Chapter 21: What's The Point?
"Trust."
Mr Aizawa's word echoed around the dorm rooms. Midoriya sat on the central sofa again, the rest of class A dotted around him, as he waited for the outcome of that on-the-fly escape plan to be revealed.
"– That's the one thing I need from you," their teacher continued. He'd just come back from a hospital visit with Recovery Girl. All his bandages were finally off; the only evidence from his injuries at the USJ lay with the large scar under his eye. "Yet you continue to break that trust, and that puts me in a difficult position. You have home visits very soon, and I don't know if we can trust you with them."
Silence fell over the room. Midoriya felt his classmates' eyes flicker towards him now and again, as they waited for him to speak up. He stayed silent, a strange bubble of shame in his chest.
"I know about your deal with Principal Nezu," Mr Aizawa explained. "And you know I believe you can do it. But this makes me wonder if you're taking it seriously enough."
Still no response.
Clearly nervous, Iida opened his mouth to reply. He only let out a syllable before Midoriya raised a hand before him, silencing his friend. He closed his mouth and let Midoriya take the lead, in which he continued to do nothing but keep his gaze with Mr Aizawa, chin bowed, but eyes sharp and sure.
"But we will be going through with the home visits," he said after one too many frightening moments. "Consider this your last chance, do you understand?"
Midoriya nodded, only slightly. An incredibly quiet ripple of "Yes, Sir," rang out amongst them.
Mr Aizawa sighed deeply, a way of saying I'm far too tired to deal with this tonight. "You have a few more days until home visits. Behave yourselves – pack everything you need and keep your rooms tidy; the whole dorm will be cleaned again whilst you're gone, but don't leave it like the tip it is currently."
Mr Aizawa turned to leave. Midoriya thought he'd gotten away with it all scot-free for a moment there, until –
"And Midoriya – tomorrow, we'll be having a word."
Midoriya gulped.
With that, Mr Aizawa left, locking the door behind him.
Silence.
"That wasn't that bad!" Mina perked up happily.
"Deku doesn't even have detention yet!" added Uraraka.
Midoriya wasn't the only one who flinched at the nickname, but no one brought the topic up.
"If Midoriya's getting away with it, so are we," Kaminari pointed out nervously, leaning on the side of the sofa.
"I suppose we'll have to see what that meeting with Mr Aizawa tomorrow will mean, ribbit," Tsu acknowledged.
Mina yawned loudly, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted!"
"Before you leave, is anyone at all injured?!" Iida suddenly exclaimed standing up and glancing at each of them in turn.
"We've already had this conversation, Iida," Sero sighed.
"I am simply ensuring that –"
"Don't you trust us, Iida?!" Mina gasped mockingly.
Maybe Midoriya should have left it there, the night ending on a relative high – but he still had something on his mind. Without looking up, he interjected into their jokes about trust.
"You guys didn't have some, um, conversation whilst I was packing my rucksack earlier, did you?" he asked, his voice cutting through their laughter and leaving a similar silence to what Mr Aizawa had left in its wake.
"What do you mean?" asked Tsu, who was still sitting next to Midoriya.
"I-I just mean…" he started, fumbling with his fingers, "well, for an escape attempt with so little planning, everyone seemed really coordinated and err… protective?"
There was a moment of hesitation before Uraraka spoke up again, "We're just getting so much better at working as a team, aren't we?! It's super cool to see," she nodded surely.
"Well, yes," Midoriya nodded. "But I feel like I wasn't left alone for two seconds and not that it's a bad thing and strategically it makes sense because of course class B tends to target me but still you know I can –"
"No one can understand what you're freaking saying," Kacchan snapped.
Midoriya met his gaze for a fraction of a second. He gulped, and repeated, "Was there some kind of conversation about you all making sure I wasn't left alone at any point during that fight, or did you all just come to that conclusion independently? Please, I-I just want to know."
From the way that no one answered immediately, the answer was clear. Regardless, it was Iida that replied. "Yes, we did have a brief conversation during your absence," he admitted.
