"Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule." Tsukauchi stated, sitting down on the couch in Nezu's office, "How's Midoriya? Recovering well?"
"Well… he's been doing fine. Recovery Girl just let him go back to training yesterday… but he overexerted himself. She's letting him continue training, but she wants to keep an eye on him while he does so." Nezu replied, "So… what's the bad news?"
"Due to the Kamino incident and all the coverage it's gotten, not to mention the loss of the Symbol of Peace, Endeavor as the new Number One hero, and the Nomus… the Hero Commission has pushed the date of the Provisional License Exam back by a month." Tsukauchi started, "And now that people are starting to talk about Midoriya as being quirkless… things have gotten complicated."
"How so?" Nezu frowned.
"As you know… Midoriya being quirkless, yet still winning the Sports Festival, and becoming the target of a villain whose quirk is taking quirks from other people; all of this makes him an anomaly in the eyes of the hero commission. An anomaly, that they cannot be controlled by any… normal conventions." Tsukauchi continued, "Midoriya's quirklessness has also sparked heated discussions all over about how strong the heroes currently are. The public is under the assumption that the heroes have somehow become weaker, by the fact that Midoriya had easily beaten students like Bakugou and Todoroki, and this fear was only amplified by the fall of All Might. The Hero Commission understands your decision to allow Midoriya to enter the Hero Course; the defeat of the League had painted a target on his back, but back then, his quirkless status was unknown."
"I know this already. Get to the point." Nezu growled. He knew he was being unfair to Tsukauchi; it wasn't the poor man's fault that he was being the messenger in this scenario. But this was going in a direction that Nezu was despising.
"The Hero Commission wants to pull Midoriya out of the Hero Course." Tsukauchi dryly stated.
The room was so silent that one could hear a pin drop.
"Excuse me, what?" Nezu hissed, "They can't just do that!"
Tsukauchi nodded solemnly, "In normal cases, yes. But Midoriya's case is no normal case. The fact is that Midoriya, being quirkless, is making heroes, as a whole, look weak. The Hero Commission is aware of that. I'm sure you know that this year, after the preliminary round of the Provisional License Exam, those who fail the second found can still go through another round of remedial, and they'll have another chance to get their licenses in the same year. Midoriya… unfortunately… won't get another chance."
"What do you mean?" Nezu snarled. He definitely wasn't liking where this was going.
"Midoriya's got only once chance to prove that he can be a hero." Tsukauchi finished, "He has to pass both rounds, or the Hero Commission will be removing him from the Heroics Course permanently. He can't take anymore lessons, he can't go for the exams. That's it. They wanted to pull him out immediately, but I've managed to convince them to give him a chance based on his actions during the Kamino Incident... not to mention that Gang Orca, Ryukyu and Jeanist weren't too happy when they heard about it."
Midoriya watched.
And analyzed.
He kept his eyes glued onto the fight, watching as Todoroki froze Sero, watching as Uraraka tried to evade Shoji's attempts to grab onto her, watching as Shinsou tangled Iida up in his capture weapon.
Analyze everything. That's the only reason why they want you here, why those heroes wanted to save you in the first place; information.
Scenarios and quirk usages and quirk laws flashed through Midoriya's mind, the boy trying his best to compartmentalize everything to the best of his ability as he scrawled messily in a spare notebook.
"Midoriya… and Bakugou." Aizawa stated, and Midoriya snapped out his analyzing stupor, before making his way into the box, where Bakugou was already waiting and ready to fight.
Bakugou usually starts off with a right hook, and he knows that I know that, so he could go as per normal and use a right hook, or start off with something else, or use a right hook as a feint to –
He didn't even hear Aizawa call the fight, and barely reacted as Bakugou's right fist nearly made contact with his face.
He started off with a right hook, he could blast himself forwards with an explosion, or follow up with a kick –
Information started clouding Midoriya's mind, as he desperately tried to defend himself against Bakugou's relentless assault.
He's going to use his explosion on his right hand to propel him forward –
"You worthless Deku."
His train of thought was constantly getting disrupted as Bakugou lashed out, barely giving him enough time to react to block or dodge.
Left hook, then right knee, then –
In a moment of instinct, Midoriya jumped up as Bakugou's leg swept under him, and Midoriya kicked Bakugou in the chin. Bakugou grinned, explosions dancing on his palms, before he shot forward.
Right hook –
"Useless freak of nature."
Midoriya hastily evaded a kick to the gut.
Left knee, he's going to kick –
"He's weak and worthless!"
The green haired boy barely managed to dodge a punch to the face.
He's going to use an explosion, or maybe he could punch, or –
"Go and die like the rest of your useless, worthless kind!"
Midoriya's thoughts were disrupted yet again by an explosion to the face, and it didn't take more than a few more seconds for Bakugou to smack Midoriya into the ground, pinning him down, and Aizawa called the match.
"What the fuck is wrong with you!? Your movements are slow!" Bakugou spat, standing up, "This isn't a win. I refuse to count this as a win. You get back to full power, and then we'll fight again, got it!?"
"Bakugou, that is enough." Aizawa stated, and Bakugou growled, stomping out of the box, "Midoriya, are you alright?"
