Friday evening, 06:30 p.m.
Mineta was nowhere to be found, or cloaking himself in silence. Or both, perhaps. Either way, the spiral of self-isolation was taking a higher toll on the boy. From a younger age than anyone could tell, he had been cast aside. As time went by, his behavior deteriorated and he further withdrew onto himself. That couldn't last.
Eighteen students gathered in the living room for an emergency "disaster counsel", under Iida's and Yaoyorozu's supervision. The former did his best to enforce order and calm, all while reducing global agitation to a minimum. A hard task when responsibilities had to be borne.
"Shouldn't we be waiting by Mineta's bedroom door by now, until he either returns or let us in for a talk?"
"Yeah! We must be here for him."
"Is it even safe to let him brood on his own after what we've heard?"
The accusations against the Class Rep were thinly veiled. Whether it was neglect, crisis mismanagement or denial of reality, his classmates could not understand his decision to relocate the meeting of Class 1-A far away from Mineta. Was he trying to tone down a situation he had no control over? Covering up a foretold failure? Fear for the grape boy's life – and instinctive need to find a culprit for whoever's mistakes - didn't help them calm down.
"Everyone, please… I, Tenya Iida, Class 1-A Representative, understand that you're worried. But please, listen to me!" Iida started, his mouth wide-open to ensure he could shout at the top of his voice. "As you know it now, Mineta-kun has been through a very tough day. We all heard him pour his heart out. These horrible things he confided to Shinso Hitoshi were hard to hear, and are proof that something went terribly wrong between him and us. I don't know exactly if it as anything to do with the events of Wednesday night, but his head's full of self-destructive thoughts and mistaken beliefs that he is not welcome anymore among us, which are all the result of an unfortunate misapprehension and–"
"That's putting it mildly, Iida-kun!" Kaminari cried out. "I've never heard him speak so lowly of himself. It was so violent! It's like he thought we hated him and wanted him dead! Like he wanted himself dead! He's been suffering in silence all this time and we didn't see a damn thing!"
Kaminari was awfully nervous. This contagious state of mind quickly contaminated his surrounding classmates. Anxiety spread through the group, following the path of rumors and rising concerns, which soon saturated the area in a concert of anguished voices. One of them, Ojiro, temporarily put an end to the collective panic by getting back to the original issue.
"Why did we move here, anyway?" he said in a pragmatic but urging tone. "We're freaking out and showing concern about someone who's not even here."
"Because walls have ears." Kirishima supposed. "If we stay up there and Mineta actually locked himself up, he'll hear everything."
"Shouldn't he? We've been talking in his back for too long now!" Kaminari objected. "He needs real people in front of him – people like you, like us – to make sure he's okay and comfort him. If we are to clear up this misunderstanding, he needs to see us for real. We are his friends, not some invisible psychologist ghosts. No offense, Hagakure."
"Never mind…"
"I didn't feel his presence. He isn't up there."
They turned to face Jiro, as she left the stairs and joined them, gesticulating her elongated earlobes. Her steps were aggressive; not for anger-motivated reasons, but clearly because Mineta's whereabouts were leaving her flustered and unnerved. Even an "acquaintance" like him deserved her sensitive and empathetic side's involvement. She had listened in through Mineta's door, failing to hear the most minuscule vibrations or heartbeat.
"Which means he left." Midoriya deduced. "Do you think he ran away?"
Could it be possible? The questions went from one mind to the next, each pondering on the various possibilities and reasons. After all, Mineta had mentioned the inevitability of him getting thrown out of U.A. somehow or other.
"I hope not!" Iida feared. "This must remain between us. If Aizawa find out…"
"Let's forget about him and wait for Mineta's return here." Kaminari insisted.
"We need a strategy." Yaoyorozyu eventually spoke up.
Silence prevailed for a second. Dissident voices emerged, merging into mumbling as everyone pondered on what it was supposed to mean.
"A…strategy?"
"In the long term." Iida explained. "Mineta is suffering. Without wanting it, we might have hurt him even more. Therefore, it'd be a wise decision to think twice – and in advance - about what's going to be our next move. We must start over with him, without repeating our mistakes and making his case worse."
Murmurs rose again. Most students were now voicing concerns about whether it was a good idea to wait or no. Should heroes take action right away, Bakugo-style? Should they improvise on the spot, Midoriya-style? Or should they convene a special inquiry commission, Iida-style?
Yes! No! Last time was a disaster! Iida's wrong! Iida's right! Thank All Might, Mineta's not hearing us right now! He needs help, right now! But…
"'Sup, extras?"
Heads turned. Bakugo was back. Some of his classmates frowned upon his arrival, especially those who hadn't been made aware of Bakugo's true intentions, when he had deliberately stormed out of the classroom during Mineta and Shinso's duel.
"Look who's there…" Sero scornfully commented. "You caring 'bout other people, now?"
"Shut up!" Bakugo got instantly mad. "You'll more than happy to have people caring for you after I beat the living hell outta y–"
"Friendly as always."
