When an ear-piercing screech rang through the air, Aizawa wasn't too sure what to expect. He had given the students homeroom lesson as a free period since some of the students had counselling sessions, and it wasn't like he had anything to teach. He just wanted to sleep, dammit.

"What was that?" Uraraka asked, looking up from her worksheet.

"No idea. If I didn't know better, I would think that it was Kaminari." Shinsou admitted.

"Hey!" Kaminari whined indignantly.

"Stay here. I'm going to check. Iida and Yaoyorozu are in charge until I'm back." Aizawa sighed, slipping out of his yellow cocoon and walking out of the classroom. Inui's office, along with the staff room and Nezu's office, were a floor above his classroom's floor, and Aizawa internally groaned at the thought of having to climb stairs.

He reached the top of the stairs, before making his way to the staffroom.

Suddenly, a blur of green raced past him.

Aizawa whirled around, trying to figure out what just happened, "Midoriya?"

He heard a meow, and he looked at the ground just in time to see Reiko running past him, in the direction that Midoriya had headed.

Aizawa turned in the direction Midoriya had run in, and was just about to chase down the green haired boy when a voice called out, "Aizawa, don't."

Kayama poked out of the staffroom, and beckoned him inside, "Stuff happened. Give the kid some time to cool down. Nezu will go find him later."

"What happened?" Aizawa demanded, crossing his arms, glaring at Kyoken and Nanji, "Was it you two?"

He wouldn't admit it, but he might have developed a small soft spot got the broken child. He himself had suffered from quirk discrimination when he was younger, until he had problem himself in the UA first year sports festival. Plus, he had been the one to rescue Shinsou from his former household; Aizawa owed him for that.

"He overloaded my quirk and I might have freaked him out." Kyoken admitted, rubbing his arm nervously. He didn't know who Aizawa was, but he did not want to piss of an angry pro hero.

Aizawa narrowed his eyes, "As far as I know, one, you deal with military trauma and stuff like that. Two, your quirk is supposed to dampen the emotions that you felt from him. Mind explaining how he managed to overload it?"

Kyoken sighed, "There is a difference between normal abuse trauma and military trauma. In most cases, soldiers and fighters are at least somewhat aware of what they are getting into, and they have appropriate training to handle and deal with their circumstances. They're not jumping in blindly, they know what is and isn't normal."

Aizawa nodded grumpily.

"In Midoriya's case… at least, from what I can tell, he's had a lot of negative emotions festering since he was a child. He didn't know what he was getting into, and he slowly started accepting his negative circumstances at the norm and tried to get used to them." Kyoken continued, "But the more he got used to them… I'm guessing… the more he was hurt and bullied and abused by those around him. It's just a vicious cycle that continuously gets worse and worse, and his mentality just deteriorates exponentially the more he tries to hide his pain and suffering. He's not emotionless… like I originally thought. He's angry, guilty, sad, upset, and he can't trust the people around him. He just believes that people are going to harm him. But he just hides everything behind a mask and tries to act normal so he wouldn't influence other people, because he believes that he can only harm people. He didn't know beforehand what to expect, and it resulted in him growing up thinking that way."

Aizawa sighed, "This is a problem."

"We'll leave it at that for now." Nezu stated, "He trust me, at far as I know. He's giving his classmates a chance, according to Aizawa. We'll just take baby-steps for now. Nanji, Kyoken, thank you for your time."

"No problem… If you don't mind… keep me updated? I can't help but be worried about him, after what I ... felt." Kyoken asked, and Nezu nodded, "Sure. But we can't involve you, I think. Introducing strangers to him, who immediately freak out… It wasn't a good idea."

"Yeah… my bad…. I'm really sorry." Kyoken apologised.

Midoriya reached the staircase, and ran up two at a time.

His heart was racing; Kyoken's ear-piercing screech had triggered a painful flow of memories that threatened to overwhelm him. He couldn't see anything, his vision was hazy, blurry. He bit his lip, pivoting on his foot to run up another flight of stairs.

He finally reached the top, and he barged the door open with his shoulder, before racing out onto the rooftop. Midoriya raced to the edge, grabbing the railings with his hands, and tried to take a deep breath of air.

Midoriya was gripping the railing so tightly that his arms were shaking, his palms having turned white. He greedily sucked the cool air into his lungs, and looked down the few tens of floors.

The UA main building was tall, but it had never really registered to Midoriya how tall his school was. UA had around fifteen floors, and while Midoriya had jumped from much higher buildings before, he had never been up so high in the day.

He looked down at the ground, and bit his lip even harder.

It looked terrifying. How did he jump from even higher up?

Midoriya swallowed his saliva, before sinking to his knees, still grabbing onto the railing. Without thinking, his hand reached for the pocket knife that he always brought with him, and gingerly fished it out. In one swift, smooth movement, he rolled up the sleeve of his uniform, and stabbed himself in the forearm, the familiar mild, stinging sensation of the blade being buried in his flesh and cutting through his muscles snapped him out from his frenzied haze.

