Chapter 28 : A New Bloom
Kukeiko is dead.
That's how that day ended. The villain had their fun and left - just like that - unpunished. Due to the events that just occured, the students of 1-A were sent home. The news of the U.A. student being killed by a villain were flooding the media and the once very high reputation of U.A. started to crack. Parents were worried whether the school staff was capable of protecting their children and the victim's parents, Inko and Hisashi Midoriya, wanted to sue the school. How could they have not protected their child? One of the school representatives?!
"It's U.A.'s fault!"
"My baby, my precious baby!"
"How can I let my child there? That girl could've been my daughter!"
"The death of the support course's representative student, Kukeiko Midoriya, shook the hearts of many. How does U.A. respond to this? And how will the school proceed in the future?"
Izuku turned off the television. The news could talk all day long about Kukeiko, but that won't bring her back.
"Kukeiko is dead. Kukeiko is dead! She won't come back! She's gone! It's my fault, damn it! She was there in front of me! I could've saved her if I wasn't a good-for-nothing! I just stood there! Of course I did! Of course I just sat there..."
Over and over... If only he were better, faster... He wanted to scream, take out his anger. His chest was tightening, his head was getting heavier and the world around him became a blur.
"I can't wait to see you on the T.V. one day, saving people left and right. DEKU, the new number 1 hero!"
"I've failed. I've failed in the worst way possible."
The apartment was empty. After his sister's death, Izuku's father came back from work and has been in a constant conflict with the school. The house would be empty all day, every day. During the night, the boy would hear his parents fighting, crying, or sometimes just plain silence.
"That's my All Might Junior!"
The silence was interupted by a knock on the door. Inko came inside the room where she found her son sitting by Kukeiko's bed. He wanted to be alone. He had to move on, but Kukeiko was one of the biggest reasons why he wanted to become a hero.
"Izuku, no matter what happens, promise me you'll go Plus Ultra!"
He felt something warm and soft embracing him. The sweet mother, now all in black, was hugging her son and crying. In this moment, it was hard to articulate any words and that hug calmed him down. His sister's hugs felt the same: warm and soft. They always made people feel happy and protected. With a smile on her face, she'd calm anyone down.
"Izuku... How... about we... take a walk at the beach? Just you and I.", said Izuku's loving mother as she was forcing herself to smile.
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Mei was standing in front of a beautiful mansion, holding a box. The girl took a breath in and out and pressed the doorbell. The door slightly opened, revealing a short girl with very long and straight black hair with white ends.
"Who is this?", asked the girl.
"I'm Mei Hatsume, a student from the Support Course of U.A.. I came here to give you the hero costume that..."
Mei froze.
"Hero costume...?"
'Don't lose your focus Mei!'
"You're... uh... um.. You're Amaya Hasegawa, aren't you?"
"Yes, and?", said the girl, showing herself from behind the door.
"Um.. I-You asked my friend.. K-Kukeiko Midoriya... to make you a hero costume after you have lost your sight."
"Who's at the door?", came an older woman, most likely Amaya's mother.
Mei took out from her coat's chest pocket a card and showed it to the mother.
"I'm a student at U.A.! Your daughter asked my friend a while ago to make her a hero costume to help with the loss of her sight."
The support hero's hand was shaking.
'Keep it together.'
"My apologies... Mei, was it?"
"Yes"
The two girls were now almost face to face and could see the faded colour of red from Amaya's eyes. She bowed and gestured with her hands.
"Come in."
"I'll be helping Amaya to get dressed. How about you go to the back yard? Just go straight ahead.", said the woman, pointing to the glass door that was a couple steps away from them while keeping one hand on Amaya's left shoulder.
The garden was beautiful, but also strangely filled with boulders of different sizes. Some where as big as half of the house, while others the size of a soccer ball. Not only that, but they all seemed to have been smoothly cut, if not perfectly. Maybe the family enjoyed having rocks as garden decor or maybe they enjoyed balancing rocks in their spare time. The sound of the glass door caught Mei's attention and got to see what Kukeiko was so passionately working on. Amaya was wearing a long sleeved, black, japanese inspired knee-length dress with soft pink flower patterns on the first layer of it which was paired with black stockings with golden japanese characters around the ankle area and black shoes. It was very hard to see this costume as one of a hero's.
"Let's see if this works!", said Amaya with a determined yet joyful look on her face.
"What do you mean by that?", Mei was about to ask, but was interupted as the girl started running and dashing in between, up and down and around the numerous rocks.
'So these rocks are for training...'
At some point she tripped and fell head first into the dirt. The mother hurried to help her get up, but she seemed to have done it by herself faster. With the energy of a toddler, Amaya, her face covered in dirt, ran up to Mei and said:
"Midoriya-chan did an amazing job in making this hero costume! It's so comfortable and elastic! And thanks to whatever she added, it's like I can see!"
"I'm happy to hear you like it! Kukeiko would have loved to hear that."
"She heard me alright."
Mei nervously laughed to that.
"Hey, would you give me your email adress?"
"What for?"
"Who knows when I'll need some upgrades to my costume. Midoriya told me a lot of great things about you!"
"Yes, but Kukeiko was much better than-"
"A- a- a! Nonsense! Don't belittle yourself! It won't do you any good!"
Mei started crying trying her best not to emit any sounds. If she made no sounds, maybe Amaya wouldn't notice. The girl instead got hugged by the hero.
"I'm sorry I can't be much help. I don't know what to say. But one thing I assure you is that it's going to be alright."
Mei remained quiet and continued crying in silence.
"I don't think an extra hug will do any bad.", said Amaya's mother, as the two started chuckling to which Mei would join them.
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.
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Monoma was calmly walking in a brand new black suit. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked towards the clear and blue sky.
"I should've thought that the day of her funeral would be a beautiful one."
He continued walking towards his destination and at some point, saw something familiar: that green short hair.
"Good morning, Midoriya!", said Monoma with a smile on his face. Izuku was the one who suffered the most from this aftermath so a smile shall make him feel a tad better.
"Good morning to you too,", said Izuku with a lower voice.
It was expected to be feeling down. Monoma is a student of 1-B and there was nothing he couldn't do. Maintaining a soft and reassuring smile shall lift everyone a little. Monoma never thought it was going to be this hard, but he could handle it. He also felt guilty for not being there for Kukeiko. He should've noticed something was off... He loved her, but despite that, he still failed to do the easy thing that was protecting her. Isn't that a hero's job? To protect the weak and defenseless?
There wasn't much of a conversation going on between the two boys, if there was any. The sun was shinning brightly and the breeze was soft and cool. Birds were chirping joyfully and everything around them was colourful. How could the day of a beloved's funeral be so bright and joyful? Was this Kukeiko's work to cheer them all? But that wasn't the only question that crossed his mind. The two arrived in front of the cemetery gates and were shocked to see the high number of people. Monoma looked at Izuku in shock.
"Most of them are the mothers of the children Kukeikp has taken care of.", said Izuku with a monotone voice.
That whole crowd that were standing before the cemetery's gates were all acquaintances of hers? Talk about being loved... Others were students from U.A, including staff.
Monoma looked around for a little longer to see a girl. A girl with medium-length pink hair in a black skirt, shirt and dark brown thin cardigan. She looked like the odd one out... standing far away from the crown and facing a large tree. Monoma walked up to her and stood alongside her. Mei continued looking at the bloomed tree where the birds were the only who did the talking. Silence stood between them.
Usually, silence was a bad sign. It came with feelings of uneasiness, fear and anxiety, just like it did with Kukeiko. The flowers of this world always end up wilting no matter how much beauty they had and had given to those around them.