," I apologized, "for f-fr-right-frightening everyone."

"It's not your—" Raiden started to say.

"No," I whispered, pausing to take a few deep breaths until I calmed down a bit. "I'm just—I'm just tired. I-I want some sleep."

More than sleep, I wanted to go home, but I knew that was the one thing I couldn't have right that very moment.

"Okay. We have an extra room you can sleep in. It's a bit of a mess since it belongs to my older brother, but it's the—" he started to say once again before I interrupted him by shaking my head.

"I don't want to be alone," I told him as my arms wrapped around myself to stop the shaking. It didn't help. For who knows how long, I had been trapped in that childish room. The last thing I wanted was to be in another room by myself. For all I know, they could come back for me, snatch me in my sleep.

Or worse, this could have all been a nightmare I was witnessing by that woman's design. None of this could be real for all I know. It could just be some way that they were trying to calm me down in some way. If I was left alone, it would confirm that.

I just didn't want to be alone.

Raiden sighed. "Do you want to sleep in my room, or would you rather sleep on the living room couch?"

My head snapped over to him as my eyes widened. Was he suggesting that we—that we...

Seeing my look, he must've noticed what I was thinking and shook his head. "You'd have to be the one sleeping on the floor if we go in my room, I'm just saying. I can pull an air mattress for myself if you want to sleep in the living room."

A sigh of relief escaped my lips. "The couch is good."

Raiden nodded his head as he stood up. "The couch it is," he told me as he held out his hand, before he remembered my strong dislike for touch and slowly dropped it to the side. "If you're finished with that tamale, I'll, uh, show you to that. The nearest bathroom isn't far either if you need it."

I stood up and nodded my head. Raiden turned around and started to walk out of the dining room. My hands slipped into the pockets of the sweatshirt I was wearing as I followed Raiden, listening to him tell me where everything was. When we passed the bathroom, he told me I could use whatever was in there if I needed to. He stopped there, almost as if silently giving me permission to go if I needed to, but I just kept following him. It took every ounce of strength I had not to fall asleep right there, and I was afraid if I went into the bathroom, I'd end up falling asleep in there.

Falling asleep in a bathroom was something that didn't happen to me, but it happened to my little brother Ollie a few summers ago. He was five, running a high fever, and the nicest way I can put it was that he spent most of his time in the bathroom. It was usual for him to stay there for thirty minutes at a time when he was sick that week, but one time, in the middle of the day, Mom, Peter, and I noticed that Ollie was in the bathroom much longer than thirty minutes. After two hours, we decided to check on him, knocking on the door.

Needless to say, Ollie had been so exhausted from being sick that he fell asleep in the middle of the bathroom. We don't know how, but we had to pick the lock and carry him in bed.

Part of me worried that if I tried to clean myself up or do anything, I'd end up in a very similar situation. The last thing I wanted was for the Yamamoto's to find me sleeping in the bathroom when one of them needed to use it.

By the time we got to the living room, I laid on the couch, laying my head on one of the armrests. I didn't even look around to see what the room looked like. Instead, my legs just curled up into my chest as I tucked my hands under my cheek.

No matter how hard I tried to stay awake for when Raiden came back, I found myself passing out right there.

Author's Note:

Awe, isn't that sweet?

I'll admit, one of my favorite parts about this arc is the amount of food that's mentioned/described (actually, ngl, this was my favorite chapter because of that fact, and seeing Tami get so defensive about her dino nuggets, AHHH! So fun to write!).

So, for this chapter's question, I want to know, what is your favorite food?

Character Spotlight: Raiden Yamamoto
Quirk: Ultra Strength
Likes: Tamales

Song: Epilogue by Ólafur Arnalds