CHAPTER 4: THE FIRST CONVERSATION PART 1

Iida froze, staring at me with a contemplative look on his face, his brows stitched together. "…Are you sure?" He finally asked, after a few moments of silence. "It's not a very pleasant story to tell…you seem to have forgotten the events of that day, and while I may have some questions about that…maybe, we should consider it a blessing."

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye; his lips were tightly pressed into a thin line. I rested the back of my head against the headboard. "Please Iida-kun, I need to know."

"But—"

"PLEASE GODDAMMIT…I need to know…ah…what the hell am I doing? Recovery Girl's going to murder me." In my hand lay the remains of right corner of the headboard. I raised my hand letting the splinters of wood drop to the floor.

The sound of someone gulping reached my ears.

I flashed an apologetic smile at Iida, bowing my head to him. "I'm sorry Iida-kun. I didn't mean to take out my frustration on you. You don't deserve it."

He gawped at me, before hurriedly shaking his head. "No, no, no! It's quite alright! I should be the one apologizing for trying to decided what's best for you without taking your feelings on the matter into account. PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"

"…Pfft! Hahaha!"

"Um, Midoriya-kun?"

"Hahaha! Y-yeah?"

"Would you mind telling me what's so funny?"

"No, it's just — gimme a sec." I said wiping the tears away from my eyes. "What are we doing?"

A look of realization dawned on his face. "Right." Iida said, his lips curled into a small smile, before it abruptly vanished. "…I'll tell you everything I know about what happened there." His eyes set with determination.

Taking my straightening my posture as a sign to begin, he opened his mouth to speak, "…"

Huh, that's strange, why can't I hear anything? His lips were definitely moving, but why weren't any words coming out of his mouth?

"Ugh!"

The room began to spin, as I was suddenly struck by a massive headache. My vision's growing darker, and darker…not good! I gotta stay up; I need to find out what happened at the USJ! Huh, why isn't my body...listening to me? I tried to open my mouth to say something, anything! But the muscles on my face refused to budge. No! I must—

"Midoriya-chan." I suddenly heard someone call out to me…it doesn't matter. Right now I need to…I need to…what was it that I was trying to do right now?

"Midoriya-chan."

There it is again. But it sounds…dull, like someone is trying to speak through water.

Water? Am I under water? An ocean of darkness?

"Midoriya-chan." The mysterious person calls my name once more. Except, this time, it sounds clearer, more distinct; a girl's voice?

From the darkness, a delicate, pearly white hand appeared. [Go to the light, my Fated One.] A different voice spoke, pointing towards something behind me.

The light?

I turned my head towards the direction the hand was pointing at, and a few feet away from me, stood a door of light. I took a step forward, but my foot felt heavy, like a weight had been attached to it.

I tried to look down to see what was holding me back, but that same hand cupped my chin. [Do not look Izuku. You must not look. Just keep walking.]

For some unknown reason, I felt like it was in my best interest to heed this unknown being's command.

Nodding my head to express that I understood, I did as the voice said. And it may have been my imagination, but as I stepped through the door, I thought I heard it say—

"Midoriya-chan."

"What?!" I said jumping up from my seat. Wait…seat? Was I sitting on a bus seat before? And why does my head feel like it's about to split open?! Cradling my head, I sat back down on my seat, involuntarily groaning in pain.

"Are you okay, kero? Should I call Aizawa-sensei over here?" Tsu…Asui-san concernedly asked from my side. A side of the blunt girl I rarely see. Hmm…where did that thought come from?

"Midoriya-chan?"

"Ah! N-no, y-you don't have to do that Asui-san! I'm fine! Totally fine!"

"SHUT UP YOU SHITTY NERD, YOU'RE TOO FUCKING LOUD!" Kacchan yelled from across the bus. I could feel my face reddening; ah, I'm so embarrassed. I should apologize to Asui and Kacchan for causing such a ruckus, "Shove it, dickhead."

WHAT DID I JUST SAY?! I'm so dead, I'm so dead, I'm so—

"HUH?!" There it is! Oh he looks so pissed, I can literally see the vein bulging on his forehead. As I thought, I should definitely apologize to him before the situation gets any worse. "I meant…exactly what I said asshole."

Mom…thank you for everything. Your son will be heading to where grandpa and grandma are now…

"Ha…HAHAHA. YOU'RE SO FUCKING DEAD DEKU!" He roared, lunging at me with his quirk activated on his right hand.

