*WARNING*

This is your official "trigger warning" for this chapter. If you are not into certain dark themes, or depictions of violence, do not read the last section of this chapter. You have been warned.

Following the attack on the school, the students of U.A. were given Friday off. Although the unexpected three day weekend wasn't exactly unwelcome, the circumstance could've been more agreeable. News of the infiltration of the USJ spread like wildfire once the story officially broke. Not many details were given concerning what exactly went down at the training site, but what little information was divulged wasn't good. It was reported that there were five casualties in total, three students and two teachers. Even though it was revealed that none of their injuries were life threatening, it was still a cause for alarm.

"Man, it's hard to believe that we almost got caught up in that mess." Kaibara said to Kuroiro and Tsuburaba.

"Yeah...they're saying that the break in earlier that day was connected to it." The 'solid air' user agreed.

"I'm just glad that everyone made it back alive. I wonder who the injured students were, though." Shoda interjected.

"Who knows? I don't even think I know anyone in 1-A."

"Alright everyone, class is about to start. Take your seats!" Kendou announced after walking into the classroom.

It didn't take long for Kan to arrive after the homeroom bell rang. Everyone was glad to see that their teacher was doing well. More than a few of them were concerned after hearing that over a hundred villains were a part of the attack. They were still in the dark about pretty much everything that went down so no one had any idea if Kan had to fight anyone or not. Even Kayama was tightlipped about the entire thing when she went to the Tokage house that Saturday.

"Alright students, I hope you all enjoyed your extended weekend." The man announced. "I know you all must have a ton of questions about what happened last week. But rest assured, the situation has been handled and there is nothing to worry about."

"That's a relief." Said Tsuburaba while leaning back in his chair.

"That being said, now's not the time for you all to be worried about those types of things. After all, the annual Sports Festival is coming up."

"Alright! Let's go kick some ass!" Tetsutetsu suddenly cheered.

Shiozaki was the first to voice her concern after hearing this. "Sensei, is it truly a good idea to hold the Sports Festival after the attack on our school?"

"Yeah, the villains could just attack us once we're all gathered in one spot." Awase piggybacked.

Kan sympathized with their concerns. In fact, these were the very same complaints that him, Aizawa and Snipe brought up during their emergency faculty meeting that weekend. "Security is going to be beefed up for this year. And the school board believes this is a good way to show that the threat has been handled."

'That makes sense. But it's still pretty risky.' Midoriya thought to himself while he absorbed this information.

The Sports Festival was practically a national holiday in Japan. The green haired boy watched it almost every single year. The entire event was a way for students, mainly those in the hero course, to put their names out there and get some early exposure for any potential heroes that might want to take them on. He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't the least bit nervous about competing in such an illustrious event.

Tokage was pretty much in the same boat, except her anxiety was substituted with excitement. The green haired girl was more than determined to do well in the upcoming event. The prospect of getting scouted by a few good agencies was important. If she did well, her chances of becoming a pro were that much better.

"However…" Kan continued. "It's still two weeks away. Until then, you all are going to spend most of your time training and getting ready. The Sports Festival may follow the same format every year, but the actual events will still be a secret. So you need to be prepared for anything. That is why this afternoon I was able to reserve Training Ground Beta for you guys to use."

A few cheers erupted amongst the students. Needless to say, everyone was now feeling pretty motivated.

That motivation soon deflated when Present Mic came into the room to get started on his English lesson for the day. Everyone minus Tsunotori, Midoriya, Tokage, Honenuki and Monoma groaned at what was possibly their least favorite class of the entire curriculum.

After lunch, class 1-B found themselves standing outside of Ground Beta once again in their gym uniforms. Before being released, Kan and Cementoss told them that they pretty much had free reign to do whatever they felt like as long no one got injured. Which the students found no problem with at all.

Without a second thought, the entire class began making their way inside in hopes of finding a good spot to practice. A few people chose to group up together while the students with more destructive quirks chose to train on their own.

