Hello people and welcome to another chapter. Sorry that these uploads aren't as frequent anymore, it's been absolute chaos lately with coronavirus and such. My exams even got canceled so now I'm being graded off what my teachers say and hand in, which is pretty nerve-wracking. Though a positive to take from that is that I now don't have to revise and I could have school off until September, which is crazy when I think about it. So don't expect more frequent chapters, but it is much more likely, it depends on how bored I get really.
Also, one thing I've forgotten to say for the last 7 chapters is that when a word is in italics, that means it has emphasis. I assume that most of you will have already guessed that, but I just wanted to make sure that it's clear to those who didn't. Anyway, I'm sure you all just want to get into the chapter, so I won't bore you anymore.
I do not own My Hero Academia or it's characters, the franchise belongs to its respective owners!
Gravitational Sorrow
By Kokoyori
Darkness.
This was all that Izuku could see upon opening his eyes. But something was off, he didn't feel fully conscious and he for some reason couldn't move.
'Is this a dream?' Izuku questioned, thinking about how if this was a dream, it was much different from anything he had ever had before. When he got a proper look at what was going on, he found himself strapped to a chair inside a seemingly endless void of darkness.
Izuku started to freak out a bit, 'What the hell?! I'm completely aware of what's going, but this is definitely a dream or at least something similar…'
"Stop squirming, it's annoying" a voice called out to Izuku.
Upon hearing the voice, Izuku darted his head to his right, where he was able to make out a figure staring at him. When Izuku examined the figure, he was instantly startled by something about them. The figure standing before him was a clone of himself, the same muscular figure, the same diamond-shaped freckles, the same messy hair, everything about them was a replica of Izuku himself. Apart from two details.
The figure standing before Izuku had his old green hair, alongside a pair of gleaming crimson eyes.
"What are you staring at? So surprised to see yourself? Don't have a mirror in your room?" the figure spoke sarcastically.
Izuku was taken aback by the difference in the personality of himself and the figure, he thought that if they looked the same, then their personalities would be the same as well.
"What? You thought that just because I look like you I would have the exact same personality? Just so you know, I had a life before I got trapped inside your shitty body" he spoke harshly, anger easily detected in his voice. But something he said threw Izuku off.
"What do you mean trapped inside? I assume you're the voice that I heard earlier. But I thought that you were a part of my quirk, how did you have a life?" Izuku eagerly questioned the figure.
The figure scoffed, "Stop saying 'my quirk', it's not your quirk, it's mine. Or it was until that bastard took it alongside my life"
Now Izuku was really confused, he originally thought that the voice he heard was a part of his quirk, not an actual being that lived a life.
"Didn't you say before that you were a part of my quirk? Now you're just contradicting yourself" Izuku spoke, trying to set in dominance.
But his other self just laughed at him, "Don't get on your high horses now, I have full control here, and you'd be stupid if you think I ain't gonna make full use of it. Hence why you're strapped to a chair"
But before Izuku could respond, the figure spoke up again, "And stop calling me your other self in your head, it's starting to annoy me"
Izuku took note of this and started to brainstorm names for the figure but to no avail.
"I know, since I still have your old green hair, then think of me as the version of you that didn't reject my quirk. And since you abandoned your old name, call me Midoriya" the figure spoke with a crazed smile on their face.
This sent chills down Izuku's spine, and for more than just one reason. First off, the thought of his old name and therefore his past alongside his mother saddened Izuku. But also seeing that crazy smile on Midoriya's face could send anyone into a state of fear, the smile was just so… disturbing.
But Izuku was able to keep his composure, even if only slightly, "You want me to call you my old name?" he asked nervously.
"Awwww, did I hit a soft spot? Grow up. Stop rejecting your past and just accept it. Trust me, it'll make what happens next a lot easier for you" Midoriya told him harshly.
Izuku flinched at the comment and at how brutal it was, "N-No! I'm not going to accept what I did! I can't!"
Midoriya at first looked disappointed, but quickly put back on his crazy smile, "Well then, it seems as though you need a bit of convincing" he then pondered for a second, "Ah! I know! How about I show you my life? I'm sure that'll be fun to see!"
