The bell rang for school to finish and Izuku couldn't be more excited to get home. Maybe he'd be reinvited to that land and he could figure something else out about his quirk or maybe something about that big bony dragon that was in his head yesterday. Either way, the lad was nevertheless excited to go to sleep. Or maybe he'd get to go in a daydream like the first time.
"Hey, Deku we gotta teach you a lesson for that trick you pulled yesterday. I don't know how a quirkless loser like you moved so quickly, but you won't be getting away this time." It was one of the two kids that attached themselves to Bakugo and followed him around like a lost puppy. Izuku was about to open his mouth but before he could.
"Let's go dumbasses, we've got bigger fish to fry than the useless wonder here. It's so boring now, what's the fun of taking down a villain if they don't fight back." Katsuki glared at Izuku as he walked past. "Let's go to the arcade or something?" he didn't even kick Izuku's desk like he usually did, the same couldn't be said for his cronies however who both kicked the desk on the way through.
Izuku exhaled heavily before getting up, he supposed he would take what he could get. The only ones that were actively mean to him were those three. The rest just kind of ignored him and talked about him behind his back. He knew that it wouldn't change overnight but maybe with the boss taken care of the goons would shortly fall in line.
Izuku stood from his chair and headed out towards the front gate of the school where he agreed to meet MIna this morning. When he got there she was nowhere to be found. Maybe she just wasn't there yet, Izuku thought to himself. But he had a bad feeling in his stomach, he knew she was in trouble but how could he find her?
"Laas Yah Nir." the words throbbed in Izuku's head at a deafening volume. It wasn't his, or the scary bone dragon either. This voice was powerful and demanded respect, but it didn't feel bad.
"Laas Yah Nir." The voice played in his head again even louder, with more power than before. Izuku tried repeating the words. But something told him that this was something to say quietly.
"Laas Yah Nir." the whisper escaped from Izuku's mouth and for a split moment, he could see the essence of everybody around him. Searching for something that reminded him of his friend. He found her almost instantly. Surrounded by six other lights, she was scared. They weren't too far away he could get there in no time using Wuld.
Izuku turned into the park where there beneath a tree Mina sat slumped against a tree was Mina. surrounded by 6 girls he recognized from his class.
"How dare you hurt Bakugo you disgusting pig. A freak like you shouldn't even be in the same room as him. You'll infect him with your grossness." As the ring leader finished speaking the rest of the girls started raining in kicks upon the pink girl while giggling their heads off.
At the entrance of the park, Izuku stood dead still his hair had fallen in front of his eyes. There was a feeling welling up in him that he'd never felt before. Usually, in this situation, he'd feel the instinct to save whoever was in trouble but this time it was different. Izuku could only describe this feeling with one word.
Rage. Pure unrestricted anger. Two voices were having a massive argument in his head, the clutter from the voices only made the boy angrier. He couldn't clear his thoughts. They were deafening.
"AHHHHHHHHH, SHUT UP!" Izuku screamed at the top of his lungs, grabbing either side of his head. The voices fell silent but his anger didn't subside. Not even a little.
The girls' attention was pulled from Mina and they stopped kicking the poor girl. "Has the quirkless wonder come to help out his little girlfriend?" Ring leader teased. "What are you going to do Deku? You can't save anything. You're weak. Let's get him." The group of girls left Mina slumped against the tree and staring walking arrogantly towards the previously timid boy.
"This insult to the Dovah will not be let off easily" the friendlier of the two voices boomed in his head. "Repeat these words of power after me, Dovahkiin" Izuku decided to trust the voice in his head. The boy began to walk forward his hair still covering his eyes. His body felt like all the anger built up inside of him was going to explode out of him.
"Fo Krah Diin"
"FO KRAH DIIN." As Izuku finished speaking a cone of frost shot from his mouth freezing the girls' feet to the ground. The ice not busy freezing the girls formed a wall around them blocking their retreat and their access to Mina. Izuku recoiled a little, that Hurt. If it wasn't for the seething anger he was feeling he probably would have stopped.
The demeanor of his classmates changed rapidly. "M-Midoriya y-you're a r-reasonable guy we can talk this out, right?
Izuku's head snapped into a tilt revealing his eyes. The wide, soft green eyes that were usually in his skull head had been replaced with cold, unfeeling eyes that stared straight through them.
"I tried talking to guys for years. I was never good enough, was I? Not to borrow a pencil, not to be friends, I even had to do class group activities by myself." Izuku ranted his voice growing more and more hostile. "Over something that wasn't even my fault. What did I ever do to deserve this treatment? And now you hurt the only person that has shown me kindness for sticking up for me? No, the time for talking is over. You had that chance."
