Death

by tmb1112

Death is a Quirk that can only kill. A perfect Quirk for a villain, but what if the boy who manifested that power just wanted to be a hero? Enrolling in U.A. might not be enough when all your Quirk can do is kill people. Follow Zach Sazaki from his first day in Class A on a story that spans years, as he learns to be a hero, finds out more about his Quirk, and too much to summarize!

238. Chapter 238

A/N What?! 2 chapters in 2 days?! What is this, 2018? XD Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

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Chapter 238:

Jirou had on a gray hoodie she ran around campus in. It was chillier today than it had been the last couple of weeks. There was complete overcast above with dark gray clouds filling the sky threatening to rain down on them at any minute. The entire class had been concerned that the practical exam's first day would be stuck indoors when they knew the first part of the final was intended for a forest environment in Ground Zeta's huge open area. All-Terrain had even shown up to help out U.A. on loan from Shiketsu. Jirou thought about the Shiketsu teacher's appearance there earlier and who that teacher focused on and went to talk to in particular out of their class. It makes sense. Zach was his student. What was up with him? His stupid mood swings are all over the place. This morning I thought he was fine, then by lunch it was like yesterday times two!

What do I care? 'I'm sorry.' Jirou clenched her eyes shut and dug her heels down as she kept jogging. She was panting, already exhausted from the day's finals both mentally and physically. Here she was though, running around only a half hour after classes while most everyone else was at their dorms studying for the next round of finals tomorrow. His apology means nothing! I can't forgive him. No matter what, I can't do it! If I'm the last one to even care then so be it. You don't get to just be… He didn't try talking to me today. Why not? Is that his new strategy? Ignore me and hope that I try to go talk to you next? Or are your other problems just more important than me, like always? I knew it from the start. That as soon as things got hard again you'd forget. You'd just stop trying! I don't care though! Any amount of trying wouldn't have done anything!

As if on cue with her thoughts, Jirou's eyes snapped down the road and to a bend onto a different street of their campus. That's him! What is he doing over here? We're nowhere from the dorm, and no one has any of the training grounds authorized for class use this afternoon. They're all being set up for tomorrow's finals. Different classes in all the different training grounds. Where… Jirou's expression got more focused. What is he doing? Her eyes narrowed and she started forward with softer steps even as she moved quicker down the street, yet staying off of it now.

Stealth mode, Jirou thought, plugging in her earphone jacks to the floor with each step she took. She hid herself and did so well thanks to her experience with Ms. Clue. I won't let you catch me this time. You won't hear me coming. Your friend caught us, and I won't make that mistake again! Won't let you hide what you're talking about, or what you're doing! Jirou reached a corner that Zach had turned down, and she listened in to a tree just off the side of the road. The vibrations of Zach's footsteps told her exactly where he was without her turning the corner to look his way. Don't risk him catching a glimpse of me for even a second. Who else is down there?

Jirou heard someone else on that road who Zach just met. We're close to the teachers' dorms, actually. Jirou realized it as she started to recognize the heavy breathing of the man in front of her classmate. What are they talking about? I'm almost close enough to hear it completely. Just a little closer. What does this street look like? Jirou imagined the road she had yet to turn down. She pictured the street and all the obstacles on the sides of it. This was not a road she went down often, but she remembered it enough to know that there was another tree ten meters past this one. From where he's standing, he's facing away from me. A quick look back though and he'd catch me, and All Might would notice too, but if I use the angle of that tree…

Jirou stayed low and in the blind spot given to her to approach diagonally to the next tree that she attached her earphone jacks into. No change in heart rate or breathing. They didn't see me. She frowned and listened closely, What's he talking to All Might about? If he's been confessing to everyone else, maybe he's going to tell All Might what it is he's really, planning… Jirou focused in on the conversation she could hear better with the extra ten meters closer to them. They were far down this next road but she could hear it all thanks to her training over the years at U.A. Her back leaned into the trunk of the tree and her head tilted back, her eyes wide as she listened in to the two of them.

"My 'plans?'" Zach asked his teacher.

All Might gave Sazaki a small smile and nodded his head. "For after graduation," All Might specified. "Many of your classmates have already come to me asking for assistance and advice. I thought that might be why you were here?"

"I was just, walking around…" Zach started back. Near the teachers' dorms? When I saw All Might too, it was like I saw what I came here for. Zach looked unsure about how he just responded to his homeroom teacher. "I don't really know, to be honest. I have a lot of things, I need to do." Zach paused and he looked hesitantly at his teacher, "I don't know." Zach's lips pursed as he stared at a man he had not had a close one-on-one encounter with since after the trial. "I wish I knew…"

All Might stared with wide eyes towards his student whose expression appeared so uncertain in that moment. He thought back several months to the first time he had met with the boy since he got out of Tartaros. I had wanted to ask him this very same question for so long. I asked him that day at the Provisional License exam. All Might imagined Zach standing there before him, and the smile on the teen's face as he held up his new provisional hero license. "Well, this was step one. Next is school, and then becoming a full-time hero. Then…" All Might's breathing sped up at the confused look on Sazaki's face as he looked at the teenage boy right now. He could see that same boy shrugging his shoulders and looking back at him with a small grin, "I'm sure I'll figure it out as I go."

I didn't believe Sazaki at all. Not one bit, All Might thought in regret. Here we are a week before graduation though, and I can see that his hope to figure it out as he goes is failing, because he's not figuring it out. All Might's look saddened as he realized it, as Sazaki had no answer for what had been a rather simple question to start a conversation with him.

"You knew Drac, All Might," Zach started. All Might stared back at Zach in surprise and with wide eyes at what he just started to say. Zach did not ask it as a question rather just stated the truth that made All Might nod back at him. "Tell me, did you know how old he really is?"

All Might hesitated at the question Zach asked of him. "Lavamander was old," Zach continued, making All Might flinch again at what he said. "I know you asked him to save me from the League of Villains. Webb, Ganji, and him too. He was the only one to survive Kaminari's purge of all those anti-heroes, and he refused to join me because it was all my fault. I had to tell him," Zach paused and he lowered his gaze from All Might's for a moment. "But he died in that final charge against the Capos. Disintegrated, right in front of me," Zach hissed it out and looked back up into All Might's hurt eyes. "Lavamander was an old man, but Drac was… You know he was really Dracula, right? Where the legends came from. Dracard the Deadly. Oldest man I knew. Hundreds of years older than even Eziano."

All Might leaned his head back at what Zach was telling him. That's impossible. "Quirks were not around, back then," All Might started back to him.

Zach shook his head back at his scrawny teacher with grayish-blond hair. "They were," Zach responded. His confidence was too contagious for All Might to counter him a second time. "You helped Drac find his humanity again. He told me how you saved him."

"I am, happy, to hear that," All Might said.

"He's missing now though," Zach continued before All Might could smile too much about this. "Dead, for all I know. Like the rest…" Zach's teeth slammed together and he cut himself off. He looked away, What am I doing? Plans! What kind of plans can I make, if I'm going to live- if I have so much time- "All Might," Zach continued, his tone getting shakier and his eyes lifting up with panic growing in them. "I want to tell you, about the night I came back here. Eziano was-"

"Sazaki," All Might stopped him before he could admit something he felt was some huge secret. "Young Midoriya already told me about it."

"Did he tell you about Ares?" Zach asked. All Might did not respond for a few seconds then shook his head no. Zach nodded his head back as he did not think so. I thought I wasn't going to tell anyone! I already did though- That's Momo. I shouldn't tell anyone else… Why? All Might, has kept secrets his whole life. He knows how to keep them. And I, need this. "Ares, was the one who Eziano Mozcaccio reported to. There's a reason why your predecessors had all heard of Eziano, and that's because he had lived for hundreds of years with his Longevity Quirk. But that, was a Quirk passed down to him by his father… and his father before that."

All Might got sweat on both sides of his face at what Sazaki was telling him. "Thousands of years," Zach continued in a low voice. The wind blew by and the gray clouds above seemed darker in All Might's peripheral vision just from the content of what Sazaki spoke of. The words escaping his lips sounded like hidden truths that must never be spoken, things he instantly understood why Midoriya might have kept from him. "And in all that time, they followed the God of War. Ares. Who I fought against in the sky over the Muindo Mountains while Midoriya watched. As we shattered an entire mountain range that was nicknamed 'uninhabitable' or 'Muindo,' because for hundreds of years the assassins had killed all of those who entered their range. In a fight that cost the lives of every one of Ares' assassins. He killed them all, Eziano included."

