So she was finally able to get up, pull Izuku through the air to his bed and lay him on it. Then she released her quirk again, covered the boy carefully with a blanket and sat down on the edge of the bed with a thoughtful look.
Only now did she remember the wounds from earlier and looked at his forearms.
What she saw there shocked her. There were the red wounds where his fingernails had dug into the flesh, but that wasn't what caught her attention.
Scars could be seen on his left forearm. Scars from cuts, all of which were horizontal. They covered almost his entire forearm and even went about a third to the back of his hand. No. Please don't let it be what she thought it was.
Ochako immediately realized what exactly the scars were. He had cut himself. The friendly, sweet, always happy and smiling Izuku cut himself and none of them had known. Ochako felt so stupid. How could she have missed that ?!
At least the scars didn't look new, which calmed the young girl down a bit. It looked like he hadn't done it in the past few months at least.
Ochako shook her head to shake her thoughts away and focused again on the fresh wounds.
Fortunately, these had stopped bleeding and at second glance they didn't look as bad as at first. They weren't pretty, but they weren't too deep and it would be enough to clean them up and bandage them.
Deku didn't seem like he was going to wake up anytime soon and so she decided to go to her room for a moment, change clothes and come back with bandages.
So she got up and quietly walked to the door. She opened it and stepped into the hallway, where half of the class 1-A were already waiting. Great. Obviously it was later than Ochako thought and the classes were already over.
"OCHAKO! HOW IS IZU- ", Mina yelled but Ochako interrupted her.
"SSHHH! He just fell asleep! ", she whisper-yelled.
„Oh. Sorry..."
Ochako turned around and looked in the room and luckily Deku was still asleep. She let out a relieved breath and closed the door behind her as quietly as possible.
The brown haired girl sighed, then looked at her class.
"Physically he's fine, but he has a few small wounds on his arms. He scratched himself earlier during a panic attack. Mentally he's not doing well. ", She said straight forward. There was no point in wrapping the truth in cotton candy.
That left the class speechless for a moment.
"What ... What's wrong with Izuku?" Kirishima asked with a concerned look.
She thought for a moment. What should she say? She didn't know how much she could say about what Izuku had told her. Izuku had confided some things to her that he obviously hadn't told anyone else and she didn't want to risk abusing his trust. So she decided to tell only very rough and vague stories.
"He had a panic attack and was crying. I was able to calm him down a bit and at some point he fell asleep. He also told me why he was so panicked, but I don't want to abuse his trust and that's why I don't want to tell you anything more specific. "
Some looked a little disappointed, but most understood why she didn't want to tell.
"Is it ... is it very bad?" Shouto asked, his usual expressionless look replaced by a concerned look.
Ochako sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
"It depends on how you define bad. It's definitely bad for him and his psyche. For us, in my opinion, it's not that bad. I can only tell you that he is terribly afraid that we wouldn't want to be his friends anymore. Nonsense if you ask me, but I'm warning you. If one of you does decide to hurt him, then you will really get to know me.", she said with a threatening glare.
The class swallowed fearfully and everyone nodded their heads in panic.
"Good. I'm going to change, can one of you maybe get bandages and then wait here for me? "
Yaomomo agreed to make some bandages and Ochako chased away the other classmates. Then she went briefly to her room, put on a black top and pink shorts, plugged her cell phone into a power bank, took a small bottle of water and went back to Izuku's room where Yaomomo was already waiting with the bandages she waited.
"Thank you Yaomomo, that really helps me a lot."
"No problem. I wanted to let you know that Aizawa wanted to come here later. He will probably want to talk to Izuku or at least to you. "
Ochako didn't think that Izuku would want to talk to anyone today, let alone wake up again today.
She thanked Yaomomo again and then entered Izuku's room as quietly as possible. The boy was still sleeping which clearly calmed Ochako. She put her cell phone on the floor next to the bed, put the water bottle on Izuku's bedside table, sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the sleeping boy.
