Izuku woke up on Monday morning feeling oddly refreshed. It was good to be past the week he'd had. That whole week, from finding out about Iida's passing and then spiraling until he'd been snapped out of it in time for the funeral, it had all been stressful for Izuku, so he was glad that it was finally time to get back to school. He got up quickly and checked the time, an hour before class was due to start. Izuku began his morning routine, eating breakfast in his pajamas while he watched the news on his computer. Some Villains had been caught by Mount Lady yesterday, which had made for her third big bust that week. Izuku had been there for her debut, so it was nice to see how she'd improved. She no longer destroyed the things around her when she took someone down, so that was good. He was weirdly proud of her, in a way. At first, Mount Lady had seemed like the kind of shallow Hero that did it for the money, but the way she smiled when the little girl that had cried for help hugged her told Izuku everything he needed to know.
As he finished his breakfast, switched his computer off and went on with his routine, Izuku realized that he was kind of nervous. For what, he couldn't pinpoint, but Izuku guessed it was a combination of things. Everyone would have to make up a week of school, and that was already daunting enough. Izuku, though, hadn't tried to use the super-strength of One for All since his outburst at Shinso in the park, and he hadn't actually used it since his internship with Aizawa. He had used Blackwhip just fine on Ochako, but that hadn't really been affected by Izuku's weird condition with One for All. He still hadn't heard back from the vestiges about what was causing his energy drain, and that was worrying Izuku, because if they couldn't find what was causing it, then he had to get checked by a doctor and that wasn't terrifying at all when his biology was that of a Quirkless person with four different Quirks.
Izuku snapped out of his thoughts as he realized that he'd been just standing in the shower for about ten minutes. He got done with his routine and emerged about ten more minutes later with washed skin and hair. As Izuku dried his hair, he looked at the white streak. It was actually a streak now, whereas before it was just a kind of block of white. It had grown slightly since the funeral, and now was a small line of silver on his dark green hair. The streak was still kind of scary to look at, but he was going to try leaving it for at least a week, and then decide if he wanted to keep it. Izuku took deep breaths to settle his nerves, and kept going with getting ready for school.
It was about fifteen minutes later that he was ready to get going. There was still about twenty minutes until class was due to begin, so Izuku decided to start his walk to the classroom. He thought about how he'd catch up on the work he'd missed in the week UA had given the class to grieve, and wondered if Aizawa had already written up a plan about how they can get up to date as quickly as possible. It was likely, because Aizawa was always thinking about a dozen things, but Izuku decided to begin working out how to do it on his own while he made his way to the classroom.
He got to the classroom about ten minutes later, one of the last to arrive, walking in on Kaminari shouting something at Jiro.
"Wait. Is it May?" he asked, a panicked look on his face.
"Yeah? It's been like six weeks since school started. Are you okay?" Jiro said, leaning away from Kaminari.
Kaminari kept wailing, but Izuku tuned him out. It really was May. The month had changed a while ago, so he didn't know how Kaminari had missed it this long, but it had caught Izuku off guard as well when it happened. He had inherited One for All on February 26th, the day of the entrance exam. The Sports Festival always occurred on May 3rd, so he'd known it had been May, but it was now May 17th. It had almost been three whole months since he'd gotten One for All and manifested Blackwhip. It almost felt like it wasn't real, the whole mess with Blackwhip raging and him meeting the vestiges for the first time. Izuku had to remind himself for a moment that he was here, that he was going to really be a Hero.
"How have we not celebrated any birthdays yet?" Kaminari asked again.
"Because … that's actually a good point," Jiro said, seemingly coming to the same realization as Kaminari.
"I guess there's just been other stuff going on. We haven't really had a moment to sit back and do something fun as a whole class," Sero chimed in.
"Yeah. We have our own little groups, but we really need something to bring us together, y'know?" Kirishima agreed.
"What better than birthdays?!" Hagakure emphatically slamming her hands down on her desk to get everyone's attention. "We should make a list of everyone's birthdays and then we can all celebrate together when we can! It'll be so fun!" Hagakure suggested.
"Let me get a document open and then we can figure it out," Izuku said, rapidly tapping his phone's screen.
Once he had something to write in open, he looked back up to prompt someone to start. When nobody did, Izuku realized that this was kind of his job, organizing everyone. Funny that, it was almost as if he was some kind of representative for the class. With a small chuckle at himself, Izuku turned to the leftmost seat in the front row.
