Chapter twenty-nine - A Cheshire grin
Once Izuku had walked out, there were miscellaneous reactions. A number of students furrowed their eyebrows in concern to what Izuku had just said. They were confused and couldn't think for the life of them understand what Izuku meant. Some of the students giggled under their breath in naivety, thinking that Izuku might have his head somewhere. A minority of the students were absolutely terrified out of their skin when they heard that. Well, one would say a 'minority of students' but it truly and simply was just Mineta Minoru who was terrified. He panicked and started to run around like a headless chicken crying for its mother. It was so pitiful, but could you blame him? One thing stayed unanimous, though. They all knew who All for One was and how absolutely omnipotent he was, the fear they all experienced the day he fought All Might was like a tattoo in their brains and they wished they could have never seen, heard or known what happened on that ghastly day. But that was just greedy wishing.
"All for One? Dead? He went toe-to-toe with All Might. How could he just..die? What a joke, haha. Mr. Midoriya must think we're gullible kids." they all thought in unison. They weren't at fault for thinking like that. Wasn't All for One in Tartarus, the most secure prison in Japan for the most dangerous of villains? How would one, first of all, get past security? How would they get into the actual cell? How would All for One just allow himself to be killed? There were so many holes in Izuku's statement that Todoroki just chuckled and shook his head. The students were now unsure of how to think of Izuku, he was ruthless in combat, rarely spoke, a villain and they knew absolutely nothing about him. How on earth could a bunch of teenagers just begin to think of someone like that as a teacher? That would be unrealistic and quite credulous. They laughed off the strange words Izuku had said and went back to their training.
Mina briefly clutched at her chest and looked to the floor, as if to share Izuku pains. Though it wasn't out of remorse for All for One's hearsay-of-a-death. She didn't know anything about her villainous teacher, but she knew that seeing him angry and distressed made her feel sorrowful. She then shook her head in self doubt and went back to Kaminari and Sero, who looked like idiots as they beckoned her with their hands. EVerything seemed fine on the surface of the students but a little space of doubt germinated in their minds.
"W-What if All for One actually died?"
"It could be true...why would Mr. Midoriya, member of the League, randomly say that?"
"Mr. Midoriya doesn't seem like he would lie, damn it."
"Was that why he was so angry before? Maybe they were close. Not like it is my problem though."
Frivolous thoughts swarmed in their heads and a dot of fear shot through their minds that there was a villain capable of killing a villain that was the equivalent to All Might, in terms of power. Was this the evil they were told they'd face? They were too inexperienced. However, they dismissed their contradictions and went about their normal training, there's no time like the present!
That wasn't the case for the teachers. They all momentarily shivered and widened their eyes when they had heard this, it was too scarcely credible, but they knew it could have been true. All might knew that All for One was but a cough away from death in his weakened form, though to think he died? It didn't feel right. It didn't feel timely. Midnight gulped in perturbation and tightly clasped her whip. Aizawa just deepened the gaze in his fish eyes.
"So that was the reason for his destruction? Perhaps Izuku was letting off some steam. But...How can All for One be dead? I won't believe such crap." he thought.
"How...How can All for One be dead..? It makes little to no sense. I'm sure you two know why it would make no sense." mumbled AIzawa looking to the ground. He couldn't have his students hearing their conversation, it might have caused panic.
"Yeah, how would they get into the cell in the first place? Not to mention, All for One doesn't just have all his quirks for decoration. He would surely fight back.." said Midnight in confusion.
"No," commented All Might. "He's hundreds of years old and connected to tubes of chemicals that keep him alive; he's considerably weak." Aizawa shrugged his shoulders, he knew All Might was correct and Midnight nodded in agreement. But she turned a sickly green and held her stomach.
"You two are forgetting the bigger picture..!" she said in worry. "Midoriya said this to us. To the whole class. A group of tender, callow bratty kids. All for One is beyond their field of vision in terms of power, they felt formidable emotions that day that would terrify even a pro. To say that a man of such horror is dead.." she said quietly and emptitly looked to a glistening window. "How does Midoriya know All for One is dead, anyway? He hasn't snuck out or attempted to sneak out. He just wallows meaninglessly in his dorm… but he was so angry today..and that's an understatement."
Aizawa sighed and clicked his tongue in irritance. He didn't know what to do with a problem child like Izuku in situations like this.
"Midoriya is causing problems left and right and it's getting to me. He isn't adjusting well at all, why can't we send him bac- no. It's disgusting of me to even think of sending a crippled boy back to the villains. It's his time to change, even if it's a little bit. But it'll take time." he thought. Aizawa tried to be optimistic, he really did but Izuku wasn't making it any easier for him.
