Stunned. Heartbroken. Angry. Livid. Scared.
Emotions were running high yet the only expression that showed was one of blankness. He had been walking back to class with Uraraka when he bumped into a woman he had never seen before. The woman was tall and had a nicely cut figure with slick red hair that matched her business suit well. He did not think too much about it and promptly apologised several times before catching up to Uraraka. He did, however, had to stop for a moment as he suddenly felt something inside him (or Diavolo) screaming at him to stay from the man at all costs.
He was not sure why but since he did not want to keep Uraraka waiting, he thought nothing of it. It was when he was about to reach the classroom entrance that he heard someone say:
"Uraraka, do you usually spend much time with Midoriya?"
His ears perked up, his heart grinded to a slow tense beat. He silently walked up to the entrance and saw Uraraka looking flustered at her seat while Kyouka, Mina and Tsuyu standing in front of the class. At the back of the class were Bakugou, Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero. They seemed to have their attention focused on the exchange the girls were having.
'I wonder what's this about?' he wondered. He then noticed the flush red face on Uraraka then turned to the girls. Taking note of the other boys' intense focus as well, he attempted to put two and two together. Then, he blushed.
'D-d-do they think Uraraka and I a-a-are dating?! W-wait, no! It's not like that We're just f-f-friends! What are you talking about? N-no, it's nothing!'
"W-w-what do you mean?!" came Uraraka's stammered response, causing his heart to jump.
'Oh boy, please let it be something else!'
"What I mean is do you usually talk to him?"
He sighed, his lungs relaxing as they released the air they unknowingly held. 'Not out of the woods yet but luckily it's not direct. I mean, we do talk to each other quite often and she does like to walk home with me. That's just what good friends do, right?'
Izuku.
'Yes?'
You would have been a good replacement for the concrete I poured in barrels.
'Why?'
Think about my former profession and use that analytical brain of yours to figure it out.
'…'
Well?
'An additional body makes the barrel heavier thus making it sink faster?'
…forget I ever asked.
He shrugged and resumed his silent observation of the classroom. He clicked his tongue as his back and forth with Diavolo caused him to miss Uraraka's response, but he noted that her interrogators appeared to have come to an unspoken consensus as they met each other's eyes and nodded in unison.
Then came the words that led to his current torrent of emotional turmoil:
"Uraraka, it is for the best of your interests that you minimise contact with him from now on."
Why? Why? Why?! What happened to the embarrassing couple accusations?! He would rather have Uraraka confess on the spot than this! A dozen possibilities flew through his mind, each providing some semblance of an answer. Remembering Tsuyu's presence there, suddenly all was clear.
She must have convinced them to stay away from him and now they were trying to get Uraraka to do the same. Convince his friend to alienate him. She was the one who first voiced doubt, wasn't it? During his impromptu Q&A? Waves roiled in his heart as one half that believed in his friends struggled for supremacy over another whose dark waters of distrust, doubt and insecurities fought the opposing current. However, at the point of intersection, both agreed upon one thing:
You are not welcome here.
"I see."
The words came out void of life yet laden with weight as he slunk away from the classroom. What was he thinking anyway? That they were all going to accept him straight away? Of course not. People were not like that. Their airs of friendliness and camaraderie would disappear as soon as something they did not like appeared.
Just like how Kacchan and his other friends made his life miserable when they found out he was Quirkless.
However, in this torrent of emotions, there were also elements that felt foreign to him yet came with an unnatural ease. Betrayal, hatred, vengefulness; they made him feel cold and it scared him. Kacchan may have bullied him for years but he had never once thought of beating him within an inch of his life. Tsuyu was justified in her fears and cautiousness around him but yet he felt utter betrayal of trust.
What was happening to him? Was this an effect of his soul merging with Diavolo's? He tried calling out to him, but he was eerily silent. Then he heard the frantic footsteps of his classmates running after him. They must be trying to convince him that he had it all wrong or maybe tell him to disappear. In any case, he could not afford to face them.
Not like this.
