Chapter 44: Changing Perspective
An alarm echoed throughout the dark room. A long groan at almost the same intensity followed. The source of the alarm, a phone, was then turned off. Its owner proceeded to toss and turn in their bed in frustration. After a few moments more of flailing to no purpose did they finally stop. The person exited their bed slowly and soon found themselves in the bathroom. They turned on the light, revealing a headless form in the mirror.
Tooru stared back into her nothingness. Well, her gray shirt showed up in the mirror, but the point still stood. She soon sighed and reached out to grab a bottle of pills. After taking two, she grabbed a pipette to moisturize her eyes. From there, Hagakure brushed her teeth before leaving her bathroom to get dressed. Standard school uniform, though she decided to wear some orange snap bracelets today. Once grabbing her phone, she made her way downstairs.
The dorm common room was empty, minus Sato, who was standing in the kitchen. He was leaning back against the counter and, at his right, a coffee pot was brewing. The boy gave a weak wave and said, "Morning."
Tooru entered the kitchen and asked, "Trouble sleeping as well?"
"I had none to speak of. You?"
"Just the last few hours. I was staring at the ceiling most of the night."
"I feel a lot of our classmates will be having similar issues with their sleep. So I decided to brew something special for anyone that wants a nice wake-up call."
The girl inspected the brewing coffee as she asked, "Special?"
Rikido sidestepped out of the way to show various ingredients that were behind him. "Turkish coffee with a robusta blend to maximize caffeine."
"Where'd you learn this?"
"Kendo-chan mentioned it to me once. I did a little research on it afterward, and this is my second go at it."
Hagakure then pondered. She wasn't much of a coffee drinker, but if she was going to be functional at all today, this did sound like the way to do it. "Sure, I'll take a cup."
"Just need a few more minutes." Sato then squinted his eyes before saying, "I came down early to brew this. What's your reasoning?"
"Wanted to make breakfast in peace."
The boy closed his eyes as he stated, "Ah. There are a lot of questions to be asked of what happened concerning you since he is unconscious." He was quick to cough before saying, "Do not worry, I won't bug you. Whatever it is, it's not important right now; this isn't the time."
"I appreciate it. I'm just dreading today, though."
"I feel we all are. Though more the future to be more specific."
Tooru couldn't argue against that. It had gone to all hell.
It all seemed weird from the start. A joint internship for the day? Between everyone in both class 1A and 1B? With a bunch of pro heroes?
Tooru's group provided assistance if needed to a raid on some mansion on the side of a mountain. Izuku's group was 80 kilometers away, doing the same to some general hospital. And both party's bit off more than they could chew. The former, a large underground plethora of villains related to the Deika City incident from December, and members from the League of Villains. The latter an army of nomus, their mad doctor creator, and the League's leader, now carrying a plethora of quirks outside just Decay.
Both battles were chaotic and bloody. Hagakure still couldn't get the image of Midnight's lifeless body out of her head. Even considering the deaths on their end, the death toll was much worse at the hospital. Tooru could only find solace that all her classmates were alive, but that was a hollow victory even then. Their homeroom teacher was missing a leg and eye. Izuku and Katsuki were unconscious. Shoto, Fumikage, and Denki were awake but riddled with injuries. The mental state of the students was a whole different can of worms.
It had been two days since the incident, and the class would finally visit the injured. Hagakure was restless because she was clueless on what to do. Stare over Midoriya's unconscious body and hope for the best? All Might stated over the phone that her boyfriend was physically going to be okay, but it didn't help things in the slightest. Instead, she was worried about something else.
One For All had been exposed. Well, partially. While no one knew its exact nature, the name had been leaked to the public before the fighting broke out. And Endeavor had mentioned it while fighting with Tomura on live television. It also didn't help that Izuku was displaying feats that made him stand out as everything happened. Tooru figured some of her classmates could connect the dots, but luckily, none had yet asked her more about it.
Sato then said, "Coffee's ready."
The statement slightly startled Hagakure. "Uh, sorry?" She then quickly poured herself a cup. "My bad just got lost in my thoughts."
"Best to take small slow sips. It won't work its magic if you only chug it."
"Thanks for the tip." Tooru did as such and noted its initial bitter taste followed by a sweet aftertaste. She hoped this day would turn out similarly.