"I guess we'll go by seat number. Aoyama?" Izuku asked.
"May 30th!" Aoyama replied with his usual flourish.
"July 30th!" Ashido said, and Izuku hummed in thought at how close it was to his own.
"Tsu's not here right now, and Ochako's is the 27th of December. Ojiro?" Izuku went down the list, ignoring the few mutters and the coo from Ashido at the use of Ochako's given name.
"May 28th," Ojiro replied.
"Wow, that's soon. Uh, Kaminari?" Izuku said.
"June 29th!" he shouted excitedly.
Izuku continued on like that for a few minutes. Kirishima was on the 16th of October, Koda was on February 1st, which was currently the earliest in the year. Sato's birthday fell on June 19th, another close one. Shoji's was also in February, on the 15th. Jiro's was on August 1st, Sero's was on July 28th, Tokoyami's was on October 30th. Todoroki didn't give his, instead choosing to glare at Izuku for a few moments. Hagakure's was on June 16th, another close one. Izuku already knew that Bakugo's had passed before the Sports Festival, and Momo's birthday was on the 23rd of September. That was everyone that was currently there, so he began to close his notes app when a question came from further back in the class.
"What about you?" Ochako asked.
"Oh! Right, myself. Duh, July 15th. Almost forgot about myself for a second there," Izuku said, noting the few unsure expressions on his classmates' faces.
"As usual," a voice said, and Izuku turned toward the door to see Shinso and Tsu walking in together.
"There you are! What are your birthdays?" Izuku asked, getting ready to type them into the notes.
"February 12th," Tsu said. Another one that they'd missed.
"Ha! No," Shinso said, staring at Izuku before placing a kiss on Tsu's cheek and walking toward his seat.
A series of questions and cheers rang out around the classroom, most coming from Ashido, at the kiss. Izuku smiled, knowing that Shinso knew what he was doing. Tsu was red as she made her way to her own seat, and Shinso was grinning like that cat that ate the canary. He'd been so brazen about his feelings for her since they both acknowledged them, and it was honestly heartwarming to see their love blossom like that. He saw Ochako smiling in the same way, and Izuku laughed. He knew that Shinso was going to be getting a million and one questions about it later, but he had to get his birthday first.
"What do you mean, 'no'? We've all given our birthdays so we can celebrate when the time comes," Izuku said, following closely behind Shinso as he walked.
"It's just not something I feel comfortable giving out to everyone. Birthdays in my family have always been kinda private, so I don't think having everyone be in on it is something I want," Shinso said, sitting in his seat as he spoke.
"Oh. That's fine, I was just asking because everyone gave theirs. If that's the case, I won't push you to give it. Just know that if you do want to, you can," Izuku said, closing his notes app and sitting in his own seat facing Shinso.
"I get that. I'd totally be okay with just Tsu, you and Uraraka, and no offense to everyone, but you're the only people I'm actually friends with in the class," Shinso said, wincing at his own words.
A few more minutes passed before Aizawa walked in, looking like he always did; dead tired. He made his way to the podium at the front of the class and dropped a stack of papers on it. He looked out at the class, his tired eyes seemingly searching for something in each and every one of them. Izuku knew that Aizawa had dealt with Iida's death in his own way, but he had still been tempted to ask how he was doing whenever he'd seen the man. It was hard to resist worrying about other people, it was just how he'd been raised, but he was managing.
"Good morning, class. It's my understanding that a few of you have been worrying about catching up with the week we missed due to what happened. Well, you won't, so stop stressing yourselves out over nothing. We've been working on how to weave the material that we missed out on into future lessons, so you won't be forced to do it all by some arbitrary deadline," Aizawa said.
Izuku sighed in relief. He heard Shinso let out a breath as well, and saw Bakugo's shoulders sag. He knew that some people had been worried, but it was a relief to find out that nobody would be forced inside for a week straight just to catch up. That made his prior planning irrelevant, but that was something that he was glad for. He'd wasted time, but it would've been worth it had Aizawa not been merciful.
"Also, concerning what happened last week, I believe that Midoriya has something to say," Aizawa said, promptly dropping to the floor in his napping corner and closing his eyes.
"Right. Almost forgot," Izuku muttered, though he was sure that Shinso let out a little laugh as he heard it anyway.
