"Has he already been hospitalized?"
"Yes , we took him to the nearest hospital after the incident. We were told that it might take a month more or less for Esperanza to be able to walk again. As for his quirk factor to heal, they were unsure themselves. For now, we're taking care of him."
A sigh of annoyance is heard from the phone while Blink and Spectro are sweating with nervousness.
"What about his quirk caused this to happen?"
"He was directing his energy from within his body to specific parts only like his hands and feet. I saw his back start to light up and I tried to stop him but I couldn't do anything since the energy already got there. We took him to get treated as quickly as we could. I'm deeply sorry that this happened on my watch. I take full responsibility for what happened and hope you can forgive me."
A small silence filled the room as Blink and Spectro anxiously waited for what Leizcio's teacher would tell them.
"Understood. Please tell him that he won't be able to attend classes for about a week after this week. He'll need that time to rest and hopefully, his quirk will come back in time for finals. Have you let his sister know about his condition?"
"Yes sir, we let Lavania know about what happened and she'll be taking care of him once his time as our intern is done."
" you for informing me. Please look after him."
"Will do ."
Aizawa hung up the phone whilst he was working from his desk. He took a minute to rub his temples as he tried to clear his mind.
"What happened this time Aizawa?" Midnight asked as she was printing out lesson plans.
"It's Esperanza. First we had Todoroki, Iida and Midoriya. Now it's him. Got temporarily paralyzed from trying out some new ability of his."
"Seriously? Poor kid, I know Midoriya had trouble with his quirk but to get paralyzed for a bit from it? Are you sure he'll be able to take the finals?"
"Depends if his quirk can start functioning again. If he's still quirkless by that time, I'll have to fail him for the practical."
As Aizawa was looking through the planned-out schedule leading up to the final exams, he thought to himself what exactly happened to Leizcio for this to happen.
Hearing talking close by, Leizcio slowly starts to wake up and stretch his arms. He attempts to do the same with his legs before he's reminded that he can't move them at all. Using his arms to sit up, he looks around and sees that he's back in Blink's agency. Next to him on a table were some fruits in a bowl and his phone close by. Reaching for his phone and successfully grabbing it, he turns it on and sees what time it was. It was early in the morning but there was another notification that he got sent from Midoriya.
'Strange, why'd he send his location from Hosu? Sightseeing or something?' Leizcio muttered as he went to see if there was anything else but there wasn't. As he turned off his phone, he saw his reflection. Noticing that his eyepatch was off, he could see a slight imprint on his left eye and started to feel around it. It felt slightly rougher to the rest of his face.
'No no no no no, please don't let it be...' Leizcio panicked as he opened his camera and flipped the camera to see himself. There he saw in disbelief a large scar surrounding most of his eye that went up to his hairline, discolored from the rest of his face. He quietly put his phone down as he felt his stomach grow a pit of despair. He tried to keep quiet but couldn't help but yell in disbelief at what had developed.
Blink was immediately there as well as Spectro who was dragged along.
"Kid what happened?! Are you... Alright..." Blink slowly said as he noticed the tears flowing from Leizcio's face and the fear he had in his eyes. He quickly kneeled down next to Leizcio, putting his hand on his shoulder, and looked into his eyes.
"It's alright kid, cry if you need to, it's a lot to take in, just don't let those emotions bottle up." Blink reassured as he patted Leizcio on the back lightly. As if on cue, Leizcio's tears were trickling down even faster. He didn't say anything but kept on crying. Looking over at Spectro, Blink motioned his head to the side, telling Spectro to give them space which he did.
Leizcio's eyes began to dry as he could cry no more. When he started to somewhat calm down, Blink pulled over a chair to sit next to him.
"Kid, I know I sound like a broken record, but I'm sorry about what happened. But what matters now is that you made it and are still here. Here, have some water." Blink handed him some water which Leizcio drank as he lifted his face.
"This scar... I always hid my other ones but this is just out there for everyone to see. I could always change into my hero suit quickly and nobody would be able to notice my lightning scars but this one... I can't hide it even if I wanted to." Leizcio looked at Blink and all Blink could see was despair written on Leizcio's face.
"Esperanza... Can I tell you something?"
Leizcio nodded in response.
"I understand the whole vigilante deal. Wasn't too long ago that I was one too. You just wanted to go out there and help right? But that's another thing, the more we do it, the more we tend to lose ourselves in it right?"
"Yeah..."
"I don't know the personal reasons why you were mad, and I won't go and prod. But I know what it feels like to ignore everything and let your anger fuel you on patrols. That's what's been going on with you this past week hasn't it?"
Leizcio simply nodded. Blink lowered the left part of his shirt, revealing a large scar that went from the top of his shoulder blade to the top left of his chest.