Midoriya took a final deep breath, before he flipped himself around, wearily leaning against the short wall of the rooftop. He stared at his bloodied arm, and sighed, dropping his pocket knife to the ground.

Why was he even in UA? UA was a prestigious school, meant to shape teens to be the best that they could in order to be ready for the real world. He couldn't help anyone; the only thing he was good at doing was destroy lives and hurt people. His parents died for him. Rikaku died because of him. Who else had to get hurt because of his mistakes, because of his mere existence, simply because he himself was a mistake that never should have happened?

Blood was starting to trickle down his arm, and Midoriya used his free hand to cover up his self-inflicted injury.

Breathe.

I can't breathe I can't breathe why can't I breathe?

Even if he didn't deserve to live, it wasn't like he had a choice; that damned quirk, that curse, prevented him from dying.

He never had a choice.

Reiko made her way to the staircase, and sniffed the ground. She perked up, before racing upwards.

She didn't know why, but she could generally sense anyone's presence in a three meter radius. She wasn't sure if her mother had that ability, but the other cats at the pet rescue center most certainly didn't.

Her human wasn't anywhere in her area, she could tell that much. The hallway they were in was deserted; everyone was having lessons.

But she had been with Izuku for so long that she could generally tell where he was. Combined with her sense of smell and gut feeling that tugged her along whenever she got closer to Izuku, it never took her too long to find her human.

She often saw people parading their animals around, showing them off like they were objects or something of the sort. She didn't like attention unless they were from people or animals she already knew, so Reiko was pretty glad that Midoriya wasn't like all the other weird people who dressed their animals up against their will. She had heard way too many dogs complaining that those little costumes that the humans made then wear were tight, scratchy, and hot.

Humans also call the animals "pets" or something like that. She didn't really like that term. The other animals at the shelter also said that she shouldn't call Midoriya "her human", and that they called the humans their owners or masters. Honestly, Reiko never really understood the appeal of that; Midoriya didn't own her, and she didn't own Midoriya. If Midoriya called her "his cat", then she was justified in calling him "her human". It honestly didn't even matter; they still cared about each other.

Reiko climbed up staircase after staircase, tracing Midoriya's scent. The teachers in the staff lounge were trustworthy, and would take of Ryuto in their absence; she knew that for sure. They wanted nothing more than to help Midoriya, though some of them were a bit slow when it came to his preferences.

Then there were his classmates from 1-A. The engine boy, gravity girl, the dual hair-coloured boy, fluffy haired guy and the animal speaker were really nice; if she remembered correctly, their names were Iida, Uraraka, Todoroki, Shinsou and Koda. The earplug girl and the one with the huge house were nice as well. The guy with the bird head, the frog girl, and the other one with many arms seemed decent, and she did like the pink skinned girl and the electric boy's enthusiasm; it just wasn't the right time for it. The rest of the class seemed okay as well; she just really hated the short purple orb-haired kid.

She hadn't interacted with the 1-B kids much, but they were decent enough, in her opinion. The blonde copycat was a bit annoying at times, but he was nice enough to Midoriya. The orange haired girl with big hands was okay, and that green haired kid with mandible-looking structures on his face was nice given that her human had kicked his butt twice already.

But Midoriya didn't know that. She knew that her human couldn't feel what she felt. She also understood why Midoriya didn't trust them; she had witnessed the abuse that her human had suffered under every single human that he had met before entering UA.

She wasn't very sure what Midoriya was like before he had broken, but she vaguely remembered a smiley, happy boy who chattered aimlessly about superpowers called quirks; she had been too young at the time.

She just wanted her human to be happy again; that was why she wanted him to go for the sleepover.

Reijo reached the top of the staircase, and slipped through the slightly open door. She found Midoriya slumped on the ground, leaning against the wall, using one hand to grab his other arm.

She smelt something metallic, and immediately identified it as blood. He must be having flashbacks of that day, the day his parents died; that was one of the few memories that haunted him to the point of self-mutilation to snap himself out of it.

She let out a meow, alerting Midoriya to her presence, before she slowly padded over to Midoriya's side. Midoriya looked up her, and she looked at his bloody arm, and leaned down to sniff it.

He was warm, but that was normal; her human was always very warm, even in winter, for some reason. She looked up at him, mewing sadly.

"I know, Rei." Midoriya whispered hoarsely, "I should... find another way... other than stabbing myself..."

Reiko meowed again, and Midoriya sighed, "Yeah... I should clean this up... Recovery Girl and Nezu aren't going to be happy to see this..."

Midoriya put his arm under the tap, trying to wash all the blood away. It was still bleeding, albeit much slower. He quickly grabbed some clean toilet paper from the bathroom cubicle and wrapped his arm up, with Reiko helping him hold the paper down as he did so.