Izuku had been asked by Aizawa on Friday to present the idea of counseling to the class. He was the Class Rep, so he should do these kinds of things. He knew why, and he agreed with it, but he found it kind of ironic that he was the one suggesting what basically amounted to therapy to anyone. He still hadn't decided whether or not he was going to go to Hound Dog about his less than stellar feelings, but he was leaning toward not going. Izuku still had those feelings, of course, but he felt secure now in the fact that he had people he could rely on to listen to him if needed. He had a place to vent the frustrations and sadness and anger he felt, and Izuku felt like that was enough for him, at least at the moment.
He quickly made his way to the podium, ducking past confused classmates. Izuku didn't quite know how this would be received, but he was optimistic about it. He had to be. It had taken a bit to get through his thick skull, but he was supposed to be the Hopeful Hero, Nexus, so he was going to steer himself on the right path from now on. Someone priding themselves on hope couldn't be a pessimist, now, could they?
"Hello, again. I was asked to tell you all about something that the school is offering. Now, it's important to know that neither the school nor myself are trying to say or imply that you aren't capable young men and women, or that they or I think that you don't know how to handle things without help. I know from the USJ incident that you're all able to protect and handle yourselves better than most. But, that's also part of the reason this is being suggested. For anyone who needs or wants it, counseling will be provided with no questions asked. If it's for what's happened lately with Iida's passing, or an event that may have occurred during your internships, or even if you're shaken by the USJ incident, you're able to book an appointment with Hound Dog and speak with him about things that may be troubling you," Izuku explained.
Nobody moved or said anything in response. It looked like a few people were eyeing the stack of papers that Izuku realized were to be signed by anyone who wanted an appointment, but other than those few, nobody seemed interested. Izuku looked between the students that did seem to gravitate toward the idea, namely Ochako, Shinso, Tsu and, oddly, Bakugo, with an expression he hoped wasn't too pitiful. Why weren't they taking this chance?
"Look, I know it can be hard to admit that you need help. I went through that struggle myself recently with Iida's passing. I felt guilty for not doing more to help him, even though I knew he was in a bad place, but I was able to confide in people and it helped me feel better. I kinda came out as asexual in a weird way during the Sports Festival, but I wouldn't know that about myself if I hadn't had help from Kaminari and Hagakure," Izuku said, and readied himself to do what he was thinking. This better work.
"I'm going to be making an appointment with Hound Dog, because I was on my way to a serious bout of depression. I was hating myself for something that wasn't in my control, and it was just going to lead to something awful. So, I'm getting help for those feelings. I urge you to do the same if you want or need to. It'll make a world of difference, like confiding in my friends has already done for me," Izuku continued, unsure of the reception his confession would get.
He looked out at the class again, this time seeing more people looking at the stack of files on the podium. Izuku put on his best smile, but it didn't seem as effective as he would have wanted it to. He felt tears in his eyes. It was hard to talk about his feelings with close friends, so it had been a bit of a challenge to share those thoughts with people he wasn't as familiar with, such as Koda and Shoji and Tokoyami, and even people who Izuku was unsure about using that sort of thing against him, such as Todoroki. Bakugo had calmed down considerably since the start of the year and the battle trial, but he still sometimes moved to attack Izuku on what seemed to be a reflex. He was glad that Bakugo was working on rewriting those reflexes.
Shinso was the first person to stand up. He walked up to the podium with a blank face, took a paper and began the walk back to his seat. The next, likely inspired by her boyfriend's act, was Tsu. Izuku smiled as Ochako began to stand as well, but stopped when Tsu's paper started shaking in her hand. He reached out and put a hand on Tsu's shoulder, making her look at him with wide eyes. He sent her a questioning look, and became even more worried when Tsu's hands abruptly stopped shaking.
"I'd like to say something," Tsu said, making the few that had been whispering among themselves quiet down.
"Go ahead," Izuku replied.
Izuku moved back toward his seat so that Tsu could have the spotlight. It seemed like Tsu was conflicted, as she hesitated under the stares of her classmates. She took deep breaths and seemed to ground herself by looking to Shinso for help. He couldn't hear him say anything behind him, but if Izuku had to guess, Shinso was likely nodding or making some other gesture. He saw Tsu relax at whatever Shinso had done, and once again Izuku found himself worried for her. What was she about to say?