Midoriya and Kirishima had to pull them apart before they come to blows. Weird and unexpected as could be, Bakugo kept a low profile, brooding apart from the group while Sero pouted in a corner. His half-closed eyes and whispering voice caught Midoriya's attention.
"I'll let you handle this, damn Deku. Enough hurt people for today."
Was it an implicit threat, or an implied reference to a specific person? Midoriya was amazed by his childhood friend's peaceful stance, and his gesture of goodwill – him not skinning someone who provoked him alive and eating him for dinner – in order for things to run smoothly.
"Wow! I-I don't know what to say, Ka–"
"Hurry before I change my mind!"
The green-haired hero waved his hands in his usual nervous way. I promise I'll make you stay that way more often, Kacchan. You too, Mineta-kun.
For the next minutes, they worked hard and together on their next plan of action. Iida took things back in hand. He recapitulated every bit of what Mineta had said, from first to last word, and made sure everyone understood things the same way. Not a single detail had to be missed.
"He feels terribly guilty."
"He fears he might be expelled, prosecuted and jailed."
"He forsook us because he thinks we forsook him…"
"We must help him, but will he still trust us?"
They were quick to bring it all out. Anxiety was eating away at them. Nevertheless, none had forgotten anything of the most significant revelations Mineta had made, which meant they all cared enough to not only hear what matter but, more importantly, listen and remember it.
Yes, help was still on the way. It was not too late.
"Good!" Iida said, rejoiced to see them so involved. "With all these things in mind, we should come up with a plan before diner. Once we're finished and Mineta shows up, I shall lead you to him. We're going to have it out, talk things through, apologize and reconcile. Tonight, we'll be eating together at Rush Lunch. All TWENTY of us. Food shall unite us as always."
"Finally, something we all agree on!" the class repeated in unison.
"Now…" Iida cleared his throat. "If you have a comment to make, something about Mineta you would like to clarify or a point to shed light on, raise your h–"
Everybody screamed at the same time. It was now beyond impossible to feel indifferent about the grape boy. There was no more appropriate time to confess one's mea culpa, and get ready for the final exam which Mineta would give as an examiner. Somehow. Worse than the School Festival! Yaoyorozu thought. Mineta is a love-it-or-hate-it type.
One of them, however, would not share the same enthusiasm. Whenever collective attention focused on Iida – overwhelming him – Asui evaded her classmates' vigilance and distanced herself from the group. Her tongue partly protruded out her mouth, like the frog hero lacked dampness.
"Where are you going, Tsu?" Uraraka noticed.
"Outside, Ochaco-chan. The air is too dry here. I will be back soon."
Her best friend remained skeptical. Why do your eyes look so wet?
Asui sat on a bench, right outside the building. Her foot swayed on the grass. It was night already. A timorous half-moon, and the pale light of a lamppost dissolved her figure under a veil of semidarkness.
The wide-mouthed frog hero was in deep anxiety. Thoughtful as she was, her mind drifted to that night, a few months ago, when she had been waiting in that very same place – up on her legs. At Ochaco's urgings, five of her closest friends had come out to meet with her. She had apologized for criticizing their plans to save Bakugo, mending their friendship in the process.
And she had cried. A lot, for someone of her kind.
This time, she was alone and didn't expect to see anybody. Her tense, contracted hands gripped her mobile phone like she was trying to evacuate her stress through it. Asui was expecting an important call, so vital that the moment she eventually got it, her shaky hands jolted in nervousness and she almost dropped the phone.
"Hey, big Sis'! What's up?" Samidare happily exclaimed.
"I'm fine, kero. What about you? Have you done your homework, today?"
"Yes, Miss! And I've done them well, Miss!"
Asui laughed at her little brother mockingly calling her a schoolteacher. She was more than glad to certify that basic, innocent humor still existed, hence making the world less of a gloomy place. Her lack of immediate reaction, in the form of words, got her brother preoccupied.
"You alright, sis?"
"Kero! Yes, of course! Don't worry if I don't talk too much. I'm tired tonight."
The naïve boy still had some growing-up to do before he could read between the lines. He would not become aware of her big sister's harrowing and sorrowful day anytime soon, and it was better that way. He believed her, much to her relief.
"We miss you, Tsu. When will you come back home?"
"I don't know yet, sweetie. I promise I'll do my best. "
She briefly marked a pause upon hearing the crackling of dry leaves, as she caught a glimpse of something moving inside a bush. The park vegetation was in full darkness. Probably an animal.
"You'll be the first to know when I get some free time to visit you." she promised her little brother. "How's Satsuki?"
"She's asleep already." Samidare said. "And I understand. You need time to work hard and become the greatest hero of all time!"
They exchanged a few more words, promises with no crossed fingers and terms of endearments. As bedtime approached for her young brother, she wished him good night and hung back. I miss you too…
Samidare admired her, and she loved him back just as much as she loved her sister and parents.