Midoriya himself was heading over to one of the nearby clearings to get some more practice in with his flying. As far as he was concerned, it was the one aspect of his quirk that was going to play a major advantage in the Sports Festival. He still planned to spend a good portion of his time working on his control and his weight limit, but his mobility in the air was a skill he knew that not a lot of people had.

Throughout his many hours of research and note taking, Midoriya had learned that there were actually very few people who possessed quirks that allowed them to move through the air. Or at least, very few who didn't have a set of wings on their back. As much as the boy would hate to admit it, he spent a good amount of time researching videos of the American hero, Captain Celebrity. The guy was a notorious sleeze who only recently got his act together. But there was no denying his skill when it came to his technique. The only other two that he was able to find were the "Psychic Sisters".

"So Moptop, what do you plan on doing?" The voice of Tokage brought him out of his thoughts. After letting out a surprised "yelp" sound, Midoriya turned his head to see that the girl in question walking right next to him.

"T-Tokage-san!"

"That's my name, don't wear it out!" She shot back with a grin. "So, what's on the agenda for the day partner?"

"P-p-partner?"

"Yeah, I thought about working alone but that just seemed to dull. Plus, Tetsutetsu and Itsuka want to focus on hand-to-hand stuff right now."

"Oh…"

"So…" She leaned in a bit closer, getting the reaction that she wanted. "What were you planning on doing?"

"Just work on my flying is all."

"That's cool." She nodded. In fact, this was perfect. This was probably going to be her best chance to get some time alone with him and ask a few more questions that she still had. "Are you okay with me tagging along?"

The green haired boy paused for a moment before coming up with a response. In truth, he was hoping to use this training as an excuse for some alone time. It wasn't an issue of whether or not he liked his classmates. But after so many years of being secluded from practically everyone else, the idea of doing anything with anyone else just felt...uncomfortable. And if it wasn't for the fact that he had his quirk, he doubted that any of them would even give him the time of day.

Against his better judgment, the boy silently nodded and agreed. He may have told her that she could join him, but it wasn't like he couldn't just fly away and find a different spot all to himself.

"Cool, so are you as hyped for the Sports Festival as everyone else?"

"I guess so."

"It's our first real chance to get looked at by some heroes and agencies. Is there anyone that you were hoping to impress?"

"Not really." He answered honestly. There weren't any heroes in particular that he had a burning desire to make himself known to. He was just grateful for the opportunity. " W-what about you?"

"Eh, no one in particular." The girl shrugged.

The two continued their journey to the clearing for another couple of minutes in very awkward silence. It was obvious that the boy wasn't the greatest conversationalist, but it wouldn't kill him to strike up a chat for once. Yet again, a detail about him that she thought was a bit odd.

"What made you want to be a hero, if you don't mind me asking?" Tokage's question practically came out of nowhere.

Midoriya paused mid-step and looked at the ground for a second before answering. "I guess I've always just wanted to help people." He rubbed the back of his head. There was a bit more to it than that, but he chose to stick with the short answer.

"Same." She smiled back. "I plan on becoming a rescue hero once I finally graduate."

"Really?" He looked to her with a bit of surprise. He honestly wasn't expecting the girl to want to be a rescue hero. Her quirk would be better suited for espionage and recon in his opinion. But with how versatile it was, he didn't doubt that the girl would excel at it.

Apparently it was something that they had in common. Becoming a rescue hero was his plan as well. Fighting villains in the street may have been what brought most top heroes their popularity. But in his opinion, heroes who focused more on saving lives rather than overly dramatic battles were the ones to look up to.

"Yeah. I think my quirk would be useful for rescue and recovery type jobs."

In no time, the two finally made it to the open clearing in the western part of the training ground. They spent the next few minutes silently stretching out before they were ready to get started. Midoriya then activated his quirk and began levitating in the air. Ascending higher and higher with each passing second. Once he felt that he was at a reasonable height, the 'telekinesis' user began doing laps around the clearing.