Izuku looked at him curiously, "What do you mean show me your life?"
"For some reason, I can transfer things, fake or real, into your mind. But only when you're asleep or unconscious. So, I'm going to show you my life, in the hope that it will help persuade you" Midoriya answered.
Before Izuku could even respond, he was enveloped in a blinding white light. The next thing he knew, scenes of a person's life started to play inside his head, almost like a movie. He had to sit there and watch as someone grew up, found out their quirk, had ambitions, learned the hardships of life, had fun with friends and even got into a relationship. Only for their life to be torn away forcefully as they had to watch everyone the cared for being slaughtered before their eyes, before finally being killed themselves.
It was horrible for Izuku to watch. Nobody should have to go through such things, no matter the circumstances behind it. For someone to live their life with so much promise and possibility, only for it to be stripped away from them. It was truly a sad thing to see.
For once, Izuku sympathized with Midoriya, in the short time Izuku knew him, he had grown to dislike him due to his hunger for destruction. But, now he knew why Midoriya was like the way he was. His life ended in a horrible way, only to then be placed inside someone else, being forced to watch their life as he could only grow angrier and angrier at what happened. Honestly, it was no wonder Midoriya was the way he was, all he wanted was to have some control again.
"I'm sorry" Izuku spoke quietly.
Midoriya just scoffed at this, "What's in the past is in the past, there's nothing we can do about it. But what we can do is change the future" he then stared intensely at Izuku, "So, are you gonna accept your past?"
Izuku looked down at his feet, feeling saddened at what he knew he was about to say, "I'm sorry, but I just can't. What happened to you was horrible, and I want to give you-"
"Shut up"
The harshness in his tone made Izuku flinch, before looking towards Midoriya to find a furious expression on his face.
"If you aren't going to accept your past, then I guess I'll just have to make your mind so weak to the point where you can't resist me anymore" he spoke crazily.
"W-What do you mean?" Izuku asked, nervous about the idea of his mental state being weakened even more. He had gone through enough, and thanks to recent events, another jab at his mental state had occurred. So just the mere thought of more strain was painful to Izuku.
However, like when Midoriya first showed himself, he found no interest in Izuku's question. Instead, he walked over and placed his hand on Izuku's shoulder, "This is going to be a lot of fun"
Izuku was taken aback by the strange reassurance, but Midoriya had more to say, "Well, it won't be fun for you"
What happened next was something Izuku would never forget. He thought that his nightmare the night before was bad, but it was nothing compared to what he had to go through now.
Izuku had to sit and watch many different scenes unfold in front of him. However, the catch was that in every scene, people he loved and cared for were brutally slaughtered in front of his very eyes, while he just watched in the background, unable to do anything about it. They were all different scenarios, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he had to see them die over and over and over and over and over again.
He couldn't help but let the tears run down his now broken face. He was feeling many emotions at the time, sadness, anger, confusion, you name it. If it wasn't anything to do with happiness, Izuku was probably feeling it. But one emotion was far more prominent than the rest of them: the feeling of uselessness. While people he cared for were suffering, he did nothing about it. He felt utterly useless.
The worst scenarios were the ones that included his mother, Toshinori, and Ochaco. Some of the scenes were retellings of his Mother's death. Some were Toshinori being killed by a villain, while Izuku just watched it happen. But the worst of all were the ones involving Ochaco. He would always arrive seconds late to find her on her last breaths. And all he could do was cry as he held her in his hands. She would always try to reassure him that it wasn't his fault, which surprised Izuku, even in his worst moments she was as caring as ever. But no matter how much she told him otherwise, Izuku couldn't help but feel at fault.
Slowly but surely, he started to feel the mental block he had put up to block off all his negative emotions being whittled away. His negative emotions were leaping at the opportunity to strike like they once did.
All the while this was going on, Midoriya stared intently at Izuku and his struggle. He did feel slightly bad for putting someone who was just a kid through the stuff he had gone through repeatedly, however, he was desperate to be free from the clutches of Izuku's body.
Unfortunately for him, life always had ways to mess up people's plans. In this case, life intervened via desperate calls for a certain white-haired boy to wake up.
