Midoriya was tired.

He had barely slept a wink the entire night. Shinsou was flipping around in his bed, Iida's engines spluttered occasionally throughout the night, and next door, Sato was snoring while Shoji kept hitting the wall by accident.

The one time he managed to fall asleep, he had been plagued by a nightmare. He had been expecting it; it always happened, but Midoriya couldn't sleep for the rest of the night.

He was tired, but he couldn't let that show; it was a weakness that would be exploited. At the very least, he could function normally under these conditions; he was used to hunting down villains while hungry and exhausted, studying was no big deal.

He just really hoped that people would stay out of his personal space. It was uncomfortable, annoying, and just felt downright suffocating.

Maybe he could ask for another coffee; that would perk him up immediately. The first one didn't seem to be harmful at all.

He would just deal with the consequences later.

Shinsou yawned, and stretched, before climbing out of bed. He didn't sleep well, and had tossed and turned throughout the night, but that was normal for him; it had taken him a month or so to get used to sleeping in his new room once Aizawa and Yamada had adopted him.

He got out of bed, and proceeded to go to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Todoroki and Koda were still sleeping, but Iida was already up and packing. He found Midoriya staring at his phone, texting someone. Reiko was lounging by his side, and Ryuto was trying to walk across the headboard without falling.

"Morning, Iida, Midoriya." Shinsou greeted, and Iida looked up from his bag, and replied, "Good morning to you too, Shinsou!"

Midoriya glanced up at him, nodding in acknowledgement, and Shinsou noted that his eyebags just looked a lot worse than usual. Did he not sleep well?

"You look tired, Midoriya. You okay?" Shinsou asked, and Midoriya just shrugged. Reiko leapt off the bed, rubbing herself against Shinsou's leg, before meowing and jumping back onto Midoriya's bed. She purred, and Midoriya absentmindedly reached out to scratch her behind the ear.

Ryuto lost his balance, and fell onto the bed, before he chirped and moved over to Midoriya's size, settling down by his foot. A few stray downy feathers fluttered onto the bed, and Midoriya looked at them in confusion. Ryuto didn't seem to be bothered by the lost feathers, and he hopped onto Midoriya's leg, giving a small squeak, before settling down.

Shinsou just shrugged to himself and walked to the bathroom. It was too early for this.

"You barely ate anything at all yesterday." Yaoyorozu sighed, "Come on. Please?"

Midoriya resolutely shook his head. He wasn't hungry at all, and it would most likely make him sick; can't they just understand that and leave him alone?

"Hey, at least he's getting coffee?" Iida shrugged, "That's a start. It's not healthy not to eat breakfast, but I suppose you're not used to eating a lot."

Yaoyorozu stared at Iida, before sighing. Iida was technically the class representative, and if he said something, she would have to follow. Even though it technically wasn't an order, what he said still made sense.

Plus, Iida was a strict follower of rules, but he tended to bend them slightly in Midoriya's case. He knew him better than she did; it would be wise to listen to what he said.

"Fine."

Midoriya curled up in a ball in the corner, wrapping himself around Ryuto, and Reiko leapt onto his shoulder, before curling up herself. Midoriya glanced up at her, and she merely rested her head on her paws and pat Midoriya's cheek with her paw.

"You know, honestly, I don't think it's that hard to help him, is it?" Kirishima stated. Shinsou and Todoroki turned to glare at him.

"I don't mean it like that! I mean, easier than we originally thought." Kirishima pointed out, "He's not completely emotionless or stuff; he knows how to show affection, just not to humans. We just need to let him get used to us, right?"

"It's not that easy." Shinsou sighed, "What you're saying is true, but it's not going to be so easy to get him to trust us. Also… we don't know what's going to happen in the future."

"So we just have to be careful, right?" Kirishima grinned toothily at Shinsou, and shot him a thumbs up, "We'll just be really manly and help Midoriya!"

