For the first time the air in the dorms was rather icy. Nobody spoke and everyone looked to be on the offense, their shoulders were squared, muscles tensed, and their eyes were narrowed- no- trained on the stranger in their dorms. Toshinori had to admit, he liked watching the students try and play it off like they weren't on edge. They would cross their arms, sit on the floor, or lean against a wall, trying their hardest to act normal, but how could they act normal when one of their strongest classmates looked like she was ready to pass out?
Everyone had seen it: The moment Fujiwara had touched Izumi, she had a look of absolute abject horror etched on her face. It took all Toshinori had not to reach across and grab Fujiwara by his collar and demand to know what he had done to Izumi. He wished more than ever that he could use his muscled form and just use that as intimidation.
Toshinori looked over at Izumi and noticed she had started zoning out- no- she was dissociating, he could tell by her eyes. How it looked like they had lost their color as she stared off into nothing. Her mouth was moving frantically but nothing was coming out. She was silently muttering. Others obviously caught on to this, Ochaco being one of the first as she held onto Izumi in a tight hug. Ochaco was whispering softly into Izumi's ear as she was trying to get Izumi to come back to the present.
Todoroki stood in front of Izumi while he glowered at Fujiwara. Todoroki's teeth were gnashed while he looked ready to summon his quirk at a moment's notice.
Bakugo was currently cracking his neck and doing obvious stretches right there. He was getting ready for a fight.
"Math!" Kaminari's yell caused almost everyone to jump to stare at him with wide confused eyes. "Izu- 'Zumi! She said she'd help me with my math!"
'Young Kaminari, you're reading the room and getting her out of the situation. Good job.' Toshinori thought as Kaminari swiftly rushed to Izumi's side. When he went to touch her, she flinched. This caused Kaminari to let go of her.
Toshinori made a mental note of that. 'She's okay with girls touching her, but when males touch her she either flinches or, in Mineta's case, attacks them out of fear.' Toshinori's eyes narrowed as he focused back around to Fujiwara, who had now invested himself into his phone. 'What did you do to her?' Toshinori thought as he clenched his fists.
"Oh right, math! she said she'd help me too, right Deku?" Ochaco started to lead Izumi towards the elevators. Ochaco kept Izumi close to her side as she wrapped one of her arms around Izumi's shoulder and held onto Izumi's hand with her free hand. Kaminari respected Izumi, clearly, and he kept his hands off her, but kept her close, but not before shooting a glare Fujiwara's way.
"Y-Yeah. Me too…" Todoroki put a hand on Izumi's back as he started walking with the rest of them.
And just like that: Izumi was swept away to the elevator and out of sight.
The air seemed to become a little less tense, but the tension was still there. There was silence as all that could be heard was the elevator and once it was clear it was rising, Fujiwara finally spoke: "These dorms are rather cozy… I think I see why Young Midoriya keeps leaving home early to come back here. I mean I would!" Fujiwara gave an awkward laugh as he tried his hardest to lighten the mood. Nobody was laughing.
'What gives you the right to call her that?' Toshinori thought with disgust. Maybe it was because that's what he calls her, or maybe it was because he was already forming a hatred for Fujiwara. 'You may have fooled Inko, but you don't fool me.'
"Tough crowd." Fujiwara scoffed in irritation. While he looked back at his phone. "I mean. I just touch her and you all turn on me like a pack of wild dogs." He muttered in anger.
"No." Momo scoffed out in a surprise laugh. "We haven't 'turned on you' sir. You touched a classmate and she looked scared, so, as heroes in training, we're being cautious of you… there's a difference." Momo crossed her arms over her chest. Several other students nodded in agreement.
Fujiwara chuckled darkly at that. "No wonder that girl is such a brat."
'I'm going to punch him.' Toshinori decided then and there. He wasn't the only one to think that either. That did it though. If the students didn't hate him before they surely hated him now. There were several gasps and cries of anger and indignation from different students. "How dare you!?" Was the one most shouted.
Fujiwara felt the weight of his action in an instant as he jumped from Bakugo's angry explosions leaving the palms of his hands.
"Excuse me." Toshinori clenched his fists even tighter, so tight that he could feel his nails digging to his palms. "I will not stand here and have you talk ill of one of my students. Understood?"
Fujiwara looked ready to fight, but he quickly learned that it was best to keep his mouth shut and he obediently backed down. "Hey now, no need to get up in arms. I was just joking." He tried to backtrack.