So far, the maximum time limit that he could maintain this area of his quirk was about twelve minutes before the headaches and nosebleeds started setting in. He hoped to be able to increase that in the next two weeks, but realistically he probably wouldn't make that much of an improvement.

Without so much as a second thought, Midoriya decided to turn things up a bit and took off towards the eastern part of the training grounds.

On the ground, Tokage was watching with sheer amazement at the boy's skill. It was only a few seconds after he took off did she realize that he pretty much abandoned her in the clearing. Never one to shy away from a challenge, the 'lizard tail splitter' user decided to go after him. There was no way she about to let him out of her sights that easily.

Tokage broke herself up into ten pieces and then took off like a rocket. As far as her quirk was concerned, the most she could split herself up into was twenty-five separate pieces. Any more than that and she would pass out from exhaustion.

It didn't take long for the girl to catch up to her classmate, especially since he stopped mid-air about eight hundred meters from where they were just standing. He was lightly panting which meant he must've overdone it a bit.

"Man, and I thought I was fast." Tokage's floating head caught his attention. It still amazed him how the girl could essentially decapitate herself at will.

"S-sorry, I was trying to work on my speed." He apologized.

"Y'know Moptop, with your quirk you probably could've gotten in through rec- Hey watch out!" The girl suddenly shouted.

Midoriya barely had enough time to turn his head before he felt the force of something collide with the right side of his face. The moment the object made contact, the boy could feel the control he had on his quirk vanish. And immediately, Midoriya went plummeting towards the ground.

When it came to his quirk, one of his biggest weaknesses besides exhaustion was direct blows to the head. It was the reason why he added a protective helmet into the design for his hero costume. Anytime he was struck in the head by an object, he would be unable to use his quirk for a few seconds.

"Midoriya!" Tokage shouted loud enough for everyone nearby to hear as she watched the boy fall. Without a moment's hesitation, she flung her arms at him in hopes of catching him before he hit the ground. By sheer luck she was able to make it in time just before the damage could be done. Grabbing him by the shoulder and the fabric of his shirt.

"Are you alright?!" She asked, obviously concerned for the wellbeing of her classmate.

"Y-yeah." He groaned while rubbing his head. It was only after he touched his face that he noticed the warm trail of blood next to his ear. "What happened?"

"I think it was-"

"Are you guys alright?!" The voice of Kendou shouted. The two teens turning their heads to see her, Tetsutetsu, and Shoda making a beeline straight for them.

"Moptop just got hit." Tokage answered.

"By what?!"

"I'm pretty sure it was-"

"Oh my god, Midoriya are you okay?!" The voice of Pony Tsunotori frantically shouted in her native tongue. The blonde haired teen was being followed by Kan and Cementoss. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were up there before I fired off one of my horns!"

"Tsunotori-san, calm down."

"It's fine." He told the worried teen after finally standing on his feet. Much to the relief of the others.

"This is my fault." Kan grimaced. "I was the one who told her to aim her quirk in the air. I should've double checked to see if the place was clear."

"It's no issue, sensei."

"Either way, I want you to get that wound checked out by Recovery Girl." He ordered before directing his gaze towards Tokage. "And I want you to go with him to make sure he gets there safely."

"Yes sir." The greenette nodded.

"As for the rest of you, go tell everyone to take a ten minute break to cool off. And I want all of you to move in closer so me and Cementoss can see everyone."

"Yes sensei." Kendou agreed before running off to the far end of the training ground were Shiozaki and Shishida said they would be.

Tokage wasted no time in escorting Midoriya to the nurse's office. But not before a series bi-lingual apologies and low bows from Tsunotori for almost causing one of her classmates to get seriously injured. Of course, Midoriya told the girl that there was nothing to worry about. But that didn't stop the tears from escaping her eyes.

Thankfully for the students of 1-B, that near-miss was the only incident to occur for the rest of the day.

With classes finally over with for the day, the hero course students were released to head home. Everyone was more than ready to get out of the school as soon as possible and get some much needed rest and relaxation. However, the crowd of students blocking the hallway was preventing the wannabe heroes from leaving the building.

