"Alright kid, you ready?"
Leizcio nodded as he grabbed onto the two handles, bringing himself up with his arms. His face held a look of determination as he looked at the path ahead of him.
"You got this alright? Now give it your best!"
Leizcio stood up and slowly began to take steps forward. As he was moving fast, each step was starting to feel heavier than the last. Pushing himself, he tries to walk at a pace but feels his legs quickly give out. Before he could fall, he was quickly grabbed and put into a chair in the blink of an eye.
"You did great kid! We're doing much better since we started!" Blink said, handing him a water bottle.
"Thanks but... it just feels like I need to get better and fast." Leizcio said as he drank some water.
"Remember Esperanza, you went through a lot. But to be able to walk for even a few seconds after three weeks from when you couldn't is impressive! Don't try rushing it, you're doing great and you'll be back in shape in no time." Blink reassured him, going to get Leizcio his crutches.
"Right..."
After Leizcio got those sensations in his legs, it didn't take long until he could stand for a few seconds. The week after he was able to do that, he reached out to Blink, asking if he could help him with getting rehabilitated which he obliged. But there was another important call that was made.
"So, you ready for school today? It's gonna be your first time back!" Blink said as helped Leizcio put on his backpack and get ready.
When Leizcio was able to at least stand, him and Lavania reached out to Aizawa, asking if he could return. Reluctantly agreeing, he gave Leizcio permission to go back to classes, the only exception would be that he wouldn't be able to attend the hero course until his quirk came back. Leizcio was more than ready to head back, but at the same time, he felt a sense of concern.
"Well... It's more so that... I guess that I'm a little worried that I might mess up things again or worse."
"Esperanza... It isn't easy going back to 'normal'. But trust me, you've already started to learn from your mistakes. And something tells me that your friends miss you as well!"
"I hope you're right."
Despite the doubts that Leizcio had plagued his mind, Blink's words helped to wash some of it away. Feeling more hopeful, Leizcio feels the smallest boost of confidence that things could go well, and that would be enough to get him through. Hopefully.
"You got this Esperanza! Have a good day!" Blink said as he dropped Leizcio off at UA. Leizcio tried thanking him but he was already gone with the wind.
Taking a few steps forward, it starts to settle in just how long it's been since he stepped foot into UA. He then saw how other students were still entering, glad that he had made it in a reasonable time. While he's grateful for a free ride, Blink made him wonder just how different Americans drive.
Leizcio noticed that he was getting distracted and used his crutches to move himself to get to class.
At least before he felt multiple arms lift him up and hold his crutches. He was caught off guard and didn't fully register until someone spoke up.
"Hi Esperanza. It's good to see you're getting better. Allow me to take you to class, the least I can do." Shoji said as he carried Leizcio on his back.
"Oh- Uhm thanks Shoji! But really, you don't have to!"
"Don't worry, it's not a problem. Better that you get the small breaks you can." Shoji nonchalantly said. Since Leizcio wasn't entirely against it and couldn't really move if he wanted to, he decided that he might as well take Shoji up on his offer. While they were getting to class, Leizcio asked Shoji about his internship.
"How'd your week go with Octo-Limbo, Shoji?"
"It went pretty well, they helped me be able to create more limbs easily. See?"
Leizcio suddenly saw more hands around him that quickly shifted into other parts like ears and eyes, showing how much faster Shoji has gotten with his quirk.
"That's great Shoji!"
The two were shortly outside the class. Shoji started lowering Leizcio and helping him with his crutches. Leizcio was feeling a slight bit of nervousness which Shoji quickly took notice of, and decided to give him the smallest push, his own form of silent encouragement. There Leizcio stood at the class entrance, all eyes on him.
He stood there awkwardly in silence as his classmates watched him. That ended up changing quickly as they got up and started to surround him. He was bombarded with questions and random words until another electric quirk user grabbed him by his shoulders and started shaking him.
"ESPE YOU'RE BACK!"