Midoriya furrowed his brow, staring at the ground. "Y-You know I can take care of myself, right? I don't need your protection; aren't I capable of enough?"
"Of course!" Iida insisted quickly.
"Then why didn't you just tell me about this plan? I could have gone along with it a lot better – I would have known what I was doing. Like I said it makes sense to counter class B's plans like that. I just… feel like there's something else behind it?"
More unnerving silence.
"Yeah… it may have been for this exact reason," Jiro was brave enough to explain.
"W-What do you mean?"
She rolled her eyes and folded her arms, "Because the moment someone suggested something like that you would have taken it to heart and thought it was something to do with your Quirklessness."
Midoriya smiled thinly, "Is it not?"
She thought over her words carefully, "I mean, come on, Midoriya. Class B is targeting you because they know we're not gonna leave you behind – and that's not just because you're the class president. Like… imagine if they managed to get Bakugo; he'd just blast them to bits – or Shoto would freeze them or I'd jab their eyes out. But they know that if they manage to trap you there's less you can do to get out – and we're not gonna leave anyone behind. Strategically, the best thing for them to do is to take you captive. Not trying to be mean, it's just the truth."
Midoriya averted his gaze, nodding slightly, "I get it," he shrugged. He stood up and started to walk away, "I get it – thanks for helping me. I, err, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Wait, Midori!" Uraraka called out as he passed him. "Wait – don't be upset!"
"I'm not upset," he said, pausing and turning around for a moment, but finding it difficult to meet anyone's eyes. "Why would I be? Like Jiro said – it makes perfect sense."
"W-Well… you don't sound happy," Uraraka pouted.
"I… um, yeah – I'm just going to go to bed and hope Mr Aizawa doesn't give me another month's detention tomorrow."
"Oh… ok…"
And he was gone up the stairs before anyone else could say a word.
As soon as he closed the door, he stared at the small, dark room, and found himself sliding down the back of the door, soon sitting on the carpet with his knees against his chest.
It was… a stupid thing to be upset about, mainly because it was all absolutely true. Logical and exactly what Midoriya himself would have done had he been in their situation. Because, well, if they did talk with him directly about it, he probably would have been difficult – that he couldn't deny. They didn't say it out front with him because they knew it would only make matters worse.
It hurt because… it was the truth. Midoriya was weaker than them – the weakest point in the group – the biggest target. The fact that Mr Aizawa made him class president made the situation far worse. He was the head, and he was the weakest. If anyone wanted to take the entire group down, they didn't have to fight all these incredible people – all they had to do was take on Midoriya. Midoriya, who relies too much on the rest of them to carry his weight. Yes, he didn't get a weapon to protect himself that time, but that was likely done on purpose. Yaoyorozu gave him only a shield to stop him from running head on into a fight he would likely lose.
The point is, if Midoriya hadn't hacked the Sports Festival tournament brackets to change who he was up against, he would have lost. The only reason he got as far as he did was because he was pulling the strings – it was the only power he had. The power of lies and manipulation.
And… he didn't want that.
He just wanted… well, he didn't know what he wanted.
As he rested his head on his pillow, not bothering to change into his pyjamas, all Midoriya could think of were the words All Might had told him, so long ago, on that fateful day.
Something was wrong with Midoriya. Aizawa could see it in his eyes.
Years of underground heroics, and vigilantism before that, had taught Aizawa many invaluable skills. One of which, was the ability to read a person like a book, and Midoriya sure was an interesting story. But this morning, he wasn't acting quite like the character Aizawa had come to know.
He had fully expected Midoriya to walk into the staff room (currently empty, excluding the two of them) with his head held high, a slight smirk upon his lips and a dangerous glint in his eyes. A look that would be daring Aizawa to give him detention or to kick him out of the school – anything that would disturb the delicate balance of the class and tip them all over the edge.