This is insane, All Might thought. And yet I believe you. Wholeheartedly, I trust what you are saying to be fact. All Might nodded his head at the boy in front of him to continue what he was actually getting at by talking about this.

"All Might, I'm stronger than Midoriya. I know Deku knows it himself, but I am so much stronger. And I'm telling you, because I want to know what I should do. Please," Zach begged.

All Might tilted his head back. I spent so long questioning Sazaki's motives rather than helping him achieve his goals. I was not the hero that he needed, and he is going so far as to asking for that help now because I was too blind to see that my student needed it beforehand. I thought it was too late. I left it to my successor to help Sazaki as I had failed, but perhaps I haven't. Not yet! All Might filled his expression with conviction and reminded himself who he was as he looked at the boy standing tall before him.

"I still make mistakes, still question my decisions, and I still get scared…" All Might thought of this student laying on a bed in the nurse's office. He had told Sazaki how he did not regret his decision and thought he could become a hero, but Zach had replied that he did not need that motivation All Might thought he could give him. "I already decided it."

"…I will become a hero. Stop the League of Villains. Help Midoriya protect the world. Save, as many people as I can, for as long as I can…

The reason I am able to feel all of our students are still safe around you even after what you have done, is because of what you told me that day. Whenever I would question myself why you returned to Japan, it's always the answer I come up with. How you said you would not waver anymore on that day… And yet here you are, for the first time that I have seen in oh so long, wavering. All Might hummed as he stared at his student so unsure of what to do next. "What is it that you want to do?" All Might questioned him

Zach's face scrunched up and his eyes watered as he looked at his hero. At All Might, who was his hero since he was a child. All Might finally saw a boy again for the first time since he returned at the look Zach gave him after he asked that simple question. "I don't know," Zach replied hoarsely. "I don't know what to do. I think, I'm the strongest thing in the world, and Ares told me I'm a God." Zach whispered that secret in terror then shook his head and whispered quicker, "I don't want to think that way. I'm afraid of my own power though. I'm still afraid of it," he confessed in fear to the retired number 1 hero in front of him.

Zach pursed his lips hard as he admitted something that would terrify most people after he had just explained how powerful he was. "I'm only more terrified hearing how long Ares lived with his Quirk. Thousands of years, because of a Quirk, that granted him more strength over time. With every war that passed, he grew stronger." Zach's eyes shook and his head tilted back while those eyes filled to the brim with water. All Might's eyes bulged at what Sazaki was suggesting by bringing up that similarity, and he confirmed that fear as Zach continued. "He thought our Quirks were similar too. He, knew something, about Death."

Zach bowed his head and when he blinked, tears fell from his eyes. "All Might, I've accumulated so much power. All the 'War' that had made Ares stronger throughout his existence- allowed him to live forever, and I was able to kill him with just the 'Deaths' that I had matched those Wars with, in a year. Too strong. It's bubbling inside me at all times, so powerful I could release it all right now and wipe out half of Musutafu." Zach's eyes trembled in sheer terror as he said that aloud. His eyes shook as he whispered, "And I don't know what to do. All For One hasn't come for me like I wanted, and so I'm so attached to everyone again. They think being out in the open is because it's the only way I can stay here with them, but, it's for him. To give him a target! So that he'll come for my Quirk, and I can finally end his reign… But I did get attached. And I- I can't go through losing them all, and I can't make them all lose me again now either."

"I won't do that to them again," Zach hissed. "Be that much of a villain after coming back and reconnecting. I can't. But, what will happen then, if I really do have to live forever?" Zach wondered. He asked the man in front of him who stared back silently as Zach broke down like he never had before. The pure fear in Zach's eyes as he spoke to this hero who he hoped would have answers. The only one who possibly could. "What if I really am going to live as long as him? I'm already stronger. So what will happen if I really have to live forever, and watch all of them die?" Zach asked it with his voice completely cracking. He choked on the air after finally getting that worst fear out in the open. He put it into words for the first time, and it terrified him to say but he knew how it had been plaguing him by the small relief he felt just to get it out there.

"It's all I can think about since Ares," Zach whispered with a shaky voice. His expression covered in the worst fear Toshinori could see that hurt him so much at the sight. Nearby, Jirou had to cover her mouth with one hand though the other was grabbing at her chest as she nearly had a heart attack listening to this. "I've lost them over and over," Zach whispered. "Everyone I've ever loved. My family, my friends, my mentors, people who trusted me to keep them safe, people I was in love with, and people who loved me- revered me." Tears fell from his eyes and he gasped out, "I watched them die over and over and over, and it terrified me what would happen if I finally get numbed by it. What I could turn into…"

"But," Zach continued with his eyes slamming shut and more tears pushing out. "I wish I would just get numbed by it already, because if I have to live forever that means I'll have to watch the people I love keep dying forever." His head tilted back and his mouth opened wide as he wheezed out a breath of pure agony at the thought of that. "I'll have to watch them all: Midoriya, Momo, Jirou, Kirishima, Bakugo, Sero, Mina, Hagakure, Ojiro, Sato, Shoji, Tsuyu, Uraraka, Iida, Koda, Aoyama, Mineta, Tokoyami, Todoroki, and Kuroiro, Monoma, Kendo, Tsuburaba, Rin, all of Class B, and Himazuri, Kotsumura, Dendo, Inasa- I just can't stop. I can't, be around, and not make more friends. I hate it though, because I'll have to watch them all die. And I can't be alone, because I hate being alone, but I'm scared to get close to anyone else because I know I'll lose them now. And yet!"

"Yet people keep getting close," Zach said frustratedly. He bowed his head thinking of all of them. "And I'll have to lose them all. I can't- I'll, have the power to bring back everyone who ever dies. And I'll be powerful enough that it doesn't matter where they are, because I'll be able to reach them. I- I already can!" Talking about how powerful he was to be able to reach anyone made him sick to his stomach. And so he made his stomach disappear for a moment in darkness that just made it feel worse when he forced himself to put it back and not do that. "I can reach them all. And so," he cried, "I'll have to go through that horrible pain for eternity, and the even worse pain of watching everyone die. And if I don't bring them back then I'm letting them die. And as long as I can't abandon them because i know how much it will hurt them, I know I'll wind up making more and more friends while I'm with them, and I'll have to keep losing, and it's going to be a cycle over and over and over and over- and I can't live like this!"

Zach begged All Might with his shout. "It's constant pain. It always hurts. Everything, always, hurts."

I don't know how to help him, All Might wished he had some answer for these things. Everything that came out of Sazaki's mouth was so far beyond anything he was trained to deal with. I've never experienced this before, Sazaki. I- "You don't need to bring-"

"But what about those people then?" Zach asked before All Might could finish a single sentence. "Why does my pain, matter more than their lives? And the answer is that it doesn't! Which means I can't just stop."

"Your life does mean something," All Might countered quickly, getting it out as fast as he could since Sazaki thought way too fast and might cut him off again.

"I know, because I can't kill myself as long as all these people love me," Zach seethed back at the hero before him who winced at that response. Zach pulled back his head at the way All Might looked at him upon hearing that. "I don't want to do that," Zach continued. "But really, I just can't imagine hurting them all like that." Zach shook his head as he made that confession. That the number one thing that kept him going was how much it would hurt the others for him to give up. He was a mess on the inside as these things he never dared to consider before completely came to the surface, but they had been welling up since Ares and he realized it all at once while he told All Might. He shook something inside me. Shook loose a fear that I always had. "…And this, thing."

All For One's voice echoed through Zach's mind and made him slam his eyes shut at the thought of something that had haunted him for years. All Might watched as likely the most powerful person in the world broke down in front of him. Just an 18 year old boy, with the Quirk Death, All Might reminded himself. And all the weight of the world pushing down on his shoulders. I've felt that pressure. He knows, that I have felt it. All Might felt hurt as he watched this child losing it. After what I saw at the courthouse, Sazaki, I believe that you are a much better hero than I ever was. A different kind of hero, I suppose, but better nonetheless. Fixing the world's problems, not just by stopping villains but going to the root causes. The very things that made your life hell, you stepped in to stop before others could suffer in the same way.