Mr. and Miss Asui were not what one could call "attending" family figures. They loved their children very much, always proud of them at all times and no matter what. But working a prolific career came at a high cost, counted in days away from home. In order to offset this affective void, Asui had promised herself her sibling would grow up to an emotionally-fulfilled life without knowing what the word "void" meant. From a young age, she had taken care of them, loved and protected them without counting overtime shifts.
Through them, she had learned about the sadness a heart could feel when separated from a loved one. Thankfully, her sibling could always count on her, and Asui could always count on herself. From this experience, she had grown a deep sense of family duty and responsibility.
She already was an adult in the body of a teenager, thus regarding most of her classmates like younger children. There are a thousand ways to be a kid. You can be happy or unhappy, but you never have a choice. No one can choose his own family and what he'll go through in his lifetime…
These gloomy, depressing thoughts were not the result of a random process. As she reflected on the sense of life itself, Mineta's picture resurfaced. And she saw him.
It was a familiar representation. On that same family portrait photo, hanging on the wall at her parents' house, the grape-haired boy was replacing her. He was alone. Her siblings and parents' presence faded like a dying memory, leaving a blank space in white. The boy had no family, in compliance with what he had told Shinso – and Asui in a roundabout way. Unlike her, Mineta was alone and forever meant to be. No one to call him on the phone and check on him. No one to look after him. No one to miss him. No one to wait for his return. No one, period.
Living a companionship-forsaken existence alone, without love…and without hugs. Without anyone doing something positive to and for him. What a cruel fate.
"Some people turned evil for less than that." she pondered upon the boy's less-than-ideal predicament. "One cannot just treat him a weak coward, unless he or she doesn't know him."
She ceased thinking and got her feet back on the ground for another brief moment. Something was scratching and crawling its way up a wall, but she still couldn't make it out. Probably a bird.
As she mulled over the different options she had, to put herself in Mineta's shoes, it soon proved impossible. Asui couldn't even picture a life without love, without support.
"That's not even humanly bearable, kero!"
"Are you talking on your own?"
Her best friend – and most trusted confidante – was out looking for her.
"I'm ok, Ochaco-chan. Just a bit…"
"…s-sad?"
"Tired."
Uraraka sat next to her on the bench. She had an exhaustive list of reasons why her friend was feeling down in mind – all related to a purple agitator. Asui's head tilted downward, disturbingly silent. Before her brown-haired classmate could further inquire about her wellbeing, the froggy hero took her by surprise, cut her off and stole her right to speak for a whole minute.
Asui compulsively mentioned a specific part of Mineta's confession to Shinso - about hugs and physical demonstrations of love virtually not existing in his life. By the horrified look in Asui's eyes, Uraraka could tell the Frog Hero was deeply saddened by Mineta's tragic backstory and how forbidden physical tenderness had been in his childhood. An ironic statement regarding someone who couldn't keep his hands to himself, equally fixated on touching other people's most intimate body parts. She was making an obsession out of it. As far as she knew Asui, something downright different could – and should have been on her mind at this instant.
"You look upset, Ochaco-chan. Did I say something wrong?"
"Of course not!" the Uravity Hero stuttered. "It's just…I was expecting something else. Like…there are so many explanations why a girl could feel distressed right now. Especially when you've known Mineta before today…"
Asui misinterpreted the sentence as a forced regression to her former victim role.
"Are you going to blame him again?" she reacted with quite an irritated voice. "Why would he be responsible for everything happening to me?"
With her typical, unsettling plain-spokenness, Asui's knee-jerk reaction sent shivers down Uraraka's spine.
"E-excuse me?"
The frog girl was on the defensive, as though she felt the urge to correct a wrong.
"It wasn't so hard, was it? All we had to do was opening our ears!" Asui said, a dash aggressively. "It's been days since Mineta isn't like himself anymore. Last Wednesday, he tried to apologize. Explicitly. He was as direct as can be. There was no way I could possibly get mistaken about his intentions…yet, I did! Kero! We all did! We were so mad that we dismissed him and refused to acknowledge his step forward. He was trying his best, but we ignored him."
"Tsuyu-chan, I–"
"There's no point in denying it. The entire school hates this boy. What Shinso said about him reflects what everybody thought of him. Nobody loves him in this class. How could we forgive and not reject him?"
A furrowed brow took shape on Urarake's face, cutting her eyes in irritated patterns. She disagreed. For all that, she was not fully convinced the doubts lurking deep inside around her own heart were nothing but an illusion. First and foremost, her eyebrows would protest for her. Asui didn't notice and pursued her outburst.
"We treated Mineta a liar, but the only liars, here and now, are you and me. Our classmates pretend that they'll just have to get upstairs for a tea chat with Mineta to reconcile, like they always liked him and it will be easy to remind him of that. That's illogical. Hypocrisy is stupid."
This time, Uraraka would not remain silent. Being labeled with such flaws was a severe blow to her morale. Why was Asui so mad? It was not acceptable at all.
"That's not fair, Tsu! How can you say that?"
The preventive scowl darkening Uraraka's face called out to Asui, reminding her that she could be downright creepy when she pushed it too far with her straightforward manners. The frog girl kindly placed a hand on Uraraka's shoulder. Shame painted her face red.