"Dickwad." Bakugo huffed in anger first.
'Dickwad, indeed, Young Bakugo.' Toshinori decided. Whispers broke out amongst the class. None good from what Toshinori could pick up on. Fujiwara's face was trying to be blank, but Toshinori could see in his eyes. He was pissed. 'About what exactly? That his 'cool guy' persona didn't work with a bunch of Heroes?'
Toshinori didn't know and honestly, he couldn't think about it for long because the doors burst open in anger. "-We're leaving!" Inko roared in anger at Fujiwara. Her anger was off putting for all, most of all Bakugo who had actually jumped back in shock. She stormed inside the dorms, her shoulders squared and her eyes ablaze in rage.
"-We aren't done-" Aizawa came in after her.
"-No, we are! Fujiwara! Let's go!"
"Finally!" Fujiwara rolled his eyes and joined Inko's side.
"Where's Izumi-"
"Absolutely not-" Aizawa put his foot down as he got in front of Inko. "You aren't taking her with you."
"You can't stop me!" She pointed a finger in Aizawa's face.
Aizawa kept his cool. "Ms. Midoriya, I can and I will, when you allowed Izumi into the dorms you gave me rights over her safety. If I feel a student's safety is compromised then I have every right to ban them from anywhere I please, that includes your home."
Toshinori was honestly afraid Ms. Midoriya might have slapped him and he quickly stood by Aizawa's side. Inko looked like she was ready to square up, but she just clenched her fists in rage. "How dare you- how dare you!? Izumi is my child! My baby and you-"
"-This whole place is filled with assholes. Let's just go and not fight it." Fujiwara put his hands on Inko's shoulders and pulled her back.
"We're the assholes? Buddy, you touched Izumi and she looked ready to faint. We're just calling it as we see it." Bakugo growled, which earned him a glare from Aizawa.
"Stay out of it." Aizawa demanded simply while pointing at Bakugo to get him to quiet down.
"You're all reading too much into things-" Inko tried to fight it.
"-Ma'am, the fact that you aren't is the reason why I'm refusing to allow you to take Izumi home. I'm sorry, but my word is final. Until you're willing to sit down and discuss this serious issue with me, Izumi will be staying in the dorms."
Inko growled and turned abruptly. "You can't keep my daughter from me. And the fact that you would even suggest abuse is appalling! I'll be getting a lawyer..." Was all Inko said about it before storming out with Fujiwara not that far behind her.
The moment the door shut, the tension in the air dissipated. "Jesus Christ…" Aizawa shook his head. "Where is Midoriya?" He asked Toshinori.
"Her room. Ochaco, Todoroki, and Kaminari took her there."
Aizawa ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. "Good, good, I think the last thing she needed was to see that."
Meanwhile, it didn't take long for Izumi to just start to crack. They just stepped out of the elevator when she started crying. A sob was getting ready to escape her chest and she was trying her hardest to suppress it. "- Just a few more steps." Ochaco's voice registered to her right. In fact, Ochaco was constantly talking, whispering softly to her trying to get her to come back to them.
Kaminari was there too, as well as Todoroki, the three of them trying to rush her to the safety of her dorm room. Izumi's breath started to hitch rapidly.
"Hurry, hurry!" Someone had whispered urgently.
Izumi felt like a teapot on the verge of exploding. She was trying to hold the tears back for as long as she possibly could but it wouldn't be for too long now. A whine left her mouth and someone, not Ochaco, (maybe Todoroki?) wrapped their arms around her. "Sh, it's okay. We're almost there, just keep walking."
Her knees almost buckled from under her. 'What's wrong with me?' She thought as her mind swarmed.
Then…
She didn't really know.
She was crying, sobbing- no- wailing loudly on her dorm room floor with her friends all hugging her. She would gasp, sob, and then another lone wail would leave her mouth. "I'm- s-sorr-sorry! Izumi would cry out between breaths.
No one would let her go. All three of them kept her close to them and she wished she had three hands so she could hold each and every one of their hands. Izumi felt her cracks grow deeper and deeper with each and every wail that would leave her mouth.
"Dude, she's going to pass out if she keeps this up." Kaminari had said when she started gasping loudly between cries, sobs, and wails.
Izumi would have this moment where she would think 'I'm okay now. I'm fine.' and she would quiet down for a second; maybe two, but then she would inevitably start sobbing all over again. It was the worst of her crying fits by far and she only wished for Ms. Midnight to make her pass out.