"This was from way back when I was out on patrol. But not because I was doing my regular thing of doing patrols as one would. Something happened and... Well, it was out of my control and made me filled with rage. It blinded me from what was happening and I didn't care much for what happened, I just needed to do something to escape it. Ended up getting wounded pretty bad and this scar is a permanent reminder of that every day. Of how I kept pushing those around me away and hurting them"
"What I'm telling you is that going down this path will only make things worse. I was lucky enough to have someone by me to help me come to my senses. I know you got some bad blood with your sister, but I know that she still truly cares for you, as well as that Tamashi lady. Don't make the same mistakes I did kid. Be better."
Leizcio starts to feel over his own scar whilst he looked at Blink's scar. And Blink was right, he threw himself into the deep end to run away from everything. But it spat him back out and nearly got him killed as a result. Still feeling resentment towards his own scar, Blink brings up a good point.
It's a permanent reminder that he was blind to his own actions.
"Thank you Blink... I needed that."
"Don't worry about it kid, it's what we do. Now, are you feeling hungry? I think Spectro is cooking something." Blink asked as he got up from his chair and helped Leizcio into his wheelchair.
"Yeah, I think I need something after all of that."
Blink wheeled Leiczio over to the kitchen to which Spectro was there, cooking away when Blink told him to go.
"How do you want your eggs Esperanza? Scrambled? Over easy?" Spectro confidently asked as he managed to not burn any eggs this time and is feeling lucky.
"Uhm, scrambled? I guess?"
"You got it kid!"
A few days pass as Leizcio rests over at Blink's agency. He later learned of the reason why he got that random text from Midoriya as he learned of the Hero Killer incident. Time went by quickly as his time at Blink's agency was done. Blink and Spectro gave him a farewell and hope to see him soon for training when he's ready. Picked up by Lavania, he has returned back home and was informed of how he won't be able to attend classes for a week. He'll have to be doing his work from home until then.
"What the hell..."
Leizcio finished watching a video of Stain's origin that kept circulating online. Closing his laptop, he moves backward and wheels himself to his door. He opens it but is met with Hisako standing in the way.
"We need to talk. And I'd prefer right now."
Leizcio sighed as he left the door open and wheeled back inside. Hisako walked in and sat down on his bed.
"You're really an idiot. You know that right?"
"Woah where the hell did that come from?"
"Maybe the fact that you decided to run away, leaving almost everyone here worried sick about you? Even that one ramen guy came over because he was concerned that you didn't drop by his shop."
"Look, you know what Lavania did, did you expect me to feel safe here and not be mad?"
"You're allowed to be mad, and I understand why you wouldn't feel safe here. But I'm judging the fact that you don't care about yourself, especially with that scar you got to say for it. I get being a vigilante helped you be a hero, but you were using it as an excuse as well to get away from this."
"Well of course I did! You think I wanted to believe that the person closest to me was drugging me?!"
"Leizcio, I understand that's difficult, but does that really excuse how you acted towards anyone else? Especially Uraraka of all people?"
"Hisako she basically ended any chances of me going out on the field again!"
"I don't think you understand just how badly you hurt her Leizcio. It's not my problem, but I hope for your and her sake that you can realize that you were just being a dick. I get you were mad, but you shouldn't let that make you act this way because it was uncalled for as hell."
Leizcio broke eye contact with Hisako, looking down at the floor instead. He's ashamed of it, but she was telling the truth. The way he acted wasn't right and ended up making things even worse than they already were.
"You're... You're right, Hisako."
"I don't mean to sound angry Leizcio, but quite frankly, seeing how you and Lavania were before, I want things to return back to that, no matter how long it takes. Now, let me help you downstairs."
Hisako helps move Lei downstairs using her quirk to lower his wheelchair down until he was on the first level.
"Lavania went out to go get some things. Just let me know if you need anything." Hisako said as she went to the counter in Lavania's place.
Leizcio was there at the table as he noticed that there was a mug filled with some lavender tea and a small note beside it. It was from Lavania who said that she went out to get some things as well as more high-calorie bars. Leizcio grabbed the mug and took a minute to inspect it. His throat was feeling parched after raising his tone a bit and could use some relaxation. Hesitantly, he drinks some of the tea which relaxes him.
Pulling out his phone, he looks at the email that Aizawa had sent to him about how a classmate would drop by to give him his school work as well as collect it. Looking outside, it was somewhat cloudy with sprinkles of water dropping. Continuing to scroll through his phone, he sees some texts that he missed yesterday from some of his friends at their internships that they sent him.
"Esperanza? Is that you?"
Looking over to the entrance of the cafe, Leizcio saw his froggy classmate, Tsuyu Asui come in.
'Shit'
Chapter 39
End