His emotions were too strong for him to be able to listen to them with a cool head. So, he summoned King Crimson and entered the realm of erased time and ran back up the flights of stairs as far as his Stand's limits could allow. As he ran, he came across the figures of Kaminari and Kyouka, frozen within his realm.
He could not bear to look at them for more than a moment and kept running. Anguished hot tears hung from his eyelids as he glanced back at them. He noted that they looked sad, regret etched into their faces. Was it regret for saying the wrong thing or was it for letting their true intentions slip? He shook his head and recalled his Stand, erasing the full ten seconds.
Ten seconds was a lot of time for anything to happen so the chances of a person noticing the missing gap was very high, so he went straight to the roof of the school. There should not be a single soul on a rooftop and the resulting confusion would buy him extra time alone.
Yet, right there, in the middle of the flat concrete, lay the resting figure of a student with purple hair.
'The clouds look beautiful as always.'
A smile crept on his face as his tired eyes trailed the drifting clouds. How peaceful it was to clear your mind as you let your worries wash away by the calm silence. There were no eyes to judge him, no words to hurt him and no one to remind him about the unfair reality that was the society of heroes.
He had always wanted to become a hero, but the nature of his Quirk led everyone to believe that he was more suited to be a villain instead. Thus, when the entrance exams came around he thought that it was his moment of redemption, the moment to prove his old classmates that they were wrong. Unfortunately, battle robots and brainwashing were not the best of matchups and thus he wound up taking General Studies.
Anger swelled in his heart for a moment as he recalled the arrogance of those in the Hero department.
The sneers thrown at those who they deem were beneath them, the mocking jeers and taunts; he pretended to ignore them as he went on with his day.
The soft crunching of concrete dust behind him stirred him out of his thoughts, sobering him up. He wanted to get up and face this person who had intruded into his special place but then he remembered that the school's rooftop was a public area. It made sense that there might be some other students who wanted to clear their minds up here and he was not going to stop them.
After all, if he kicked them out due to the selfish desire to have the place all to himself, he would be no different than the entitled schmucks in the Hero course. However, he felt it too awkward to greet this visitor behind him head-on. If this person just wanted to clear their head like he was, wouldn't striking up a conversation ruin the mood? But if he flat-out ignored them, then they might think that he was being rude. Ah, what should he do?!
"Um, am I intruding?"
Yes! Thank you, person he had never met before for initiating the conversation! Now he can easily adapt to the situation and-
"Sorry…you seem to be deep in thought. I'll just go now."
'Eh?'
The sound of slow shuffling feet made it into his ears.
'EHHHHHHH?! They're leaving already?! Was it something I said? No, I didn't say anything. Did I take too long to respond? Damnit! I mean, I did want you to go away earlier because I kind of wanted to be alone, but you don't have to leave me like that! You're making me feel bad now!'
His heart was racing as he tried to think of a way to salvage this social interaction. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead with every step this unknown person took.
'Alright, calm down, calm down. You're panicking because you haven't had the chance to socialise before. People were either being dicks or afraid of your Quirk. Come on, get it together! Just say something normal to stop them from leaving. You know, something a normal person would say.'
"Where do you think you're going?" he said with a calm cool tone. "I never told you to leave, didn't I? Come, stay."
"Oh, okay!"
'What the heck was that?! "Where do you think you're going?" That sounds like something an anime character would say! And what was tone too?! Jeez, now this person might think I'm a goddamn degenerate trying to sound cool!'
His anxiety only grew as the silence between them stewed. He could only imagine that this person, who he had just convinced to stay, staring at his resting figure was also trying to figure out what to say. He really wanted to stand up and greet them but since he had established the 'wannabe-cool' persona by accident, he felt obligated to stay in character.
"So, uh, what brings you up here?" he asked, maintaining the uninterested tone from earlier. The urge to tilt his head back to see was strong but his avoidance of awkwardness was stronger.
"Not much," the person behind him sighed. "Just needed to get away for a bit, y'know? Put things back together in the noggin."
