"Ok…ready?"

After their detour, the pair had finally arrived at Midoriya Izuku's dorm room.

Izuku reached to open the door, but before he could turn the knob...

Izuku froze.

Because what lay behind this door wasn't simply Midoriya Izuku's dorm room.

This was also where a certain girl resided.

Ochako briefly gave Izuku a run down of who Eri was and how they met.

She was a little girl that Midoriya Izuku saved from hell.

She was someone who Midoriya Izuku cared for.

But more than that she was someone who needed Midoriya Izuku.

But Midoriya Izuku was gone.

The boy that saved her had died in the battle against the Hero Killer.

When he opened this door what she would see would only be a hollow shell, only something that looked like her saviour.

A fraud.

The knob finally turned, and the door creaked open.

"Ocha-ocha?"

A cute little girl no older than 7 timidly peeked behind the couch.

"Tadaima!" Izuku greeted with a smile.

Red eyes grew wide, and a little girl tumbled over the couch.

And Izuku was tackled into a hug.

"O-O-*SOB*-Okaeri Izuku!" Eri said as she cried into his arms.

Izuku gave a soft smile as he patted her head.

"I-I missed you too Eri." The words that came out of his mouth held no real feeling, they lacked the weight of the Midoriya Izuku that she cared for.

This was all a front to him.

How could he miss a girl he never met before? A girl he never even heard of until today.

But Eri still cried, she still cried tears of joy at his 'return'.

So even if he was a fraud, even if only lies came out of his mouth, there was one part of him that was genuine.

Izuku genuinely wanted this girl to be happy.

He pulled her deeper into his embrace.

So for a fraud who do nothing but lie…

"I missed you so much."

Izuku decided that he was going to make her smile with this illusion of his.

"Alright I'll be going!"

"Bye bye Ocha-ocha!" Eri waved the brunette goodbye, clinging onto Izuku.

"Thank you so much Ochako." Izuku expressed his gratitude with a small unicorn stuck to his hand.

"Eh, i-it was nothing haha…" Ochako's face turned red once again.

"You'll be back for dinner right, Ocha-ocha?"

Ochako chuckled. "Of course Eri." Ruffling her white hair. "But I have some training to catch up on."

"You don't have to if you're too busy y'know?" Izuku remarked, causing Eri to tug on his arm.

"It's fine! Gunhead gives me weekends off, and I'm stay in the dorms anyway for convenience." Ochako omitted the fact that UA paid for utilities as well.

"See you guys!"

With one last goodbye, Ochako left the pair in peace.

With nothing much to do Izuku and Eri just sat on the couch and caught up to some anime they had missed.

Well, at least Eri missed watching with Izuku. For him it was like starting from the middle of a story he knew nothing about.

Like who was this martial artist dude? Was the green one his friend or his enemy? Why does his son have a tail?

But more concerning than his lack of context was how much Eri was clinging onto him.

It wasn't as if Izuku minded it or anything but it did seem somewhat concerning to him.

She was holding onto his right hand as if he would evaporate into thin air if she let go.

Izuku wasn't sure how close the previous Midoriya Izuku was with her or what she had gone through before but this amount of attachment certainly wasn't natural.

Midoriya Izuku must have been this girl's entire world.

Izuku's right let go of Eri as she looked in a mixture of shock and fear, before quickly pulling her into a snuggle on his lap. This time it was Izuku who would not let go.

He didn't know how attached this girl was to Midoriya Izuku, or if he'll ever be able to replace him.

Eri softly mewled in his arms.

But damn him, he'll try his hardest.

"Ready to go?"

"Mhm!"

The pair decided to go get groceries before meeting with Ochako to have dinner together.

The hours passed by quick, as they did nothing but watch TV all day.

For some reason spending time with Eri felt very natural to Izuku.

But no memories returned whatsoever.

Even someone as close to Midoriya Izuku as Eri couldn't bring his memories back, so then what exactly was the trigger?

"Izuku!"

The boy jolted and ran toward the door, Eri's face riddled with concern.

And what laid by at the entrance shook Izuku to his core.

"Umm… hello?"

There was a boy prostrating in front of Izuku's door.

"Forgive me Midoriya-san!"

"For…what exactly?"