The rest of the day went much better than Midoriya had expected. Ashido and Kaminari, while they had been noisy pretty much all the time, were busy trying to make notes to study for their upcoming mathematics test. Jiro and Yaoyorozu were the ones keeping them in check, while Bakugou simultaneously tutored and blasted Kirishima as they dealt with english.

Sato, having finished most of his work and not in the mood to study, had made huge, weirdly shaped sugar cookies, or Midoriya thought they were sugar cookies. They were really just huge lumps of dough with holes in the center, covered with that overly sweet, tooth-rotting sugary substance that kids liked to eat for some reason. Midoriya just avoided the so-called "treat"; it smelt absolutely nauseating and revolting.

The others seemed to like it though. Kaminari had asked him if he could take his "donut" – that was what they called it? – but he and Sero had ended up fighting over it, before Ashido joined it. They eventually called a truce after Bakugou blasted them all away for being noisy, and they decided to cut it into three pieces to share it.

Midoriya had nothing else to do; he had already finished his homework, and he had already memorized everything that would be in the upcoming tests. Reiko was curled up around Ryuto, who had grown a lot, and was slightly smaller than Reiko herself. Both of them were just sitting on the ground, watching the rest of the class fool around while studying.

He pulled out one of his spare notebooks, and started sketching. He had some ideas for some built in weapons in his gloves, which not only would help him attack, but could also help him climb up uneven surfaces. He had heard Kaminari's suggestion of keeping the bandages on as a capture weapon, and Midoriya thought it might be good as a last resort to surprise villains.

Reiko got up from her seat on the floor, and padded over to Midoriya, leaping onto his lap. Ryuto followed suit, and hopped onto Midoriya's elbow, before peering at the paper that Midoriya was scrawling. He twitched, before turning around to peck the feathers at his back.

Midoriya noticed that some of Ryuto's feathers were taking on a brownish hue instead of the white and grey feathers he currently had. It had been around four weeks after he had hatched; he was most likely growing out his first set of flight feathers, and it was probably really itchy and uncomfortable.

Midoriya reached out with his left hand and gently poked Ryuto's beak, distracting him from whatever he was doing with his feathers. He ran his fingers through the feathers on his head, and Ryuto let out a content purr.

Midoriya stared at him, blinking, before continuing to scratch Ryuto's head. He had no idea that hawks could make purring sounds; you learn something new every day, he supposed.

The class had decided to play Uno for some reason, before they left, and he had somehow gotten roped into playing. It didn't make any sense at all; why could you only put red on red?! Why could you only put a different colour if it was the same number? Why did skip and reverse cards exist!?

He knew it was just the rules of the game, but damn, the rules made no sense at all. Midoriya didn't even know how to play the game; he just kept an eye on the colours and numbers and mentally noted them down to narrow down the possible cards that his classmates could have.

Kirishima had to leave before the game ended, luckily, so it was cut short. However, Midoriya did have to endure a train ride back to UA with Shinsou and Iida. They weren't that bad; they actually knew where his boundaries were and tried not to cross them, but still; he didn't like hanging out with people in general.

The train was super crowded by the time they had hopped on, which made matters worse; body contact with absolute strangers. Midoriya had gotten shoved by several elbows in his very sore ribs, and coupled with his exhaustion, Midoriya really wanted to just snap at them. But he couldn't do that, that would just be rude; he knew what he was getting into when he accepted the offer for a sleepover, if he was paying the consequences, then so be it.

Plus, he had more important things to worry about; Reiko and Ryuto. He wasn't allowed to bring animals onto the train, so he had no choice but to hop on the train with Reiko and Ryuto, who were safely tucked within his bag. He needed to make sure that they weren't hurt; he was willing to pay the price for his bad choices, but Reiko and Ryuto didn't deserve too.

Just staying in the train with so many people around was exhausting; he felt like he could hear everyone's thoughts echoing within him.

Die, you worthless brat!

Useless freak!

No one wants you here!

Midoriya was relieved when he finally made his way out of the train, and the second he got out of the station, he hastily unzipped his bag, letting Reiko and Ryuto pop out for fresh air.