"Kero…I'm so sorry, Ochaco-chan."
Uraraka's smile returned, so did her hand covering Asui's.
"At least, I know what's on your mind now."
"It was not against you. To be honest, I also used to dislike Mineta because he was a hypocrite too. Now, I feel like things are reversing on a loop."
Talking about endless circles, Uraraka had a revelation. She couldn't help making a connection, between the misunderstanding that had misled her class regarding Mineta's true intentions, and how she and Asui were now at cross-purposes with each other. Uraraka had come to see her friend, thinking she felt bad about Mineta's sake. And Asui, wrongly interpreting her words, had thought Uraraka blamed her sadness on Mineta's past antics.
Misunderstandings. Always misunderstandings. A cycle going on and on, indeed.
"I have a question, Tsu-chan. Do you…feel guilty of Mineta's suffering?"
"Kero…not really." Asui admitted. "I have been a victim myself, and I get why people don't bother finding excuses or showing compassion for Mineta. What happened to him in his private life, whatever ordeals he's been through, is none of their concern. But I mostly blame myself for not taking the trouble to pull him back into line, when I still could."
Of all Class 1-A girls, Asui had been first to be groped, and first to punish the groper by nearly drowning him. It had not stopped him from doing it again, and she had not tried to stop him. She had failed her friends for not protecting him, and she felt like she had failed Mineta for not trying a different approach to talk him out of such lecherousness-driven manners. Tongue slaps, not working. Tongue slaps, not working. Loop. Loop. Loop.
"Why should you?" Uraraka huffily took her defense. "He's going to be an adult in, like, three years. You're not his mom!"
"It's true, Ochaco-chan. I'm not his mother. He never really had one, kero."
It sounded so much sadder, when said that way, that Uraraka was unable to contradict her.
"I have no intention of acting like his mother." Asui argued again. "But…I believe having an open-heart conversation to talk his misbehavior over, and put him back to his place in a more "diplomatic way", would have allowed us to start again on a sound basis and become good friends. Instead, we passively bore his antics and reacted on impulse. Tongue strikes, punches and blows on his head didn't stop him. Because he needed words."
Her last sentence proved a more useful example to assert Asui's point of view.
A few days following Uraraka's defeat against Bakugo at the Sports Festival, the gravity hero had received an email from a self-proclaimed fan. "This bad-mannered bastard deserves a good thrashing!"
Uraraka didn't know much about the explosive boy, except that he already had his fair share of maternal "beating" at home. It never had changed him for the best. How could someone like Mineta, with little to no social education instilled in him by a dysfunctional family, understand the "values" of a slap in the face?
A true hero, in principle, fought for what he thought was right, to the end and with no regard to obstacles or difficulty. Using violence, as a shortcut to rush through things, was making efforts to turn people better more useless.
Such expeditious methods were good for villains. I'm glad to have you as a friend, Tsu-chan! she proudly thought. With more honest people like you out there, we could save the world plenty of suffering.
The young, froggy human being always communicated through uprightness and trustworthiness. Sometimes, she crept people out, but it mostly worked to her advantage, as Asui suffered no hidden agenda. She could effectively combine the maturity of an adult – never losing her time indulging in frivolous preoccupations – with the benevolence of a pure-hearted child.
Uraraka couldn't have chosen a better friend. Had I not met you before, I'd never have had the courage to say the truth about my motivations to become a hero! she smiled at her. Making enough money to help my parents…by becoming a hero. A hero…who will help others. Others like Asui and Mineta. I need to help them!
Reinvigorated by this surge of optimism, she grabbed both of Asui's hands. Best friends had to support each other bilaterally. Her turn to return the favor had come.
"Listen, Tsu-chan…" she started confidently. "I don't know what are your relations to Mineta, or what you want to do with him. Whatever you choose, it's your decision and I respect that."
The froggy hero suddenly felt her skins and guts warm. What was Uraraka implying?
"Ochaco-chan…" she blushed. "It's not what you th–"
"…but you don't have to do it alone, right?" she asserted. "As your friend, I'm here to help. You can't carry the world on your shoulders, but she can make it lighter and better."
"Kero!" Asui shouted, more deeply moved.
"I know what awesome hero you are, Tsu! You care about everyone. Innocents, less-innocent…and "complicated" people like Mineta. You care for him, not just genuinely. You really do. No matter how many mistakes that boy made, you read through him and sensed that he was in pain. All these times we argued lately, either with him or between each other, you were always the most caring one. You stood for him, no matter what, even in the face of adversity. Even when everyone was against him. Ever when…you were mad at him. I could see it, Tsu. We all saw it! You are a sensitive, empathetic soul who deeply cares. And for that reason…I WILL help you."
She still had a long way to go. You are my honesty master, Tsu. And I'll remain your apprentice until…until I can confess my love for Midoriya. But let's put Mineta first, for now…
As they got back up at the same time, Asui's teary face mirrored her friend's. Both enthused by their respective appreciation of each other's views, it took the back of their hands intense efforts to wipe the liquid emotion streaming down.