"Yo Metalhead, what the heck is going on?" Tokage asked her friend as he tried to muscle his way through the middle of the crowd.

"A ton of people are scouting out the hero course students for the Sports Festival. I kinda wanted to see what all the hype for the 1-A guys was about so I joined in." The boy answered back while politely shoving another student out of the way.

"Really?" Kendou asked with a deadpan expression.

"Yeah, ever since the incident last week those guys have been getting all of the buzz. Everyone wants to know what's up with the class that fought off actual villains."

"You do realize how stupid you sound, right?" Tokage scowled at him. "Some of those guys got hurt and you want to harass them just to see if they're strong or not?"

Right before Tetsutetsu could respond, one of the 1-A students decided to give everyone a piece of their mind.

"...least now you know what a future pro looks like. So move it extras!" A boy with ash blonde hair and red eyes all but growled at the group of students closest to the door. Causing a few of them to back away in fear.

"You can't go around calling people extras just because you don't know who they are!" Another boy with glasses waved his arms in a way that couldn't be natural for a human being.

"What a snob. Just because he fought some druggies and low-level thugs he thinks he's hot stuff." Monoma scoffed as they watched the blonde boy push through the crowd. 'Although, I feel like I've seen that guy somewhere before.'

"Yeah, you got that right." Kendou agreed with a quick chuckle.

About halfway through the mob, the brutish blonde haired boy stopped in his tracks. Something seemed to catch his attention. And judging by the way his face shifted from annoyance to confusion to anger, it was something big. "Deku!"

Everyone in the hallway turned around towards the direction that the boy shouted to where none other than Midoriya was standing. The green haired teen suddenly adopting a "deer in headlights" expression.

"Is he talking to Midoriya-san?"

'Did he just call him "Deku"?' Tokage wondered. It was blatantly obvious that the guy wasn't the nicest person in the world. But to go around throwing insults like that was not okay.

The blonde haired boy proceed to push through the remaining crowd and stomp right over to where their classmate was standing. The angry teen wasting no time in getting right into his face. "What do you think you're doing here you quirkless loser?!"

To say that everyone was thrown off by that would be an understatement. Why the hell did he just call Midoriya quirkless?

"Hey, I don't know what your deal is. But you might have the wrong guy." Tetsutetsu spoke up.

"Shut the fuck up, weird eyebrows. This is between me and this useless shit!" The boy barked back.

"What the hell's your problem you psycho?!"

The guy ignored the silver haired teen and turned his gaze back to Midoriya. "I asked you a question you freak. What the hell are you doing here?!"

The air grew stiff as the crowd waited for the boy's response. From where she was standing, Tokage noticed that Midoriya's face seemed to twist into a scowl before mellowing out a brief second after. "Hello Bakugou...it's been a while." The boy's tone was cold and almost apathetic.

Something about what he said seemed to make the guy now identified as Bakugou pause.

"Midoriya, do you know this jerk?" Tetsutetsu asked.

"I-I guess you could say that." He told him.

"I asked you a question you quirkless fuck-"

"Hey cool your jets, guy!" Tokage blurted out.

"Yeah, and can you stop harassing our classmate? First of all, Midoriya-san isn't quirkless. In fact, he's far from it." Now it was Kendou's turn to speak up.

"And even if he was, what's wrong with that? The way you say it, it almost sounds like not having a quirk is a disease or something." The 'lizard tail splitter' user followed up.

Tokage noticed the brief look that Midoriya gave her before turning his attention back to Bakugou. His gaze was now even darker than it was a second ago.

"Who cares what a bunch of losers like you think? All I want to know is what the fuck do you think you're doing at this school?!" Bakugou emphasized by poking Midoriya in the chest a few times.

"Why do you care?" Midoriya answered back. Obviously there was a history between these two. And judging by how the both of them were acting, it wasn't anywhere near pleasant. Just before the angry blonde could respond, the voice of Midnight grabbed everyone's attention.