"Well said, Dovahkiin. Repeat after me, Yol Toor Shul." the friendly voice spoke to him
"We're sorry Midoriya, we won't do it anymore we promise." The ring leader of the girl tried to plead with him.
"I know you won't. YOL TOOR SHUL." a massive torrent of flame flew from his mouth and toward the girls who screamed in terror as the flames tore through the air towards them. They all closed their eyes and braced for the impact of the flames to hit them, but it never came the flame flew but a few inches above their heads. Melting the ice that attached them to the ground.
As Izuku finished the shout he started coughing before hacking up blood. His throat hurt like someone had forced razor blades down it. He needed water, he needed something to clear his throat it hurt so much.
All the girls bar the ringleader fled immediately. The girl in charge fell to her knees and clutched at her chest. She could have just died because it felt good to have a position of power over people. This was the first time she had been on this side of this situation. She hated it. The girl looked up in time to see Izuku spit out the last of the blood out of his mouth which only added to the intimidation factor.
Izuku locked eyes with the girl on her knees and began to slowly walk towards her before crouching just in front of her.
"Listen Gomi, forget about both me and Mina. if I find out you've touched her, or been involved with her being hurt." Izuku stared deep into her soul, the boy looked almost deranged. "I'll kill you." the blood tricking from the sides of the boys' mouth adding all the more weight to his words. Gomi sat on the cold grass shaking from both the temperature of the surface she was sitting on and from the pure fear the look he gave her instilled in her.
Izuku stood to his full height and ran off to check on his friend, as he got closer to Mina he could see the bruises forming. Shades of blue and purple littered parts of her body.
"Mina, I'm so sorry this has happened to you it's all my fault." Any anger he had in his body disappeared as he just wanted to make sure his friend was okay.
"How is this your fault? I hurt someone earlier today this is the punishment I get I guess." MIna said through her teeth still wincing at the tender spots on her body as she tried to sit up properly.
"Earlier today you, helped someone who didn't know how to help himself. I'd say that's pretty heroic if you ask me." Izuku gently put his hand on the girl's head. Mina Initially winced at the contact causing Izuku to pull his hand away. "Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed it was okay to touch you, I should have asked first"
Before Izuku could pull his hand all the way away Mina grabbed it and placed it back on her head. "I didn't hate it, I just didn't expect it is all."
Izuku sat next to the girl who moved to lean against him instead of the tree. Wincing as she did so. Izuku liked it when his mom played with his hair, maybe Mina liked it too. He began to move his hand gently back forth in her hair occasionally using his fingers to scratch her scalp. Which was met with an appreciative noise from MIna.
"Ina, I'm sorry you got hurt today." the girl stiffened both at the sound of Izuku's voice and the name he'd given her. Not noticing the slight change in the girl's posture Izuku continued. He turned his head to look straight into her eyes. "I promise that as long as I can still stand, you won't get hurt again.
"You really skipped trying to figure out a nickname for my last name and went straight for the first huh?" Mina teased the boy trying to cover up her own heart that was beating faster than she'd ever felt it go before. She did however look away from Izuku to hide her face.
"I'm sorry, I'll refrain from calling you that if you don't like it. Sorry."
"If you ever call me anything other than that, I'll stop being your friend straight away." Mina said with a joking tone, leaning into the boy a little more. "'Kay, Zuku."
Izuku smiled at the new nickname, He knew it was coming but it didn't make him any less happy to hear it. He looked over at the girl whose bruises were starting to form properly and Izuku started to panic a little. What if her parents took her out of his school? She got beaten up on her first day, and those girls weren't like Katsuki who was careful because he was smart. They didn't care at the time if they got caught they were sending a message.
Internally Izuku called out to the voice that had helped him earlier. Silence. He tried again. Nothing. The third time's the charm, right? The silence was quite possibly the quietest one yet. Defeated, Izuku exhaled deeply in frustration. Why did it have to be so one-sided? They could contact him whenever they wanted but he just had to wait. At least he learned two new shouts today and they seemed really strong too.
The fire breath one he said… wait what did he say, in his adrenaline and anger he had forgotten. That's fine at least he still had that ice breath which was… it was… Okay, no big deal he'd learn them properly soon, right?
"Hey, Zuku as nice as this is I just wanna go home. My whole body hurts and I just wanna lie down." Mina began to sit up properly no longer leaning against Izuku, who in turn removed his hand from her head and stood up. "I'm sorry we didn't get to play today. I was really excited about it as well."