Oh Sazaki, All Might stepped towards the boy in front of him only a few meters away. He walked closer, Taking down corruption, wiping villains' bank accounts, hunting them down even before they commit crimes faster than I ever could. You established peace through the shadows without ever wanting or needing recognition. All Might felt another jolt of pain just looking at Sazaki's damaged expression. Even though I think he might just be the most amazing hero I've ever met, this boy hates his life- No. It's not that. All Might realized it as he thought on what Zach was just telling him. He loves his life, and that's even worse. Knowing that this boy who loves life so much, is in constant pain because of it? The fact that he's lost everything over and over, and he knows he might lose it more, forever, but he still hasn't given up.

All Might reached out his right hand and he put it on Sazaki's left shoulder. He slid it closer to Zach's neck and squeezed where he was sure the boy's body actually was, and Zach lifted his head back up and squinted his eyes open. This breakdown, All Might thought. It's the first time Sazaki's admitted how afraid he really is. All Might could see it in the uncertain eyes of the student in front of him. And, All Might continued to himself in realization as he made eye contact with the teenager. This might be the last time in his life, that he has someone he thinks is more experienced than him in front of him.

All Might could see it in the way Zach so quickly broke down and started telling him this. The desperation and pleading tone of his voice through their conversation dug it in deeper. He was the only person in the whole world who Zach Sazaki thought might actually have the answer to questions impossible for anyone else to tell him the answers to. "I see you becoming so wise, and so strong," All Might started. "And yet I can't imagine you ever reaching the point that you're so afraid of reaching," All Might told the scared teen looking back in his eyes. "I cannot see you becoming evil, Young Sazaki." Zach's eyes widened more and got more watery still as All Might added a 'Young' before his name, once again. Something he had not done in years. Something, that accentuated how he felt at that moment begging for an answer from an adult who he hoped would have it.

"I can't imagine you turning into some heartless God," All Might added with a chuckle and a smile at his student who grimaced and looked down at the thought. "Because I think that you are the best person in the world." Zach's entire body froze and his eyes rose in shock to stare at his hero in front of him. "So do not worry about all that other stuff. You are young. You have an entire life ahead of you. All this pain in your youth may fade over time in this world you created."

Zach's eyes widened more as All Might said that to him. All Might nodded though to show he meant it, and the much older man continued, "A more genuine peace than my own ever was. And yes, there are still villains you need to fight. And there will be more hardships through life that you will have to face, but I know you will strive to be the best person you can be in every situation."

Zach's body straightened out more and he stared more seriously back at All Might. He nodded once, feeling that the grip on his left shoulder was not just a comforting one but one of someone appreciative as well. He's not talking down to me. Even when I look like this. He's not coddling me either like a kid, despite the 'Young,' he's just giving me advice. Zach looked his former role model in the eyes, and All Might continued to the boy listening closely to his every word, "There will always be more pain, but you have to look forward to all the amazing things that come between. To not get hung up on those future pains, not see your friends and loved ones as people you will one day have to mourn, but people who today you can love."

"Remember who you are, Sazaki," All Might said, referring to him back in the way of more respect that All Might had always found for this student. A man who for so long had exceeded every expectation All Might had for him, and sometimes exceeding that expectation too far. All Might smiled at him though and said, "You are someone who can care so much for everyone else, but you must also know that your life is for you too."

"People die. Sometimes you live longer than your loved ones. Some people, live longer than most everyone they care about," All Might added. He smiled softly even though Zach could hear pain in his teacher's voice. The smile that All Might kept even though that pain was there left the strongest impact in Zach yet. "But don't be afraid to make those new connections in fear that you would lose them as well. I have lost many of my friends, mentors, loved ones… And now just like you, I have your class as well. And I care about each and every one of you students. Do I fear that once you are out there fighting villains as heroes, that you could lose your lives? That I would have to mourn, even more students?" All Might said that with a pang of sadness in his voice thinking of the previous year's valedictorian and a picture he had on his desk of the two of them.

"Of course I fear that. It is a natural fear to have. But it cannot be something that stops you. Something that paralyzes you so," All Might instructed his student. "Your fears of becoming what that man became, are fears we all have. Getting numb to the loss of so many friends, is something I cannot see ever happening to you though." All Might accentuated how Ares was not a 'God' by emphasizing the word 'man,' which made Zach nod along as he remembered that fact himself. "I have faith in you, Sazaki. And I have faith in Lifebringer."

Zach blinked a few times then rose his right arm up and wiped his eyes with it. "Show me," All Might told the boy whose shoulder he gave a tighter squeeze for a moment before lowering that hand. He took in a deep breath then said while his heart rate slowed back down, "Become a hero first. Start to enjoy your life again. And you'll remember why it is that we can all keep these fears at bay. The good parts of life, they outnumber the rough parts. The things that are scary, and that hurt, are vastly outnumbered by the things I'm certain you will find that make your life worth living. Things I am certain you've seen and experienced around this world. Latch onto them, Sazaki. And you will find your answers."

"Thank you, All Might," Zach told the man who gave him all this advice. "You're right. I do have a lot. And, there's still a lot more I need to do. Things, I have to make right. And I'll keep at it. I promise."

"Good man," All Might responded to his fellow hero. He felt like a hero again in that moment, and at the same time he felt like the boy in front of him looked like a hero as well as he made that promise back. "Ack- kah ah-" All Might started coughing and he moved his arm back to in front of his face to cover up. "I'm alright," he assured his student who looked at him in a concerned way seeing him cough like that. "Watching over your practical finals was as exhausting for me as it was for all of you. More-so, most likely, haha, ahk- haha," All Might chuckled again and cleared his throat as he almost started coughing again.

"Go get some rest," Zach told the older man who was showing his age and the results of many injuries sustained over his career as a hero. "I'll see you tomorrow morning. Thank you, again."

"You're very welcome, Sazaki. It is, why I'm here, after all," All Might nodded back one last time. Then he turned away from his student and walked off for his building to get some rest after what felt like too long of a day.

Once All Might walked away, Zach's smile faded. It dropped down and his eyes squinted almost closed. What's wrong with you? Why not just, accept it? I'm trying! I might be immortal- is that it? Because he didn't deny that one fact?! Zach's teeth clenched violently. He didn't tell me it can't be possible. That's all I really wanted. How can I stop being afraid that easily, if I'm definitely going to be the last one alive? The death of the planet. All of humanity gone. And I'll still be here?! What the fuck?! I- I can't do that. Just accept his advice! Live, for now! For right now without thinking about… how I'll be alone one day, after I've watched them all die?

Zach bowed his head. I have to get over that fear though. He's right. It's terrifying, but I can't stop! There are still things I need to do. Stopping Kaminari. All For One. And, I still need to-

Zach felt footsteps on the ground behind him. His heart rate skyrocketed and his head turned slowly to the side. Zach stared behind him on the road at a girl who stopped as he looked back at her. He saw her face and was not just imagining it though he had that doubt for a second considering what he had almost just thought.

Jirou walked closer to Zach. Her steps slowed but she continued forward with her breathing ragged and her whole face full of conflicting emotions. All of that, her thoughts sped up more as he looked back in her eyes and a wave of guilt flooded over his face. His eyes shifted away and down at the look she was giving him. You've been going through all of that? How terrifying- how much pressure that has to- I don't understand it. None of that made any sense to me. It sounded like you were talking about an entirely different world than the one we live in! And even with all of that! Even with all that other stuff going on in your life, I matter that much to you that you're actually doing this right now? Jirou gulped while looking back at the boy in front of her whose face appeared younger the way he just looked nervously away from her. All this time he's been trying to, help me, his mind was in pain and his whole body aching, his thoughts brutal and scared! And I've been-

Jirou bit down behind her lips. She quickly walked forward closer to Zach, her eyes shaking as her hands balled in fists at both of her sides. She rose those fists up, and she slid her bottom lip under her top row of teeth, and she swung her fists forward at his chest that was fully pointed towards her now. Zach closed his eyes as she swung those fists at him, but they hit softly. She pounded onto his chest again, both fists moving back and slamming forward, then she leaned her head in and pressed her forehead just under those fists. "Ahhh-" she sucked in a sharp breath but still gasped out loudly as she shoved her head into his shirt. "I-" She froze and Zach's entire being tensed up at the sound of her voice. Her fists that were still pressed into his body on either side of her head, slowly moved outwards with her fists opening up. "I'm sorry," her weak voice gasped, her eyes opening up on his body and tears falling out even as her teeth were bared in anger.