But, today, Midoriya's posture was slumped, his hands in his pockets and head hung low, shoulders tense and arms pinned to his side. Now this was the boy Aizawa would have expected to meet right at the beginning. A scared, weak, bullied child who didn't know what they were doing in UA's class A and was honestly fearing for their life. He seemed unusually nervous; maybe even sad and certainly uncomfortable.
"Are you ok?" Aizawa asked first.
The words made the boy flinch and tuck his chin into his shoulder. He shrugged and kicked softly at the floor.
"Did something happen?" he tried again.
Still no notable response.
Aizawa sighed, he might as well get what he needed to say out the way first. "Look, Midoriya. You have to understand that your classmates respect you very much – you are a big influence on them and that puts you in a position of responsibility; that's why you have the title of class president, to make you realise that. Sometimes, that person is easy to see in a group of people, sometimes it's less obvious. But regardless, if you want to help get your class to a future in heroics, you need to start helping me help you, ok? I know what it's like to be in your position; you know I was in class A too once upon a time. But encouraging the others to continue acting like this isn't going to help."
He nodded slightly a few times, still not meeting Aizawa's gaze.
"…Midoriya, seriously, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Aizawa looked him up and down for a few moments more.
"Sit down," he ordered.
Midoriya turned around and pulled over a chair to sit opposite Aizawa. There was no desk in between them – Aizawa's own was now behind him, supporting a computer that Mic had knocked Aizawa's coffee all over the other day and had now given up on life (relatable), another empty mug, and a pile of slightly stained paperwork.
"I need you to talk to me," Aizawa insisted, picking up his mug to take a sip from it, before remembering that it was empty.
"About what?"
Teenagers.
"Don't play dumb with me," he sighed, letting his coffee mug hang from his fingers and a singular droplet build at the rim. "Is it Bakugo?"
He shook his head quickly.
"Ok, Monoma?"
"Nothing's wrong – I'm fine…"
"You're not fine; we're not leaving until we've talked about it."
Midoriya let out a sigh. Still not looking at him, Midoriya averted his eyes to the ceiling and started picking at his thumb nail. He was blinking a little too much. This kid was seconds away from bursting into tears and Aizawa was not the right person to deal with this – but he knew Midoriya trusted no one else so he couldn't exactly back out.
"U-Um, you, um…" Midoriya started, "You said on the first day of term that I'd be able to graduate if I-I understood what I did wrong and if I put effort into getting along with K-Bakugo?"
Aizawa narrowed his eyes, "Right…?"
"W-Well, um, I think we get along better now. I know he punched me the other day but… yeah… And I, err, I get what I did wrong before coming here? I just… had a really bad day and got mad at the heroes because I guess I needed something to be mad at. And I know that's not really the big thing. I swear I won't go around telling anyone about All Might. I haven't even told any of class A, isn't that proof enough?"
Aizawa stared at him, putting his mug back down, "You want to graduate?"
"Y-Yes?"
"But that would mean a transfer to another class."
"I-I know."
"And you would miss out on the deal you made with Principal Nezu unless you moved directly to class B."
"I-I don't want to go to class B – I want to go to class, err, D. That's the support course, right? With Toga and Hatsume?"
Aizawa couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You want to give up on everything you've worked for, to swap to the support course?"
More blinking, "I-I'm not giving up. All of class A gets what they need – they get to be a hero class now. But I-I can't be a h-hero so it w-would probably be a lot better if I w-worked towards the support course and I-I'd still be there but kind of in the background and I'd still be helping them a lot a-and I just think it makes more sense."
He finally looked at Aizawa, a clear sincerity in his eyes.
Ok… something has knocked his confidence.
"Why don't you think you can be a hero anymore?" Aizawa asked. He wouldn't back out of this conversation if he had the opportunity anymore – his future underground hero student wanted to back out; he wasn't about to let that happen.
Midoriya smiled slightly for a moment and let out a laugh. Gazing at the ceiling again, he said, "Well, I'm Quirkless."
"We've had this conversation, kid."