'Shit' Midoriya mentally cursed, before pulling Izuku out of his seemingly never-ending hell, "Well, it seems that it's time for you to wake up, Izuku. You got lucky this time, but you best hope you can keep that luck for our next interaction"
Izuku could barely hear what he said thanks to his now messed up mind, but what he was able to hear made him cringe at the thought of coming back. But now wasn't the time to think of such things.
It was time to wake up.
Ochaco was starting to get very anxious. She and Izuku both planned for him to pick her up every morning so they could go to UA together, but he was yet to make an appearance even after 10 minutes of waiting.
'Izu isn't the type to be late, or even if he was late, he would never be this late' she then immediately started thinking of the worst-case scenario, 'What if he got stopped by villains?! No no no, that's not possible. Even if he did, Izu is strong, he could even put up a good fight against Yagi-san' she concluded. However, no matter how much she trusted Izuku's abilities, she couldn't help by worry for him, after all, she was his girlfriend.
'I should probably ring him, just to be safe' she finally decided. However, upon ringing Izuku, there was no answer. So she tried again, and again, and again, but in the end, to no avail. Ochaco was now starting to panic, Izuku always had his phone on him, she always made sure of that. 'Dammit! I don't have Yagi-san's number and Izu doesn't have any other relatives'. Ochaco paused and took in a few deep breaths, 'Calm down Ochaco. Izu probably just overslept, I just need to go and check to make sure' she concluded.
And with that, she was on her way to Izuku's house, walking at a quick pace as she was still quite worried.
Upon arrival, she hastily knocked on the door, impatiently waiting for some sort of response from the other side of the door. Eventually, the door sprung open to reveal Toshinori, who looked quite distressed. Ochaco didn't even get the chance to say anything before Toshinori started talking.
"Ah! Young Uraraka! Perfect timing, I really need your help right now. Please, come in" he spoke quickly, before motioning her inside the house.
"What do you need my help with? Is it Izu?" she asked, but didn't even need a response after seeing the look on his face, "Is he okay?! What's wrong with him?! Where is he?! Did he hurt himself?!"
She couldn't help but desperately blurt out questions, the look she got from Toshinori wasn't good and Izuku had been acting strangely since yesterday. First of all, he said he was fine after the new station released information on him, but Ochaco could easily tell that he wasn't. Next, Ochaco found it incredibly strange how he just randomly stopped moving during the quirk tests, only to then ask for another go at the ball throw, where he broke his finger. Izuku was never the competitive type of person and he would never needlessly break his body. But he for some reason couldn't accept losing to Bakugou and resorted to doing something that he would never do. All Ochaco was wondering was why? She decided not to ask him at the time, as he usually doesn't like to be questioned on why he did something, but now that she fully realised the extent of his weird behavior, her curiosity was spiking like crazy. And now, Izuku was late to meet her, wasn't picking up his phone and had done something to make Toshinori stressed out. She concluded that something was definitely up.
However, before she could blurt out any more nonsensical questions, Toshinori finally interrupted her, "Please, calm down! Izuku isn't hurt, well, at least not physically" he gained silence from what he said, but also a questioning look. He sighed, "Just follow me and see for yourself"
The journey to Izuku's room was filled with silence until they got closer to the room and heard screaming. Both Ochaco and Toshinori instantly took off to get a better look at what was going on. When they opened the door to Izuku's room, they saw Izuku in his bed, aggressively rolling around in his own sweat and tears while releasing an agonizing scream, almost like a plea for help.
Ochaco instantly ran over to him and tried to wake him up, "Izu! Izu! Wake up! It's just a dream!" however Izuku carried on. She quickly turned her head towards a shocked Toshinori, "What's wrong with him?! Why won't he wake up?!" she desperately asked.
"I-I don't know! Before I went to answer the door, he just wouldn't wake up. He's only just started doing this!" he explained to her, still shocked by the state Izuku was in.
Ochaco accepted Toshinori's answer, before turning back to Izuku in an attempt to wake him up again. However, she found herself unable to wake Izuku up for almost 10 painful minutes. She hated seeing Izuku like this, he had already been through enough pain in his life. Just thinking about Izuku's pain caused tears to start flowing from her eyes.