Their friendship was coming out stronger than ever.
"Err…excuse me, ladies?" an abstemious voice called.
The startled girls turned to the elderly stranger whose voice they did not recognize, mildly frustrated by this interruption of a once-in-a-lifetime grace-filled moment. Ryo Inui, the "Hound Dog" Guidance Counselor in charge of security, was escorting him.
"Can we help you?" they struggled to keep their high-pitched voices neutral.
The old man looked sincerely sorry to be a nuisance. Since heroes couldn't afford to be viewed as cold-hearted by any public, both girls quickly warmed up to him to a tolerable level. This prompted him to continue with his story. They could not believe their ears.
"That could explain where he was all this time. He must have returned by now."
"But…how did you know him?" Asui asked the shop owner.
"I remember seeing him on TV, when he competed alongside you, young lady, during the Sports Festival." the kind man affirmed, as he pointed Asui out. "I knew that young man was from this school. He was very polite, but left so quickly that he forgot his change!"
He pulled a thousand-yen note out of his pocket, and handed it to the girls with both hands and an unpretentious bow.
"Here it is. Can I kindly ask you to give it back to him?"
"His change? What could he possibly be buying at this time of the day?" Uraracha wondered. "My apologies, sir. It's none of my buis–"
"A rope. He bought a rope, and a long one. I honestly don't know what he's planning to do with that!" he laughed heartily. "Who knows…maybe he wants to catch villains the good old Far West way? Some of 'em villain could use a good hangin'!"
The joke was lame, but forgivable coming from an old senior citizen. He cleared his throat, and bent down to pay the two heroes their due respect.
"Thank you very much for letting me in, young Heroes. I wish you a good night!"
They politely bowed in turn to salute him. Inui saw him out and he was gone in a snap of the finger. On their own again, the girl duo's peace of mind – barely reestablished after considerable efforts – completely fell apart. A powerful, yet dreadfully-bad feeling about what the man had just revealed was eating away at them.
What Mineta had previously said already felt like a bad day paid at full price. And now, this. They would never call it a day.
"We need to tell the others, kero…" Asui said, hardly keeping her cool.
"…before he does something stupid!" Uraraka concurred.
They hastily went back inside.
Discussions we going strong. Class 1-A now worked as a hero convention on communication skills. Peace talks were ongoing. People who had previously laid into each other - regarding what way they would handle Mineta's "un-banishment" - were now negotiating cease-fire, with much recourse to humble confessions about how they had always loved the grape boy, sort of.
"I remember goods times we've spent together…" Sero relived nostalgically. "At first glance, it appeared as he would never change. He was always the same flawed person. His inner demons had the upper hand; they were stronger than his will to change. But he DID want to change and…I failed to acknowledge it. "
"Me neither." Kirishima joined his confessions. "Mineta-kun was trying hard to turn his life around in one go. It was too much, too fast. He needed support, but we let him down when he found himself upside down. I feel bad."
"You got it!" Kaminari supported him. "I feel terrible too. As his closest friend, I naively thought I had seen it all and knew him like we had been best bros from birth…How wrong I was!"
"This unexpected desire to change created havoc for the entire class. We were not ready for this." Ojiro added.
"It shook him up so badly we didn't see how vulnerable he was. Tricky is the darkness of the heart when someone is in pain!" Fumikage dramatically lamented.
The objective of this meeting had changed. From a plan to save Mineta from himself, it had turned into group therapy. The students were confessing their mea culpa, relieving themselves of stress and acknowledging whatever guilt was on their minds. Most were still in a state of shock from Mineta's grim revelations. Clearing their hearts of guilty feelings was a required step, before they could actually open these same hearts to Mineta with a brand new conscience.
Everyone had the right to unburden and pour everything out. Even Bakugo's opinion was asked and he offered it the freestyle Bakugo way.
"This small assembly of crybabies makes me wanna puke. Look at yourselves; since when has Class 1-A become a rehabilitation clinic for PTSD veterans?"
Iida's chopping hands were back in action.
"Bakugo! How can you–"
"It's fucking ridiculous. I just can't stand how stupid you look right now. How can people acting like they're on a reality show set can call themselves heroes?"
His indecent comments offended his peers beyond limits, to the point that fear of the impulsive grenade boy with an unwashed mouth gave way to pure rage.
"You are absolutely NOT in a good position to blame anyone here, as it appears you really don't get a bloody thing about what's going on and how bad it is!" Kaminari yelled at him, tears in his eyes. "Of all of us, you're the only aggressive freak always insulting others for no fucking reason! Having a normal, respectful conversation is harder for you than flying off to the Moon. You just can't be bothered showing kindness to anyone here, much less to Mineta or people you think are just worthless and weak! You're so insensitive I wonder how a future villain could end up in a Hero Course! If you've got the tiniest bit of compassion in your heart – of which we've never seen the shadow of up to now – I think you just superbly killed it. Whatever was left of your initial ambitions to become a hero died with this obnoxious pack of shit you just threw up at our faces!"