"Y-Yeah, I know, I know… But I'm fairly sure class A wants to be a hero team after UA and I-I'm just a big target and I'll make things more difficult…"
Was it just his own thought process that had got him to this point? Vlad had said that Honenuki managed to capture Midoriya at the end yesterday – was it because he felt bad for not being able to get out? It seemed characteristic of Midoriya to overthink it all.
"You're not a hinder on your class, Midoriya," Aizawa sighed.
"But I a-am," he spluttered, voice cracking.
"You got to third place in the Sports Festival above all of them and all of class B," he reminded his student.
"N-Not fairly… I-I wouldn't have gotten there without their help I probably wouldn't have even gotten through the obstacle course!"
"You got first on the obstacle course."
"Because they helped me! I-I couldn't do any of this by myself! I couldn't defeat any of the hero course students – Monoma was a lucky break! L-Look at Honenuki – he trapped me easily yesterday – and Setsuna? I couldn't possibly win in a fight against her! She had me in an instant – I couldn't –"
"– Midoriya, I whole heartedly believe you would have gotten to the finals with or without the help of your classmates."
He gulped and looked at him from the tops of his eyes like a puppy in need of encouragement, "Y-You think?"
"Kid, I know so."
"B-But then the tournament round brackets were just lucky for me and –"
"Lucky as in you hacked into them and changed them?"
He froze.
Aizawa huffed and grinned, leaning back in his chair, "Nezu found it the most entertaining part of the entire festival. You should have seen him in the stands; he needed three cups of tea after that. Came into the announcement booth to tell me personally – that's how exciting he found it."
"But… why?"
Aizawa shrugged, "That was my reaction when he first told me he was putting you in my class."
He just sat there with his mouth hanging open for a moment. "O-Ok… but, um, if I hadn't done that, I would have lost immediately."
"But you did do that, and you didn't lose immediately," Aizawa acknowledged. "In a fight, there are always plenty of ways for it to go wrong. One misstep – one miscalculation. There's no point in looking back and thinking, if I had made that mistake, I could be dead, because you didn't make that mistake. You saw the blow coming and changed trajectory. You won; it's in the past; you didn't make the mistakes you're thinking about so why waste your time on them?"
"B-But that doesn't apply! If I were against any other one of those hero students, I would have lost – what does that say about villains?! I'm not cut out to be a hero if I can't protect myself without extra gadgets a-and other people helping me out!"
"A hero who puts all their faith on their power and that alone is a fool."
"But All Might –"
"Is a fool."
Midoriya gawked at him.
"He's the fool who let a teenager uncover his weakness. And that weakness matters because he relies on his power. Remember what I said at the USJ – no good hero is a one trick pony. And I'm not saying All Might isn't a good hero – I'm just saying he could be better. Because he's human, like the rest of us. He makes mistakes. You need to stop looking at everyone and seeing someone who is better than you."
"…B-But I-I just… I…" he looked lost for words. He paused to think for a moment. "Let's say… I somehow became a hero. Wouldn't people… look at me and say I'm not good enough? That anyone could be where I was – that I'm not special or deserve it. I d-don't know if I can deal with that!"
Aizawa leaned forwards, "Look at me, Midoriya."
He did.
"When someone comes up to you and says that they could do better. I want you to look them dead in the eye and dare them to. If you are the bare minimum; if they're so sure that they could do it too, and be better, then why aren't they?"
He was blinking a lot again – but Aizawa was sure that was out of shock.
Aizawa sighed and sat up straight, "But if you still want to transfer to the support course, then we can look into it. And, you know what? I can graduate you right here, right now."
"W-Wait –"
"I can call Principal Nezu and switch you to class D. You can even catch the last lesson of the day; I'm sure Toga will help you settle in. You'd be in detention with them so often anyway that you might as well skip the general studies transfer and go straight to support –"
"– No, no! No, I-I'll stay in class A!"
Aizawa tried not to crack a smile, "You sure?"
"Yes! Y-Yes, yes, I'm sure."
Ok, maybe he smiled a little bit there.
"…So, um, I have detention?"