'What did Izu do to deserve this? He's so kind and caring, so why?!' she was starting to get frustrated at the possibility that there was some god or higher being somewhere causing Izuku to suffer. But that wasn't her priority right now, she needed to wake up Izuku from whatever inner hell he was experiencing right now.
'I don't know what Izu's going through right now, but if it's anything worse than what he dreamt of last night, then I don't even want to imagine the state he'll be in once he wakes up' she thought, remembering how shaken up Izuku was after waking up to his nightmare the previous night.
However, her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Izuku slowly starting to open his tear-filled eyes. Ochaco immediately hugged him tightly, "Izu!"
But this time, Izuku wasn't shaken up like he was the previous night, he just looked so… Empty. His eyes were bloodshot and he had a tired expression on his face. He didn't make any movements, he just sat there with a saddened expression, almost like someone who has just accepted their fate and was waiting for death to open up their doors.
Both Toshinori and Ochaco quickly noticed his lack of response, "Son? Are you okay? We've been trying to wake you up for a while now" he told Izuku with concern.
Izuku slowly looked up, before managing to silently say something, "N-No…"
Ochaco noticed the lack of spirit in his voice, making her question many things, but one question stood out among the rest, 'Why does Izu have to go through so much pain? He doesn't deserve this. Please, just leave him alone, any more and he might finally break…'
Toshinori knew how to handle these situations with Izuku, so he decided to take the lead, "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.
At first, Izuku was going to say no, but after he was reminded of when he was asked this question at a young age, he knew that the worst thing you could do was to hold it in. So, as much as he hated to talk about what he considered hell, he told both Ochaco and Toshinori what happened while he was asleep. From how there was another being inside Izuku that used to be a living person, to their backstory, and to how they repeatedly showed Izuku all of those horrible scenarios.
Silence filled the room for a while. Izuku quietly wept to himself, Ochaco was at a complete loss of words, while Toshinori was thinking about how this had gone far out of hand.
While Toshinori was still considering what to do about the situation and the threat Midroiya had given Izuku, Ochaco decided it was finally time to speak up, "Izu, I know that this situation is really bad and that you're going through a lot. But, just remember that none of that was real, and it will never be your fault if anything like that happens to anyone" she told him while holding back her tears and trying her best to smile, "But above all else, I trust you Izu. Nothing will change that. Don't listen to what Midoriya said, he's just trying to get into your head. Remember that you can always confide in me or Yagi-san if you need to, you don't need to bottle up all your emotions, that will only help Midoriya"
Both Izuku and Toshinori were taken aback by what Ochaco said, "T-Thank you Ocha" he said while finally returning her hug.
"I couldn't have said it better myself Young Uraraka. Son, you can always rely on others for help, no matter the circumstance. I'm glad that you told us this instead of bottling it up inside you. I will try my best in assisting against Midoriya, but in the end, it's all down to you to be the one who holds him back" Toshinori finished, receiving a weak nod and an inaudible sound from Izuku. Toshinori noticed the lack of a proper response, "Please, Son, don't take anything he says or shows you to heart, none of it is true" he reassured Izuku.
After a few more minutes of Ochaco comforting Izuku and Toshinori trying to think of what to do in this situation, Izuku turned his head to look at his bedside clock, only to then notice how late to school they were going to be.
"I-I need to get ready for school" Izuku weakly said while slowly pushing himself away from a startled Ochaco. He stood up slowly, making sure he didn't lose his balance, before groggily walking over to his cabinet that contained his school uniform. However, Izuku was stopped by a hands firm grasp on his shoulder, which after turning around, he found to belong to Toshinori.
"Son, I simply cannot allow you to go to school in your condition. I need to get you medical assistance immediately, especially with that threat from Midoriya still looming" his tone was harsh but at the same time, comforting.