You've been trying so hard to talk to me, when you think there's the pressure of the whole world on you? That I'm even a second thought in your mind- Jirou clenched her eyes shut again that that would make her feel relieved in any way, just being a second thought. "I'm sorry," she apologized. She thought of the words scribbled on that tear-streaked page she only read the night before. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, for everything-"

"What are you, talking about?" Zach asked in anxious confusion. He stared down at the top of her head with his eyes trembling at the words coming out of her mouth. He pulled his head back even farther as her hands on his sides moved farther behind his back, as she hugged him.

It killed me to think about why you kept trying, Jirou shook her head into his chest as she struggled to say it aloud. Because I didn't think you actually cared about me. I thought you were lying about that. You were always lying- because if you cared, then you wouldn't have left me in the first place. You couldn't have done that when I needed you most. Not unless you didn't care about me at all. "I was wrong," Jirou whispered into him. I don't know how he has that much room, in his heart! Because mine is so empty! It has been, so so empty, for so long! So how could he do that if he cared?! He can. Only he can! I knew that once!

"I was being stupid," Jirou whispered, pulling her head back slightly and staring up in his eyes. Her own were bloodshot. Zach could tell from that one look in her eyes that she had heard everything he said to All Might. He winced and his eyes started shaking as there was no reason to try and hide it if she had just heard it all. "You're still the best, kindest person I've ever known," Jirou gasped up at his face.

Zach winced. It hurt him to hear those words that he never thought she would say again, but it hurt more imagining how much he cared for her upon hearing her say it. His whole body clenched up as he looked at this girl he would one day watch die. "…To not get hung up on those future pains, not see your friends and loved ones as people you will one day have to mourn, but people who today you can love." Jirou curled her hands tighter into his back as All Might's words echoed back in his head.

I don't understand why, Zach thought, but his hands started to raise and his arms moved inwards. She shoved her face back in his chest and sobbed into his shirt, frustration and pain in her voice as he hugged her back. He hugged her back and accepted the love in this moment. Zach did not deny the feeling of warmth of having this friendship that extended back to the first day of school. His eyes closed and he could see the girl sitting behind him who teased when he got all excited after All Might came in, "Didn't take you for the fanboy type."

Jirou remembered the first day of school too. She hugged him tighter, I know now, that All Might saved you as a child from killing yourself. And you killed Shindeki Buda to save my life. Raijin betrayed both of us more than anyone else- we, we've shared so many moments- And without you, my life is completely different. For better or worse, you're a part of it! And I- I can't pretend like you're not for any longer!

"I don't know how you do it," Jirou whispered. "When it hurts you so much, I don't get how you're still going. And I'm sorry that I made it so much harder on you."

"That's-" Zach stopped her, seething it through clenched teeth. He held her tighter and shook his head over hers. "You, made it hard on me?" Zach asked, his voice shaking at the question full of self-hatred. Jirou's hands curled into his back too, anger filling her even as she cried more hearing that he knew exactly what he was talking about. I ruined your life. You were like- you were the one, who was really like a sister to me. More than anyone else.

"I missed you though," Jirou gasped. She did not deny what he just replied with, but she shook her head again anyway. I can't keep holding onto that hatred. It seems so, petty! That's what it is. That's what I've been all this time. Petty. And I forgive you, Zach. That easily- I have to! You were like a brother to me, and I've been holding this petty grudge against you for some stupid argument we had a long time ago. That's what it feels like! Because I know!

That talk we had before you left, when you comforted me that night… The things I told you that I stopped believing in because of the forest, they never stopped being true, she realized it and bowed her head into his chest more at that thought. The things that make you you, are still in there. Which means this is you. The person that night is the one right here. It was always you. I was right then. And, and I can't hate you anymore. How can I hate, the best person in the world?

---

At eight o'clock at night, Jirou and Zach sat together in her bedroom on the third floor of Class A's dorm. The few people they had passed on their way here earlier had stared at the two of them in disbelief just because they were walking next to each other. Only once they got to her room did they start talking again, and they had continued to for the past several hours straight.

"Who was she?" Jirou asked. The topic of their conversation had just started to stray from the things that Zach needed hours to explain to her after what she heard him tell All Might. He was certain she had a far better understanding of what he talked about than his hero after their talk, and he had started to wonder if All Might was not sitting up awake rather than resting because of all the unanswered questions that Jirou had listed off at him for the past hours. The talk had shifted from Zach's beliefs on the history of Quirks, on Ares and his assassins, and from his own power and the fears of immortality that he shared with her as well when she asked more delicately.

The conversation had brought up someone though who made Jirou's expression harshen. "Your, 'Darling,'" Jirou specified. She gave Zach a serious look that warned him and made Zach sit up more at her desk chair from the hunched-forward position he had been in for a while. The look on her face warned him that the wrong answer here could reverse any of the progress they had made since they started talking. "Tell me," Jirou told him.

"Darling… was complicated-"

"I've always needed to hear this," Jirou said sternly. "Everything you did back then compounded together, and it all made me hate you these past two years. I've hated you so much for how you betrayed me, just like Raijin. How I had trusted you, like you had trusted Kaminari- and you knew that I trusted you like that! He was the one you looked to, when you had nothing left." Zach half-closed his eyes but did not dare look away from her as she told him this. "And I needed you, and as horrible as that was- as horrible as you doing that to me, made me feel! Seeing that girl look at you the way she did that night- a girl you had brought back to life!" Jirou's voice got angrier as she rose her volume and glared even harsher at him. "Who loved you, and who you had brought along to commit crimes for you."

Jirou's voice was angry when she was saying it, and despite Zach's regretful look and how they had been making up so far, he nodded in agreement with her expression that stayed angry. She's right to be mad at me. Not everything can just be forgiven.

"I didn't think you were capable of that, and then to hear what you told me in that last moment as you drove off? That you meant what you had said to me- like you were actually still a good person?" She questioned him in disbelief that he could think she would have believed that. "After I had just seen…" she shook her head in confusion, as baffled as she had been for years since it happened. "It was confusing. Frustrating. All I knew was that I knew nothing. That nothing made sense and, and that there was no point trusting people."

Jirou sat back on the edge of her bed and shook her head at Zach. The one person who she had wanted to talk about with this was the one person who she could never tell. "I felt betrayed when Kaminari turned on us, but I searched for something to hold onto and show me that it was not all shit. That there was still good out there, people who I could trust… and when you tackled Killmore out that building because he tried to us? And Momo risked everything by destroying the jammer so she could get our classmates to save you? I knew there was good." She said it in an inspired way as if talking from the perspective of her from back then. "The two of you were good. My friends-"

"And you betrayed that trust," Jirou finished. Her voice got colder. "A bond you had with Momo that I believed was unbreakable. Trust I had in you so strong…" Jirou's face twisted in frustration. "So when I wondered who that girl was, I assumed everything. The worst! And nothing ever convinced me that it wasn't the worst," she continued, her eyes narrowing darkly back at Zach again. "Nothing could ever change my mind about it, because the others didn't know. Their theories were as empty as mine."

Jirou imagined the scene in the casino in Sueguon. She could picture Zach and Darling outside of the convenience store in Mississippi, and she could still hear how infatuated the girl on top of the truck in the Lifebringer Incident had been with him. Then she also imagined Wampajawa though, the way Zach had put his hand softly down on her in the medical tent after the battle. Jirou remembered the way that she had dropped down and screamed her fealty for him before growling and screaming at the larger army she was about to charge at. Even that image of the girl soaked in blood and ready to fight to the death for him made Jirou far angrier than it relieved any of her frustration with him.