He gave him a look, "Did you seriously just ask me that question?"
"…Maybe?"
"Yes, you have detention."
"After the home visits…?" he said hopefully, smiling nervously.
Aizawa was going to make him start now. He sighed deeply, pinching his brow, "After the home visits."
He leapt to his feet, "Thank you, Mr Aizawa!"
"Alright, kid," Aizawa replied as Midoriya scurried out of the room.
He sat there in silence as the door slowly closed itself, hearing his footsteps fade away as he ran down the corridor back towards the dorms.
He smiled.
"I'm gonna miss you!" Uraraka squealed, hugging Tsu tightly.
"I'll miss you too, ribbit," Tsu said in reply, hugging her back.
"We're only leaving for a week," Yaoyorozu reminded the two. Uraraka responded by pulling her into the hug.
"Ready to go, Shoto?" Midoriya asked with the best smile he could conjure.
"Hm," was all he said in response, running his hand through his gelled-up hair and shouldering his backpack.
"Is that all you're taking?" Tsu asked him.
"It's fine," he deadpanned.
"Everybody! Please ensure you left your rooms and bathrooms are tidy as possible!" Iida yelled over them.
"Come on, Iida!" Uraraka exclaimed, grabbing his arm and pulling him over to the door, "Everyone else has already gone!"
They were told to get their stuff ready and make their way to the hall they sometimes had PE in. Their parents and guardians were going to be congregating there as they arrived. UA had to do several checks to make sure they were the right people; they weren't about to just let all of class A wander off back home on their own. They had to take off the tracking anklets for some sort of legal reason Midoriya didn't pay attention too, but UA had other methods for keeping an eye on them. Each member of the class had several heroes employed by UA, either as a member of staff normally or just for the occasion, to patrol the area around their homes. Quite often, these were new heroes who had graduated from the hero school the previous year, or even third years, giving them some experience they hadn't been through before. Plus, UA paid well. They were meeting them with their parents that afternoon, which was bound to be… interesting.
"I'm excited to meet your mum!" Uraraka blurted out as they all walked towards the hall, leaving the dorms behind them.
"My mum?" Midoriya almost laughed.
"Yeah! I bet she's super nice."
"Err, thanks?"
Uraraka (always the most talkative of the bunch) proceeded to chatter animatedly to Tsu about the latter's younger siblings the rest of the way to the hall. Midoriya payed closer attention to Shoto – trying to think of what might be going on in his friend's head. Midoriya just hoped it wouldn't be Endeavor himself arriving to collect him… but he didn't really know who else would, perhaps a hero? But would there even be heroes patrolling around Shoto's home because the number two himself would be there? Well, he wouldn't be there all day every day. Hopefully, UA had enough sense to ignore any of Endeavor's complaints and make sure there will be other heroes about…
Midoriya hated how there was so little else he could do. Look at Jiro – she clearly knew a little too much about this situation and consequently ended up in class A. That must have meant that Endeavor would have spoken to the school and she was put here to protect the hero's secrets… right? Or was more being hidden than anyone realised?
As they approached the door to the hall, Midoriya found himself slowing down and lagging behind.
Midoriya knew the truth now. Maybe that was intentional… maybe Nezu put him here for more than just the obvious.
With his weakness, it was clear that All Might couldn't last forever. Endeavor would become the number one hero next – and if Principal Nezu wanted to know what was really going on with the hero's son, when the school year began, he had to make sure there would be someone amongst that twenty who Shoto could learn to trust.
And then there's Midoriya – someone who was already known to be keen to shout at the heroes; to take extensive notes and to take people he didn't like down with that information. He was the perfect person to figure out the truth behind Endeavor, and consequently go to Principal Nezu with it.
But… should he? Nezu would believe him, yes – he'd already thought about it back at the Sports Festival. However, Nezu would have no evidence other than word of mouth – the word of Shoto specifically, which Endeavor has already proved he can push under the rug. It was a waiting game, really. Shoto needed to feel comfortable enough here to not want to run away during the home visits. If Midoriya (and the others) alone weren't enough to tether him to the school, any hope of putting Endeavor in his place before he inevitably became the most powerful hero in the country would be gone.