"Unless you lot want to spend the next week in detention, I suggest you start making your way out of the building!" The R-rated hero threatened while cracking her whip.

'I seriously need to get me one of those.' Tokage thought.

Deciding to not wait for an invitation, the crowd quickly dispersed as everyone began rushing out of the building. Leaving only a few remaining students in the hallway.

"This isn't over, Deku." Bakugou growled before shoving his shoulder and walking away.

Tokage and the others were quick to go to boy's side. Obviously she was concerned about him. But her curiosity was just as great. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...I'm fine." He waved off with a smile. However, Tokage noticed something. She wasn't an expert on people by any means. But she knew when someone was faking it. And Midoriya was very obviously doing that.

"Just what the heck was that guy's problem?" Kendou asked.

"He certainly seems like the "unhinged" type doesn't he?" Monoma stated.

"It's no big deal, re-"

"Hey, I recognize that head of green hair!" A female voice suddenly interjected. The group of five looked over to see a girl with brown hair in a bob cut not unlike that of their classmate, Komori. "It's you, the flying boy!"

"Geez Moptop, how many friends do you have in this class?" Tokage arched an eyebrow at him.

"She's not-"

"Hey, Tsu-chan! This is the guy I was telling you about. The one who saved my butt during the entrance exam." The girl motioned to the inside of the classroom.

It took a second, but Midoriya finally remembered why the girl looked so familiar. She was the same person that got trapped under some rubble after the massive zero pointer showed up. He managed to get the rocks off of her and float her to safety just before the thing could crush her. After that, Recovery Girl ended up treating her injury and he never saw her again.

Before anyone else could say anything, another girl walked out. This one was a bit shorter than the previous one, though. She had dark green hair, wide eyes, and a weird posture similar to that of Yanagi. But her most notable feature was the massive scar running all the way down from her forehead to the left side of her jaw. And a few smaller ones on the right side of her face.

'She must be one of the students who got hurt during the attack.' Tokage wondered.

"That's pretty neat, gero." The girl now identified as Tsu responded with a frog like croak.

The brunette girl then quickly approached the group of 1-B students before giving a low bow to Midoriya. "Thank you again for helping me back there. I never really got a chance to properly thank you. If it wasn't for you, I probably would've gotten crushed."

"I-i-it's no big deal, really." A now embarrassed Midoriya waved off. "It's nice to s-see that you passed."

The girl's blush intensified as she rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah...I barely managed to make it in. But seriously, you were a major help Deku-san."

Midoriya's expression immediately darkened after hearing the girl's words. If the brunette was being honest, the gaze that he gave her was a bit unnerving. "What did you just call me?"

"Deku-san...that's what Bakugou-san called you, right? Sorry about him. He's not the nice-" She tilted her head in confusion.

"Look…."

"Uraraka."

"Look Uraraka-san, I don't know you all that well. But my name is Midoriya...not Deku. Can do me a favor and never call me that again, please?"

"S-sorry."

If it wasn't obvious that the tone of the entire conversation had just shifted, Midoriya's abrupt exit made it very clear. As he walked passed her, Tokage managed to see the uncomfortable look on his face. Something was up with the guy and there was no doubt that less than desirable nickname had something to do with it.

"Did I do something to offend him?" Uraraka looked back to Kendou, Tokage, Tetsutetsu and Monoma.

"You do know what that name means, right?" Kendou scowled at her.

"No…"

"It means someone who's useless or can't do anything. It's not exactly a friendly greeting." Tokage answered.

"Oh…" The brunette looked down in shame.

"Hmm…" Monoma rubbed his chin in thought. "Now that you mention it, if you read Midoriya-san's name a certain way it does spell out "Deku."."

"I-I didn't know."

"Eh, no harm no foul." Tokage shrugged. "Anyways, we should all get going before Midnight-sensei gives us all detention. See you around, Class 1-A." The girl waved before taking her leave. The rest of her classmates quickly following suit.