Tokoyami heard footsteps. He turned his head slowly to see who was visiting him now.
"Hagakure-chan?" He looked around further. "Why are you by yourself?"
Tooru walked over to the window to close the curtains. "Yours was the closest room to the entrance, I guess."
"You guess?"
In a more chipper tone, the girl asked, "The bigger question is why are you letting all the sunlight in? Dark Shadow must hate that."
Fumikage was a bit lost for words on why she was focusing on that. He took a moment to think before saying, "The nurses don't understand. They open them with any opportunity they get. Ida-kun even closed them earlier, but a nurse who passed by after he left just opened them up again. I was told multiple times not to use Dark Shadow to close them." He then cleared his throat before saying, "Still, don't avoid my question. What's wrong?"
Hagakure sighed internally. She was hoping she would darken the room and be on her way, but leaving now would be rude, no matter how badly she didn't want to talk about this. "I'm lost on what to do today. I thought I would build up the courage on the bus ride here, but I stepped into the entrance and just paced around there for a while."
"Why is visiting Midoriya-kun out of the question?"
In a struggling voice, Tooru closed her eyes and answered, "I don't want to break down in front of him. Even if he is unconscious."
"Hmm."
Hagakure then felt something wrap around her. She opened her eyes to see Dark Shadow embracing her from behind. "It's okay to be sad yūrei-chan (ghost)."
The girl looked back to the bedridden and said, "But the nurses-."
Tokoyami was quick to interrupt, "I can be quite stubborn sometimes. Besides, I hear Dark Shadow is quite good at cheering girls up. It's well worth getting in trouble for."
Tooru accepted his words and turned to embrace the dark entity, which caused him to giggle softly.
Fumikage took a deep breath and said in a monotone voice:
"Sleepless nights
Spent looking at the ceiling
Searching in those etched patterns
For some sort of adhesive
To glue together the broken pieces
Of a soul crushed
By the weight of the fact that
Life is profoundly sad."
There was a long pause. Dark Shadow eventually let go of the girl and crossed his arms. "Hey, that's not helping."
"It's quite relevant, I think," Hagakure stated. She then walked over to the boy's bed before saying. "That poem was talking about both of us, huh."
"Quite. We've both had our share of hardships from this incident."
Tooru agreed but didn't want to say more. Fumikage had suffered due to his mentor, Hawks. During the raid, the pro hero had killed the villain Twice, which was televised. Also, Hawk's past was exposed, his father having a criminal background. All the while, Tokoyami was being taunted and attacked by Dabi while dragging the pro hero to safety. As he was injured, his wings were wholly burned off.
Dark Shadow groaned before dissipating.
"Sato-kun had mentioned talking to you back at the dorms earlier. The words 'staring at the ceiling' stuck in my head and reminded me of that poem. One way I cope with the dark times is to relate them to the literature I have read. It contextualizes my dread and allows me to move forward, as odd as that might sound."
Tooru placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's okay. I understand you were trying to help in your own way." Once she removed her arm, she asked, "So what classic was that piece from? Never heard it before."
Fumikage laid back into his pillow as he replied, "It's actually quite recent. While my grandmother supplied me with many classical books, my parents often gifted me more modern works for my birthday. A photographer from Alaska did this particular one."
"Uh, where's Alaska?"
"Oh uh, it's a state in America. Think of it as our version of Hokkaido."
"Cold and no one around for miles?"
"Exactly. Anyways, what's the plan now?"
"Well, I don't want to leave you all alone."
Tokoyami waved off the notion, "It's fine. Besides the two I mentioned earlier, Koda-kun and Shoji-kun also came to visit. I am sure some others will come later. There's a lot of people to visit."
"You sure?"
"Of course. I'm going to be discharged later today, alongside Kaminari-kun. You should go see them."
Hagakure's voice trailed as she asked, "But who?"
"Well," Fumikage stated before thinking long and hard. "Why not go visit whoever Midoriya-kun would want to visit first? For his sake?"
Tooru sighed and thought, I guess it would be for the best, even if there's a low chance. She sighed. "I know just the person."