The atmosphere was so strained that a majority of classmates – scattered before and behind him - assembled in combat position. Should he get angry, they were firmly resolved to show Bakugo what they were made of and how much he would soon regret his words. Kaminari was already loading up enough electricity to trigger a thunderstorm. Midoriya's One for All was on standby, at the ready in case things turned sour. Iida was also ready for battle, not even disposed to pick up on Kaminari's foul language as it was fully justifiable.
However, Bakugo's immediate actions took them all off-guard.
The grenade boy walked over to his Pikachu opponent as he was standing on guard. Hands in pockets, barely any signs of irritation visible and a neutral look that created more confusion among his peers. He stopped a meter away from Kaminari, casting a strange glance at him.
"I'm going to ask you to put that overloaded battery on hold and keep your mouth locked. Because right now, YOU are the one who doesn't get shit about anything. Every single one of you slow brainers is completely clueless!" he vociferated, yet in a calm, placid voice.
His finger accusingly designated people at random.
"Listen to yourselves. It's been like, what…two or three hours since Mineta got crap off his chest. And there you are, crying nonsense about someone who is not even here, and blurting out fine-sounding bullshit with forked tongues like lying politicians experts in doublespeak. You are losing time lamenting over problems you could have solved in a couple of seconds, by having this normal conversation you pretend I can't have with you. A conversation you never had with him, just because you are shitting yourselves and still believe he's a danger! You blamed him for making a move too late, but who's late now? You don't care about how painful it is to wait when you think the entire world hates you. You bunch of weakies just have consciences to clear, but his pain can go fuck itself. Talking about respect, huh? Blablabla. "I think you need to spend some time alone, Mineta!" Blablabla. "Stay in the shadow, Mineta!" Blablabla. You must be kidding…"
A deathly silence gripped hearts and muted vocal cords. Bakugo's dumbstruck audience was now mummified in terror. Especially Iida, whose own past words got stuck in his throat. The explosive student's finger turned around in circles, pointing at everyone and even himself.
"At the same time, you're failing to understand that you can't do that anymore. Time for talk is over, because it's an emergency!" he dramatically called out, mimic a radio conversation from thumb to forefinger. "Earth to heroes, do you copy? Just pick up the motherfucking phone and answer already! We have an emergency here!"
No one replied. They were far too shaken out of their skins to resist. Instead, they listened.
"Don't you bunch of half-witted morons get it? Mineta wasn't just pouring shit out of his heart. No…he was talking like someone who wanted to leave this fuckin' life! And it took a "future villain" like me for you to notice. Don't you fucking lecture me, ever again!"
Midoriya was first to grasp how seriously right he was – second only to Bakugo.
"Kacchan, I–"
"Instead of small-talking, why don't you just get off your asses, go upstairs, break that stupid door down, put him to safety by any means and THEN, only then, talk and cuddle some sweet comfort shit into him? Because, guess what, he's the ONE concerned! We should already be up there, or out looking for him. Who cares about what the class is thinking, what remorse is on your mind or how much you think you fucked up? It won't matter if all we can find in the end is a dead body! Therapy will come later. Right now, we don't give a fuck how you feel. Mineta's sake matters, no ours."
He was theoretically right. In his peers' perplexed looks, he was missing something.
"I'm stopping you here." Iida shouted. "Mineta is not in his bedroom. We checked already."
Unless they were.
"WAS!" Bakugo corrected him. "While you whiny pussies were giving each other free hugs, I went out for a walk. I heard some noise from behind the trees. I thought it was some kind of sneaky rodent trying to come to warm up inside, because its balls were frozen, but guess what I found when I tried to catch the lil' shit? A frigging decomposing ball! The imp's been quietly slipping through our fingers, and traveling back and forth in peace and quiet. He was heading for the dorm building, so he must have climbed back to his bedroom by now."
That was a shock. Ninja Mineta had yet to reveal his undisclosed talents. The students who were seated on the couches rigidly got up, like Todoroki had cast a spell on them, frozen to deep guilt as they were by the uselessness of so much time spent sitting passively while a tragedy unfolded. A crimson-haired student opened up his mouth.
"I hope Mineta will open this time. What if we talk to him and…things go nasty like last t–"
Kirishima's cheek turned the same color as his hair. Had he known a powerful slap was coming, he'd have activated his Quirk. A good lesson in being proactive.
"Never say "what if" again! This is for losers; what makes a real hero is that he always wins in the end, but it won't work in conditional tense!" Bakugo assertively ordered. "For fuck's sake…I can't believe you extras all made it to the Provisional Hero License and I failed! You want 'what ifs"? Well, hear this: "what if" you acted the same way during the second phase of the exam, when we had to save survivors of a disaster? Would you call a "meeting" far from them to debate about your insecurities, make sure everyone is ok with doing this job and wait until you feel fit to work…before actually rushing to their rescue? That's…so pathetic I want to clap my hands!"
So he did. Bakugo was himself surprised by how much he had learned about hero duty, and grown a sense of responsibility far surpassing his past selfishness since retaking the exam.