The boy raised his head so quickly, Izuku swore he heard something break. He wore squared glasses and had both his arms wrapped in bandages.

"For what!? For letting you get hurt by the Hero Killer!"

Oh right, from what the doctor said that's how he lost his memory in the first place.

"I-It's fine dude, so could you get up? You're kinda blocking the way out…"

"I-I see…Forgive me… Then as repentance I shall kneel for 10 hours beside your door instead!"

"You don't have to do any of that at all!"

"But then what else would I do to be able earn your forgiveness!?"

"You don't have to earn anything! You know what, here. 'I for-give you o-k?' Is that enough for you? Umm…"

Crap, he didn't know his name. If he found out about Izuku's memory loss this guy would probably go as far as to castrate himself in repentance.

"I've never formally introduced myself haven't I? Forgive me again!" The boy slammed his head against the ground in an incredibly forceful bow.

"FORGIVEN!" Izuku yelled before he did anything else.

"My name is Iida Tenya! President of Hero Class 1A! Brother of the former hero Ingenium! And greatly in your debt!" The newly introduced IIda bow-slammed his head on the ground once more.

"Right… my name is Midoriya Izuku, but you already knew that. Oh, and this here is Eri!"

"H-Hello…" Eri shyly greeted from behind Izuku, either because she was shy around strangers or Iida was too intense for her liking.

"Ah!-*SLAM*- Forgive me for not noticing you earlier Eri-san!" Seriously, if this guy kept this up he was going to get more brain damage than Izuku.

"I-It's ok…" Eri timidly muttered out.

"Look Iida-san as much as I appreciate the… sincerity of your apology. You really didn't have to, I mean you look pretty beat up yourself." Izuku pointed at Iida's bandaged arms.

"Indeed, but I have resolved myself. I'll only receive treatment for my nerves when I truly deserve the title of 'Hero'."

"What? Ok, I'm not a doctor but that sounds like a bad idea."

"But I'm the one who did this to myself! I went to fight the Hero Killer alone! I got you involved! So I must atone for my sins!"

It was clear that Iida had his mind set on this path.

"Yes, you did. Yes this is all your fault, and yes I got involved when I shouldn't have. But so what?"

"Huh?" Iida looked up at Izuku in confusion.

"So what if it was your fault? Why should you alone be exempt from seeking treatment? If someone started cutting themselves to numb their internal torment, would they be denied help? Even if a criminal was injured after hurting another, hurting the hero that stopped them, they would still be sent to prison hospital right?"

"…"

"So why are you so special? Why should you alone suffer? You may have made mistakes, but so does everyone else. But whats important is that you learn and recover from them. To be a better hero, to be a better person, to be a better Iida Tenya."

Izuku reached out his hand to Iida.

"You wanted my forgiveness? Then I'll forgive you, but only after you forgive yourself. You're not going to do anyone any favours by insisting that you suffer ok?"

"O-Ok… Thank you Midoriya-san…"

Iida took Izuku's hand and got back up.

"We're about to go meet Ochako-san, care to join?"

Iida shook his head with a kind smile. "Thank you for the invitation, but I have plans to meet my brother tonight. I only ran over here because I heard you were finally discharged."

"That's fine then- Wait you ran over?"

"Indeed, I bumped into Uraraka-kun earlier and she informed me that you were well."

"And when was that?"

"5 hours ago!"

"That's when Ochako left!"

"Indeed!"

*Sigh* Izuku face-palmed.

"Just… never mind."

Izuku and Eri walked hand in hand down the halls of UA University.

During this quiet trimester there were few students around, but those who were…

*Glare*

Why were they all staring at him? Why were they whispering? Was Midoriya Izuku really that infamous around campus?

"Midoriya."

"EEP!" An eerie chill just went down Izuku's spine.

Izuku turned around and found the person who called him out.

It wasn't as if they were waving their arms about or calling him in any obvious fashion.

But the glare this guy was giving him was the coldest of all.

"So you're back." The bi-coloured boy said.

Crap! That meant Midoriya Izuku knew this guy!

Despite the chills he got from the guy, Izuku's body started to sweat like a fountain of anxiety.

The hushed whispers around them weren't helping at all.

