"And then we went to the zoo and we saw a giraffe and I know from the books that they are really tall, but... they were REALLY tall!"

Eri explained, both arms stretched to the sky to show just how big the giraffe was. A smile played around Izuku's face, nodding and humming in affirmation, just to keep her talking about her visit to the zoo with Togata. Every Thursday his upperclassman had made an effort to go somewhere with Eri, basically trying to make up for the time she had lost to Overhaul. A valiant effort was definitely paying off right now.

"And then there were zebras with all the stripes. And Togata said that they were black with white stripes, but that makes no sense because they are definitely more white than black." Eri continued on like a waterfall going on and on while Izuku just nodded.

"And we even saw some big cats. But they were still just some cats. One of the leapards was just lying on his back the whole time with his paws in the air. That was cute!" He didn't really correct her on the name there. Was unnecessary.

"Do you know where Togata will take you next week?" Izuku asked.

"I think next week he said we will just go to the park... the week after though... the doctor said I would have to see a head doctor."

Unfortunately with the little topic change it seemed the energy from before had dampened a little bit. At least she didn't look like she was sad; just more serious.

"A head doctor? Did your head start hurting or is it about the horn?" Izuku asked, a little bit of worry in his voice. She just shook her head before explaining:

"No, not like that." She assured him. "My body is fine. The doctors said that I just had to talk to him a little. They also said that he is not a... real... doctor. Instead he is a Themi... Thefa..." There was a little frown on her face as she tried to remember the full word and how to say it, but neither lip nor mind could put it all together.

"Do you mean a therapist?" Izuku tried to help out.

"Yes, exactly!" Eri shouted, eagerly nodding her head. "They said he will help me sleep with less nightmares."

"That sounds great." He tried to sound encouraging with those words, but in reality he felt a big lump in his throat.

It didn't quite hit him before, but even if Overhaul was defeated and Eri was in good care now, with Togata, Aizawa and all the others looking out for her, that was not the end of it. It was at best the beginning. To truly save Eri from Overhaul's grasp, this was only the beginning and there would be a long, hard road ahead before she really could just live a normal life.

"Are you scared of the therapist?" Somehow he couldn't help but ask that question. In a way, he knew that Eri was a brave girl so she would be able to stomach it all, but it was still hard to imagine her opening up to a stranger.

"Not sure… I think if he tries to help me it's fine. Mr. Aizawa said he and the others looked really hard for somebody they were sure they could trust so I think I will trust him too."

It was quite obvious that she was still a bit worried. But that she was still so willing to go along with it all because she trusted the people around her, just made him feel like his heart was about to grow three sizes.

"I am sure everything will turn out alright." he reassured her gently, petting her head. He could hardly describe how he was feeling right about now. The only thing he could put into words was that she was developing really well, healing so well.

"Hey Izuku! Long time no see!"

Togata called out the moment he opened the door with his usual trademark grin on his face and ignored the fact that it was him who had brought Eri to this visit, before he went out to give them some personal space.

"Welcome back." Izuku replied, "Is our time up already?"

"I am afraid so. Eri needs to go home and do a few things. BUT there is always next week! The blond replied with enthusiasm, no doubt to keep the spirits of the young girl, who immediately jumped up from the couch.

"I need to get something real quick!" she said before running out of the door, leaving the teens alone. Whatever she was going to get, it seemed to be exciting. There was a moment of silence between the boys before Izuku finally spoke up:

"Eri has nightmares?" Another moment of silence

"Yeah, pretty regularly. Always about Overhaul coming to get her back. Or that she is simply just back with him. It's not really surprising, the doctors said. Kids are very impressionable. But for the most part she is processing it very well. She just needs a bit of help."

"Who is going with her?"

"Mostly Mr. Aizawa. But here and there I will try to jump in. Who knows. Maybe I will warm up to it too and take some therapy myself.

"Do you also have nightmares?"

"Sometimes. What I mostly have is grief. And that is just not getting any better really."

Izuku nodded. He definitely could relate to that. There definitely had been times where he had felt like needing help but… asking for help from somebody you knew was, at times, easier said than done. Opening up to somebody and not knowing if they could handle it or even help you…

Before he could properly sink into his own thoughts again, the door opened, followed quickly by the snap of an umbrella being opened. Eri had come back, standing there with her new umbrella, each panel of the canopy looking like the fur of an animal. Zebra stripes, leopard spots and many others. "Izuku, look what Togata got me at the zoo!"

The downer mood disappeared in that moment, Izuku putting that train of thought aside. He could worry when Eri was not there to be worried with him. With little laughs and chuckles they were imitating animal noises or walking around on all fours… He was just happy that they got to spend a few more minutes with each other before the two waved him goodbye in the hallway.

There was a strange feeling of emptiness in his chest as he waved the two goodbye before he locked the room that Allmight had provided for them, whenever Eri was allowed to visit the school grounds.

Just as he was about to pocket the key he felt a vibration against his hand, filling the void instantly with a sense of warmth and excitement. For the whole week these messages had lightened his mood day for day. Or rather ,the person behind those messages.

"Guess who just woke up from a really nice nap ✌"

"Dreamt anything?"

"No, my Izu this is not how that works! Again guess who just woke up from a really nice nap?"

He giggled a little bit as he read that text. "You?"

"Yup! It's me!"

With that message came a selfie of Toga beaming into the camera, her hair down and coddled in so many blankets and pillows that he could not make out the rest of her.