Toshinori flinched at his own use of Izuku's old surname. Upon arriving to see the destruction Izuku caused 11 years ago, he couldn't help but think that he had failed everyone there. He was their Number 1 Hero; their symbol of peace; someone they could look up to and rely on. He had lost many lives while doing hero work, but he always reminded himself that it was only natural. But with Izuku's case, he was only there during the aftermath. He saved nobody, all he saw was death. Well, perhaps he did save one person, that being Izuku. It had taken Izuku quite a while to get over his mother, but even if he said he was over it, Toshinori knew he wasn't. In reality, Toshinori just wanted to have a conversation with the woman that was able to raise Izuku into such a kind and cheerful young boy. But at the same time, he wanted to apologise for failing Izuku. He was unable to return Izuku to his old cheerful self; unable to comfort Izuku when he was down. So the fact that a brute like Izuku's other self just claimed the name of such a kind and caring family like it was nothing angered Toshinori, a lot.
However, before he could grow angrier at Midoriya, Izuku started to protest, "I need to go to school, I can't just miss the second day!" but Izuku could see from Toshinori's face that he wasn't budging on his decision, "If you want me to get medical attention so much, then I will get it from Recovery Girl, she's a fully trained doctor" Izuku declared.
Toshinori sighed, "Fine. But, I'm going to make sure close eye is kept on you today, you never know what could happen"
And with that, Izuku got his stuff and quickly rushed to the bathroom. Toshinori also had to go and make sure he was fully ready for his first proper day of teaching, leaving Ochaco by herself. She started to think about what Izuku said he was shown, and how he thought it was all his fault, 'Is that really what Izu thinks…?'
After swiftly getting ready for school, Izuku and Ochaco were driven to school by Toshinori, which he thought would be the fastest way while not gaining too much attention.
Although Izuku definitely felt better than earlier, he was still constantly in deep thought and still wore the same sorrowful expression he had from when he woke up. Both Ochaco and Toshinori knew that what Midoriya said to and showed Izuku had hit hard and that he was seriously in no state to go to school. But, Izuku was stubborn and understandably, he didn't want to miss his second day in his dream school.
As soon as they got to school, Izuku immediately went to Recovery Girl. Although they were 10 minutes late to homeroom, Izuku's health mattered more than his name being marked down.
When Recovery Girl saw the state Izuku was in, she lashed Toshinori with her walking stick, scolding him for the state the poor boy was in. But as soon as Izuku explained his other self and what happened in his dream, she became very serious.
"I've never seen anything like this, not in all my years of being on the field, I can tell you that much" she explained to Izuku.
"W-Well what should we do?" Toshinori asked, clearly quite scared of the older woman.
Recovery Girl pondered for a moment, "Well, I would like to run some tests to see if I can detect any signs of other life inside of Izuku. And also some tests on his mental status, seen as that is what Midoriya is trying to weaken" she told Toshinori, before turning her full attention to him, "Ash for you, you can go and explain the situation the rest of the staff. They will need to know this in order to not put any possible strain on the boy" she told him.
"Yes Ma'am!" Toshinori shouted while nervously saluting, earning him a giggle from Ochaco.
Upon him leaving, Recovery Girl started to write something down on a small piece of paper, before finishing and handing it to Ochaco.
"Ochaco dear, please give this to Aizawa" she said as she handed Ochaco the note.
Ochaco nodded and glanced at the note for a second, noticing how it explained Izuku's situation and why he and Ochaco are late. Before going to homeroom, she turned around and made eye contact with Izuku, giving him a bright smile that could warm anyone's heart. Thankfully, she actually got a smile from Izuku in response to her action. Feeling accomplished, she left Recovery Girl's office and made her way towards the 1-A classroom.
As the clock slowly turned, more and more students started to arrive in 1-A's classroom. Eventually, Aizawa made an appearance 2 minutes after the bell rang signaling the start of the school day. The class immediately halted their chatter and went to their seats.
Upon closer inspection of the class, Aizawa noticed that there were two missing seats in the back of the first row, 'Izuku and Uraraka are late? I'm not sure about Uraraka, but I know that Izuku isn't the type to be late. Especially not to what is and has been his dream school since he was little. If they're absent, then I would've been informed. Something is definitely up here…' he thought to himself. But in the end, he ignored his thoughts and decided that they were just late.