Midoriya cast his mind back to his conversation with Mr Aizawa the other day when he convinced him to stay with the hero idea. What if… in some wonderful timeline, Midoriya did reach the end of UA and graduate as a hero? If Shoto stayed put, and ploughed through it all with the rest of them, not only would his word become more and more trustworthy to the superiors, but Midoriya himself would find himself as a hero with real evidence that the number one was a… well, fake hero, assuming Endeavor was still the number one by which point.
Strange, Midoriya was put in UA out of fear that he would be damaging to the number one hero. What would they think if the school gave him the means to do just that once again, a little further into the future?
It all loops back to lies and manipulation, yet again. As Uraraka nervously pushed open the door to the hall, Midoriya sighed. Well, as with all things, he'd simply have to wait and see.
"Tenya! I was wondering where you were!"
"Brother!"
Iida dropped his suitcase, broke away from the group and skidded to the left, greeting a young man in a wheelchair and the woman beside him.
"Everybody! This is my mother and my brother, Tensei!" he announced proudly.
"Oh, wow – you're Ingenium!" Midoriya blinked as he carried Iida's forgotten suitcase over to the small family.
Tensei laughed, "Please, I'm retired! Call me Tensei."
Midoriya found an apology rising in his throat – sorry for what happened to you. Of course, he'd been paralysed from the waist down after a villain attack. But he was sure he'd had enough of those sympathetic words. Midoriya decided not to say them.
"And you must be the class president," said Iida's mother.
Midoriya found himself tensing up a little, "Ah, um, yeah – that's me."
"Mother, Tensei, these are my friends," Iida began, "Midoriya, Uraraka, Tsu, Yaoyorozu and Shoto."
"Hi!" Uraraka beamed alongside Tsu.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Yaoyorozu smiled politely.
"You all did brilliantly during the Sports Festival," said Tensei, glancing between his mother and brother whilst they embraced. "It was great to see you all cheering for each other as well."
"Yeah! Everyone's super nice here!" Uraraka nodded eagerly.
"It's not what I expected," Mrs Iida admitted, resting a hand on a shoulder of each of her sons.
"We felt the same," Tsu shrugged.
There was a brief moment of silence that fortunately didn't grow to be too awkward.
"Well," Iida's mum sighed, "let's get you both home."
"It was nice meeting you all," Tensei grinned as his mum started to steer him towards Mr Aizawa, who was chatting to some of the heroes Midoriya didn't recognise, holding a clipboard to sign people out with.
"A-And you," Midoriya stammered.
"See you all soon," Iida nodded with a small smile.
Midoriya returned the gesture and waved.
"Bye!" Uraraka sang happily.
"Ochako!"
She squealed and jumped, turning in mid-air. "O-Oh! Mum! Dad! H-Hi…"
Uraraka looked very much like her mum, who hugged her tightly without any of the distrust that Uraraka had seemed to imply over the term. She seemed to think they were immensely disappointed with her villainous exploits – which well, was likely still true, but it didn't look like they'd disowned her or anything.
They started fawning over her and asking how she was; commenting on the Sports Festival and insisting that they were doing ok themselves. Midoriya thought about backing away to go and find his own mother, like Tsu and Yaoyorozu had done already, but he didn't move an inch before Uraraka whipped back to his side.
"This is Midori!" she exclaimed, grabbing onto his arm, "He's class president; he's super cool!"
"Err –"
"And this is Shoto – he's also really amazing and his Quirk is super powerful! And I don't know where the others went; I think they saw their families or something –"
"It's wonderful to meet you two!" said Uraraka's dad. He started saying similar words to Iida's mother – about how they were unsure if the class would be welcoming and if Uraraka would get along with anyone. The Sports Festival was mentioned once again, at the same time that, out of the corner of his eye, Midoriya realised that his mother was over with the Bakugos – of course, obviously. His mum and Kacchan's mum were really good friends. Oh no, I really hope she didn't carpool please no –
"Deku!" Uraraka exclaimed, prodding him in the shoulder. "You phased out again – you gotta stop doing that!"