"And you would never explain- and yet people thought you were doing good out there while I knew, that you had brainwashed-"

"It wasn't like that," Zach whispered back at her. "Airi was-"

"'Airi?'" Jirou snapped. "Not Darling?"

"She told me to call her that, when I asked for her name," Zach responded back softly. His voice was more pained than it sounded like he was trying to explain away or alleviate the guilt that she was pushing on him. Jirou got even more confused at what he was saying now though, shaking her head at him and giving him a look demanding that he tell her more. And Zach hesitated for a moment, then he nodded back. "Airi was one of the people who I brought back with Kurogiri. It wasn't an accident though. She had killed herself, but I wanted to bring her back anyway…"

Zach started to tell the story of Darling. He sat there and told her everything, because Jirou demanded that he did. They sat around in Jirou's room and Zach talked about Darling or Airi for hours. Hours of just talking about the one girl. Zach needed Jirou to know that he really cared about her, and Jirou needed to know that just as much. Hearing how badly Jirou thought of him because of Darling though, made him want to speak as much as he could on her. At one point Jirou stopped asking any more questions and just nodded along if Zach would ever pause to give her a moment to cut in. Jirou just kept listening.

And even long after she changed her mind, Jirou stayed quiet and listened to the story of Airi. After the long pause where she said nothing and just let Zach talk about her nonstop for forty minutes straight, she started occasionally asking questions again. They were different though. No longer accusatory, her questions were about the insane stories Zach was telling her about their misadventures together across the world. Sucked into different dimensions together. Fighting King side by side. Recruiting an Army, and losing those friends that they had made together. Then he started to talk about her after he had come back to Japan though, and Jirou fell quiet again with her eyes opening much wider at the first interaction Zach and Airi had had since he came back.

She, was the one who shot you? Jirou thought in disbelief. I had thought, you planned it out. Maybe it was Eziano, but even then I figured you let yourself get shot so as to lure them out, and I thought I confirmed it when that bullet went right through you in the convenience store! How much of that was deception? Did you plan any of it at all? I- I believe that you didn't know she was going to shoot you.

He continued his story through various assassination attempts. Through his meeting with Dover and pretending that he did not notice that Dover could smell her and was confused as to why they were not together. Zach told her about Inazuma too, and Jirou nodded as she had had her suspicions about that day and knew something had happened. She never knew Darling was involved though. Jirou listened in amazement that Zach's entire cover was blown because of her arrival, and how she had revealed everything to six of their classmates.

"…I don't know if it felt like I was replacing Jenny with her, or just the idea of saving someone I cared about that much… for once in my life…" Zach quieted down then lifted a small genuine smile. He told the girl in front of him, "Airi should be happy now. I have to believe, that those last things I told her can finally set her free, from me." Zach looked into Jirou's eyes and nodded. Jirou nodded back. She had thought the story was over so many times, only for it to keep going. The past thirty minutes of time spent solely in the previous months back in Japan, she had not asked any questions about.

Jirou opened her mouth to say something as Zach waited for a response from her. He was waiting for her to say something. Out of all my horrible theories, and the good ones that our classmates had countered me with to make you seem less horrible, to give reasons for what you did and why you recruited that girl… None were as reasonable or as justifiable as why you really did it. Jirou lifted a tiny smile of her own. The corners of her lips lifted into her cheeks, as she also thought, And none sounded more like the truth to me. The thought of how easy it was for her to believe that entire story, coincided with the feeling of two years of hateful and cynical thoughts burning out of her head. All those disgusting theories about the person she had believed in so much that she had considered him the best and kindest, vanished from her mind and made her shoulders feel lighter than they had in twenty-two months.

There was such a noticeable difference in how she felt after fully accepting the story that she noticed it and leaned backwards. She leaned back too much and fell to her back on her bed's comforter. "Huh," she whispered interestedly, her smile staying across her face as she considered what it meant to hear that. The way I viewed the world for so long was because of the assumptions I made. Stupid assumptions. Wrong, assumptions. Mom and Dad were right. Momo too, and the others who wouldn't say it but have thought it for all this time. That hateful person I feel like I had become, by imagining Zach as some kind of monster? "You were an amazing person in my mind," Jirou whispered while staring straight up at her ceiling.

He didn't straight-out betray us like Kaminari and show his insanity… No, Zach just made me doubt humanity. That's why it was worse. Human nature of someone I thought really believed himself to be good. You believed you were doing what was right, and you were willing to abuse some girl so you could carry out your mission… I know that I believed that of you, and it wasn't your army or the murders or anything else which caused me to lose so much faith in people, as the fact that you had used that girl just like Raijin had used me. Jirou's mouth stayed closed as she did not tell Zach any of this. She felt it would just hurt more for him to hear it now, And he doesn't deserve that. My false assumptions made me feel that way.

Jirou sat back up. She nodded at Zach. She was unable to speak to her friend sitting in front of her. He's more amazing than I've ever seen him before. She thought it while looking straight into his eyes that appeared unsure as to how she felt after hearing all of that. Not only did you not abuse her, but you had gone so far beyond what anyone else would have. Just to try and help that crazy girl who was stalking you. The fact that she became the person closest to you in the entire world, someone who you said you needed by your side and yet who you pushed away and forced to leave you, so you could set her free? That's, the most selfless thing you've ever done…

Thinking about Zach and being selfless in the same thought made Jirou's face start to scrunch up in frustration again. "Just because-" Jirou stopped herself. "Yeah, Airi sounds like- it sounds like you really did everything you could. That's amazing, you know? But-" Jirou pursed her lips. I told him that was the biggest reason I hated him! "But it wasn't just that." Her eyes filled with tears, and she did not sound that angry with him though. She shook her head back and forth and then looked away towards her drum set and the wall behind it. "You betrayed me. There's no denying that. I hated you for it- because," she cried just trying to tell him this. As much as she was trying to forgive him… "When I think on how painful it was, worse is that it was you who had hurt me."

"Zach," Jirou whispered at him, leaning off of her bed and staring him in his similarly clouded eyes. "I had not been able to trust anyone. I didn't think I could, and I didn't trust you when I came to you that night, but by the end of it…" Jirou's voice sped up and her voice rose in pitch. Her eyes squinted and shook, water filling them as she gasped, "I knew. I knew that was a lie. Because there was only one person I could turn to who knew exactly how painful this was. Before Killmore even, I knew! There was one person who I could talk to, and trust, and believe in because I saw you going to class and moving forward even after he had said things to you that I couldn't imagine! I knew I would have never gotten through them myself if I was in your shoes, and that made it- that made it easier, to try and bounce back!"

"I wouldn't have been able to help fight Killmore. I wouldn't have been ready to go on that camping trip with the class. I would have doubted it too much, but I moved forward because you did!" She yelled at him. "I felt like we were the same." Her voice was getting angrier, and she was crying but her face looked angry as she recalled all this pent-up aggression she held in for years. Aggression that had turned into passive-aggressiveness towards everyone around her that made her life that much harder. "You left!" Jirou yelled, her voice very loud now. "Going, when I know that you knew how much you meant to me!"

"I'm sorry-" Zach cried too. He was unable to hold it back solely because he didn't deserve to cry when he was the one who caused this pain. "It was painful for me too," he gasped back at her desperately. "Doing what I did. Hurting you like that? Was as painful for me as it was for-" Zach stopped himself before he could finish that thought aloud. He clenched his teeth shut and bowed his head, "I hate that I even consider that, because I know it's not the same! I know, I did it to myself so I don't, deserve to say it-"

"I understand though," Jirou replied. He looked back at her painfully and she stared back with pain in her eyes too and even a frustrated look despite her words saying she understood. "I hate that I feel like I do," Jirou told him. "But I'm starting to believe, that you really do have enough room in your heart that you could care about me that much, and still have things that are more important. Everyone doesn't have the same amount of room in their hearts," she explained to him with a half-smile and bags under her eyes.