I subconsciously raised both my arms to cover my face, closing my eyes, but the pain I expected never came.

"It's okay Midoriya-chan, you can open your eyes now kero."

Following Asui's words, I found out the reason why Kacchan's attack had never hit me — at some point Uraraka had used her quirk to suspend him mid-air. Wow, he looks even more pissed if that's possible.

"You can let go of him now Uraraka." I turned my head towards Kirishima, who had positioned himself under Kaachan. "I got this covered!" He said, thumping his chest loudly.

I could vaguely hear Kaachan cursing and struggling in the background, but all the color in the world seemed to fade away as my gaze focused on Uraraka's miserable condition. And then it dawned to me that nothing had changed…I hadn't changed. Maybe it would have been better if I had listened to Kaachan and—

"Midoriya-chan." I looked down at my hand that Asui had taken ahold of. "You have that look on your face again — you're thinking bad thoughts again, aren't you?"

"…"

"I thought so." She mumbled, before bringing my hand up to her chest. "Can you hear it kero — my heartbeat?"

I stiffly nodded my head, unsure of where Asui was going with this.

She gently smiled at me. "It means that I'm alive…that should be fairly obvious right? Yet why is it that people, smart people, forget that it's only when you're alive that anything is possible…that you can still change for the better."

My eyes widened. "Asui-san I wasn't—"

"Don't lie to me!" Her shout echoed throughout the bus, gaining everyone's attention.

"Asui—"

"I don't care." She curtly replied. "Stop…stop trying to avoid this conversation." There was a slight quiver in her voice, her shoulders trembling. "O-only cowards take that route, and the Izuku Midoriya I know — the Izuku Midoriya who saved me and Uraraka-chan from the zero-pointer isn't a coward..."

I…what had I been thinking?

"Alright, that's enough." A gruff voice came from the front of the bus. We all turned our heads towards Aizawa-sensei, who stared back at us languidly. His gaze stopped on me for a moment, before flicking to Kaachan who had calmed down after all the commotion. "You pull a stunt like that again and I will expel you, Bakugo. Understood?"

Kacchan snorted, turning his head to the side.

"Good." He said, turning back to face the front of the bus. "We'll discuss some of your more immediate punishments after training. Midoriya, come here."

"I…"

"It's okay. You can go." Asui quietly told me, gently nudging me forward. I looked back at her; the untold words were reflecting back in her eyes.

Bowing my head slightly, I dragged my feet towards the front of the bus. The bus suddenly changed direction — the weight of this great, steel behemoth pulling me towards it as I half-heartedly grabbed the grab-handle to stabilize myself. All the while, I could feel the gazes of my classmates piercing through me. What had started as a joyful and boisterous event had lost all momentum: because of me.

My head hurt. Nothing makes any sense. I felt like I was being pulled in two different directions. Voices filling up my head—

"Midoriya."

"…huh?"

Peering at me curiously from his seat, "Are you okay, kid?" Aizawa-sensei asked.

"I—"

"Well, you look fine to me. You can go back now." He said, waving me off like I was some annoying fly.

Why even ask then? Utterly baffled, I made my way back to my seat. This day couldn't possibly get any worse, could it?

xxx

As the imposing structure of our destination came into view, some of the earlier excitement seemed to return.

Taking the lead, "Everyone! Disembark one by one in an orderly fashion!" Iida barked.

As expected of the class president.

I seriously have no idea why people voted for me back then, when Iida is obviously more suited for this role than I'll ever be. I'd be lying if I were to say I wasn't a little bit envious. How can he so confidently lead a group of high school boys and girls? Especially the girls? High school girls are scary!

"Am I really that scary, Deku-kun?" I heard a voice say from behind me.

"Ah! U-uraraka-san? W-why are you so close?"

Uraraka-san flashed a blinding smile, holding her right hand up in a v-sign. Why is she so cute? Wait, no! That's not important. How did she know what I was thinking? Is she: an esper?

"Um, I don't think I am. My quirk is Zero Gravity remember?"

Then how? My eyes widened as realization suddenly struck me. "Was I…"

Uraraka curtly nodded her head. "Mhm. Deku-kun was doing his mumbling thing."

"…" Somebody, kill me already.

I'll try to answer all the reviews in part 2 of chapter 4. Other than that, what did you guys think?