"O-Oh, sorry," he stammered.
"Is your father coming to collect you then, Shoto, if I can call you that?" asked Uraraka's mum, just to make conversation.
Shoto's shoulders immediately tensed and Midoriya realised that now would be the time to leave –
"Anyway!" Midoriya butted, "I-I should go find my mum and hope I don't have to share a car with Kacchan on the way home," he laughed nervously.
"Oh – good luck!" Uraraka waved.
"Yeah, thanks."
Uraraka turned back to her parents as she explained how Midoriya and Kacchan didn't get along, and Midoriya took the opportunity to steer Shoto away.
"Where are we –" he started.
"Just getting you out of an awkward situation," Midoriya replied through gritted teeth. "Mum!"
She lit up the moment she lay eyes on him, "Oh, Izuku!"
Dropping his bags alike to Iida, Midoriya eagerly accepted the hug of the shorter woman. It was only then that he remembered how long he'd been away.
"I missed you so much," she whispered into his shoulder, tears already welling in her eyes – Midoriya could tell.
"Missed you too," he grinned as they parted. "Oh – this is my friend Shoto!"
"Hello."
"It's wonderful to meet you," Mrs Midoriya sighed.
Whilst she mumbled about being glad Midoriya actually seemed to have friends for once, Midoriya caught Kacchan's fearsome gaze. Some kind of silent threat despite not actually doing anything. His parents were talking to a trio of young heroes in bright outfits.
Out of nowhere, a certain pink skinned blur appeared beside Midoriya, "Can I borrow him for a moment? Thanks!"
"Wait, what –" and Mina was already pushing Midoriya across the hall towards what were very clearly her family.
Over the next hour, Midoriya found himself being carted around the hall like the friend for show-and-tell that he never had. He tried not to think too much about what his classmates' families thought of him. All they knew was what the media had been spouting, and from what had come of the Sports Festival. It wasn't a good mix for Midoriya, especially considering his speech at the end of the event.
It was Shoto's sister who had appeared to take him home. She seemed really nice – not at all what Midoriya had been expecting (if there were any expectations in the first place). A young primary school teacher called Fuyumi, who fussed over Shoto like she was his mother. She seemed far less judgemental than most of the adult figures there. In fact, it was like she approved of Shoto's friendship with Midoriya. She just looked so happy that Shoto had a friend at all – and hadn't spent the entire term sulking in the corner.
Eventually, Midoriya's mum braved approaching them. Of course, she was in the same position as all the other parents, and her son's new best friend was one of the most infamous teenage villains in the country.
Oh, God, Midoriya forgot that he'd have to try and justify everything that had happened to her.
But her and Fuyumi seemed to get along quite well. Shoto just looked glad that the prolonged conversation was delaying them leaving. However it couldn't last forever. Soon enough, Mr Aizawa insisted on dragging Midoriya and his mum back over to the Bakugos, introducing the three third year heroes who would be patrolling their neighbourhood for the next week. They seemed to be weirdly looking forward to it. Midoriya supposed that they would be allowed to do proper hero work outside of just making sure class A's president wouldn't decide to run off and cause mayhem.
It took way longer than expected, but finally, another hero turned up to say he'd be driving the Midoriyas home. Not caring what was happening to Kacchan, Midoriya picked up his bags once again and walked towards the exit.
"Oh! Goodbye, Midoriya!" called out Yaoyorozu with a smile and a wave as he reached the door.
"BYE!" yelled Uraraka immediately after, and she wasn't the only one. The entire class bid their farewells very loudly – one or two telling him not to break any laws and laughing when Iida snapped at them for it.
Midoriya caught Shoto's eye for a moment, waving at him once more before letting the door close behind him. He hoped that wasn't the last time he'd see him.