Midoriya nodded, as his thoughts swirled around in his mind, forcing Midoriya to try his best to organise his thoughts as Shinsou helped him up.
"...riya? Midoriya?"
Midoriya snapped to attention, realising that Shinsou was calling his name.
"You okay? You seem a bit... out of it."
Midoriya nodded, and settled down on a bench, not even keeping an eye on the next ongoing fight between Tokage and Shoda.
Aizaw looked at Midoriya worriedly. He had paired Bakugou and Midoriya up because while the blonde was vicious, he knew how to hold back, and wouldn't go overboard and hurt Midoriya like some of the others might would.
He recognised the expression in Midoriya's eyes whenever he was busy analysing people, and didn't think that of all the problems that Midoriya would have while trying to fight, it would be his skill in analysis that would be hindering him.
His instincts seemed to be on point, but he was thinking too much, and it was slowing him down in battle.
Granted, Shuzenji had only just declared that Midoriya was ready to go back to training for a couple of days, and the Provisional Licence exam had been pushed back, barely giving Midoriya enough time to get back in shape and ready to fight.
Aizawa kept an eye on the boy as he called the match between Hagakure and Ojiro.
He's just recovered. Give him some time.
"Hey, Midoriya!" Uraraka grinned, "Aizawa's given us permission to use the gym for quirk training after school! All Might's going to be supervising us, cause there's a meeting or something that he doesn't have to attend. Want to come?"
Useless.
Midoriya didn't want to train, if he was being honest with himself. There was just no point in doing so.
Train, don't train, the outcome was still the same; he would still be utterly useless.
Worthless.
He could never change the past.
And Yagi was going to be there?
The endless pit of guilt continued bubbling in Midoriya's stomach.
You didn't like him, you never liked him. Now, look, you KILLED the Symbol of Peace. Your preferences don't matter.
Maybe if you weren't so weak to have gotten kidnapped, All Might would still be able to do his job. Shinsou, Yaoyorozu, Uraraka, Iida and Todoroki wouldn't have to risk their lives for you. Pathetic.
"It's going to be today and tomorrow after school. You don't have to do anything if you don't want to, but if you want to just sit around, that's fine too. And – "
Breathe in.
"You useless child!"
Breathe out.
"Useless, quirkless scum!"
Leave me alone, please.
"Uh… he's not here anymore." Todoroki blankly stated, and Uraraka blinked, realizing that indeed, Midoriya had disappeared into thin air.
"Where did he go?" Iida asked, looking around, also just realizing that Midoriya had left.
Todoroki narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "That's exactly what he did when I talked to him after the Sports Festival."
He reached out, patting the walls, "He doesn't have a quirk… There must be a secret passageway somewhere…"
Shinsou shook his head, "Todoroki, why would there be a secret passageway embedded into the walls of a school that is clearly too small for even a cat to fit in?"
Todoroki glanced at him, "How else can Midoriya just disappear like that? He was right in front of us."
"Uh… Midoriya's gone?" Yaoyorozu asked, peering outside the classroom, "I swore that he was just here a minute ago…"
"He legitimately just turned around and just walked away." Dark Shadow offered, "Not sure why you guys didn't see him."
"Ok… first things first. How on earth did we not see him walk away?!" Uraraka nearly screeched.
It was harder and harder to stay calm during lessons.
Stupid emotions.
Midoriya tried to make himself as small as possible whenever Aizawa was around during homeroom lessons, and subtly shied away from his gaze whenever the Erasure Hero activated his quirk to shut the class up.
"He's quirkless. He doesn't deserve to live."
Midoriya could feel himself shaking whenever Yamada was in his classroom, talking loudly about synonyms and antonyms, the air literally reverberating around them as he spoke, even without the usage of his quirk.
"He doesn't deserve anything! He's just a useless waste of space!"
He froze up when Ectoplasm walked around the classroom, giving out their homework and assignments.
"Let me go, please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please, I'll be good, please, just let me out!"
He couldn't help himself from staring at Ishiyama murderously, averting his gaze whenever the Cement Hero looked in his direction.
He remembered his classmates yelling as the building they were in shook, debris of all shapes and sizes raining down on them as Todoroki hastily used his ice in an attempt to slow the collapse of the building.
Guilt and anger continued pooling in his stomach as Yagi rambled on and on about past heroes, or something or another.
You killed the Symbol of Peace, you pathetic child.
He could have killed Todoroki, Shinsou, Uraraka, Iida and Yaoyorozu if that stupid building collapsed on us! He nearly killed them as well!
And as much as he hated to admit it, Kayama was the one that scared him the most.
He absolutely detested anesthetics.
Hurts. Hurts so much.
His head was aching, it felt like it was going to split apart.
He could feel people around him talking, he could feel something cutting into his skin, but he couldn't see, he couldn't move at all.
All he could do was listen, and wait, as pain flared through his body.
"…skull… spine… broken… chest…"
I can't move, please, let me go!
He could feel something cool hovering mere millimeters from his skin.
"… rib fractures… a bit to the left…"
His veins felt like they were on fire as the cool metal dug into his flesh.
He wanted to scream, to cry for help, to just do something to get away.
But he couldn't move a single muscle, couldn't make a single sound.
Let me go, please.