"KamInaRi I miSs yOu toO bUt pLeAsE sToP shAkinG me!"
While Kaminari stopped shaking Leizio, he still held onto him, slightly jittery at the sight of his friend back in class.
"I missed you man!" Kaminari continued, being slightly over-dramatic. Even if it was stressing his legs, seeing his friends around him made that pain go away. He even started to laugh a little bit.
"Yeah, I think you missed you guys too!" Leizcio said with a refreshing tone of joy.
Kaminari handed his crutches back to him and helped Leizcio back to his seat.
As homeroom began, it felt a bit strange as Leizcio had adjusted to being back in classes. Nearly a month away from being in school threw him for a bit of a loop. Luckily, time went by quickly and it was already lunchtime. And unlike before, he actually has money to buy himself food.
While he was waiting in line, he could feel more eyes on him. Even more whispering and muttering that felt like were at him. Despite it annoying him, it was luckily his turn to get his food which helped him to quickly move past the commentary around him.
As he was walking about, he was wondering where he was going to sit but was quickly interrupted as he suddenly felt something pushing him.
"Espe! Come sit with us!"
Before he could process what was going on, he suddenly sat down at a table with Ojiro, Sero, Yaoyorozu, and Jirou.
"Calm down guys! He just got back..." Ojiro said, who sat across from Leizcio.
"Oh he'll be fine, right Espe?" Ashido said as she sat down next to Leizcio. Her and Kaminari seemed to be the ones that dragged Leizcio to their table.
"Yeah, it's not a big deal, I'll be fine." Leizcio reassured Ojiro. As it put the tailed boy at ease, everyone else started to dig into their food. While they were eating, a question had crossed Kaminari's mind.
"Hey Espe! Since you can kinda walk now, do you know when your quirk is gonna start working again?" Kaminari bluntly asked.
"Kaminari! Really?" Jirou said as she poked him with one of her ear jacks. Some considered the question a bit too soon to ask, but Leizcio had gotten used to it at this point, and he was with his friends so it was fine.
"It's fine, don't worry about it. But it is coming back slightly! Just can't run because... well anyways, I can at least charge phones now!" Leizcio responded with a bit more upbeat tone, quickly skimming over the running part.
However when he mentioned that he could use his ability to charge his phones, practically the whole table was looking at him with a slightly sinister smile, and Kaminari looked at Leizcio in pity.
"Should've kept that to yourself Espe, now they're never going to leave you alone!"
It was then that he realized why he always tended to see Kaminari biting cables that were connected to phones in class sometimes. Leizcio started to see the predicament he put himself in and slightly groaned.
"Hey at least if you need tape, I can hook you up with that!" Sero offered, trying to make Leizcio feel slightly better which worked a bit.
"Thanks Sero..."
Before Leizcio could get back to eating, he felt a sudden elbow hit him at the back of his head. Looking to his right, he saw a strange blonde kid. He looked awfully similar to the one back in the sports festival that was rambling over the wall.
"Oh I'm sorry. Your head was so big that it got in the way!"
Leizcio felt a bit insulted but he was unsure what was going on. He looked to the rest of his friends who were equally as confused.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Leizcio asked out of genuine curiosity, which seemed to offend the random blonde, but he decided to ignore the question.
"I heard about what happened during your internship. You and the others in class 1-A just love to have that attention huh?"
"You know I didn't really ask to get temporarily paralyzed right?"
"Shut it damaged goods! The way you're just attracting so much trouble, we're all going to end up getting pulled into your problems!" The random said, again ignoring what Leizcio said.
"Hey man what's your issue?"
"What do you have against him?"
Yaoyorozu and Ojiro were telling them off while Leizcio was about to say something. Before he could, an orange haired girl bonked the blonde, making him pass out.
"Monoma, that was too far... Sorry about that guys, his heart is well... it's something..."
"Oh... Uhm, thank you!" Leizcio said, still processing the words thrown at him by Monoma and now this.