"Guys, calms down a little. I'm sure Midoriya said it in the spur of the moment. Who on earth would break into Tartarus? And how? There are too many fallacies in what he said. You two need to remember that under his black-hearted acts and diabolical personality, he is still just a broken kid." said All Might. "Look, it's nearly the end of the day. Let's prepare to get the students back to the dorms." he said with an encouraging smile, making Midnight chortle. Aizawa just rolled his eyes and turned to face the other way.
"Don't order me around, All Might." said Aizawa in a ruffled way, walking toward the students. That made All Might shudder in fright, which aroused Midnight.
"Do that again, All might. Make sure to squeal as well…" said Midnight sensually while swinging her whip. "Or shall I beat it out of you?"
All Might facepalmed. "Midnight, please act accordingly, you are in a building filled with minors. Wouldn't wanna catch a case, would we now? Now, let's go and help Aizawa." All Might said kindly while walking towards the students.
"Okay, okay, Mr. Inspirational!" she said lazily in a defeated tone with her hands behind her neck. All three teachers signalled the class to finish whatever they were doing and go back to the dorms. They all reached the dorms in a noisy, chatter-filled fashion. The teachers ushered them to the living room, because they had too much energy to sleep or calm down and had way too much to think about. Aizawa thought that maybe them watching TV would eventually wash out their thoughts of All for One. With All MIght leading, they all walked sluggishly walked towards their dorms and could still hear them playfully fighting over the remote.
"Tokoyami!" shouted Hagakure. "We don't wanna watch the news! Let's watch a movie….!"
"I don't think watching the news would be so bad, you know." chimed in Todoroki, who sat alone on a couch near the TV. "You could all use some enlightening anyway." Bakugou stomped his foot loudly.
"What was that, Half-and-Half bastard? Wanna say that again?!" screeched Bakugou with explosions ready to be ignited. Todoroki scoffed aloofly, making the girls squeal and causing Mineta to gaze jealousy. The atmosphere was not tense and serious, it was light and warm and very comfortable.
"I wonder where Mr. Midoriya is…" thought Iida bizarrely. The thought lingered around in his mind for a while before being muffled out by the noise of his class. Everyone was on top of each other trying to grasp the remote control, which was on the floor. Finally, someone accidently stepped on it and it, by serendipity, landed on the news.
"Ahh!" said Kaminari in false annoyance. "Look and see what you lot have don-"
His words were snatched from his mouth and the class went silent. Todoroki furrowed his brows and leaned in from his seat.
"Breaking News! The prison of Tartarus was broken into and found utterly ravaged and in an absolutely catastrophic state," reported the news reporter. "The guards and heroes outside the prison were all found dead and were brutally killed with a machete or some sort of sharp, metal weapon. Inside the prison, everyone present at the prison at XX:XXpm, villains, guards and heroes alike, were savagely executed and left gallons worth of blood drenched into the carpets and smeared across the walls and ceilings. On the exterior of the buildings were symbols of creepy white grins plastered on the walls. The police have now acknowledged it to be the doing of the villain Tragedy, as that is his symbol. Everyone in Tartarus was executed including the infamous, iniquitous villain All for One….and...there...also."
The rest of what the reporter said on the news was only heard in chunks and watery pieces as the entire class were paralyzed in fear. The entire class shared the same distorted expressions of realisation. Expressions of immaturity, expressions of nausea, expressions of pure, pure consternation. The floodgates of their vigorous eyes opened with full force and tears and crying was seen and heard nearly everywhere in the living room. The scary thing was that their lost facial expressions remained stoic and unmoving. Like a statue crying, or a painting weeping. Crestfallen, elated, affright, perplexed, guarded, hopeful, fatalistic, sorry, foolish, delusional. It was like Tragedy was the jester of class 1-A's minds, for he played and picked at their emotions while asking why they were feeling so many emotions; that they should choose one emotion or he'd get too excited with sadism and play heartily with their feelings. Tragedy was doing all this to them, yet they knew it not.
Finally, Mineta broke the deafening silence and got up to throw up in his room. Then, Kaminari got up sickly to go to his room and Yaoyorozu wiped her tears shakingly to meet her friends and bathe in their comfort. The boys tried to keep their tears in but it worked to no avail as some ended up crying openly, but nobody insulted or ridiculed them as that's how they all felt deep inside. It scared them to think there was such an entity strong enough to commit a massacre and kill the phenomenal All for One. Everything in the living room seemed to be so smitten with black bleakness.