The room was quiet. Sato and Sero were by the door. Mineta was pacing back and forth, not far in front of them. Hagakure was looking out the window on the opposite side. Behind her was Bakugo, unconscious in a hospital bed with a breathing mask and an IV hooked into his arm.
Minoru grunted, breaking the silence. "Sato-kun, why are you here?"
"Oh uh, Ida-kun asked me to come just in case Bakugo-san woke up."
Hanta raised his left hand as he said, "Same." He then asked, "And you?"
"Well, All Might-sensei asked to be alone with Midoriya-kun. I already visited Kaminari-kun. Todoroki-kun's room is too crowded. Tokoyami-kun's room was empty, so that would have been awkward. Our class reps told us we would see Aizawa-sensei at the end of our visit. So that leaves here." He then turned to the window to ask, "So why are you here? Don't you hate him?"
"Hate is a strong word," Tooru stated as she turned around and leaned back on the window.
"Either way, he's not exactly high on your friend list for our class."
"True."
"So? What gives?"
"Izuku would want me to make sure he was okay. Even if I was powerless to do anything about it."
Mineta sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as he said, "That does sound like him."
"Besides, I have something to tell him once he wakes up."
"Oh? And what is that?"
Sero then spoke up and said, "Can it Mineta-kun, let her be. She's given her reasons."
Minoru wasn't satisfied but begrudgingly let the topic go. He then reached for his phone but after a few moments regretted his decision.
Rikido noticed and asked, "More bad news?"
"Yeah. I don't know why I bother looking at it anymore. It's all a shit show."
"Nothing wrong with hoping for some good news," Hanta stated before sighing.
"It's hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel with prison breaks and pros quitting left and right," the small boy stated before taking a seat to the side of the door.
Both subjects stung at Tooru. The first was because the island prison Tartarus, which housed All For One, had been destroyed two nights ago. He was out there, and she worried about her boyfriend and society in general that much more. The latter hurt cause earlier that day, she learned her internship mentor, the ranked nine hero Yoroi Musha had announced his retirement. If top heroes were quitting, just what did that mean for Japan's future during all this chaos, Hagakure thought.
It was already an ordeal trying to get into this hospital. Police guarded the entrance as the media was swarming its entrance. Endeavor was also being nursed back to health here, but there was another reason for their ire. Dabi had publicly revealed that he was a part of the Todoroki family, the long-lost thought dead eldest son of Endeavor. The public wanted answers. Tooru couldn't even imagine what Shoto was going through. She felt her troubles paled in comparison.
The bed then stirred.
Katsuki sat up, holding the lower left side of his chest with one hand and removing his breathing mask with the other.
"Ouch."
The nurses and doctors left the room and were assured by the patient he wouldn't cause any more trouble.
Now all that remained was a steaming Bakugo staring at a quiet Hagakure.
Katsuki looked away from the girl as he asked, "Why didn't you go after me?"
Upon hearing that Midoriya was unconscious, Bakugo leapt from his bed and tried to see him immediately. "I had high confidence that Sato-kun and Sero-kun had it covered. I was surprised that even Mineta-kun helped," Tooru explained. She was sitting in a chair just to the boy's right.
"If Toad hadn't butted in..."
Hagakure stood up as she shouted, "It's been almost a year; she has a name!"
"Damnit, you give people nicknames! Why is it a problem when I do it?"
"Yeah, I do, to tease them. It's what friends do. Not demean them cause you can't bother to remember their name!"
Bakugo peeked over to show a vile glare before saying, "Look just get this shitfest over with and yell your throat out so you can feel better about yourself."
"I don't want to yell at you but you're being difficult." Tooru then sat down back in her seat.
Katsuki had now turned his head entirely to look at the girl. "Is that so? So what is it?"
"First of all. I came here, so I can say for certain whenever Izuku wakes up, I can tell him you're fine. So he doesn't have to worry."
"Am I? I'm pretty wrapped up here."
"Considering how loud you were before as you pummeled your way to his room and fought off our classmates, you seem as normal as ever."
"Have you even seen Deku since he got here?"
Hagakure stayed silent. There was a moment of rage, but she let it go.
A sly grin came across Bakugo's face, but he said nothing more on that. "So the other reason?"
Tooru groaned. A few seconds of silence passed before she said, "Thanks."