He had dark circles under his eyes and his eyes were puffy from crying so much. He was pale as a sheet and even when he slept he still shivered a little bit. Other than that, he seemed to be sleeping soundly.
Ochako pulled the blanket off Izuku's torso to get to his arms. She ignored the scars for now and concentrated on the fresh wounds.
Yaomomo even made disinfectants, for which Ochako was grateful.
The brown-haired girl slowly began to clean the wounds and Deku winced a little when the alcohol came into contact with them.
"Sorry ..." she whispered and continued as gently as possible.
When she had finished bandaging his arms, she carefully covered Izuku again and looked at him worriedly. What had her poor Izuku been through? She already knew a little something, but it was clear to her that that was by far not all. The poor boy watched his mother get killed and had to deal with bullying all his life. Then a thought occurred to her...
If Izuku's real quirk took quirks over from others when they died in his presence, how did he first discover this? Oh no... So he must have seen a person die when he was a little kid... And that in turn had to mean that Izuku had more quirks than the few she knew of.
When his Quirk became known in school, everyone misunderstood his Quirk and thought that the Quirk itself would cause someone's death.
This line of thought was understandable, but she couldn't understand why no one had done anything about it. Why hadn't the teachers just told everyone what Izuku's Quirk was really about?
And these scars ... Deku had cut himself at some point in the past, which, considering what she knew so far, was definitely not surprising. She felt so guilty that she had never noticed Izuku's condition before. How could she have missed all the signs?
Flinching when someone touched him unexpectedly. As if he was expecting to be hurt.
The nervousness and stuttering when someone had a normal conversation with him. He was not used to people having normal conversations with him and paying positive attention to him. Especially not when a girl was talking to him.
The kneebobbing. He often bobbed his leg the whole time in class because he was so nervous and Ochako now knew that he was doing that because he was always afraid that someone would hurt him right away.
A knock ripped Ochako from her thoughts and before she could answer, the door opened and Aizawa poked his head in. Ochako got up and went to the door.
"Please be quiet, Deku is sleeping.", she asked kindly, pushed the teacher into the hallway, stepped out herself and closed the door behind her.
"Can I talk to the problem child?" Asked Aizawa.
"As I said, he's sleeping. Please let him sleep, he had two panic attacks earlier and he looks like he hasn't slept all night. I can talk to you instead. ", She said, trying to sound as respectful as possible.
"Very well.", said Aizawa and asked her to follow him.
She didn't want to leave Izuku alone, but he'd probably get a few more hours of sleep anyway.
In the dormitory there was a room that was intended for conversations, in which there were three armchairs and a small table and that's where the two of them went.
Ochako sat down in one of the armchairs while Aizawa closed the door and then sat down too.
"What in God's name happened?"
Ochako didn't really want to tell Izuku's secret without his permission, but she also knew that she probably had no choice. So she sighed and started talking.
"He had a panic attack because you talked about this villain. I mean "Dragon's Breath". To cut a long story short ... he is the murderer of Izuku's mother. "
Aizawa now looked visibly shocked. Little did he know that the boy's mother wasn't even alive anymore. In the documents there was even her phone number and the U.A. always carried out very complex background checks.
"How long ago was that?" Asked the shocked teacher.
"Deku said he was 12 years old when it happened. I'm also surprised that no one knew. I thought the UA would know something important like this. ", Said the girl and looked at the floor with a sad look.
Aizawa paused for a moment to let sink in what he had just learned. How could he have missed something like that? He was the boy's teacher, damn it, and he hadn't noticed how his student had suffered ...
"That's why he ran away earlier. His mother's killer just escaped from prison ... "Eraserhead muttered.
Ochako nodded and thought for a moment. She couldn't get rid of the uneasy feeling that was behind the whole story even more than she previously knew. Of course, when your mother's killer breaks out of prison, you are burdened. But that you freak out completely and even get panic attacks? Then she remembered something important.
"Deku said earlier that he saw it."