"Oh my god, is that the strongest student in UA?"

"Holy shit, theres the strongest student in the hero course!"

"It's Endeavor's son!"

"Are they going to fight right now?"

"A fated rematch between bitter rivals!"

Izuku gulped.

"Y-Yeah… did you hear from Iida-san?"

"Iida? No, Uraraka told me at the gym earlier."

"Oh! That's…neat?"

The stare down continued.

"I'm was just heading over, you wanna come?"

The candy cane boy simply said. "Ok." Face unchanging.

"Mmm…" Eri tugged on Izuku's arm.

"Oh, and this is Eri. Say hi Eri!"

Eri stared into his eyes for a moment, before reaching her hand out. "Hello my name is Eri… Pokéball-san?"

"Geh!" Izuku spit took.

He kneeled down to shake her little hand. "Hello Eri, my name is Todoroki Shoto. Not Pokéball."

"Todo…todo?"

Todoroki tilted his head. "Good enough."

The crowd went ballistic at the sight, the indiscrete whispering only growing.

"Oh my god! That was cuter than I expected!"

"I really thought they were going to fight!"

"You idiot, why would they fight in the middle of the hall?"

"Hallway fights are cool! Think about it! The battle to reclaim the title of strongest, the number one hero's son versus the scrappy underdog that claimed his rightful place as UA's top dog!"

"You watch too much anime…"

Izuku on the other hand had a much different revelation.

'Wait, I'm the strongest student!? !? What kind of person was Midoriya Izuku!? !?'

Todoroki proceeded to lead them to the gym from whence he came.

"So… you already saw Iida?" The apparently not-strongest student in UA tried to make small talk.

"Yeah… He got a little… what's the word?"

"Too intense?" Todoroki supplied.

"More like too unnecessary? It's a nice thought but I really didn't need that much of an apology."

Todoroki shrugged. "I know he felt very guilty for dragging you into his fight. Plus you were in a coma for quite a while, that probably didn't help his conscience."

"I guess, but it just feels weird y'know?" Especially when he wasn't the one who saved Iida that day.

"It's probably natural, I can't speak much on your behalf but everyone was worried."

"Really?" How many hero students did Midoriya Izuku know?

Todoroki nodded. "Aside from Iida and Uraraka, I know Yaoyorozu worried quite a bit. Shinso was probably worried too, even if he didn't show it."

"Oh…" He really made that many people worry about him?

Izuku looked down at the little girl holding his hand.

So many people were concerned for Midoriya Izuku, yet none of them knew that they wouldn't see the Midoriya Izuku they knew ever again.

Izuku recalled the sadness on Ochako's face, and grit his teeth.

He couldn't let anyone else cry for his sake anymore.

He couldn't let Midoriya Izuku down.

"We're here." The monotone boy announced.

They stood in front of a large hall with a gamma symbol plastered on its door.

*BOOM*

"Eep!" Eri shuffled behind Izuku.

"Ah, they must be still training."

"Is that so…" This was hero training?

"Mmm…" Eri tugged the leg of Izuku's pants.

"Sorry about that Eri, didn't expect such a ruckus."

Izuku turned to Todoroki. "Todoroki-san, you mind looking after Eri while I go look for Ochako-san?"

Todoroki nodded. "Ok."

"Thanks! Ok Eri, you stay here with Todoroki-san ok? I'm just gonna grab Ochako-san and we'll be right off."

Eri contemplated as she stared at Todoroki, before turning back to Izuku with a nod.

"Alright, thanks sweetie!" Izuku ruffled her hair, causing her to giggle adorably.

Izuku walked into the large building, eyes peeled for any sign of Ochako.

Given the open nature of the gym he quickly noticed her, but…

*Cough*

Ochako was laying on the ground, clearly hurt and covered in a layer of soot.

"Ochako!" Izuku rushed over to her side.

"Ochako! Are you ok?"

"De…ku…?" Ochako looked dazed, eyes dreary and half-lidded. She looked like she was about to lose consciousness, but who did-

"DEKU!?"

That was the nickname Ochako used, but those words didn't come from her lips.

Izuku looked up to see an angry blonde with spiky hair.

"What the fuck are you doing here!?"

A very angry blonde.