This statement brought a bewildered look to Katsuki's face. "Excuse me, Noface?"
"Thanks for saving Izuku."
Ida was the one who told Hagakure. Bakugo pushed Midoriya out of the way of danger, and for it, he was impaled in the chest and shoulder. Considering Izuku's condition, such injuries could have been fatal.
The boy crossed his arms and thought about what was just said to him. Eventually, he said, "That dumbass nerd. He's going to get himself killed if he doesn't care about himself. If not by overdoing One for All then by throwing himself in harm's way at every opportunity."
"I'm well aware of that, but couldn't the same be said about you on that second point? Why did you save him?"
"My body just moved on its own. That's all there is to it," Katsuki jeered.
Tooru chuckled, "So maybe you're the same kind of dumbass as him."
The boy just shook his head but then said, "Whatever. Just be sure to give him a good punch on that thick head of his when he wakes up. Or I might do it myself."
"I'll consider it."
Hagakure checked the hallway. The coast was clear. Running into Mineta or Aoyama would be a problem. Tokoyami less so. However, it was empty for now, so now was her chance. Tooru walked briskly to her boyfriend's room and was glad to learn it was unlocked. She quickly, as silent as possible, entered and closed the door. It was nighttime, so the room was pitch black, but a flip of the switch solved that issue.
The girl surveyed the room; everything looked normal. She then made her way to Izuku's desk. No sign of her target. She instead looked at a stack of notebooks beside the place. Tooru immediately noticed the biggest piece of the literature placed at the bottom and pulled it out. However, before she could see any text on it, she heard the door click.
Ojiro was on the other side, and as he stepped in, he said, "Figured this was where you were."
Hagakure slowly stepped away from Midoriya's desk. She had placed the notebook face down beside the tower of other books before her tailed friend opened the door. "What made you think that?"
"Well, I went to your room, and I got no answer. I then asked Jiro-chan if you were in the shower, and she checked for me. If you weren't here, then my next option was to text you about your whereabouts."
"Okay, but why are you here?" Tooru then sat down on Izuku's bed.
Mashirao then walked over and sat to her left. "Saving you a talk from Tenya-kun."
"Uh, saving me?"
"He was concerned about your well-being; we all are. I convinced him that I would be the better choice. I mean, do you want to talk about this whole mess with our class rep? Even if he means well?"
"I mean, I could, but yeah, you're a better choice. Though I think Ochako-chan would be even better," Hagakure stated before giggling.
"Well, she and Momo are comforting Ashido-chan tonight."
Right, Tooru thought. She took Midnight's death hard. Mina seemed like a mess even at the hospital. It made the girl wonder if she would have been the same if she had decided to visit Izuku. However, once she heard All Might was alone with her boyfriend, it cemented the idea of not seeing him, at least today. "Yeah, okay, I can understand that. So how are we going to do this?"
"I'm not going to ask why you didn't visit him today. And we're not going to talk about whatever the hell is going on with his quirk." Mashirao turned and crossed his legs, so now he was entirely on the bed. "Are you going to try and do something drastic?"
It took a moment for Hagakure to connect the dots before realizing what he meant. "Oh, so that's why Tenya-kun wanted to talk with me. Cause he went to go rescue Bakugo-kun with Izuku."
"And the whole Stain thing too. He understands the intense feeling of doing something so wild to save someone, or in the latter case, revenge. And well, considering whatever is going on with Izuku-kun, we wonder if you were going to do the same for him."
"Of course," Tooru stated with no hesitation.
"Damnit, I knew it," Mashirao said before shaking his head.
"Though I don't know what Izuku wants. I'll find out when he wakes up, and then I'll decide from there."
"Would you have told Tenya-kun?"
"No, cause he would stop me."
"And I wouldn't?"
"I'm not sure," Hagakure stated with a shrug. "But at least I would tell you the truth. Tenya-kun means well, but if I have to do this, I will. Can you understand that?"
"Sorta." Ojiro laid back on the bed and let his legs hang off the edge. "Momo told me in detail why she went to Bakugo-kun's rescue. And it boiled down to keeping them all safe." He turned his head to the girl and said, "And you want to do the same for him, right?"