Kirishima shamelessly rejoiced, rubbing his cheek. One fistful worth of manliness in the face. Totally worth it!
Bakugo was dead-on. His speech was a heartfelt appeal, easily comparable to that night of dance performance planning, when he had galvanized his class's spirits and reminded them that stress reliever was not a hero's basic job. Preserving life was. Mineta did not need his friend to indulge or please him, but to save him for the sake of it. Bakugo was so right that admiration flourished on faces around him. Even, and first of all on Kaminari's face, downright grateful to Bakugo's adamant state of mind and ambitious character.
"That's so true I didn't realize it." Kaminari confessed more humbly. "I'm sorry, Bakugo-kun. For the things I just said."
Bakugo sighed haughtily, folding back his arm.
"I might be the true number 1 here, but for once, another hero will come first. You wanna be sorry? Say that again when Mineta's standing where I stand now, Captain Fryer. Don't know what he was doing outside, and I don't give a shit. If you losers want to talk to him, better be now."
"You…are right."
"Yes, he is!"
Bakugo turned his unsettled eyes to Asui as she joined the group, flattered to conclude that even the outside world ruled in his favor. Thank ya, Poker Mug.
The frog hero, and her accompanying gravity-wielding friend, seemed rather unnerved for a blank face. At each new breath, their alarmed faces further crumpled.
"Ya alright?" Ashido asked.
"We have to check on him, kero. Now!"
Stories were efficient ways to unite. Asui recounted the shop owner's version of Mineta's shopping spree, the Yen note still wiggling in her hand as a stream of air rushed in. Never had the tale of a piece of rope changed so many people's face traits, with such a negative effect.
"Let's go and find him!" Iida proclaimed. "Mineta had the courage to come to us and ask for forgiveness. It's our turn to do the same."
"And you better hurry."
A slender, pale-skinned man in black attire turned up out of the blue.
"Aizawa-sensei! What are you doing here?"
Meeting him so late in the evening, separated from his sleeping bag, smelled like an emergency.
"I was coming to hear your news. What Asui said isn't really what I hoped for; guess it's hero life. No rest for the brave. But as it is, you're not the only ones to notice your classmate's recent change of behavior. What kind of good hero wouldn't?"
Culpability returned on their faces, as they mistakably interpreted Aizawa's remark as blame.
"Don't look so glum. I did the same mistake. Thankfully, there is no such motive as "failing to notice one's pain" to expel someone. You all get to stay and reconcile. No choice for you."
As usual, his tendency to speak nonchalantly of otherwise serious issues – like he blithely lacked interest in human affairs – was passing him off as antipathetic. But his eyes burned the light of absolute urgency.
"Hurry now. I'd be very much annoyed if your classmate hurt himself. Bakugo's already on his way."
Indeed, the impulsive grenade boy was gone. Running in his footsteps, the entire class rushed toward the elevators. Behind them, Aizawa was about to follow. A voice called him.
"Shinso?" he was baffled to see the Class 1-C student inside the Height Alliance building.
Gone was the cold-hearted, sound-minded warrior looking to demand and take someone's spot in Class 1-A. Shinso looked terrified, angry, pissed off at himself, stabbed in the heart, gut-punched. A sheet of paper dangled in his clammy hands. It was a letter, with his own name on it.
"Don't do anything stupid, Ball Head!" Bakugo vociferated. "Or I'll kill you and smash you back to life!"
He knocked furiously on Mineta's door, without giving it a break. Despite his series of frenzied fist assaults, it failed to secure an answer and the unharmed obstacle scoffed off at him. Iida, Midoriya, Todoroki, Kirishima and Kaminari did their best, vainly.
Mineta had turned mute. For how long?
"Aizawa-sensei! We can't open the goddamn d–"
"Make room!"
The teacher's breathing rate was cut in half by gloomy premonitions. His anxious eyes glared angrily at the wretched door. He knocked in turn, demanding the grape boy to open up at once. Silence answered. For lack of better options, he activated his Quirk – in case a secret spell would block them off or strengthen the stoic door beyond its natural composition. His eyes reddened.
The door didn't move. Desperate situations called for drastic remedies
"Bakugo…" he drew the volatile boy's attention. "Do it again and fight for real, this time. I'll turn a deaf ear on vulgar language."
Finally, someone was valuing him seriously. This ill-fated door had managed to put up a challenge. As a recognition, Bakugo's victory would be earned by actual merit. It would be just like the germs in his mouth when he washed his teeth.
"Die, door! Blast Rush Turbo!"
The short-tempered boy propelled himself forward at great speed, hands in opposite direction emitting explosions. While almost flying off the ground, his hands switched position in mid-air – stretched forward and back to the frontline. His Explosion Quirk worked wonders and the door was blasted into burning pieces.
Todoroki had to freeze them mid-flight to avoid spark-related side effects. Unfortunately, the joy of triumphing efforts was short-lived. Where the fuck are you?