"So did anything interesting happen while I was visiting Dreamland?"

"Not much admittedly. After the break ended we just had history. Was interesting"

"And what are you going to do now?"

"No idea yet… I kinda just wrap something up?"

"Oh so what were you doing after school?"

"I was playing with Eri. I meet her about once a week."

"Oh you mean the Yakuza kid?"

There was a weird feeling the moment she recognized the name. For a moment he frowned, then he looked inwards. He definitely was not feeling good about this. It was not easy to tell why at first. Somewhere in his guts everything was twisting in two different directions. In the moment, he could not really know what it was, but it quickly dawned on him.

Toga knew Eri. Toga knew Eri, because Toga worked with Overhaul. He had met Toga, when they were trying to fight Overhaul. She slowed them down. In a way she facilitated Eri's pain. Neither did she intervene and she clearly tried to stop them. And he felt angry about it. He was, in a way, too. But somehow he couldn't help it… Toga was still the girl that caused all those butterflies in his stomach every time they spoke or texted.

"Yes" he responded, feeling his core tremble a little bit. Without thinking about it, he asked quickly: "Did you meet her before?"

"Nope." The answer came.. "I just saw her clinging to you when you were fighting that Overhaul jerk ?"

There was a light sense of relief. She was at least not directly involved. Might not have known all the circumstances too well. But the ache wasn't gone yet. After all this was still a reminder for him, an important one; Himiko Toga was a villain. Still. She was dangerous. Still. She had hurt people before. She had hurt his friends before… and there was a chance that she would do so again. Maybe even soon.

Was there even a way to stop that? Was there a world where things could take a different turn? With those questions occupying his mind he turned around the corner, his phone slowly sinking into his pocket as only now he realised that he stood in front of the teacher's office. Somehow he had gotten there on pure autopilot…

Taking a deep breath, he pushed down his emotions, preparing himself to talk to people who had no idea what was going on in his mind right now, and it was better if they never found out. After taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door, hearing somebody get up on the other side of it.

"Ah, young Midoriya! How was playing with Eri?" All Might opened the door with a big smile on his face.

"It was nice. She is doing well, it seems." He replied, with an equally friendly expression on his face, reaching into his pocket to fish back out the key he was supposed to give back, when he suddenly felt a vibration against his hand. Another text. Probably from Toga. For a moment, his polite smile, that facade, slipped. Those mixed feelings welled up inside of it. But he noticed that his teacher noticed. It was written on his face.

"Anything wrong, boy?" All Might asked with a softer, gentler voice. And, in a way, that made Izuku almost recoil. He could not really talk about it. He could not really think about it too much. All Might was trying to help. He could feel it. He wanted to pour his heart out but he couldn't. There was no way he could tell him what he was going through.

"It's nothing really… I was just reminded today that…" He really wanted to share what was going on and what he was thinking about. He should come clean to All Might. Work with him on a solution to his problem. But he couldn't. Not yet at least. "... Eri still has ways to go before she is a normal child again. If ever."

"If ever, yeah…" All Might murmured, mostly to himself, taking a short moment to collect his thoughts. "But this is why we fight, young Midoriya. So we can enable a quiet and peaceful life for kids like Eri. So that the villains aiming to harm them are stopped and the culprits that already hurt them are brought to justice!"

And there it was once more, the feeling of his guts ripping themselves asunder because they were twisting in two different directions at once. For a moment it felt like he couldn't even breathe, before he took a short moment to remind himself to relax a little bit.

"Yes, you might be right." Izuku admitted, having one half of his mind scream while the other relaxed from getting validated. It was not really helping his dilemma. Now he just was even more sure than before that he didn't want to and couldn't talk with All Might about this.

"Everything alright? You know, you can tell me if something is wrong." All Might tried to reassure. Izuku had a feeling that his speech was supposed to rouse Izuku or at least cheer him up but now that that didn't work, he was a bit unsure what to do.

"Yeah, I'm alright." Izuku lied. Sure, he didn't like to do so but it was not the place nor the time. If there ever was a time and place for that kind of thing. "I think I just need some time to digest all of this."

At least here he told the truth. With a few light pleasantries he handed the key back and headed towards the dorm.

His head was somewhat in the clouds for a while, feeling his inner conflict pushing itself in front of any thought that he tried to distract himself with. There was no real escaping the truth. He was in love with a girl that at least temporarily helped a man that was ready to abuse a child. And she probably was capable of similar things. He couldn't help but feel a split in his perception of her. The open and upbeat girl that just wanted to have fun, who he had met in the Arcade; and the girl that had hurt his friends and, in part, had hurt him too. Something she did not seem to feel bad about at all.

Stopping in front of the doors of the dorm he felt another wave of pain rush through his guts, constricting everything in his body and making it hard to breathe, before he relaxed the tension with a loud sigh. Beating himself up about all this was not going to solve the problem…

Walking into the building he thought back a bit. Oh right, he had gotten a message. Maybe he should check that out. With another sigh, again trying to calm his nerves, he pulled out his phone.

In an instance, he could feel the constricting pain in his heart again. He was not sure what to reply or what to feel as he looked at the text. How was he going to deal with all these emotions? It was tearing him apart from the inside and everybody just seemed to ask him:

"Izu? Are you alright?"

Sorry for the delay, I kinda had a lot on my plate. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of the story as well!