Her smile faltered and she had to look away as she admitted, "It's not a percentage of your heart for each thing that you had to choose. That's what my heart is. For you it's more a base amount, right? You loved us as much as we loved you… more, because you didn't have another family, other than us." Jirou looked back at him with her eyes sadder. His gaze shook when she looked back into it, and he looked away because his whole chest was tightening up. Without having me still be someone who you hurt so much, there's nothing left in the way from it finally hurting you, is there? Jirou could understand it as Zach's face scrunched up and tears poured out of his eyes. "And you cared about us as much as any of us care about our families. Treasured us even more than that because you've lost your family before and to get it all back…" Jirou gasped just trying to imagine what she was saying now. You got it all back? You lost it and got it back! And you still!

She was breaking down again, but her words were making Zach lose it more. His head bowed down far as she said to him, "You gave us all away and caused so much pain for your entire class. People you considered like…"

"Family," Zach admitted to himself. Agreeing with her. Telling her that she was right to think that way while saying it aloud to himself again too. I didn't want any of you to die. I couldn't lose you again. I couldn't lose another family. And yet I did. I didn't want you all to die just because you were with me, but I still lost a family that day.

"I know that you can be selfish," Jirou whispered softer as she rubbed her eyes. "And yet you chose to abandon the people you loved the most, and I could never understand that. So, that meant it was all a lie!" Jirou explained herself to him and laughed as more tears fell even after she just tried to wipe them away. "Because no one could care that much, and still abandon me. And so that confused me. It made me hate you. Made me, hateful. And scared with no one to talk to about it, for so long."

"What about Momo?" Zach asked her.

Jirou shook her head and bowed it again as he asked her that. "Momo, always defended you. And as much as I hated you, I couldn't deal with that. I didn't want her to defend everything you did… You're much better, at letting me vent about you, than she is."

Zach had to crack a smile at that as Jirou did the same. Her head lifted a little from being bowed, and she added, "Momo was right in the end. About all of it. Everything you did. Why you did it. She kept trying to explain it to me, but I didn't want to hear it. Not from her… I needed to hear it from you. And then I couldn't even…" I didn't want to read your letter. I couldn't though. I don't want to tell you that. Why, that was. I'm supposed to be mad at you! I have all the reasons in the world. For now. At least, until you tell me some more stuff I'm sure will make me hate to love you even more.

---

Zach lay on Jirou's bed at one in the morning. He was glad she did not seem to be tired either. It made it feel right to just stay in there longer and keep talking like this. For 7-8 hours now they had been together nonstop. Making up for lost time, Zach thought to himself as she played a song for him. A song she had written, and one she was singing while playing the guitar at the same time. Neither were worried about people hearing them down the halls and maybe waking up. Jirou had soundproofed her room enough to not need to concern herself with that, as long as she stayed conscious about it.

Jirou's song was sad. He did not think she had shared it with anyone before. He listened quietly as she sang it for him because he had asked her to when he walked around her room and found the sheet music that looked hand-written. I'm sorry I did this to you, Zach thought. His head was turned to the side and he watched her even though he lay flat on her bed with his hands locked together behind his head. I know that it won't be that easy to forgive me. You're trying, because you heard what I said to All Might. I don't feel like I deserve your forgiveness just for that. As hard as it was, it should be harder. It will be. You'll try, but anger that deep won't be so easy to forget about.

Jirou's voice got softer and she trailed off. Zach tilted his head back as he listened to her panting. Was that the end? Seems like an odd place to cut it off, but I'm not a musician.

He looked towards her and saw her staring at him in a very odd way. Zach turned onto his side and Jirou's entire body tensed up. The boy laying down on her bed turning sideways like that flipped with another image. A different boy. Chills went down her spine at the way he looked at her, in a way like she could talk to him or trust him… Jirou turned around and lowered her guitar to its stand gently, though she struggled to get it in place as her hands started shaking.

Her eyes squinted shut and squeezed as her entire body got tense. Breathe! Jirou opened her mouth wide and took in a deep breath. Then she let it out and calmly turned back to face Zach who sat up on her bed and put his feet down off the side of it while looking at her cautiously and apologetically like he had done something wrong. "That day," Jirou whispered while looking back at Zach now. "I was with him. After the blood tests," Jirou stopped herself and lowered her gaze to the floor.

Zach nodded at her though to continue and she saw it at the top of her vision. "I went farther with him than I ever had," Jirou continued softly while looking down at the floor. She thought about that day rarely, but it became so vivid in her mind all of a sudden that she had to hug her own arms across her chest. Her eyes lifted a little more to the bed that Zach was on, thinking of the way he had turned onto his side, and the blond who had been laying next to her there and turned on his side like that as they were talking… before he leaned his head down to hers- Her eyes slammed shut again.

"Then Toga appeared," Jirou gasped out. "And, Kaminari went from fooling around with me, to convincing me how our friends were alright."

Jirou opened her eyes partly and stared into Zach's eyes that were full of pain but also anger at what she was telling him. "He kept telling me how strong you and Momo were, and that nothing bad was going to happen with Bakugo and Midoriya with you…" Jirou put her chin down to her chest and shook her head, "And in the end, while Kaminari was telling me how it was going to be alright now, as we still waited for news on our friends even after hearing how Toga had been captured… I know that I was in the same room as him while he was informing the League through signals about Toga's capture. I was right next to him, while he was planting evidence on Toru. I was right there! And, he didn't bat an eye."

"That's because," Zach started softly. He looked sadly into Jirou's eyes with a lot of the anger in his expression disappearing. He saw her bite down at how he started, but he told her anyway, "The Kaminari talking to you, had no idea what he was doing. The one inside-"

"You can't say that there's another Kaminari," Jirou countered angrily, though with tears in her eyes as she snapped it at him. "The reality is different! There is no Raijin and Kaminari, they're one and the same." Zach bowed his head, not disagreeing with her there, but he grit his own teeth as she said, "There was no real Kaminari, because even in one of the best memories I had of him, he was acting completely in the interests of the League of Villains. He was just fooling me!"

"He didn't know though. Just like he didn't know, that he could have stopped me from killing Shindeki," Zach whispered back. "I don't think Kaminari knew what he was doing in that moment." Jirou started shaking her head but Zach continued stronger, "Because when he betrayed us he said that while he was blocking the comms from USJ, Kaminari was at the same time trying to get through to the faculty! Why would he say that?" Zach asked, staring up at her though Jirou had clenched her eyes shut and just shook her head. She seemed as sad that he actually believed this as she was frustrated about it. Zach winced at that look on her face that seemed to pity him, showing how certain she was in her own truth.

"It can't be that simple," Jirou said. "I-" she froze and opened her eyes back up. She did not know if she wanted to continue. Her entire body felt cold but she also felt hands on it that made her tilt her head back and lift her eyes to her ceiling, bloodshot and shaking as she felt the fingers trailing along her skin. There's no one I can talk to about Kaminari except Momo, and even she- I can't tell- Jirou's fingers curled into her opposite biceps as she gripped her hug across her own chest in such fear thinking on it. "That bed," Jirou whispered, her teary eyes lowering to what Zach was sitting on.

"Raijin and I made out on that bed," Jirou whispered, while tears fell from her reddened eyes. Zach turned his head slowly and looked at the exact spot on it that she was staring at. The anger rose back twice as fast this time, as she continued painfully, "He got me to take my shirt off. I still feel his lips on mine. Feel his hands on my body, and every time I think of guys or, anyone hits on me and I think about, being like-" Intimate? Just kissing- I can't even touch a guy's hand! Jirou's body shook at the thoughts that made her shiver even more.

Her eyes shook though as she stared back at Zach who she had hugged earlier, and which the very thought of now just made her tremble. "And sometimes even just laying on my bed I remember how he had laid on my bed before. How I would have given him everything," Jirou clenched her eyes shut again. "Because of how he acted that day. How he held me, when I was scared for your lives! I loved... And it was all a lie. It was a lie, and I fell for it!"

Jirou yelled that at herself more than anything. She curled her fingernails harder into her own arms and bowed her chin to the top of her chest. "I know I would have, if he had lasted just a little longer here… He didn't push me, because he was supposed to be a hero. And I believed that, but that makes it feel all the worse because I know it was voluntary that I gave it to him, that I would have given it all on that bed…" Jirou gasped and shivered where she stood as she spoke this out loud for the first time to anyone other than Softy. Things she had thought she had gotten over so long ago that she never talked about them again, came back with a vengeance.