The absence of two students on only the second day also seemed to be the topic of discussion between most of the students in the class, who had gotten on surprisingly well.
Some, like Mina and Toru, speculated that they were a couple after what they saw yesterday and assumed that they were doing, well… Other things. But let's not get into that.
However, most of the class took to discussing something more serious about a certain white-haired boy that was shrouded in mystery after his name was revealed during the results of the training exercise. The only thing they had gotten before that was 'Yagi' and 'Izu'.
"Hey, do you think it's true? That Yagi is the same kid who killed 60 people in that accident 11 years ago?" Kaminari asked the students that were huddled around a table.
"I mean, I don't want to think it's true… Like, c'mon man, it's not cool to speculate about others" Kirishima spoke, trying to stop the discussion.
Sero was having none of it though, "But just think about it! Apart from the hair and last name, Yagi is identical to the boy that got revealed in the news 2 days ago!"
"Y-You think he's evil?!" Mineta shouted, obviously scared by the idea.
But before anyone could respond, the door slid open, revealing an angry-looking Ochaco. After closing the door, she started walking over to Aizawa, but not without glaring at the group of students in the center of the room.
Said students knew what was going on; she had heard them.
"What did I tell you guys? Speculating about others isn't cool and now you've made someone angry because of it" Kirishima told them, disappointed in himself and his new friends.
Almost every student bowed their heads in shame, even those that weren't part of the discussion. Even if they never said it out loud, almost every student in the classroom had their own ideas about Izuku and his possible connection to the famous Japanese tragedy.
But enough about that. After giving the class a glare, Ochaco walked over to Aizawa, "Sorry I'm late sir, I got caught up in a lot of stuff" she then took out a note from her pocket, "This note will explain why I'm late and Izu will be even later" she finished.
Aizawa glanced at the note, skimming through it. To say what he read shocked him would be a major understatement. He then started thinking to himself, 'I never usually feel bad for people, but not only does Izuku still have his past weighing him down, but now he has this other being showing him horrible things and threatening the very control over his own body?! I will have to keep an extra close watch on him, in hope that if anything does happen, I can stop this Midoriya guy…'. After finishing his thinking, he noticed he had kept Ochaco waiting, "Thank you Uraraka, you can go and sit down now, or just do whatever you want" he told her.
"Thank you, Sensei" she said, before walking away. However, she wasn't walking towards her desk.
The group of students, who were still around one table, immediately noticed Ochaco approaching them. None of them even had the chance to say anything.
"People like you are one of the reasons why Izu has had such a hard life. I thought this school would be different; more accepting. But I was wrong" she couldn't help the tears from running down her cheeks, "Izu has enough going on right now, and the last thing he needs is people like you putting more stress on his plate! So please, don't even think about talking to me or Izu!" she shouted at them, startling everyone in the classroom, even Bakugou and Aizawa. And with that, she stomped over to her desk, resting her head on her arms.
Nobody dared to talk to her. Not even Iida, who although had the best intentions, he had also quietly speculated about Izuku to himself. So he didn't believe he had the right to talk to her, not after her open declaration to the class.
Minutes passed of complete silence, of everyone regretting what they had thought. The silence was broken, however, when the door once again slid open to reveal Izuku. The students were quick to notice Izuku's difference in expression from yesterday, something they all assumed was a result of how Ochaco described him as having enough going on.
Izuku quickly walked over to Aizawa, about to apologise for his absence. But Aizawa was already ahead of him, "It's fine Yagi, I know the situation" he told him cooly.
Izuku looked at him, surprised, "O-Oh, okay. Thank you, Sensei"
Aizawa took notice of the lack of spirit in Izuku's speech, something that saddened the usually calm and collected man.
Izuku made his way over to his seat, looking around at the class. But as soon as he looked at them, they would turn around in what seemed like shame to him, something that confused him. Though he ignored that when he saw Ochaco with her head on the desk.
"Hey Ocha, you okay?" he asked with genuine concern.
She looked up at him slowly, revealing a tear-stained face, a sight that made Izuku's blood boil. But before he could start making any assumptions, Ochaco spoke up, "N-No Izu. They were saying horrible things about you, even though they don't even know you properly!"