He quickly walked in the direction of UA, almost running directly to the dorms, before stumbling into his room, flopping onto the bed, not even bothered to change into cleaner clothes. Reiko immediately hopped up onto the bed, but Ryuto, who was way too small to do anything, just hopped about on the ground.

Midoriya reached down, scooping the avian up onto the bed, before sighing.

"I'm going to sleep." Midoriya muttered, before slamming his face into the pillow. The sound of his heartbeat thundered in his ears, and Midoriya did his best to control his heavy breathing.

The exams were coming up in a month's time; and the teachers were trying their best to teach the students all the necessary content.

"Does anyone want to tell me how Ashido and Kaminari managed to master algebra over a weekend?" Ectoplasm scratched his head, "They could barely do a single question last week, but the worksheet they just did in class is almost perfect. Just some careless mistakes. And they weren't copying off anyone, I checked."

"Apparently, 1-A, minus the grape boy, had a study session and sleepover at Yaoyorozu's house." Aizawa muttered, grading the second set of essays that he had assigned 1-A to do.

"You gave them another essay?" Snipe shook his head, "I just finished grading his essays. Wasn't the first one more than enough work for you?"

"Well, let's be fair here. Midoriya's essays are actually quite pleasant to read." Aizawa countered, "It's a very nice change compared to the work the rest of his class does. I wouldn't actually mind reading more of his work."

"Well… here." Snipe tossed Midoriya's past essays at the Erasure Hero, "Read them. I still have to give them back to Midoriya; you mind doing that for me?"

"Sure. Whatever." Aizawa placed the extra essays aside and focused on Kaminari's messy scrawls.

"So… I heard that the other therapy people are here?" Kayama asked, as she burst into the staff room, "I heard Bakugou complaining about it in the cafeteria."

"Yep." Yamada replied, grading his english worksheets, "I think it's Hitoshi's turn right now."

"Shinsou! Hurry! Or you won't be able to finish your lunch!" Iida waved Shinsou over to their regular seat, as Shinsou grabbed his tray off the counter.

"How was your counselling session?" Uraraka asked.

"Pretty normal, I think? There were these new guys that could apparently feel emotions or something?" Shinsou scratched the back of his head, wolfing down his noodles, "He's a pro as well, I think; Hound Dog called him in for some help counselling help."

"Hmm… They must have just come in today. I have a counselling session yesterday but there wasn't any new people. Who else has counselling today?" Uraraka asked. Shinsou whipped out his phone, despite Iida's protests, and brought up the google spreadsheet that Inui had shared so everyone could keep track of their appointments, "Er… Oh, Apparently, Yaoyorozu has her session during homeroom, then Satou, Kamakiri, and then Midoriya."

"I guess homeroom is going to be self study, then." Todoroki stated, "I don't think Aizawa-sensei will teach anything while students keep coming in and out of the classrooms."

"Fair point. We can finish the homework that Midnight-sensei had just set." Iida nodded, before turning to Midoriya, "Do you think you'll be okay with a stranger in the room? We can go with you to tell Aizawa-sensei or Nezu-sensei if you won't be comfortable."

Midoriya stared at his water, before looking up at Iida, signing, "I'll be fine."

He didn't know Inui that well either, he was as untrustworthy as these supposed new strangers, even if they were heroes. It was just another useless counselling session anyways, right? He didn't need help, or saving; they couldn't help him anyways; it was just a huge waste of time.

"You sure?" Shinsou asked, and MIdoriya just glanced at him in mild annoyance.

Midoriya closed the door gently behind him, before settling down on the chair. Inui was sitting in the corner of the room with a notepad, while there were two men sitting where Inui usually sat. One was a man with long black hair tied up neatly in a ponytail, and the other saw sitting with his arms crossed, with short white hair.

"Welcome. I go by Kyoken, and this is my colleague, Nanji. These are our hero names, not our real names, obviously. Hound Dog invited us to possibly help out with the aftermath of the… of that incident." The black haired man paused, "Now, I'm just going to confirm some things with you. Just simple yes and no questions. Are you okay with that?"