"Hi. Seeing how I like to be honest with people I consider my friends, and being kind of inspired, almost, by Midoriya's honesty about his own struggles lately, I have something to say. A few things, actually. The first is that I've been seeing how some of you have embraced an LGBT identity so quickly. I respect that, and I admire that, but I'm not like Midoriya, or Yaoyorozu. I'm not that confident in myself. But, I'm making a decision now. I'm deciding to embrace who I am, and I'm non-binary," Tsu said, giving off an aura of an odd kind of strength. It wasn't strength in the traditional sense, but Izuku still knew that she—they, Izuku had to hastily correct himself. They were stronger than they let on, and Tsu had seemed plenty strong when Izuku had first seen them in action.
Hands came up immediately. Kirishima was among them, and Tsu nodded to him slightly. He took a deep breath, seemingly thinking about what he wanted to say, as if he'd put his hand up as a reflex, and then spoke.
"How long did you know, or at least suspect, that you're non-binary?" Kirishima asked.
"I think a part of me never really identified with being female. It was just one of those things that was weird. My family is traditional, so I was expected to grow up and have kids and be a housewife. That just wasn't me, and I don't know if that's what started me on that train of thought or if it just made me aware of something that I'd been internalizing for a long time, but I think I always have been kind of subconsciously aware that I felt this way," Tsu explained, seemingly puzzling out their thoughts on the matter as they spoke. Izuku related to that, and smiled at the thought.
"What pronouns do you use?" Yaoyorozu asked from behind Izuku.
That was a good point. Izuku had been using neutral pronouns in his head because he didn't know what Tsu preferred, and it was good to ask instead of being left guessing. He wished he had thought of that. Izuku chuckled under his breath at the way that he'd still just not ask questions out of some weird habit of subconscious fear for his safety if he spoke up too much in class. Thank you, Aldera Middle School, for drilling that into his head instead of algebra.
"They/them works. If you still want to use she/her, or things like that, it's okay. It's a big change, and even I'm still adjusting to being honest with myself. All I can really ask of you is to try," Tsu said, their voice getting choked up by the sudden emotions that seemed to flood them.
"I think you're talking to the wrong people about simply trying. Go beyond, and all that," Shinso said, though it lacked his usual snarky tone. He sounded like he was smiling like an idiot, and Izuku turning around to see confirmed that. Shinso shot Izuku a mean look and then began to get up.
"I'll be right back," he said, his chair squealing along the floor as he quickly leapt from his seat and walked over to Tsu.
The two looked at each other for a moment. Tsu looked like they wanted to say something, but were holding it back for whatever reason. Shinso didn't give them a chance, however, as he wrapped them up in a tight hug. He almost looked ready to explode from a dozen different feelings. He held Tsu close for a moment, savoring their warmth, until he let them go and looked into their eyes.
"I'm so proud of you," Shinso said, his hands on Tsu's shoulders.
Tsu placed their arms on Shinso's, seemingly anchoring him to them. It was as if they were unsure if he would leave if they didn't hold on. That seemed like something to Izuku, and wondered if it was his place to worry about Tsu like that. Izuku's thought process was interrupted by a sudden movement; Shinso had stepped away from Tsu in what seemed like shock. He then took them by the hand and slowly led them outside. He closed the door, and the two were gone.
Aizawa slumped against the wall, suddenly on his feet. Izuku realized the screeching noise the chair made must have alerted him. He knew that Aizawa never really slept when he said he was taking a nap, it was just a kind of test to see how well behaved the class was when they thought they could do anything. For the most part, they were perfectly fine, but there had been the odd outburst the first few times. Kaminari testing if Ashido's acid was a conductor was a notable example. That didn't end well for either of them; Ashido because she'd been electrocuted and Kaminari because he'd gotten a big dose of detention for using his Quirk on a classmate unauthorized. Now, everyone knew that they should just keep it down and actually do what they said they would.
It was then that Aizawa walked back over to the podium, finished handing out the applications for Hound Dog's service and then started class. After a few minutes, Shinso and Tsu came back and sat down in their seats. The class from then on was fairly normal, all things considered, with the occasional interruption in the form of the jokers in the class, namely Kaminari and Sero, cracking a few one-liners during the session. Izuku would say that they kept the mood lifted after the turbulent morning and dour week the class had been through beforehand.
