The following morning came sooner than Aizawa wanted, but it mattered little. Forcing his sleep-deprived body off his wrinkled and sweaty bed, he knew there were things he ought to take care of before the classes began. Considering the images of his brutalised student seemed permanently engraved in his subconsciousness, it was hardly surprising that he had spent most of the previous night twisting from side to side. The teacher wanted nothing more than to change into his usual black clothes and run towards the medical ward. That thought, however, was nearly immediately overwritten as he needed a shower to clean off the sticky sweat off his skin. As much as he despised prolonging his departure, he had an entire day filled with classes. If it were his off day, he would not care an ounce. But … it was not the case. With that in mind, he marched into the bathroom, opting for the coldest shower he had ever had.

Soon enough, the Eraser Head left his room, heading straight towards the medical wing. Even though Bakugo's state was no longer critical when he had seen him the last time, he could not help but dread that something might have changed overnight. Driven by guilt, the dark-haired teacher sped up, reaching the ward in record time. No matter how much All Might would have wanted to take the responsibility for what had happened solely onto himself, it was a lie. The number one hero had sought Aizawa's opinion, after all.

Strangely enough, the man abruptly stopped right before the closed door behind which he expected his injured student to sleep soundly, most likely still in a coma. Mustering enough courage to enter the room took him a good few moments and heavy sighs. He knew it was a cowardly move to still, but this trivial act felt inexplicably difficult. He put his weight onto the handle with one more exhale and slipped in, only to freeze immediately. The dark-haired man could feel his blood being drained from his face, leaving it akin to paper, white. He found the impatient and usually rude blonde's bed empty and ready for the next patient. Within a few seconds span, an uncountable number of conflicting and destructive thoughts crossed the teacher's mind, leaving it vulnerable and chaotic. Aggressively shaking his head, Aizawa discarded the worst-case scenario. It was highly improbable that Bakugo would die; even less so, nobody informed him about it. Still … he needed to find out what happened with his students; after all, he was responsible for all of them.

Before the Eraser Head could turn around, he heard the door's soft click, announcing someone's arrival.

"I knew I'd find you here, Shota," All Might's voice was quiet, but thankfully, he did not try to hide any negative emotions. No matter how excellent a hero he was, he could hardly contain his emotions. At least, this was a positive development.

"Where is he?" Aizawa went straight to the point.

"We transferred him to his room a few hours ago," the number one hero said plainly after a short pause. "He's so stubborn. Even though we offered him a few days of rest, he said he wouldn't miss any classes. Can you believe it, Shota? With such extensive wounds, he shrugged them off."

"I can see that," the dark-haired man responded slowly. "If anything … it might be Bakugo's way of coping with things. Some people cry, others try to rest, but Katsuki … I would not be surprised if he doubled down on his training," he added, sighing heavily. "That being said … I would have preferred him to lay low for a couple of days. Physically, he will recover sooner than we anticipate, but I worry how much this humiliation will affect his mentality," he voiced his concerns.

"He's used to winning?" All Might questioned, but Aizawa deemed it rhetorical.

"There are only two students better than him in terms of grades," the Eraser Head retorted reservedly. "In terms of hero capabilities, only Todoroki and perhaps Midoriya can match him. As I said previously, he might very well be a definition of a prodigy. As far as I have heard from other teachers, he is naturally good at pretty much everything," he explained.

"That's what I've heard," the number one hero agreed, nodding slowly. "But … considering yesterday … I don't know," he added, stammering noticeably.

"I will keep an eye on him for the next couple of days," Aizawa said, preparing to leave the medical ward. "If that is everything, I will take my leave. After all, my classes are about to start."

The blonde-haired man said nothing. For the next few moments or so, Shota saw All Might mumbling under his breath, desperately trying to formulate a coherent sentence. That being said, at some point, he just shook his head and stepped aside, allowing the dark-haired teacher to pass by.

When the Eraser Head finally made it to the classroom, all of his troubled children, as he called them, were already accounted for, sitting surprisingly quietly as if awaiting him. When all of them, bare one, turned abruptly to face him, the man knew there would be questions. Thankfully, the so-called trouble children allowed their teacher to reach his desk and put down his notebook before someone raised their hand. As Aizawa lifted his gaze, he was hardly surprised when he realised it was Iida.

"What is the matter, Iida?" the dark-haired man asked, mechanically reaching towards his bloodshot eyes and giving them a slight massage.

"As the Class 1A representative, I would like to voice our concern regarding Bakugo's unexpected decline in health," Tenya replied immediately, keeping his tone formal. "Mister Aizawa, could you tell us what happened? We tried to get some answers from Bakugo, but he stubbornly refused to tell us anything."

"Eh," the teacher loudly sighed. "It is not really up to me to give you any details," he added reservedly after a short pause. "That being said … I owe you at least a basic explanation."

"It would have been appreciated," the class representative agreed.

"So … it should not come as a surprise that Bakugo is arguably the most gifted amongst you both in terms of grades and raw strength," Aizawa started, slowly establishing eye contact with each of his students. "Having it in mind, the teaching staff decided to take a more personal approach in his case, scheduling sparring sessions with one of the current top heroes. However, as you can clearly see, our expectations differed from reality," he finished and took some liberty, starting pacing between his desk and the nearby window.

"So … why is Bakugo here now?" Momo questioned, replacing Iida as the class voice. "His injuries seemed substantial."

"Could you stop talking about me as if I was not here!?" Katsuki's voice finally filled the air as he turned around to face his peers. "Mister Aizawa told you all that you needed to know. Now … let's bury this subject and be done with this shit!" he added, clearly angered, yet his voice was strangely quiet.