Midoriya nodded hesitantly, and Kyoken clapped his hands together, "Great. Okay, your name is Midoriya Izuku, right?"

He nodded.

"Age 15?"

Another nod.

"You were involved in that incident directly, weren't you?"

Kyoken got another nod in reply.

"And you were the one that… ended up in the hospital for quite some time?"

Midoriya nodded again, and Kyoken closed his notebook, "Alright. We're just going to be checking your current mental state, alright?"

Midoriya tilted his head slightly, and Kyoken explained, "My quirk allows me to feel your mental state, and what you're feeling through physical contact. I won't be sieving through your memories; my quirk doesn't let me do that."

Midoriya eyed Nanji, and Kyoken spoke up again, "His quirk just calms people in the general vicinity down. We're not going to harm you, nor do we have the ability to do so. Is that alright?"

They watched as the green haired boy considered Kyoken's words, before he nodded.

Inui heaved an internal sigh of relief. At least, Midoriya was trying to be cooperative, even if he was still taking quite some time to consider his choices.

"Excellent. Now, can you place your arm on the table? Just relax." Kyoken ordered, and Midoriya did as he was told. Kyoken opened Midoriya's palm, taking note that MIdoriya was trying to stifle a flinch as he did so. The hero closed his eyes, and activated his quirk.

Almost immediately, his head was empty, cold, desolate, until it was suddenly filled with intense, white hot flashes of pain. He could see fire, and his arms felt like they were on fire. His chest was aching, his arms were as heavy as lead, he felt like his body was constantly being ripped apart and put back together.

"You might as well take a swan dive off a roof and wish you were born with a quirk in your next life, loser!"

Angry thoughts swam around in his head, haunting him from the inside out. He felt like he was on fire, he was burning, as pain flared through his veins like acid. His head was blasted with pain, like someone had cracked his skull open with a sledgehammer, and was pounding the insides over and over again. He no longer knew if they were Midoriya's thoughts or his own; he just knew that everything hurt.

"You quirkless fuckers are just defects! Leave everyone alone, you vermin! Go and die like the rest of your useless, worthless kind!"

His brain was flooded with emotions. Anger, despair, sorrow, sadness, guilt, hatred, worthlessness, self-loathing; all the negative thoughts and emotions swirling around haphazardly. He couldn't think anymore; he could only feel pain.

"You useless Deku! Just go kill yourself already!"

His body shook as he desperately tried to process everything that was going on; the cacophony of voices all around him, spewing nast words at him, the pain that flared throughout his body, the panic and fear rising up out of nowhere, the intense anger and hatred that lingered throughout his entire being. When he first saw Midoriya, he didn't know what to expect. Maybe emptiness, maybe something else.

But not this. He wasn't expecting this at all.

He felt the inner turmoil that Midoriya felt. He felt like his mind was being broken, shattered, torn apart from the inside out. He felt like he was being ripped open and put back together like a mangled toy, over and over again.

He heard a voice viciously snarling from the back of his mind, conjuring up dark and foreboding thoughts.

"They're all right! The only thing you can do right is hurt people! They died for you! They got hurt because of you! You're just worthless and useless!"

Midoriya didn't know what was going on.

One minute, Kyoken was calm, collected, and was lighting touching his palm with the tips of his fingers. The next, the hero was shaking, hunching over on the table, clenching his fists tightly, cold sweat appearing on his forehead.

Midoriya sat perfectly still as Kyoken grabbed his hand harshly; he didn't know what else to do. He stifled a grimace as the hero gripped his hand tighter. He felt like Kyoken would end up breaking his hand all over again; Shuzenji would definitely not appreciate that.

Nanji looked at his colleague worriedly. His quirk dampened emotions and feelings just so that he wouldn't be overwhelmed; this shouldn't be happening at all. It had to be Midoriya's doing, a quirk, or something. He put his hand on Kyoken's shoulder, trying to calm him down.

Inui turned to Nanji, "What's going on!?"

"I'm not sure… to be honest." Nanji replied, turning to glance at Midoriya warily.