"Get her some water." Todoroki suddenly demanded and someone, Izumi was sure it was Kaminari, jumped up and ran for her bathroom. Thank goodness, like most teenagers, Izumi had a bad habit of leaving cups in her room.
"Breathe, sweetheart, it's okay. You're safe…" Izumi felt nails on her back as Ochaco used the tips of her nails to rub small circles across her shoulders. "He can't hurt you here."
"Here." A glass was brought to her lips as Kaminari gently tipped the water into her mouth. Because of her sobbing and crying, the water instantly went down the wrong pipe and she started coughing it up. "Oh- shit! Sorry!"
"No-Not your fa-fault!" She wheezed between crying, coughing, and feeling like she was dying in general.
"Just try and calm down. Here, sit up." Todoroki wrapped his arms around Izumi and gently tried to pull her into a sitting up position so she wasn't almost face down on the floor. "There we go…" Todoroki took the glass from Kaminari and helped Izumi drink. "Deep breaths."
Izumi followed Todoroki's instructions and through her drinking she sucked in a slow deep breath through her nose. It did help her calm down as she chugged the water down and it allowed her to focus on breathing through her nose. 'In…. out… in… out…' She reminded herself how to breathe.
"There we go…" Todoroki took the water away from her mouth when it was gone.
"Tha-Thank you." She cried while she wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry. I kno-I know I'm no-not usually-"
"Don't apologize." Ochaco, who Izumi didn't even know left her side, came up to her with a rag and she handed it to Izumi. Izumi immediately blew her nose with it. "It's not your fault you had a panic attack."
" 'Zumi, you know… we have to ask. Not as heroes in training, but as your friends, what did that asshole do to you?" Maybe it was because Kaminari had been the one to ask, or maybe it was because she was just so exhausted but she felt her walls break. All the walls she had built leading to this moment crumbled and she felt completely and utterly raw and exposed.
She curled her legs up and pressed her knees to her chest, while she had her face in her knees. "How… how'd you guys figure out it was him?"
"The horror on your face when he touched you." Todoroki whispered.
"Same." Ochaco nodded to Todoroki.
"You told me not to call you 'Izu' because it made you uncomfortable and he called you 'Izu'. Oh and the look of horror as well. I think just about everybody saw it."
"Izumi. Please… let us help you!" Ochaco reached down and touched Izumi's arm. "That's all we want."
"Does he hit you when your mom is gone?" Todoroki inquired. "Is it that kind of abuse?"
Izumi bit her lip to stop it from wobbling. "Y-...you-you could say it's something like that."
All three of them turned angry. "I knew it. The moment I saw the bastard." Ochaco hissed while she clenched her fists.
Izumi felt emotion bubble up again and she started shaking her head vigorously. "N-no." She sobbed again. "It's- I- it's not fair!" She wailed out. "I was asleep!" She yelled in unjust anger. Then it clicked what she had said. Izumi swiftly put both of her hands over her mouth.
"You were… asleep?" Kaminari treaded carefully when he asked. He was on dangerous ice and he knew it, and it was clear that the others felt the same. "He snuck into your room and just struck you while you were out cold? That's…" Kaminari scoffed a little as he thought about it. It almost looked like he wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it sounded. "What did he just crawl into your bed and… uh..." Then the small chuckle he had died quickly in his throat. His eyes went wide, his skin started to pale. "... he… he-uh- he hit you while you were asleep? Or…"
All three pairs of eyes were on her. Izumi clamped her fingers around her mouth, digging her nails into the soft flesh around her lips.
"You were… asleep..." Ochaco started to pale while beads of sweat started to form around her face, her breath hitched and it almost looked like her eyes were getting ready to bulge out of her skull.
'No! No! Why did I open my mouth!?'
Todoroki looked lost for just a moment as he, like the others, was starting to place the pieces together. Then… it clicked. "I'm going to kill him." Todoroki finally said before turning towards the door. "I'll freeze him first then set his genitals on fucking fire-!" A small flame burst from his left shoulder, singeing his shirt for a second before he abruptly put it out.
Izumi found her footing and she quickly jumped and grabbed Todoroki from behind. "No-! No!" She tried to yank him back.