Mineta's bedroom was empty. Nobody on or below the bed, hidden inside the furniture, lying on the ground or stuck to any surface. The window was open. Aizawa rushed to it, hoping to come upon a tiny purple breakneck still hanging on the outside frontage of the dorms building like a lizard. As he sent his eyes scrutinizing them back and forth, all he could glimpse were the decomposing remains of sticky, purplish balls. These were still glued to the outside wall, forming a line that weaved down it all the way to the grassed floor, like a climbing plant used by an escaping prisoner.
Too late!
Defeat could be read in his eyes as he turned back to his students, instantly freezing them in horror. Never had they seen him so edgy since the League of Villains's latest assault. However soon, another vision from inside the hallway – an indigo mess with two legs - made their cold-blooded veins boil in an instant, as they weighed him up.
"You! What are you doing here?"
"Don't you come forward!"
Shinso had followed in the Class 1-A Supervisor's footsteps, all the way up to a place where around twenty individuals were already mourning a teen he had met for the first time the same day. Mostly hostile to his presence, Mineta's classmates were not so happy to come face to face with the one partly responsible for their friend's downfall.
"Shinso, you shouldn't be here." Midoriya came closer nevertheless, within reach of the "enemy".
The ill-at-ease Class 1-C student was standing still. For a short time, Midoriya's friends looked up and down stonily; their distrustful aura loomed over him like he was an intruder to be reckoned with. But something about him was not right.
"Wait! Are you crying?" Midoriya exclaimed. "What's wrong?"
The green-haired student covered his mouth as a reflex. Shinso's Quirk bore the blame.
However, the brainwashing student was in such a state of shock, so close to tears, that no answers could be extracted from him. His wordless, gestural language was enough. Midoriya's eyes stole a glance at the letter he carried, located at the hollow of his left arm's elbow. Shinso's right arm went up, but not for a friendly shake. In his raised hand was an item. Mineta's student card, slid under the door to Shinso's bedroom by an unknown passing shadow, moments before.
On the back of it, Mineta had left a message. "It's your turn now. Welcome to the game. I wish you good luck for the next shift."
And they understood. Mineta had run away, never to come back.
The following minutes were the longest ever, as Mineta's classmates were holding their breaths in dread and anticipation of what would next happen. Things were going too fast in their turn for the worst.
Asui was first to return to her bedroom, while her friends were still feeling the effects of surprise and screaming out loud in the hallways. Her stupefied glance plunged toward the ground, where her suspicions were confirmed.
Mineta had written her a letter as well, slipped in the gap under her door.
She quickly grabbed the sheet of paper and gazed long into each word set down on it. The moment after the last letter was recorded by her memory, earnest emotions gripped her heart and she cried. Not for long, just the time to become aware of how truly bad the chain of events was getting. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be over soon and others had the right to know.
Wiping her face, Asui got out again rapidly to break the horrible news to her classmates. First to react, her female friends hurried back into their own bedrooms, where they discovered individual letters for their attention.
In the one for Jiro, the boy regretted that she didn't use her Earphone Jacks to puncture his eyes and blind him as a punishment for his sins. Ashido, for her part, received a guarantee that she would never have to seduce him into doing anything in exchange for a harem. Yaoyorozu's letter contained apologies for his repeated ogling under the dress and touching crimes, and the small boy affirmed the high-sized girl no longer had to regard her own tallness as a flaw. Hagakure was made a promise: never would she feel insecure about going out in public and constantly peeped on, despite being invisible. And Uraraka could now be relieved of stress, as the boy swore that the incident when he had stolen her donut - after she bit into it - was not to happen ever again.
To their utter surprise, Mineta had abundantly mentioned details of their eavesdropped conversations. From this moment, things couldn't get any clearer. He heard us say hurting things about him. In the locker room, in the dorms, in the classroom! Asui realized with absolute horror. It prompted him to change, apologize to us, and we called him a liar. I am ashamed.
On the male side, the dorms 3rd floor was most privileged.
Kaminari had his own letter to read. Mainly about their past friendship, which the Electric Boy was sincerely invited to reconsider and rebuild with better persons. In the room next door, the Class Rep was the recipient of a letter addressed to the whole class on his behalf.
In it, the purple sheep alluded to the shame on heroes he felt responsible for bringing, and the subsequent drop in reputation U.A. had to bear. Never would he be able to fix it, and always would it be his burden. Mineta also thanked Sero for his friendship. Midoriya for his kindness and tolerance. Iida for his dedication to the class and opening Mineta's eyes the way he deserved. Bakugo for refraining from busting him hard and bad. Sato for putting up with him and striking up a conversation on the bus to the Summer Camp. Shoji for accepting and protecting him in his team during the Sports Festival.
And so on and on, for a full doubled-sided mea-culpa that hit very hard, and would tug at the toughest villain's heartstrings and make him emotional, curl up into a ball and cry.
Many years of doing things the wrong way with impunity had brought his reprieve to an end. Time had come to face his mistakes and pay for them. "Please forget about me and make a warm welcome to the one replacing me. Whoever he is."