Aizawa raised an eyebrow.
"That he saw what?"
"He ... he saw his mother being murdered ..." she said and sadly drooped her head.
Before Teacher could answer, however, Ochako continued.
"I am his best friend! How could I miss that ?! I should have noticed something! I didn't even notice that he was ... that he was ..."
Ochako couldn't go on when she thought of the scars on Izuku's arm again. His self-harm scars ...
Aizawa was silent and wanted to give the girl the time she needed. That he what? With everything he'd heard so far, he couldn't believe it could get worse, but he was quickly convinced otherwise.
"Mr. Aizawa! He was cutting himself! He has so many scars on his arm! All from cuts! I am such a bad friend! I missed all the signs! "She shouted, getting up and tears running down her cheeks.
The problem child is cutting himself? He should have seen that! How could he not seen that? How-
Aizawa shook his head briefly. He could worry about that later, first of all he had to calm the crying girl in front of him. So he got up and took the young girl in his arms.
"Ochako, it's not your fault. Nobody could have guessed that. Not me, not your classmates, and neither are you. Please don't blame yourself. ", He said in a calm voice, while he tried to blink away his own tears.
"Deku. He ... he was so scared. He was so terrified that all of his friends would leave him. He ... He said I was the first friend he had in years ... He was always alone ... And that ... all because others were afraid of his quirk! ", Said the brown-haired girl after she and the teacher sat down again.
Afraid of his quirk? Well, it could do a lot of damage, but the Quirk from Katsuki could do the same and the blonde seemed to have always been popular. At least in his past.
"Why were people afraid of him? Yes, he could be dangerous if he wanted to, but it is obvious that the problem child would be way too nice to hurt a fly. "
Ochako's eyes widened and she put a hand over her mouth. Damn! Now she had gossiped too! And, of course, the teacher did not miss her reaction.
"Is there anything else I should know?" He asked skeptically.
Crap! What should she do now ?! She didn't want to divulge Izuku's secret, but then again, Aizawa actually had to find out at some point ...
"I don't know whether to tell you. Izuku confided this to me and I don't want to abuse his trust. I've already told you way too much anyway! "She said and began to bob her knee uneasily.
"I am your teacher. I have to make sure you are safe. So if it's something that endangers one of your classmates or Izuku himself, then I need to know. "
Ochako thought about it. It would certainly not be a danger for the classmates, she knew that. But for himself? He was definitely in a very bad mood about it and he didn't seem to have told anyone since childhood.
She was also sure that he had to have other quirks, but didn't know which ones and therefore couldn't say whether they were a danger to anyone. Be it for himself or for other people around him. She knew, of course, that the boy would never hurt anyone on purpose, but what if he couldn't control, like before? Aizawa could at least bring it back under control.
"I'll tell you. But I'll warn you beforehand. ", She said and looked at Aizawa with an angry and threatening look. "If you tell anyone or hurt Izuku in any way, I'll throw you into the sun."
Normally Eraserhead would not have tolerated such behavior, but under the circumstances he let it go. He knew the girl didn't really want to threaten him. She just wanted to protect her friend and for that she was ready to throw her career as a heroine overboard, which Aizawa clearly showed respect for her. So he nodded.
"I swear I won't tell anyone and I will protect Izuku. I promise."
Ochako's gaze returned to normal and she hung her head again.
"He ... He has multiple quirks. Well, strictly speaking, he has a quirk that ensures that he gets others. ", She said and this sentence confused the teacher visibly. When she saw his confused look, she took a deep breath and then continued.
"The quirk he was born with ensures that he can take over the quirks from others. At first I thought he meant the same as All for One, but it isn't. He takes over the quirk from someone when he dies in his presence. "
Holy. Crap. It was an incredibly powerful quirk and Aizawa couldn't help but think for a moment what would have happened if the boy had actually become a villain. Of course, Aizawa knew immediately that this was not even an option, but he was clearly glad that the boy was on the side of the heroes and not on the other side.