"Izumi-" Todoroki almost shoved her off. "You can't let him- what's gotten into you!?" He turned to face her. "If it were anyone else you'd want them arrested in a heartbeat-"
"He threatened my mom!" She all but wailed as she grasped onto Todoroki's shoulders.
"He raped you!" Todoroki fought back between clenched teeth.
"Hold up… I mean we don't know. Izumi didn't say he did or didn't-" Kaminari joined in but Izumi couldn't backtrack anymore. She knew what she had to do. She had to rip the bandaid off.
"His quirk is paralysis by touch." She told them. "Do I have to explain how I know that horrific detail?" She whispered.
"Shit, Izu- I mean 'Zumi. That's… oh my god.." Kaminari sat on her bed. "I can't imagine."
The last time Izumi saw Todoroki look so enraged was at the sports festival. That same anger and hatred he only saved for Endeavor was evident in his eyes. "I'm mauling him! There'll be nothing left-"
"I'm going to send that fucker flying!" Ochaco now got ready to join Todoroki.
"No! Neither of you!"
"Well, we aren't going to let him walk!" Ochaco hissed back at Izumi. "He's scum and we're going to make sure he knows it-"
"Please! Just listen to me!" Izumi reached her hands out and yanked them both back using black whip. This not only kept them away from the door but also kept them in place. Both of them protested.
"Oh crap-" Kaminari stiffened on the bed and Izumi turned her head around to look at him.
"Do I need to restrain you too?"
"N-No…"
"Good. Then all of you. Listen to me, please. I know you're mad. How do you think I feel?" She felt tears spring into her eyes again. "I was… I was asleep. I didn't have a chance to fight him! The coward got me when my guard was nonexistent. I want nothing more than to punch him so hard in his dick that it explodes! That being said. He's threatening my one and only family member! If something happened to my mom because of me-" Izumi squeezed her eyes shut as tears started to spill down her cheeks. "I'd never live with myself…" She then let go of her friends. "So… Please…"
" 'Zumi… maybe you should tell the teachers and they'll get your mother to safety before Fujiwara could hurt her." Kaminari whispered as he came up beside her.
"..." Izumi let out a shaky breath while she tried to wipe her tears away with her fingers. "I should… I know I should...but…"
"But?" Ochaco came up to her and gently grabbed her hands. "What's the issue? If you're scared to talk about it we can be there to help!"
"No… what if… what if they expel me from the hero course? I know it's so selfish-"
"Mr. Aizawa would never expel you for this!" Todoroki snarled at the mere idea of it.
"But I couldn't stop Fujiwara… if I couldn't stop him… and I got myself raped because of it- How can I ever call myself a hero!"
There was a second of silence between the three of them before Kaminari got up from Izumi's bed. "Izumi. I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, but you need this."
"Huh-" Before she could stop him, Kaminari clasped a hand on her shoulder and shocked her. It wasn't a high voltage shock, thankfully, maybe about a thousand volts at max. Still, it hurt. Izumi let out a small scream and pushed Kaminari away from her. "Have you lost your mind!?"
"No- clearly you needed a shock because you're crazy if you think Aizawa or any teacher is going to expel you for what happened to you. Izumi… that bastard that did this to you deserves to rot for what he did. The longer you delay this the longer he has to target someone else. What if… what if he gets a hold of, Momo, Jiro... or even Eri?"
Izumi grabbed Kaminari's wrist and gripped it hard. So hard that she felt the bones of his wrist creak under her hand. "Do not joke about that." she snarled at Kaminari.
Todoroki spoke next: "It's a possibility. He came here. Did he not? You had a panic attack and Mr. Aizawa was talking to your mom. You know Eri has a problem with running around the dorms. Him hurting Eri next is a big possibility."
Izumi felt like she was going to vomit. Her hand shook as she let go of Kaminari. 'I'll kill him myself if he touches a hair on Eri's head!' "Eri…" She wheezed out while she doubled over trying her hardest not to throw up.
Then… the worst thing could happen… happened.
"It's okay! I'm fine!" Izumi's closet was thrown open as Eri announced her presence. Eri ran to Izumi and grasped onto Izumi's shorts. "So, please! Stop crying! You're making me cry!" It was true, Eri's own eyes were teary and her cheeks were tear-stained.
Everyone in that room could only stare at the child in complete and total disbelief.
Izumi put her hands over her mouth. 'Eri heard everything' Despite Eri begging Izumi to not cry. Izumi just couldn't stop her tears from spilling out of her eyes and down her cheeks and hands.