On the way back home, Tokage couldn't help but feel a bit concerned about Midoriya. Something was weird about that entire interaction between him and Bakugou. And it wasn't just the fact that the ashen blonde decided to just flat out attack her classmate in front of everyone. She was more interested in why he called Midoriya quirkless. It didn't make any sense. The broccoli headed teen very obviously had a quirk, and a damn powerful one at that.

Something was fishy about the whole thing and she would be lying if she said that she wasn't the least bit interested.

'Maybe I'll get a chance to talk to him about it tomorrow?'

A disaster. This was a complete and utter disaster.

Of course something like this was going to happen. Everything was going far too well for him not to have it all blow up in his face. He couldn't even make it two weeks into the school year without something like this happening.

He already knew that Bakugou had gotten into U.A.. He would've been an idiot to think otherwise. But a little part of him hoped that maybe, just maybe he wouldn't have to see his face again. Or even just for a little while longer. And the fact that they hadn't seen each other in almost a year wasn't helping his case in the slightest.

The worst case scenario had actually happened. Bakugou had dimed him out in front of everyone. People were going to start asking questions. Surely his classmates were going to want to know why the boy had called him quirkless. It was only a matter of time before the rumors started and people went digging.

A wave of emotions flooded Midoriya's mind. So bad that he barely noticed that he was already standing in front of his door. How he got home so fast was a mystery to him. For all he knows, he might've actually flown all the way back.

"M-Mom!" The boy called out across the apartment, only to be met with silence.

"Are you home?!" He yelled again. Confirming what he wished to be true. The last thing he needed was having her around right now. He was met with silence yet again and relished in the fact that she was probably working late tonight.

In the blink of an eye, the boy vanished into his room and slammed the door shut behind him. He paused for a moment as he looked around his domicile. Walls that were once filled to the brim will All Might memorabilia were now barren. Nowadays, the only decorations that he had were his blackout curtains, his simple green and black comforter, a pull-up bar and his old hero notebooks still sitting on his desk.

After locking his door, the young teen made a beeline straight for his closet and reached his hand into the secret compartment that he had managed to keep hidden from his mother. His fingers fiddled around for a while before latching onto their intended target. A small black box that contained the only relief that he could provide himself. With no hesitation, he opened the package and drifted his hand over its contents before pulling out a single steel razor blade from inside.

Barely a second later, Midoriya's jacket and shirt were already off of his body. Revealing a veritable train track of scars that spanned the midpoint of his abdomen all the way down to his hip that he had accumulated over the last few months. Checking over the site once more to confirm the spot.

He couldn't wait any longer. He needed the relief right now.

It may have been a few weeks since he last felt the need to do this. But the act itself was pretty much "muscle memory" at this point. With a practiced ease, he pressed the blade over his right oblique and let it dance over his skin. But the first pass wasn't enough, though. So he did it again, and again, and again. And again, until finally he reached that euphoric feeling that he was looking for. The sensation that finally allowed him to calm his mind and let rationality embrace him once again.

Once his mind became clear, he placed the box back into its hidden compartment. And plunged the used blade deep into the trashcan so that his mother couldn't find it if she ever wandered her way into his room while he was gone.

With the ritual complete, the boy made his way into his bathroom to clean himself off. Rinsing the fresh stream of blood off of his abdomen and placing a thin bandage over top of it, along with a black tank-top to further hide any evidence.

"This is the last time I'll let something like that get to me.' Midoriya told himself before grabbing his hero art history textbook and getting started on his homework.

Author's Notes: Wow...didn't take long for that "M" rating, now did it?

1. Let me be clear, this is NOT another Midoirya tries to commit suicide fic. Yes, he is a cutter in this story as well. But this time around, I'm going to work a different angle for that part of his character than I did in "M-K Ultra". I feel like I didn't execute that sub-plot the way I wanted to, so I'm going to "make-up" for it. This still a Hurt/Comfort/Angst story after all.