Monoma looked like he was beginning to wake up so the girl just dragged him along with her, leaving Leizcio and the rest of his friends wondering what happened. Leizcio still had a face of confusion.
"Don't let it get to you Espe, that guy has it for us for some reason." Ashido commented, the rest of the table agreeing with her statement.
"Thanks... I guess I'm just confused about what he meant by 'damaged goods'? I know I have the scar and everything but I just find it weird?" Leizcio said, pondering what Monoma meant by it. Ashido simply sighed, which only made that feeling worse.
"I swear, both you and Todoroki are denser than bricks sometimes!" She said out of the blue. Before Leizcio could say something back, Ashido put a finger in front of him, telling him to be quiet.
"You know people weren't staring at you back when you were first here just because of how much you ate and stuff right?" Ashido asked, looking Leizcio dead in the eyes as if this was an interview.
"No...?" Leizcio questioningly responded.. He looked over to Ojiro for help, but he just shrugged. Looking back at Ashido, it looked like she was done with him.
"Espe. It's because of your looks. You're a pretty boy." Ashido said with a firm voice.
"Oh! Uh... well... Thanks?" Leizcio said slightly flustered, no longer able to make eye contact with Ashido. But his tone also gave off the sense that he didn't really believe it himself.
"Doesn't matter if you have that scar, you're still class 1-A's Espe!" Ashido encouraged Leizcio, slightly elbowing him.
"Thanks Ashido..." Leizcio said, feeling much better. It only comes to mind now how much he misses being back in school with his friends.
"Now Espe... How about putting a good word for me to some girls huh? We're electric bros after all!" Kaminari tried asking Leizcio, only for him to laugh at the prospect.
The day went by fast for Leizcio, especially now that he isn't able to take the hero classes yet. As he was exiting the gates of UA, there was one thought that he was trying to shove into the back of his mind.
But it just kept floating back to the surface as it continued to pester him. Now that he was by himself waiting outside UA, it was the only thing that was on his mind.
During the whole day, Ochaco hadn't even glanced at him once.
What Hisako told him before, she wasn't wrong. He ended up hurting her. Even if he didn't mean to, it was already bad enough that he ignored her advice. What made it worse was that it wasn't just her, but his aggressions had leaked out and he slightly- no, he did lash out at others.
Realizing that he needed to do something about it, he needed to talk to someone about this. He pulled out his phone and was thinking of who he could talk to. He looked down through his contacts, wondering who he could talk to about this. He sees Lavania's and he considers it for a moment.
He decided against it and continued scrolling. That's when he saw he had Blink's contact. He's mentioned that he's been through a similar thing before, and Leizcio could use help in sorting this out before things could possibly get out of control. Searching his bag, he got out some wireless earbuds to speak to Blink with.
For a few seconds, there was the usual tone waiting for the call. But it quickly ended as Blink picked up the phone.
"Hey kid! Give me a few seconds, just dealing with a villain right now!" Blink gasped through the phone as Leizcio could hear yelling from the background of Blink's call.
Thinking that it would take a bit, Leizcio started walking over to the train station hoping to catch it in time. However, Blink made good on his words and he was back on the phone in seconds.
"Sorry bout that kid! Now, what's up?" Blink casually asked.
"I... I need some help sorting things out. I ended up hurting someone... important to me. I want to fix things but I'm not sure how I should go about it. I was wondering if you could help me?" Leizcio managed to get himself to say. While he didn't know, Blink had a grin on his face hearing this.
"Of course! I can pick you up from the agency after you're done with school so we can talk about it. Sounds good?"
"Yeah. Thank you Blink."
"Of course kid! Catch you tomorrow!"
With that Leizcio managed to make yet another step towards recovering. While it may not be physically, he also needed to do it mentally.
As the train arrived and he got on, he was lucky to find a seat to rest and put up his crutches. From there, he looked outside the window.
Hoping that he can continue moving forward as fast as he used to.
Chapter 43
End