Izuku immediately froze. He had hoped that this school would be more accepting, 'I guess I was stupid to think people wouldn't say things about me here' he thought to himself, before speaking up "It's fine Ocha, I'm used to it anyway"
Ochaco flinched at him saying that so casually, "But that's the problem, you shouldn't have to be used to stu-" she was interrupted by the sound of the bell going, signaling the start of the first lesson.
"Don't worry about it Ocha, let's just go to lesson" he told her, which she reluctantly agreed to.
The rest of the school day progressed slowly for the two of them. Mainly because it was surprisingly lonely. They had gone through school without talking to others before, so they were wondering why it was so lonely for them?
Izuku took the time to explain what happened with Recovery Girl to Ochaco. Recovery Girl was unable to find any trace of another being inside of Izuku, so they concluded that it was a mental thing. Although Izuku didn't really want to talk about his mental state, he knew that Ochaco heard Recovery Girl say she was going to run tests on his mental state, so there was no way he could hide it. The news that Izuku's mental state was so bad that Recovery Girl said that not even antidepressants would help crushed Ochaco. She always suspected that Izuku might have been depressed, but she never thought that his mental state was so bad that all it needed was one last push for it to get to such a horrible state. She eventually got over it on the outside, but at the same time, she declared that she was not leaving Izuku's side any time soon, not while he's in his current state.
At lunch, Iida joined the two of them and immediately apologised for having negative thoughts about Izuku, who quickly told him that it was fine and only natural. Although Ochaco didn't like that he had thought it, she appreciated that he didn't say anything and that he was sorry for even thinking of it. The trio quickly bonded straight after this, with Iida learning more about the two than he had anticipated. That being they were a couple. Although Iida thought relationships might hinder hero work, he was quick to say that the two complemented each other well.
But something about Izuku was confusing Iida. Since he met him in the entrance exam, Izuku had always been confident and although not necessarily happy, he always seemed full of life. But today, Izuku seemingly had no life to him. Yes, he would participate in conversations, but he had lost his spirit and sometimes even questioned his own abilities, something that greatly confused Iida. After seeing how powerful Izuku was during the entrance exam and quirk assessment, Iida saw no reason for him to doubt himself.
'Something is definitely up here. Yagi is my new friend so I will get to the bottom of this' he mentally declared.
"Hmmm? Aren't you going to finish your curry, Iida?" Ochaco asked the boy who was lost in thought.
"Ah yes! Sorry for getting lost in my head like that" he said, bowing his head and nearly colliding with his food.
While Ochaco giggled at the thought of Iida with a curry-stained face, Iida glanced at Izuku, who was silently eating his Katsudon, 'Just what is going on with you Yagi?' he wondered.
But now wasn't the time to think of that, after all, it was finally time for their first Hero Basic Training lesson.
And it's finally done! This chapter took WAY too long to write, I ended up going back to it and writing like 500 words at a time over the past week (hence why it's so late). My guess is that since I've basically been in lockdown for a week, I've had literally no stimuli like school or something to properly get me in the mood to write. So I'd think "Yes I want to write!", before finding myself writing a few hundred words and getting bored, no matter how interesting the plot I was writing.
But I'm definitely unsure about this chapter. A part of me says it's good, but another says it's weak. I just can't really figure it out since I didn't write it in bulk like I usually do. So please, tell me what you think about this chapter, I seriously have no idea if it's good or not. But I guess that's what you do anyway, so why am I even asking?
One last thing before I end this, I have officially set up a discord! I don't how many of you would be interested in joining, but it will be a very good way of asking me questions and, well, just talking to me in general. Those of you that do join will even get the opportunity to have an influence on the story, as you will be able to tell me your input anytime. I guess you could do that with reviews, but discord is a much easier and faster way of doing it. So, if you want to either ask questions, input on the story or even if you just want to have a place to talk to me and possibly others, then I highly recommend you join the discord. Obviously, nobody is forcing you, but I feel like it will be a cool place once it properly gets up and running. The link is in my account description/profile thing.
Anyway, thank you all once again for reading and the continued support, it's greatly appreciated! Check your PMs if you review!