It wasn't ideal, but it would have to do until Midoriya could get back to his room, he had bandages and could disinfect the wound properly.

Midoriya rolled his sleeves down, careful to not affect his makeshift toilet paper bandage, before exiting the bathroom. Lessons were still in session; he could hear various teachers assigning homework to their classes, and Midoriya made his way to the staircase, slowing making his way down to the floor where the teachers' lounge was.

He slid open the door to the room, and slipped in, careful to avoid making any noise whatsoever; he could see Kayama, Ectoplasm, and Yagi at their desks, marking a few papers.

Midoriya crept quietly to Nezu's office, and gently opened the door, slipping inside and closing the door behind him.

Ryuto, who was standing on the table by the couch, perked up, and chirped, flapping his wings as he did so.

Nezu looked up from his pacing, and heaved a huge sigh of relief, "You're alright! We were so worried when you ran off like that! We wanted to give you some alone time, before going to find you."

Nezu walked up to the boy, and led him to the couch, "Would you like something to drink?"

Midoriya shook his head wearily.

Reiko leapt up beside Midoriya, and Ryuto chirped from the table. He took a few steps backwards, before rushing forwards, wings outstretched. When he reached the edge of the table, he jumped, flapping his wings in an attempt to fly.

Midoriya nearly panicked as Ryuto dropped like a stone, and he reached out to catch the bird before he injured himself. Ryuto wiggled slightly in Midoriya's grasp, before pecking at Midoriya's sleeve and squacked.

"Do you... want to talk about it?" Nezu hesitantly asked.

As he expected, Midoriya shook his head. He sighed, "Alright, then. Just... remember... we just want to help you."

Nezu climbed up onto the couch, beside Midoriya, and leaned against the boy, wrapping his tail around Midoriya's arm, "Class will be ending soon. If you want, you can stay until everyone has left before retrieving your stuff from the classroom and heading back to the dorms."

The first thing Midoriya did when he reached the dorms was to disinfect his injury. He peeled the toilet paper off, dumping it into the toilet bowl, before swiftly grabbing the rubbing alcohol. He carefully poured the liquid over his wound, ignoring the stinging sensation, before wrapping his arm up tightly in bandages.

He inspected his handiwork, before deeming it good enough. Midoriya flushed the toilet, before washing his hands and making his way towards his room. He had homework, and he was going to finish it, before sleeping the rest of the day away.

Reiko sat on the bed sadly, watching as Midoriya slipped onto the chair by the desk. Ryuto waddled over to her, settling down by her side, before they both watched as Midoriya started on his science homework.

She jumped off the bed, before making her way to the balcony, while Ryuto kept an eye on both her and Midoriya.

Midoriya finally finished up his homework, before spotting Reiko. He put his work away, before walking to the balcony and slowly sitting down beside her.

"You okay, Rei?"

Reiko meowed, before jumping into Midoriya's lap and pawing at his shirt. Midoriya quickly scooped her up into his arms.

She sniffed the collar that Midoriya wore, before pressing her head against Midoriya's neck.

"I'm fine, Rei."

Reiko looked at him, unbelieving, and pushed her paw against Midoriya's cheek, mewing.

"Fine." Midoriya replied in slight exasperation, "I'm not fine, okay, Rei? But what else can we do?"

"If that isn't enough proof, then I have three more folders full of evidence for you... Yes... no. Do NOT get him involved with this! I told you before... no he DOES NOT have to testify, the security feeds are more than enough proof..."

Nezu paused, listening intently to what was being spoken on the other side, before growling. "No. I refuse. Take the evidence, and press charges. Aldera clearly does not know how to deal with this on their own... They hurt him. The teachers saw it, and turned a blind eye. They bullied him for absolutely no reason and the teacher's didn't care. This is physical and mental abuse! There's something wrong with the management of that school and I'm not going to let that school stand any longer!"

He paused again, "Quirk discrimination, yes. He's quirkless... No, you shut up! Do not tell me to just "chill". It doesn't matter that he's quirkless! There are a ton of laws that they broke, and I'm not going to let this go unpunished..."

Nezu snapped, "Okay, you shut up with your stupid "You can't discriminate against someone with no quirk" bullshit. He still has his rights! They hurt him to the point where he thinks it's normal... No, I'm not going to get him involved with this any further! This isn't a problem about him now, it's a problem about you and your attitude. I'm telling you to do your stupid job! That school deserves to burn in hell! I want to speak to your boss right now... yes... "

Nezu sighed as he heard a new voice over the phone, "Yes, thank you... Alright, thanks a lot. I'll leave the pressing of charges to you... I'll get Tsukauchi to deliver it when he comes over."

Nezu put the phone down in relief, and sank into his chair.

Stupid people.

But at the very least, Aldera was going down. Now, it was time for Midoriya's elementary school.