"S-So, Mr. Midoriya wasn't lying… and this Tragedy guy was responsible?" said Koda timidly.
"I guess so. We should have known, though." choked out Shoji. "In the short time that Mr. Midoriya has been with us, he has never once lied to us. But yeah, this Tragedy guy is sick. So damn sick. I don't wanna talk about him right now." that earned a few nods.
"But how did Mr. Midoriya know about it? It all seemed quite far-fetched when he said 'All for One is dead' just like that..I just don't get it." said Ojiro.
"You guys keep forgetting that All for One was his former boss when he was in the League, it isn't so surprising. But it's how he got the information in the first place." explained Yaoyorozu.
"You know, we are all so foolish." said Iida out of nowhere. His voice was a little raw. "We are so childish and inexperienced and immature. It's baffling how we instantly decided to laugh at Mr. Midoriya and have no faith in him when we all knew that he was in the League previously. We didn't know or try to see how he was feeling. Imagine you were him. Being forced to come to stay and teach the people who aren't on your side, he was even imprisoned for a little while. Imagine being watched by 38 pairs of eyes, knowing in your heart that you're being judged by people your own age. Imagine breaking down at every little thing that happens to you and being stared at like you are some unique organism, it must be dreadful. Imagine destroying everything in sight and telling the truth to the enemy, only to be ridiculed. And now we don't even know of his whereabouts. Mr. Midoriya and our class...we are so close yet so far apart. We are so immature and inexperienced."
Mina looked up from her knees that she was hugging and weeping in before. She silently just looked up at Iida, whose fist was trembling.
"It's true. Every word he speaks, it is all true. God, we are idiots.." she thought. The class looked at Iida in awe and cognizance. Aah. Despite their raw, violated emotions beating in harmony, it was common sense that they were quite daft and young. They had so much more to grow within themselves.
"Let's.." said Bakugou in a more calm way, which startled the whole class. "Let's watch some fucking TV." Kirishima gave a friendly smack on the back to BAkugou with a grin.
"Bakugou...Hm! Yes, let's!" said Uraraka. She beamed and smiled so joyfully that her hair looked golden instead of brown for a second. She was proud of Iida for what he said and high-fived him before sitting to watch TV with her classmates.
But, Mina got up.
"I'm just going outside for a bit.. I don't know when I'll be back, but..don't stay up and wait for me. The Provisional License exams are tomorrow." and with that she walked out, not waiting for a reply.
Mina walked aimlessly once she was outside. She looked to her feet in shame, even when her classmates had gotten over the whole bravado. She felt like she could have done more when Izuku was in a bad place at the Gym. She could have been the one person to talk to him like the normal kid he was. She could have been the one person to believe in what he was saying back then, she could have stopped her classmates from judging Izuku so harshly or at least suppressed their stares and rudeness. She felt like she was responsible and that weighed her down. Mina needed to clear her head and fucking breathe. She was so absorbed in her own troubles that she failed to notice the humming that softly buzzed in the air. The sweet rhythmic breaths of air being sent into the tranquil atmosphere calmed Mina and put her at ease.
"Humming..where's it coming from?" she thought. She walked in a confused riddle like way to find the source of the sound. She finally found it and she was pleasantly surprised by what she saw. Mina saw Izuku laying on the emerald blades of grass, free as the birds in the sky. The sky was a gorgeous blend of soft maroons and hues of oranges that enlaced itself with cornflower blue. The birds and the bees flew in perfect time with the music of Izuku's humming and the whistling of the wind. His face was, for once, relaxed and he carried a soft expression with his big, round eyes that matched the grass as he then opened them to find Mina looking right at him. Such a divine sight. Izuku just sighed and darted his eyes about her face. Like he was a machine analysing the human face.
"Tear-stained face, puffy eyes, uneven breathing, trembling lips, wandering outside..From the looks of things, she's been crying and finally found out that All for One really had died." he thought, playing with a daisy.
"M-Mr. Midoriya.. I just wanted to say-" her sentence was cut off by Izuku. He simply said nothing, but made a cross with his index fingers over his lips and then pointed to the sky, then reverted his eyes to the sky. The reflection in his eyes shimmered in glory and wonder.
"Oh.." Mina thought. She smiled softly and sat beside Izuku so she too could gaze at the the constant, abiding sky.
I breathed in my own words in disgust, now even I wait for our eternal farewell.