Driving out of UA was eerie.
It put it all into perspective – Midoriya hadn't seen the world outside the walls for so long now. And after trying to escape all those times, he was just… let out. Of course, he planned on coming back. Weird –
He planned on coming back.
Inko remembered the day the letter from UA arrived.
She remembered reading it a thousand times over; not uttering a word to her son that evening as she mulled the implications over in her head. She waited until he returned home from school the next day to break the news.
You see, UA doesn't just decide on who would be attending its infamous class A and that was that. They chose the twenty highest priority children from across the country, more often than not recommended by heroes, police or schools to attend, and sent out letters to their parents or guardians. It was possible to apply as well, usually in the case of kids with dangerous Quirks. When the letter arrived, it was the guardian's choice whether to accept and send their child to UA. It was possible to reject, however, the fact that UA reached out to someone to attend, would remain on their permanent record. Attending and graduating was known to be the better option than rejecting the offer.
Shaking hands on an already creased letter, Inko read it out loud to Izuku, and couldn't watch his face fall into that of disbelief and confusion. Her poor, defenceless son. He had faced so much hardship. Inko remembered watching him lock himself in his room, eyes fixed on his computer screen well into the night. She never realised what Katsuki had been doing to him. She felt like she'd failed as a mother – being so blind.
In the end, Izuku told her to sign off those papers and send them back to UA, accepting the place. He said there was little else he could do – that he was already doomed in life being without a Quirk, having UA's rejected class A spot on his files would be a death sentence, he said. Inko cried and cried. She cried harder when Izuku left. All she could do was wait until the Sports Festival – that was when she'd see him again.
Of course, she was sent updates regularly. Pieces of his new life that she had to puzzle over – the jagged edges of a broken boy.
She heard about injuries, run-ins with the hero course, arguments with Katsuki, and worst of all, the incident at the USJ. Her poor boy – shot in the shoulder by a redirected bullet from a hero's gun. She couldn't bear to think of what was going through his mind. She was offered a call to him from the Principal of UA himself, but she didn't accept; she knew it would only make things worse, and the conversation would only consist of her weeping and Izuku's tired reassurance. Inko may have been an emotional soul, but she wasn't stupid; she knew when and where her son needed time to uncover the world on his own, to grow as a person. She believed in him more than ever.
Maybe she made the wrong decision, for when she heard of the class' escape plan, she was so shocked she didn't even shed a tear. And her son was class president? Her Izuku? The leader of all those… She didn't know what to think. She re-read all those update emails and couldn't understand.
But then she saw him walk into the arena with the rest of his class; finally saw his face.
She saw his smile; saw the little troublemakers alongside him and the way they made him laugh. She didn't cry when they charged through the first round together – only cheered and clapped to no one when Izuku squeezed into first place. So proud through the cavalry battle, eyes glued to the screen. And the tournament round, oh, how worried she was, and how pointless her worry had been.
He'd… found his place. It wasn't what Inko had been expecting, not in a million years. But… Izuku belonged there – not as a wrong-doer or delinquent the class was famous for – but he belonged with those 19 – 18 – other kids. He was born to be a leader; Inko could see that now. Perhaps, it was only someone born without power, who could truly understand its worth.
Where would he take this? She didn't know. She didn't think he knew either.
There were a million things Inko wanted to say to Izuku the minute they got home. She said she would be making katsudon, hoping he hadn't changed that much in the time he had been gone; at least that was still his favourite food. He nodded, gave her another quick hug and zipped off to his bedroom.
Inko hovered in his doorway for a moment, distantly, watching him bat the side of his unused laptop and plug it in, willing it to come back to life, likely so he could look himself up on the internet.
"What?" he said, blinking at her in the dark.
Inko simply smiled, "Nothing," she said, flipping on the light switch. "Dinner will be ready soon; don't get too wound up with whatever is on the internet."
"I won't," he said matter-of-factly, and turned back to his blue screen.
Yes, there was a million things she wanted to say.
…But they could wait.