A light breeze of empathy touched him upon hearing his (he was pretty sure the person was a 'he' by now) answer. So, this person came here for the same reason, huh?
"I know that feeling, man. Sometimes, people can be too overwhelming, and you just need some space."
"True, that is true. But at times, it hurts. It's like, when you've tried all your life to have the things that people expect kids to have like friends and outings to the arcade or hanging out at cafes only to be denied any of it because you don't have a power, or your power is weird. The loneliness can be unbearable."
His mouth opened to reply but he could not find the words. 'Damn, that got heavy quick. I thought he was just a guy who wanted to relax up here. Well, he is. What am I even saying? Granted, I came up here for almost the same reasons as him but still, to think that someone else was feeling the same way…'
"Ah, sorry! I didn't mean to burden you with my woes!" blurted the person behind him.
"Don't worry about it. It's just that…those woes are some that I share too." He then stood up but did not turn around. "Normally I won't tell this to anyone but since you seem to have people problems related to your Quirk, I feel that this is the right moment to share this to you. Just so that you feel a bit better."
"A-ah, that's, uh, you don't have to—"
"My Quirk brainwashes people. Scary, right? Throughout my life, anyone I've come across who finds out about it either avoids me or tells me to give up on being a hero. Because brainwashing is unethical, right? Only a villain has such an evil Quirk, right? Well I see goddamn Bakugou blowing shit up with his Quirk and I don't see anyone throwing the 'villain' card at him! Hell, he even has the rotten personality to match too!"
"Well—"
"And I wouldn't be wrong to say that most of the people in the Hero course are horrible human beings, if I could call them that. I mean, they're glory hounds, the lot of them. Blessed with powers that make them 'hero material' and suddenly they think those with less powerful Quirks are beneath them. If the current hero market is of any indication, people like Bakugou are the most likely candidates for the top internships because 'power' equals 'heroism' all of a sudden.
"To think that these disgusting people are what represent 'justice' these days… What of the people who have Quirks and want to contribute to society in their own way, huh? Don't they deserve to be heroes too?"
Ding dong ding dong.
'Crap. I got too carried away with my rant and I totally wasted this guy's time up here. I bet all I did was make his feelings worse. With all that angry talk of heroes and what not? Wait, what if he was in the Hero course and he was being picked on? Aw man, I would have really messed up. I cut him off too.'
"Well, I guess it's time to back to class," the person behind him said, bringing him back to reality.
"Heh, guess so."
He was about to turn around to head towards the staircase when the person continued to speak.
"Also, about your Quirk, I think that you could become a great hero in your own right."
He raised a brow at this.
"What do you mean?"
"You know how Eraserhead operates right? Even though his Quirk allows him to erase the Quirks of others to an extent, he is pretty much Quirkless in terms of strength. He makes up for it by incorporating martial arts into his fighting style. As for you, I think you'd be suited for missions where stealth and discretion are required. Think about it! With a Quirk like yours, you could easily infiltrate a terrorist compound to save hostages with minimal casualties.
"And that, I think, is where you can really shine!"
He swung around, wide-eyed as he tried to comprehend the words this stranger was telling him. He was met with a gentle smile and a tuft of green hair.
"Y-you…you're…!"
"Yeah, I'm 'Hero course scum', right?" said Izuku with a laugh. "Don't worry about it, I know it was nothing personal."
The green-haired teen then disappeared into the school stairwell. But just before he set foot into it, he asked him one question, "What's your name? It'd be awkward to meet up with a friend and not know their name."
In that moment, the smile thrown his way appeared to shine. He then shook his head, grinned and looked at Izuku with his tired purple eyes.
"Hitoshi Shinsou. Pleased to meet you."
A/N: Shortest chapter yet, folks! Don't worry, the current 'arc' doesn't end here. If anything, there's more to it than meets the eye. What significance does Shinsou have? Who was that unknown woman? Will the misunderstandings be resolved or go full on 'GAMERS!'?
Find out more next...uh, time(?)