"One Hundred percent. I know there's not a Iot I can do, but sitting on the sidelines and hoping it will all work out isn't going to work this time, I feel."
"Alright then. Guess I failed."
"What?"
"I'll keep this from Tenya-kun. On one condition."
"Name it."
"At least have a way to tell us you two are safe if you decide to do something drastic."
"Guess I'll keep that in mind." Tooru sighed before asking, "You're honestly okay with this?"
Mashirao got up from the bed and turned to his friend. "I figure if you are that dedicated to this, whatever is going on is way over my head. Too important to not get involved."
"It is."
"Then perhaps I would do the same." Ojiro then chuckled, "Man, you chose a unique guy to date."
"The most unique," Hagakure laughed.
"Alright, well before I go. What's the reason for coming here?"
"I wanted to read Izuku's notes," Tooru raised her arm towards her boyfriend's desk. "Something to think about with him and to pass the time considering the term is over."
"Yeah, there's too much downtime for my liking now. Today's hospital trip was a nice change of pace, even if it got depressing at times."
"Yeah, I agree." Hagakure gave a wave as she said, "Thanks for doing this."
"No problem. I hope it doesn't come to that point." Ojiro then exited the room.
Tooru was hesitant about that conversation but felt it needed to be said. And with that out of the way, she turned back to her boyfriend's desk. For the last few months, she knew her boyfriend was busy writing whatever was in this notebook. However, she never learned what it was, no matter how much she asked. Hagakure had her chance now. The girl then slowly turned the notebook to reveal a title.
Cubicity.
Man, four years of writing. Though this last year was quite scarce on content...
Not much you can do once you catch up to the manga tho in my case. ;p
So yeah, we're back and with a change in perspective! This decision came early on in my planning as I felt the info dump with Izuku just waking up would be a bit much coming from his PoV. I could use this in the future, considering how he will act going forward. So yeah, the following few chapters will continue with Tooru's PoV.
You might have noticed I did not update the cover art this year (a tradition I did at every previous anniversary). I'm pretty happy with the current one for now, and I have been in less of a commission mood this year anyways. Speaking of which, just a few commission updates despite the long absence. Not long after chapter 43's release, my IzuMina MHA x Persona 4 Golden commission, by anush_arts, was finished. I had another IdaCamie birthday present for Chu in January, by erijaime. And finally, another birthday for a discord friend back in June involving a harem for Ochako, including Bakugo, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Mina, done by JustEtto. I might be doing something for Jiro's birthday on August 1st, so stay tuned!
Also, while on hiatus, the Iichako side story got a new chapter, a MashMomo one called "Tales of the Ordinary and Extraordinary" was released, along with its 2nd chapter. The 3rd Iichako chapter will be released on the 1st of August and then another MashMomo in October. After that, I want to start one for KodaJiro side story in December. This one will differ from the previous two as the first few chapters will focus on their relationship before becoming a couple. Anyways, from there, it will be a new chapter in the following order: Iichako then MashMomo then KodaJiro every other month, as I think that will be pretty manageable.
This was a short chapter, the shortest I've written since 33, which was also a canon-heavy chapter. Thankfully with that out of the way I can focus on new content for the next few chapters. Very early on, the first scene was quite different, involving Tokoyami. Until I quickly realized after finishing the scene, I forgot he was in the hospital at the time. So I heavily reworked it as the 2nd scene and had Sato instead in the first. In theory, the 3rd and 4th scenes could have been one, but that would involve repeating what happened in the manga (which I try to avoid), so I split it instead. The final scene actually was with Ida at first, but I changed to Ojiro as I felt it more logical he would get more out of Hagakure. In the end, doing the scenes as I did allow me to slowly summarize the war arc without doing it in one go. And yes, finally, we will start to tackle the meaning behind the title of this fic! It's been a long time coming!
Night Foliage was able to edit six chapters since the hiatus began. The number of errors fixed was 16 (33), 42 (34), 49 (35), 30 (36), 44 (37), and 52 (38).
For the time being, I have enough content to work with up to chapter 47. With 45 scheduled to release on September 1st, by December comes another opportunity for another hiatus. This again depends on how much the plot advances in the manga. Though concerning where manga chapter 320 is currently, I think we might be safe in that regard. ;p