"But I don't know exactly what other quirks he has. When I came into his room earlier, things were flying around and his eyes were glowing bright green. He must have lost control of one of his quirks in his panic. I'm not sure, but it worked like some kind of telekinesis or something like that. "
Aizawa nodded understandingly and noticed the still skeptical look Ochako turned on him. He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.
"You don't have to look at me like that, I won't hurt the problem child. He's still my student and this thing doesn't change that in the least. But I can understand him much better now. This is how he got this super strength and that probably just before school started. That's why he couldn't control it properly. "
Izuku had said earlier that his super strength was a different story, but Ochako had the feeling that she should keep it to herself. So she just nodded.
"He said that he never used more quirks because he was afraid we would no longer want to be his friends. When it became known in elementary school which Quirk he had, many had misunderstood something and thought his Quirk would kill people. Those who did not believe it probably said he would become a villain and kill many people to get stronger. Which is of course complete nonsense. Anyone who knows Izuku, even a little, knows that he is everything, but certainly not a villain or a murderer. ", she said.
Aizawa just nodded in understanding and so she continued.
"At some point in the second grade he moved and went to another school where nobody knew him and there he said he was quirkless. He said he was bullied too, of course, but he preferred to be bullied about something that was not right than the alternative. In the second year of middle school he came back because his mother had died and he had to go to an orphanage. Then he went to school again with his old classmates, but surprisingly nobody remembered him. Except for Katsuki and he seemed to play along with the whole charade and that's why everyone thought he was quirkless. "
Wow. That was a lot to deal with. Aizawa knew of course that the girl wouldn't lie, but he still couldn't believe it. The poor boy must have been severely traumatized and nobody knew it! How could it be that the boy's files didn't say a thing about it? There was nothing in it about his mother's death or the orphanage. It just said that his father works overseas, his Quirk is super strength and he lives with his mother.
Obviously the teacher had said that out loud, because suddenly the door opened and Katsuki came in and before Aizawa could give him a lecture on privacy, the blonde started to speak.
"The nerd has a hacking quirk. He probably hacked into everything and changed all sorts of things in all documents. You won't find anything that Deku wanted to keep for himself anywhere. "
A hacking quirk. That explained why no one knew anything about the boy's past. Looks like he ought to have a serious word with Nezu. He couldn't imagine that the rat hadn't suspected any of this.
Katsuki closed the door behind him and unceremoniously dropped into the third chair.
"So you know what's going on with the problem child?", asked Aizawa.
"Of course I know. I've known him since he was born. My mother sat with my three month old self in the waiting room of the hospital while he was born. "
Ochako couldn't control herself anymore. She got up and gave Katsuki a huge slap in the face. Amazingly, the blonde didn't look a bit surprised or angry. He almost looked like he felt guilty.
"YOU HAVE BULLIED HIM ALL OF YOUR LIFES, AND YOU DO IT EVEN NOW! HE ALWAYS CONSIDERED YOU AS HIS FRIEND! HE WAS ALWAYS ALONE AND YOU MAKED FUN OF HIM THE WHOLE TIME! "the girl yelled.
Katsuki sighed and Aizawa was amazed again how calm the boy had remained.
"I know. I definitely deserve a punishment and I will apologize to Deku. But right now Deku's current situation is more important than this.", He said and Ochako's eyes widened in shock. She didn't expect the Explosive Boy to admit his mistakes, let alone accept punishment.
Ochako forced herself to take a deep breath and sit down again. No, Deku wouldn't want her to beat Katsuki black and blue. Even if she would have loved to do it.
"We'll talk about that later. Do you know anything about Izuku that we don't know yet? "Asked Aizawa.
"I don't know all of his quirks either. He's got a hacking quirk, no idea where he got it from. As far as I know, he can hack pretty much anything with it. Then he got telekinesis from his mother, what telekinesis is is obvious. Then he has his super strength and the last quirk I know of is that of his older brother, Mikumo. He had a combination of the quirks from Deku's parents and could control fire. Pyrokinesis. I know that Deku has more quirks, but I don't know anything about them. ", Said the blonde, crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in the armchair.