Zach's face distorted in fury. He got up from the edge of her bed that he was glaring sideways and down at. It's been 2 years, and I still hear how hurt she is. How damaged for her whole life she's become because of what we did to her! Zach reached down and grabbed the blankets and sheets that he ripped off of Jirou's bed.

Her eyes opened more and she lifted her head quickly. Jirou shook her head around fast at what she was looking at, and she wiped her eyes quickly on her right sleeve. "What are-" An annoyed and confused look spread over her face as Zach grabbed her pillows as they flew up in the air from how he just tugged off the sheet that had been tucked under them.

"You shouldn't have to feel that way," Zach hissed. She stared at him with her eyes growing wider and then bulging huge as Zach growled, "He wanted you to feel that way, and I'm not letting Kaminari win for another second." Zach reached forward over the top of Jirou's bed to the other side closer to the wall, and he lifted up the entire mattress.

Jirou stared at him with her jaw dropped as Zach dragged her bed out of her room. The door closed behind him. Zach left Jirou standing there off to the side of her room as she backed away when he dragged the mattress by her. He just stole my bed, Jirou thought while staring at her door. Her jaw closed but it took a few more seconds of staring confusedly at the door, and yet somehow feeling grateful at the same time. The initial annoyed feeling did not come with any aggravation towards him, and she was not even angry as she glanced around her room and then back at the bed frame. She sweatdropped, as despite feeling somehow grateful, she did not know what to do. I guess, I have to sleep on the floor-

Her door opened back up and Jirou turned to it, and her eyes opened wide again as Zach dragged back in a different mattress. His mattress. Zach dragged it past her as she stepped back again and let him go by, glancing towards her door once it shut behind him again. He lifted up and put the mattress on top of her frame, then he stood up and stared down at it thoughtfully and still with a frustrated look on his face. He reached down and picked up the blanket he brought in, "This was the top comforter on my bed. I'll put my own sheets over yours and use your bed for now, get you different sheets…"

Jirou just stared at Zach in shock as he made her bed, facing it while talking to her without slowing down. "…Kaminari's the loser here. I won't let you think about him every time you're laying here now-"

Jirou put her arms around Zach's sides and he tensed up as he felt her press up against his back. Zach's eyes widened and he turned his head to the right and looked down. "I'm just doing it to-"

"Shut up," Jirou said into his back. A smile was across her face and she held her arms around him in a hug that felt much nicer than the way she had been hugging her arms across her own chest in a trembling way only a couple minutes ago. She shook her head into his back with her eyes closed and her arms tightening around his sides.

Zach's look got more frustrated as he looked back forward and down at the bed he had not finished making in a way that she could still use it tonight. His face scrunched up in anger and distress, and his eyes squinted almost closed as he looked down in shame. She needed this long ago. She needed it from me a long time ago, and I wasn't there to help her! She could have told me these things a month after it, and I could have- I could have saved her, years worth of grief… Zach's eyes squinted all the way closed as he felt the warm way she was holding him that did not need to have taken this long to happen. As much good as this is doing now, it should have happened a long time ago-

"Stop that," Jirou whispered harshly into his back. She snapped it at him while loosening the hug and leaning away from him but turning him around as she did. She shook her head at the boy, knowing what he was thinking about just from the way his body had stayed so tense. "You were helping a lot of other people," Jirou whispered up at him. She sniffled in and told him, "And you had to decide between them and me, and yet even though you chose them and saved them… you still came back for me. You did this for me, despite everything." Jirou was stunned as she was saying aloud what was happening here. She shook her head again and lowered her gaze down to the floor between them, "No matter how long it took you… you're here."

Zach's eyes watered as hers did. She said while looking back into his, "You made the choice to save more people rather than the, people closer to you, and yet you came back anyway and still- saved me," Jirou gasped the words while thinking of how happy she felt in this moment. It was a feeling she could not remember having for too long. Her lips trembled at the corners and lifted up into a shaky smile as she stared at him looking through tear-filled eyes back at her, and her voice came out shaky but she still got it out, "I love you, Zach."

Zach knew what she meant, and he lifted up his own arms again as she still had hers on his sides that she had used to turn him to face her. His left hand went behind the back of her head that he held into his chest as she leaned forward again. "I love you too…" Zach held her head into his chest and then with a small smile broken out on his own, he finished softly, "Kyoka."

---

Sitting on the edge of Zach's former bed at 3 in the morning, Jirou and Zach were really risking how awake they were going to be during their final exams in the morning. Zach had already mentioned it in a bit of concern but Jirou shook her head and told him to stay an hour ago. Jirou had a feeling that they were both risking being tired in the morning though which was not the same understanding that Zach had about this. He also did not want to explain to her though about his lack of a need for sleep, especially after all he had told her earlier about his power after what she overheard him and All Might talking about.

I do have to get out of here soon. A few hours of sleep is still better than none at all. I'm sure, Kyoka, is ready for bed too. She's smart so I don't think it should mess with her grade, but I don't want to risk that, Zach thought about leaving her room but again those thoughts pushed secondary in his mind due to what they were talking about.

"…I hated you so much," Jirou told the boy she felt fine telling this to now. She was confident he already knew it, and she also knew that he could tell she was no longer feeling that way after tonight. "But," Jirou continued. "I think I understand now, that I hated you so much more all this time so I could barely focus any of my anger on Kaminari. What he did makes me feel sick." She grimaced and then stopped herself for a few more seconds as bringing it up actually made her feel that way. She grit her teeth in frustration that mentioning it could bring up those feelings so strongly. It's because for so long it was just towards Zach, and as the anger towards you subsided, it makes me remember all Raijin did that I tried to hide below what you did.

"I look in the mirror," Jirou whispered as she could not just skim past how Raijin made her feel that easily. "I see his hands on me. I can feel his touch. Feel his lips on mine when I had never kissed a boy before, in that moment after he saved me during our internship. In the middle of a raid against other villains. Right in the middle of that intense fight. It was, romantic." Jirou shook her head rapidly back and forth to get that moment out of her head because of how much it horrified her now. A moment he used just to get closer to me!

"And yet I hated you," Jirou whispered, sounding frustrated and even confused as to how she could feel that way when the things Raijin did that she was just thinking of were so much worse. She smiled though while looking to her side at Zach, "I blamed you for so long, because I didn't want to blame myself for trusting."

"I deserved the blame-" Zach started.

"Not all of it," she countered him, making him turn back towards her and soften his expression as his own hurt one seemed to make her more upset now. Jirou continued in a low voice, "But I focused all my anger and hatred on you, because you can't blame someone who did what they meant to. Raijin did exactly what he wanted to do the whole time, so blaming him for why I was so devastated was like giving him the credit. Giving him props for winning all this time." Zach nodded once as he understood that feeling well, and Jirou knew he did because of how he had traded their beds which was why she was able to bring this up to him and even how she put it together in her own head. "It would have made me even more sick and to lose it all the way if I let him do that to me, but you?"

Jirou frowned and then hesitated as she tried to flatten her lips out to not seem angry at him. She continued though in a somewhat angry voice, "You cared so much about me and did that anyway, while hoping that I wouldn't lose it? You thought a few words could make things alright?" She asked him it in an upset way, but his eyes darkened more and shifted from her. His look was so depressed to hear her telling him these things he had always feared, things she knew he was afraid would happen even back when he was writing his letter to her. What she was saying was right. "I could actually blame you, because that wasn't my fault. It was yours… At least, that's what I thought."

"But it's my fault too," Jirou continued. Zach tried to shake his head but froze as she said after a brief pause of hesitation, "Because I wouldn't read that letter you left me, until yesterday. Or two days ago now, I guess," Jirou admitted since the night was so late it was technically the next morning. Zach opened his eyes and looked back to the girl who had shame of her own in her expression. "I was stubborn. I didn't want to read it and hear your excuses, and yet I always used how you thought you could just say a couple final lines to me as you drove off as enough of an excuse! Even though you had actually left more than that!"

"Not, that much more…" Zach whispered. Not enough.