"It's fine Ina, there's always tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and every day after that. So it's okay if we miss one day." Izuku extended his hand out to MIna, who was going to take any help standing she could get. "Can you walk okay?"
"I'm fine, I'm tougher than I look" MIna gave a big toothy grin to Izuku to emphasize her point. "But let's not rush too much yeah?" she joked eliciting a laugh then a cough from her new friend.
"Of course, let's go I'll walk you home."
the two walked side by side, Mina slightly ahead of Izuku as she was leading the way. They walked in silence for the most part, their feet falling at roughly the same speed. Looking at his surroundings Izuku noticed that they were getting closer and closer to his house. Did Mina live close to him? Or out past him?
"Hey Ina, how much further is it?" The boy asked.
"You're really pulling an are we there yet? You're the one who offered to walk me home, remember? I didn't ask you to." Mina crossed her arms and turned her head away pretending to be mad.
The two turned the corner onto the road that Izuku lived on and excitement welled inside of him. It was a long road though so Mina could still easily be a 10-15 minute walk from him. The two kept walking now side by side because Izuku knew they were going to be going straight for at least a little while.
"Ina do you live on this road?" Izuku couldn't wait however long it was going to take to get to her house to find out.
"If it's really that far you can just go home. It's not that big of a deal."
"No no, it's fine" Izuku replied as he smiled to himself, his hair blocking Mina's view of it however.
The two kept walking in a comfortable silence for approximately 10 more minutes before Mina stopped. "This is me."
Izuku burst out laughing, causing Mina to look at him very confused. A wide smile adorning hIs face. MIna was confused to say the least, but at the same time something hummed inside her. That smile, it needed to be protected at all costs.
"Zuku, are you okay? Why are you laughing so hard?"
"Mina I know this sounds weird, but could you walk to the other side of the road and read what name is on that mailbox?"
Still a little confused, Mina did as Izuku asked and walked across the road to read the mailbox. She arrived and was shocked by what she saw. 'Midoriya' written right there in black letters. Excitement welled in her and she let out a loud squeal of excitement.
"I was being a little pushy with my questions but I was excited. It's weird though I never saw that house go up for sale."
"This is my grandparents house, my parents work too much and can't look after me." Mina looked a little sad but as fast as it was there it was gone. "That's okay though, if they didn't work as much as they do I would never have met you." She let out a wide smile to emphasize her point.
"Ina, I should probably get back. I'm not usually late home. I can't tell my mom that I made a new friend today." Izuku ran into his house leaving Mina alone in the street.
She knew lying was bad, and she shouldn't do it, but it was just easier this way. She wanted people to be her friend because they wanted to, not out of pity. She knew Izuku wasn't like that, but the less people knew the better.
Mina unlocked the door to her grandparents house and walked inside. "I'm home!" She called out to no one in particular and not getting a response. She sighed to herself as she took off her shoes before entering. Her footsteps echoed through the house.
She sat down in front of a glass cabinet in the living room. Empty bar two ornate boxes accompanied by a matching photo frame. The photo showed a burly man with pink skin with his arm around a beautiful woman with long pink hair, between them smiled a younger Mina. This photo was about a year old and was the last photo taken of Mina's parents alive.
"Hey mom, hey dad. I started my new school today. It didn't go as badly as I thought it would. My homeroom teacher is really nice and she protects me from the mean kids. Even if she is a little mad at me for lying to her." Tears began to form in the corners of Mina's eyes. "I think I met my first proper friend today too, he didn't call me weird or a freak or anything. I think you guys would have really liked him. His name is Izuku, I hope he and I can be friends with him for a long time. He even saved me from a bunch of mean girls who were beating me up."
Mina wiped the remnants of tears from her eyes as she stood up.
"I haven't forgotten my promise to you guys either, in fact Zuku wants to be the same thing as me and with him by my side I know I can do it."
Mina walked from the living room into the dining room to see her grandmother sitting at the end of the dining table staring at the tv. Mina was sure that she wasn't even registering what was playing in front of her.
"Hey granny I'm home, how was your day?" Nothing. No response, she didn't even register that Mina was there. She then made her was to her final destination, her bed.
She slowly climbed the stairs, her bruising was really starting to hurt, the further she climbed the worse it got. She opened the door to her room and there it was in all its glory, her bed.
Mina changed into her pyjamas and collapsed into the soft wonderland, the cool of her sheets and blanket wonderful against her currently very sensitive skin. As she sunk into the mattress one thing was very obvious to Mina. Not even All Might himself could get her up. Mina smiled to herself thinking of All Might reminded her of Izuku. Who was the last person she thought about before sleep took her.