Deku had an older brother? If he had taken over his Quirk, he must have watched his brother die. The more she found out, the worse it got...
Ochako was just about to inquire more precisely when one suddenly heard a loud bang and a scream. Oh no. This voice -
"DEKU!" She called and ran out the door, Aizawa and Katsuki close on her heels.
When the three of them arrived in front of Deku's room, they could see that someone - or something - had torn the door from its hinges and flung the wall across from it. A green glow came from the room and Ochako could guess what had caused the loud bang.
A few of the other students came running into the hall, too, but Ochako paid them no attention. Instead she ran to Deku's room and what she saw there shocked her.
Deku was sitting on his knees, on the floor, in the middle of the room. He was hunched over and his forehead touched the floor while he pressed his hands to his ears and cried screaming.
"Everyone leaves ... me in the ... in the end ...!", He muttered to himself and Ochako could imagine what was going on. She could have hit herself at that moment for her stupidity. She had just left him alone and when he woke up he had of course thought that she would have run away from him after all.
She felt so incredibly guilty and tried to walk carefully to him while she said his name. But he didn't seem to hear her and when she was about two meters away from him she crashed into an invisible wall.
"Deku!" She called, pounding the air with her fist, but it was useless. That had to be another quirk. Some kind of force field or something like that. Izuku let out a shrill scream and some objects flew around him in a kind of vortex.
"Shit!" She cursed when Izuku screamed again and she called for Aizawa, who stormed into the room shortly afterwards, Katsuki right behind him.
"Aizawa, delete his quirk! He's out of control and he gets a terrible headache when that happens, that's why he screams like that! "Katsuki shouted and he actually looked worried.
The teacher seemed completely frozen in shock until Izuku screamed again and fell on his side in despair. Ochako could now see that it was partly from psychological pain, but also to a large extent from physical pain.
"DAMN IT! NOW DO IT! ", The girl screamed and that seemed to shake Eraserhead out of his trance. His eyes began to glow red and with a loud rumble, things fell on the floor and it got dark again. The only light came in from the hallway and you couldn't hear anything except the soft whimper of Izuku.
"Izuku?" Asked Ochako in a calm voice and slowly stepped forward. This time she wasn't stopped by a wall and she slowly sank down next to Deku on the floor. A few other students were now standing in the doorway and looked worriedly at their crying classmate, but Ochako didn't notice that at all. Her concentration was fully focused on Izuku.
The boy was lying on his side in a fetal position and whimpering softly to himself. He mumbled something too, but Ochako couldn't understand it, which is why she leaned forward a little to understand what he was saying.
"Please ... please don't ... leave me ... alone ... please ..." he whispered.
"I'm so sorry Izuku. I won't leave you alone anymore. I promise. I am so so sorry."
She felt so guilty. When he woke up he was alone and panicked because he thought she had let him down.
Izuku flinched when she put her hand on his shoulder, but she didn't pull it back. After a while the boy looked at her and she could see a mixture of hope, fear and despair in his eyes.
"You ... you are ... still there ...?" He asked as if he didn't dare to believe that she really hadn't left him.
"Yes, I am here Izuku. I won't leave you alone anymore. Promised."
For the third time that day, Izuku ended up in Ochako's arms and was crying. But this time it was from relief mostly.
Meanwhile, Katsuki grinned. It looked like Deku had finally made real friends. Real friends who were there for him no matter what. With that, the blonde boy turned around and chased away the others before he left himself.
Aizawa on the other hand had an existential crisis. He had seen many strong quirks before, but he had never seen one like this. The stronger the quirk, the harder it was for him to erase it, but he'd never had more than a little difficulty doing it.
But now? It was the first time that he wasn't sure if he could delete the Quirk at all. In fact, he had never seen such a strong quirk before ...