Midoriya looked up at Nanji in mild panic. He had absolutely no idea what was going on, and the usual comforting presence of Reiko and Ryuto weren't around; Reiko was in Nezu's office and Ryuto was interested in that toy cockatoo on Yamada's desk. They didn't want the heroes to think that Midoriya was getting special privileges.

Kyoken shook violently, and let out a pained screech.

"They're all right! The only thing you can do right is hurt people! They died for you! They got hurt because of you! You're just worthless and useless!"

Midoriya yanked his arm out of Kyoken's grasp harshly, stumbling backwards, unsure of what to do next. Nanji almost immediately turned his attention to his colleague, placing his hand on Kyoken's shoulder, a small glow emitting as he activated his quirk.

He remembered his mother screaming in pain as she was burnt alive.

Midoriya took a step back.

He saw fire all around him. He could smell gasoline and burning bodies. He could feel the shortness of breath, the hazy smoke all around him, the weakness in his limbs, the tears pouring down his face as he cried and screamed for his parents.

"Go be… the hero… that we all believed that you could be…"

Hero? What hero? He was useless; he couldn't be a damned hero.

Midoriya backed towards the door, and Inui stood up, "Midoriya, please, calm down -"

He didn't even get to finish his statement, before Midoriya took a sharp intake of breath and ripped open the door. He ran out of the room, startling Ectoplasm and Kayama, who were in the staff room.

"Midoriya?" Kayama asked, turning around, "Was he the one that screeched?"

"No." Inui replied, "I'm going to go stop him."

"Stop it. Going after him won't help." Nezu ordered, opening the door to his office. Reiko slinked out of his office like a bullet, bolting after Midoriya, as Ryuto looked up from his spot on the table. He hopped off the table, but Kayama caught him in time, "You can't fly yet. Be patient."

"I'll find him later. Give him a second to cool down." Nezu stated.

Kyoken's breathing slowed, desperately trying to suck oxygen into his lungs.

"Kyo? You okay there, buddy? Was that his quirk or something?" Nanji asked, helping Kyoken up, leading him out of the room to get some fresh air.

"Huh?" Ectoplasm asked, confused, "What happened?"

"He didn't … do anything." Kyoken panted heavily, "So many emotions… so much pain… "

Nanji looked at him in confusion, "But your quirk… it's supposed to dampen them!"

"Exactly." Kyoken nodded, rubbing his arms; he could still feel the phantom ache that seeped into his bones, "His broken sense of self worth, his anger and hatred, all his pain. There's so much pain, but he's grown used to it, and they only grow stronger with time, festering, only getting worse. He's hiding everything behind a mask; a mask that grows stronger, trapping all his thoughts and emotions inside. He's been broken and abused by everything and everyone around him, he's shattered, breaking down inside, but he pushes everything away; he can't trust anyone, he thinks that he can't be saved, that all this is a waste of time. And that's not even the worst part."

Nezu's gaze hardened, "What can be worse than that?"

"The only reason he hasn't fully snapped is because he believes he deserves it. He fully believes that he's worthless and useless and doesn't deserve to live. It's terrifying, a child so young having to suffer so much before he's even given a chance to live his life, believing that he doesn't deserve anything at all."

Nezu looked up at Kyoken worriedly. He already knew that Midoriya was messed up inside, but he didn't think that it would be that bad. Aldera had screwed him up inside, sure, but just bullying and suicide baiting couldn't have shattered him that badly, could it?

Plus, from the records they had seen, Midoriya was already broken before he had entered Aldera; emotionless, non-responsive, letting himself get pushed around, giving up.

That left his former foster mother and his elementary school. Once Aldera goes up in flames, Nezu was going to turn his attention to the damned elementary school.

"This is only a fraction of his pain, and it's already horrible and terrifying. How much pain does he truly feel? And he's completely numb to it." Kyoken shook his head, "You guys have to help him."

"We know." Nezu snapped, "Everyone who did this to Izuku aren't going to get away with it. I'm going to go find him now."