"I can tell that you wish to know more, but the least you can do for your classmate is to honour his decision," the Erased Head said before other questions could be formulated. "In time, you will know the truth, but it is not going to happen today," he added, refocussing on his notebook. "We wasted enough time already. Considering all of you are so eager to converse, why do we not start with a short test?" he questioned, even though everyone knew it was a rhetorical one.

As if he uttered some magical incarnation, most of his students started to whine about the world's injustice. He might have reconsidered his decision if only situations like this had not happened on a daily basis. With that in mind, he turned around towards the blackboard, picked a piece of chalk and started writing down the questions.

"Perhaps it will buy me a moment to think about how to handle all of this mess," the dark-haired man thought.

Sooner than anyone realised, the final bell tolled, marking the end of the regular classes. Deku stretched slightly, feeling a physical need to move a little. Considering the last couple of hours he had spent bending over his desk, desperately trying to note everything the teachers explained. It was definitely a rather unpleasant chore, but the green-haired boy was determined to do everything to achieve his life-long goal: becoming a full-fledged hero.

To his partial discontent, his muscles became so stiff that the first couple of moves resulted in a rapidly spreading pain. That being said, Deku did not fear pain. Quite the opposite, he knew that the path of a hero was filled with challenges, pain, and difficult choices. In his case, it all had started with pain, as his body could not have handled the One-For-All quirk he was chosen to inherit. So, the green-haired student did the logical thing he could; he embraced the inevitability of being hurt but, strangely enough, deemed it necessary for his further development.

Finally, after a few seemingly prolonged moments, he heard his bones pleasantly cracked, replacing the built-up tension with relief. Izuku stilled briefly and emptied his lungs before reaching out towards his belongings and starting to pack them neatly into his backpack. There was eagerness residing in him as he thought about what would happen next. After all, it was no secret that pretty much everyone in Class 1A loved their hero exercises. Not to mention, the perspective of leaving the classroom behind, at least for the rest of the day, sounded appealing and sweet. That, however, would have to wait. To anyone's surprise, it was Bakugo who seemingly burst out of the room without as much as sparing his peers a glance. The next one who took their leave was Todoroki, who looked surprisingly determined, trying his best not to show how angry he became. Unfortunately for him, his usually stoic and emotionless face was already twisted into a disgusting grimace.

"Midoriya?" Iida's voice stirred the green-haired boy out of his trance. "What do you make of all of this?" he questioned as he slowly approached Izuku's desk.

"I … I worry that his mentality suffered much more than his wounds would tell," Izuku responded reservedly, not sure how much of their shared past he could reveal. "Still … he will never admit that and give up. No … Kacchan will either overcome all of this or destroy himself," he added after a short pause, stuttering a little.

"His tenacity and determination are admirable; I can agree with that," Iida replied, fixing his glasses.

"His goal is to be the number one hero," Deku retorted with a slight smile. "As far as I know him, he'll descend into Hell and come back alive to reach it."

"Hurry up, Midoriya. We do not have much time before our hero classes begin," the class 1A representative said, resuming his usual role as a voice of reason.

"Let's go."

It felt like a mere heartbeat had elapsed before they reached the changing room. Expectedly, it was relatively vacated as most of their classmates preferred to arrive at the last moment's notice. That being said, two familiar silhouettes could be spotted near immediately after entering the room. Even though Bakugo was the first to leave the classroom, he had not yet fully changed up, leaving his uniform's top on. Compared to him, Shoto was ready for the upcoming exercises, but for unknown reasons, he kept staring at the blonde-haired boy with intent while his grimace only deepened. As if their entrance changed something, Katsuki turned around and took off his jacket and underlying tee, revealing a disturbing secret. Across his broad back, there were at least three decent-sized burn marks. What was worse, these wounds were only partially mended, one of them still open. A thin trail of crimson-red blood slowly treaded downward, filling Izuku with dread.

"Kacchan, what happened?" the green-haired boy wanted to ask, yet based on his experience, it was futile. Hence, he continued staring as he considered all the available options.

The blonde-haired boy with the anger issue decided he had had enough, putting on a dark tank top and marching out. With Bakugo gone, the near physical tension hanging in the changing room did not dissipate. Todoroki stood completely still as if glued to the floor. His face expressed a deep hatred, a feeling Deku believed had nothing to do with his childhood friend but with a person responsible for Kacchan's severe wounds. That being said, he found himself unable to start any coherent conversation with Shoto. Izuku tried to formulate sentences, but he ended up uttering words inside his mind, making a truly comical facial expression as he struggled to converse with the white-red-haired boy.

Even if the so-called Icy-Hot, as Bakugo named him, noticed the green-haired boy's futile endeavour, he said nothing, instead opting to follow the blonde's steps and left the fitting room with as much as a word.

Author's notes section:

As I have mentioned previously, the main focus for June and July 2024 will be rewriting as many "My home is where my heart lies" chapters as possible. I'm currently working on rewriting the 5th chapter. As it will take me quite a while to finish, I'm providing you with this piece. I hope you will end up enjoying this chapter while waiting for another rewrite.

I'm struggling with the rewriting process ... hence, here's a WIP to take my mind off it temporarily.

OK ... it's finished. I will not lie, I expected this to be completed on Sunday, but unfortunately, it was hardly the case. I'm deeply sorry for the delay.

Please note that the dialogues written in italics are thoughts.

As always, I would like to thank you for everything. See you soon :)

Changelog:
[2024-07-20] - A preview was released.
[2024-07-26] - A major update applied, and the final revision released.

References:
- Alter Bridge - Broken Wings

End of the author's notes section.