Chapter five - Lonely, Empty Vessel
Today was the day of opportunities! The day that middle schoolers were going to take a step further into the real world! A bright colorful world of-!
"Bullshit." said Izuku plainly. He was currently 'oversleeping'. Well, he wasn't actually sleeping. More like he was staring at nothing, spacing out or something useless like that. Izuku really did not care about his life anymore, but it wasn't yet to the extent that he was suicidal. No no no. That would be a waste of energy and could take a toll on the mental stability of his parents. He didn't want that to happen. He was just in a state of absolute impassiveness. He became quite a cold person who doesn't care for anyone but his parents. However, that didn't mean he didn't shed a tear or two at school. He still didn't retaliate when being bullied.
"Izuku! Wake up! You're never in bed this long..come on!" shouted Inko. She was currently hitting a metal pan with a spoon whilst walking up the stairs. This didn't affect Izuku as he was already awake but the noise did irritate him so he went downstairs, not even looking at is mother.
"Good Morning, mom."
Inko just kept turning her head back to look at how Izuku's personality was changing day by day.
"I pray this is just one of his phases. Well, it isn't like he has had any phases..B-But still! He looks so..miserable and empty..?" thought Inko. In the midst of her monologue, Hisashi got up and stretched like an old man. It seemed as though he was woken up by the pan that Inko was bashing. Inko looked a little bit sad herself because of the way her son looked but still had her bright but dark green eyes and rosy, plump cheeks. Hisashi and Inko had been together for over 10 years so they could tell when one of them were acting up a certain way. Hisashi quickly noticed her sad face.
"Inko, darling, what's wrong? Is it Izuku?" he said in a concerning tone. Inko just nodded in response.
"I understand though. I have been seeing changes in his mood lately. Maybe he is maturing..?" said Hisashi. What he was saying was true, he'd be lying if he said that he didn't catch on to how Izuku was acting.
"I don't know what kind of maturing is going on nowadays, maybe we are just getting old, but I don't like how it is affecting Izuku. I-I just want our baby to be happy. He needs happiness!" Inko burst into quiet tears and cried into Hisashi's chest and Hisashi just hugged her back and let her cry for as long as she needed.
"Don't worry, Inko. I promise you that one day Izuku will definitely find a raison d'être.."
Fate, however, had other plans in store.
Izuku was getting ready to leave the house, he only went downstairs to watch TV.
"Good Morning and welcome to the Early Days News Channel." said the TV presenter. "Today, we are watching a recording of All Might capturing a villain that escaped from a bottle yesterday! He is infamously known as the 'Sludge Villain' and All Might captured him! This villain was known to rob people of their money but All MIght put an end to this quickly, efficiently and happily all the for the good of the people!"
"The good of the people.." thought Izuku. What All Might said to him the day before was replaying itself in his head like a broken record. It hurt him. It really, really hurt.
Izuku then got up to go. He wasn't hungry. Not to mention, if he would get kicked in the gut and stomach, what was the point of eating in the first place? He wasn't in the mood to speak with anyone so he left a note on the countertop that read: Wasn't hungry, I'll get food at school. - Love you. And with that, he left to go to school.
After walking the long route, Izuku got to school 15 minutes late. With any other student, his teacher would've let them off the hook but Izuku being quirkless meant the teachers saw no value in him so they could do as they wished. Izuku walked into the classroom with his head held low and all the eyes of the classroom were glaring at him. He felt them looking, but didn't care. Before all his additional emotional distress, Izuku would've bawled his eyes out at the fact that people were whispering about him and whatnot, but the present Izuku just sat at his chair and nonchalantly got out his writing equipment. The teacher looked at Izuku with a hateful glare. Bakugou snickered.
"How audacious! The nerve of some people, especially him! Izuku Midoriya, he is useless and pathetic but he thinks he can waltz in here with no apology for being 15 minutes late?!" thought the teacher with spite.
"Midoriya!"
Izuku said nothing but looked up at the teacher with an empty look.
"Midoriya, punishment for being late is lunch duty! You will clean the classrooms and mop the desks and tables spotless. If there is any time left for you to spare, you must write an apology letter to me. You can eat if there's time left. That is all."
Izuku nodded in response with a blank expression.
"Is that even legal? Whatever. I do not care anymore.." thought Izuku.
"Now class!" said the teacher with a completely new attitude. "Today you will be given forms for the high school you would like to attend after you leave Middle school." the teacher handed out the papers to the beginning of each row to pass on backwards to the person behind.
"I'm giving you these papers but I already know that you all want to be heroes, right?" shouted the teacher in glee. The whole class showed off their own unique quirks and had a happy expression.
"The expression of happiness is probably the one emotion I will never feel," thought Izuku. "I wonder what it's like to be on Cloud 9.."
"Oi, Sensei." said Bakugou with a smirk. He slammed his legs on the table in front of him in a lying position. "Don't lump me in with these extras. I'm going to U.A!"
"U.A.." said Izuku, quieter than a mouse. He gave a little, soft smile to himself at the thought of going to the number one hero school in Japan.
All the students in Bakugou's class gave their own reactions to what Bakugou said.
"U.A?" said one girl. "Don't you know how low the acceptance rate there is?"
"I know…" Izuku said to himself in a whisper, as if the girl was talking to him.
"U.A only wants the best of the best, ya' know." said a taller boy.
"I know.." Izuku replied to himself, slightly louder.
"I know that you're crazy powerful and all, but don't you think it's a little far fetched?" said a boy with green hair.
"I know but still!" Izuku suddenly said aloud. That earned him a few judgemental stares and insults.
"Huh? What was that, shit Deku?" growled Bakugou, making explosions in his hand. Izuku quickly got quiet again and kept his thoughts to himself.
"Oh, yes, speaking of De- Izuku, didn't you want to go to U.A as well?" asked the teacher.
The whole class went silent for a few seconds before bursting into a raging laughter. They laughed and held their stomachs and repeatedly slammed their hands on the desks and heaved in for oxygen… It was like someone told the best joke of the year! Even the teacher had to turn around for a bit before turning back to face the class.
"N-Now now, quieten down."
The noise level only decreased a little but was still loud.
"Deku, you bastard stay outta my fucking way!" spat Bakugou.
The class then snickered and thought stuff like,
"Deku is probably gonna be like 'y-yes Kacchan!' What is that, a fetish?"
"He is gonna cry or something. What a baby.."
"We could have gotten some work done, had it not been for Izuku's dumb joke about going to U.A.."
Everyone in the class were all underestimating Izuku and thinking lowly of him but to their surprise, Izuku did none of that!
"Hm? Or what? You'll give me a new set of scars, Katsuki?" Izuku replied plainly with a cold and unfazed look in his eyes.
The last time Izuku spoke back, he was nearly about to die and he was scared for his life, but Izuku didn't have any emotion to give anymore, he was just an empty vessel and didn't care anymore. He did not care about anybody in the class. Not even himself.
Izuku got expressions from all over the class, even the teacher. It was more shocking than before. You could hear a pin drop.
"What the fu.." said a wide-eyed lackey.
"Izuku!" shouted the teacher. "I will NOT condone such barbaric behaviour from you! Don't you know not to falsely accuse somebody! No matter, I will just call the principal to send you home and tell him the situation. Your parents will be told about this as well." The teacher pointed to the door and Izuku walked out of the class to wait for his parents.
"I knew it. Bad things constantly happen whenever I speak. It's either to me or to the people I love. Maybe later on in life I should just refrain from speech." thought Izuku seriously.
Katsuki was absolutely furious.