But, all things must come to an end. Soon, it was time for Foundational Heroics. All Might had left a note telling the class to meet him at Ground Gamma in their costumes, which had surprised a lot of the class. It seemed like All Might was trying to use his dwindling amount of time in his muscular form to the fullest, and so was keeping himself out of it until he absolutely had to look like All Might. Izuku knew that his time limit had dropped from three hours to just under one, but this was crazy. He had a bad feeling that they were coming closer and closer to their secret being found out, and Izuku didn't like that he was looking forward to it. It would have catastrophic consequences when or if it did come out that the number one Hero in Japan spent his free time as a skeleton, because that would imply that he could be beaten. But, it would also usher in a new age of honesty about the rigors of Heroes' lives and the dangers of the job. A lot of people nowadays picked Heroics as a profession in middle school because it seems cool, but they don't last a year. It was the sad reality that Heroes often died young. Izuku had been thinking about that fact a lot since he'd started speaking with the vestiges regularly.
Izuku stood on a platform at the front of Ground Gamma in his costume. He had the cowl up, but he was stuck on one thought; it seemed kind of childish. He thought the cowl was good, but Ochako had told him when she first saw it that it looked like bunny ears. He'd said that was intentional at the time, but it really hadn't been. Izuku had designed what had become this costume when he was still in his 'All Might is everything ever' phase. After knowing the man for over a year, he could say confidently that he thought of All Might in much more reasonable terms, now. Izuku knew that he was just a man, trying to do his best for a society that didn't always appreciate it. So, he'd leaned into the rabbit aesthetic when Ochako asked. Besides, he was agile, so it was a good fit. He didn't want to step on Mirko's toes, though, so he hadn't branded himself entirely with rabbit motifs. She could be the Rabbit Hero, and he'd be all he had to be; himself.
"How's your Super Strength going?" Ochako asked as they waited for All Might to arrive.
"I think my progress is coming along. Slow but steady, y'know? I think that I can go up to eight percent as a baseline now, so that's cool," Izuku explained.
"Eight percent? It seems like such a small amount every time you talk about the specifics of your power, but I'm just amazed at what you're able to do with it. I wonder what it'll be like when you can use all of your strength without hurting yourself," Ochako said.
"If, you mean," Izuku muttered.
"No, I mean when. I know that it seems like a far off goal, and I don't think most people could do it, but if anybody could reach that goal, it'd be you. What happened to being the Hopeful Hero, huh?" Ochako teased.
"Yeah. It just seems like such a big leap, ninety two percent. It seems like every time I get a taste of that power, it gets more and more unlikely in my mind that I'll ever reach that as something that I can just do. It seems like a surefire way to win any encounter with a Villain I may have, but doing it now is so risky that it's just as likely to kill me as it is to destroy the person I want it to," Izuku explained.
"That makes sense. How many times have you used that much power?" Ochako asked.
"Twice. Once at the entrance exam and once at the USJ. There was the time during my internship when I had to fight a Nomu and used fifty percent, but it wasn't the same. It was powerful, and it was enough to do the job, but it felt almost underwhelming to use it at that halfway point. Is that weird?" Izuku said.
"No. I think a lot of people, especially Heroes, have a mindset of 'all or nothing'. They either give something all they have or they didn't try hard enough. Sometimes it's okay to just try things out and if it works, it works. It's good to know for next time. Do you get what I'm trying to say?" Ochako rambled.
"Yes, I do. Sometimes it's good to feel out our limits. It helps us grow. Thanks, Ochako. I think I was really in my own head about the whole percentage thing. If only there was someone in my head who could keep me grounded when I got lost like that," Izuku laughed, but he knew the vestiges listened in sometimes.
"I think we all need someone like that. Luckily, that's why we have friends," Ochako said, glancing to the side. Shinso and Tsu were sitting on the ground, talking with each other.
They weren't far away, but they were talking amongst themselves so that nobody else could really hear the specifics. Ochako seemed to be sobered by the image, though, and Izuku pulled his cowl down to frown.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. I've been thinking about what you said last week at the park. I want love, like the love they have. I'm just not sure who I can have that with if not you," Ochako said.
"You'll find it. I know you will. You're Ochako Uraraka, and you deserve every bit of happiness that the world has to offer. I think if you look, you'll find it in no time. If you don't, I'm here as a consolation prize!" Izuku said, getting Ochako to smile again.
"You could never be a consolation prize," she laughed.
The two shared that moment together, in a comfortable silence, before All Might landed on the platform with his usual larger than life persona already up. He greeted the class and began explaining that they'd be running an obstacle course as rescue training that day, and Izuku felt the happiest he had in a long time. Everything was gonna be okay.
End of Arc 6: Rest in Peace