"Seeing how distraught you were while writing that letter to me," Jirou retorted softly. She paused and glanced away, "I know it wouldn't have stopped me from being mad at you, but at least I would have forgiven you a lot sooner if I had just read it." She pursed her lips and shook her head at her own stubbornness. Then she pursed those lips harder as she regretted something too much and could no longer hold it back from him out of just feeling she had the right to be angry at him and that she did not want him getting upset at her.

"The longer I held off though," Jirou started. "The, more nervous I became… that when I revealed to Momo that I had taken the letters- and I couldn't read my own without giving Momo hers as it was like denying Momo the same chance I had to…" Jirou started speaking faster but dared a look back to Zach who just looked the other way. Jirou bit down hard that he had to look away, because she knew how upset this was making him that he would need to hide that he was mad at her. "I'm sorry for taking her letter."

Zach's eyes were half-closed as he looked the opposite way as the girl on his left side. His heart hurt and he felt very upset, but he shook his head at what she just said, "It's not your fault-"

"It is," Jirou denied him. "That much at least," she continued. "That's on me. And, if I think my own letter would have helped me, I know I denied you and Momo the chance to, to maybe reconcile earlier."

Zach bowed his head a little while still looking away from Jirou. His eyes closed more and he let out a sad sigh, his hands uncurling from the way they had just tightened as he confirmed why it was that Momo never got her letter from him. He could still see the surprised way she looked in the hospital room when the others brought up letters he had left behind for them. I knew you had something to do with it. The way you just talked about this though, you told her a little while ago about them. You gave Momo hers. I don't think, she's read it. So that means it's not your fault. Maybe she would have read it if she got it right away though- That's still not on you. If she doesn't want to read it she doesn't have to. It's probably better she doesn't.

Jirou stared at the back and left side of Zach's head. The way he stared down after what she just said had her heart racing. The look on his face made her lips start moving before she even thought about the question, "Do you still love her?"

Zach lifted his head then turned around to the girl staring at him with wide eyes at what she asked. Her eyes became more serious though and searched his expression for the answer. Zach gave her a small smile back, "We never said we loved each other, back when we were dating. It was, only about a month, after all…" Zach trailed off. He thought of what Jirou said about how she felt about Kaminari, And that was only a month too. We all knew each other for so long before we started dating. The feelings were already there. Zach shook his head though and stopped the thoughts he was having that contradicted his own feelings. "We're different people now," Zach admitted.

"Things have changed," Zach continued. His voice was steady and his smile slightly sad but he shrugged a shoulder while looking back at Jirou as if it was not something he thought about often. "And I ended it, so I have no right to… to expect anything. Too much has changed," Zach admitted quicker, shaking his head again. "And, I'm not trying for anything like that again. We're friends."

Jirou looked back at him and slowly started to nod her head at that long response to her question. Her mouth opened as she was nodding, and a long yawn came out that she was unable to stifle this time after stifling too many of the previous ones. Zach stood up. "I'll take that as my cue," Zach said before she had finished yawning.

"Noo-ahh," Jirou tried to interrupt but had not finished the yawn yet and breathed out through the end of her objection. "You're fine-"

"I have a lot I need to do back in my room before I can go to bed myself," Zach admitted to her. Jirou sweatdropped at his response even as he smiled jokingly at her. She imagined a mattress laying on his floor along with a mixture of his own blankets and hers that he had not brought down here. The pillows on her own bed right now did not have pillowcases on them, but she just chuckled at him as he stretched his right arm up over his head that he grabbed with his left hand by the elbow. "Making my new bed might take me a little, but I'm ready to conk out as it is. I'll talk to you in the morning though?" Zach wondered while stepping towards her door already, showing that this time he was really heading out of there.

Jirou nodded back at him. "And this time, I'll talk to you back," she replied apologetically. Zach just smiled to hear that though and looked like he was eagerly anticipating it.

He gave her a small half wave. Then he left her room. Jirou rose her hand back up and gave a half-wave at her closed door. Then she picked up her legs and threw them over her bed. She did not get undressed or into pajamas, nor did she even get under the covers he had brought for her. She did roll to the side while grabbing one edge of the blanket though to cover herself while scooting up her bed to get her head to her pillows. Jirou sighed in comfort as she got into a decently nice position that she felt she could pass out in.

She stayed awake though and her eyes opened back up fully. Jirou turned and looked back towards the door, He was always better at not "explicitly" lying to his friends, by avoiding questions that he leaves unanswered. Including my question you never actually denied the wording of.

---

A/N Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the fluffy chapter! XD Been a long time coming. All Might and Zach have their talk where Zach looks for advice from the one person who might be able to help with his experience. The rest of the chapter is Zach and Jirou stuff which I hope you all enjoyed. Been hard to write a few of these last chapters through the tears, but that's nothing new with Death. I've never cried harder about anything in my life as I have about this story. Anyway, tell me what you think of the chapter, questions, comments, and predictions for what's coming next! Review response time:

Lord of Altamont chapter 236 . Oct 30

Huh... A new record for shortest chapter published for Death, maybe?
On another note, thanks for the fluff. Yes, that's right. You read that right. This chapter is pretty much fluff compared to the recent chapters you've given us as of lately.

Haha I think y'all are forgetting a lot about those early chapters! It was definitely a short one compared to the 150k and 50k chapters, but definitely not the shortest there's been! XD Hope you enjoyed some more fluff these last few chapters. After nonstop action for a few it was time for some character stuff. Can't write 150,000 word fight scenes every week! Thanks for the review!

Yamajiji chapter 237 . 14h ago

Awesome chapter. Poor Zach though. I hope he gets his happy ending with Momo. He really deserves it.

The Momozaki shippers are coming back strong in the comments recently! XD We'll see! Glad you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks for reviewing!

Tigracho chapter 237 . 8h ago

Have been a while since I never comment.
Is a good thing he finally is talking about the things that bothers him, as well giving his insight and knowledge on the reality and mechanics on which the world of heroes, villains and goverment work and function. Knowledge that no hero who follows the laws and moral codes of society to an almost religious degree would get. Nice Guren Larrann reference.
By the way author, have you read Worm before writting this fic? bc this fic feels like something inspired by Worm.

Hey! Nice to hear from you again! Zach's been talking a lot lately, more than ever. Explaining stuff he finally can get the others to listen to both about himself and the experience he has that they all understand is true now too! And XD hahaha, when I wrote the line Momo said to Zach I totally thought of Gurren Lagann for a moment and realized it sounded a bit familiar! As for Worm, I actually never heard of it before. Sounds interesting though when I looked it up! Anyway, thanks for the review, and hope you enjoyed the newest chapter!

Todorokiii chapter 237 . 6h ago

IM FREAKING CRYING LIKE THE FREAKING DRAMA, THE TENSE, THE THRILL OH MY GOSH! THIS IS LIKE THE BEST FANFICTION EVER AND I REALLY WISH THIS WAS AN ANIME THAN THE ORIGINAL, NO OFFENSE BUT YOUR WORK IS JUST REALLY GOOD. SO WELL MADE. THANK YOU SO MUCH AUTHOR!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PRAISE! Haha don't know how you could have offended me there! XD I'm really happy you enjoy this story so much, and you're welcome! Thanks for reviewing, and hope you liked the new chapter a day after!

oh zack chapter 237 . 3h ago

This is going to destroy him. if he puts his faith in class A and some of them die? he wouldn't come back from that. not after allowing himself to relax and calm down, not after putting his trust in them and the system one last time. I can see his depression consuming him and him self-detonating.
side-note I would LOVE to see what he says about hero's in marvel and DC universes and there IS a personification of death in the two...….

Rough predictions there. I know that I've been pretty consistent in hurting Zach in the past, but maybe it won't destroy him if Class A doesn't die... I mean, not that I'm saying they won't, but let's be optimistic here! XD No spoilers, as always, but we'll see if Zach can escape that depression you see coming! Would be kind of interesting to see what Zach thinks of those comics. Closest we've gotten to that is the one comic book I've described about the pirate ninja guy with a tail and scars on his face and a bandaged Zanpakuto... Haha I can't remember it exactly at the moment but I definitely mixed a bunch of manga together that Zach enjoyed reading once or twice! It was what he was reading when that convenience store robbery just happened. Anyway, thanks for the review! And hope you enjoyed the new chapter!