Chapter 47

[Momo Yaoyorozu]

The two days they were given off school were over.

She could safely say that she had missed her friends during that time, even if they had still seen each other during that time. Well, most of them did. Nobody had seen Endo since they were let off school, but he'd still texted them in their group chat. He'd mostly excused himself from going out saying that he was exhausted after the tournament.

Nobody had really blamed him or argued against that since they had all seen how much the Sports Festival affected him. Momo herself still remembered him, his shaking hands, his pale expression, the way he either hyper focused or lost himself in thought. They had tried their best, but nobody had been surprised when he fled the place back to his place after the fact.

It didn't make them feel better, however.

They had let him have his space though, happily at that. How could they not, when even his messages seemed subdued? They'd done their best to be there and support him through the days, especially when reporters had jumped on the news of his presence at UA like a pack of starving wolves. It seemed like that was the only thing they were going to report from then on, really.

That might have been an exaggeration, but it certainly felt like that.

If Momo felt like that, she could only imagine how Endo himself did.

The group had taken to posting the more hostile news reports just to mock them and show that they were on Endo's side. He seemed to appreciate it, from what little they could gleam from his scarce messages. Mineta had also had the brilliant idea to send him snipes of people speaking positively of him be it on the news – rarer than the alternative, but still happened – and on the internet – which wasn't more common, but certainly easier to find.

All in all, Momo hoped their friend was doing better than the last time they had seen him.

She had truly missed school and while she appreciated meeting out of school as much as the next girl, it wasn't nearly enough. She had gotten used to seeing her friends every day at school and then also hanging out after it. Not getting to do that had been… difficult. Granted, it was basically a weekend in the middle of the week, but still.

She was allowed to want to be with her friends!

Unsurprisingly, she was the first to arrive. Also unsurprisingly, there was a crowd of reporters outside, just like at the start of the year. This time, however, they weren't asking about All Might. They were asking about one thing, one person.

Kazuki Endo.

Pursing her lips, Momo squashed the need to speak well of her friend. He'd specifically asked them not to burn themselves with this. They had all told him that he was an idiot, but he'd retorted that it would just make him feel worse if his friendship with them made things difficult for them. That had been entirely too unfair of him, but they had decided to respect that… At least for the moment.

She wanted so badly to say something though. Not only to the news, but to everyone, especially her parents. She didn't understand how they could be… like they were. Endo had even gone to her place and it had been… a disaster, she knew. Not because anything in particular had happened, but because she knew that her friend had picked up on her parents' opinion of him. No matter how good actors they were, they couldn't mask their emotions from Endo's sensing.

It drove Momo mad. She was there, trying to be a hero and her parents were…

'Focus, Momo,' she told herself, before she spiraled. She'd spent entirely too long dwelling on those thoughts as it was and they never went anywhere anyway. It didn't matter what her parents thought. Endo was her friend, and that was that.

As it was, she entered the classroom and found out that she was first. Not something all that rare, really. Soon, the usual suspects would arrive after her, one of which would be Endo. Just like always, and like always they'd chat for a bit before everyone else did. Although, on second thought, Todoroki also arrived early like her most days.

The ice and fire user hadn't met with them during their off days, but he'd been added to the group chat and had participated as much as… could be expected. He wasn't a very sociable person, but Endo could be the same at times, especially those days. It was fine.

Maybe they could get some talk going without issue in the meantime. Momo wasn't the best at that by herself, but surely they could make do until someone else arrived. Endo always arrived early anyway.

"Yaoyorozu," Todoroki greeted her, snapping her back to reality and making her jump where she sat. "You look nervous."

"Sorry, I was just thinking that you and I are always early and I'm not that great at conversation myself. That's usually Hagakure's thing, or even Mineta. Jiro does a good job so long as you ask about music and Endo when we talk about Quirk ideas. But I'm kind of a afraid that I won't be so good now because-"

"Because you struggle and I do too, so nobody's here to talk in the silence," Todoroki finished, his expression just as neutral as it usually was. Momo had to wonder if that was, maybe, part of the ice part of his Quirk. She wouldn't be too surprised if someone told her that.

"Yes," Momo mumbled, very embarrassed about her nervous babbling.

"It'll be fine. Besides, Endo arrives early too. He should do a good job, right?" Todoroki commented, looking towards the door and then back at her. "And I can talk about Quirk ideas too, if you'd like. I know I'm not Endo but…" he trailed off and she wondered if he was feeling as awkward as she was.

"That'd be grand!" she said enthusiastically. Anything to get her mind out of what she'd just done in front of a new friend – practically a stranger, friend of a friend, at most, for the moment – and have something to focus on instead. She wanted to do well. She had friends now and they were all amazing.

She couldn't start screwing up now.

So, she talked with Todoroki about what he could try to do with his ice and Todoroki tried to get to know her Quirk better so he could offer ideas too. They talked about the group some, and their after class training sessions and what they could do then. She brought up some of the things they were working on and they tried to come up with things to do while in the training facilities.

And soon, one by one, their friends started arriving…

Except Endo.

Momo didn't need the white-haired red-eyed boy's Quirk to notice that they were all getting worried. They glanced towards the door. They glanced towards the empty spot where he'd always sit. They glanced towards their phones, to see if he'd come by.

He didn't.

"Ok, class, we are starting now!" Aizawa said, as if there wasn't a glaringly empty seat in the class that had nothing to do with Aoyama. Endo wasn't there, and the teacher didn't even seem to notice.

Momo shared a concerned look with the rest of her friends.

[}-o-{]

[Minoru Mineta]

They were worried, very much so.

The school day was over and nobody had so much as gotten a single message from Endo. Hell, they had checked and he'd disappeared from even the group chat since about halfway through the day before. Some of them had assumed that he was just calling it a day early or something, still exhausted and wanting to get a nice, long sleep before having to tackle the shitshow.

However, that hadn't been the case.

Their friend hadn't gotten around going to class at all. Even worse was when they had talked with the teachers and all of them had some variation of the same thing to say. They knew that Endo wasn't going to attend, they didn't need to worry and it wouldn't affect him in any way.

As if that told them anything!

None of them thought Endo would get punished for missing one day. Not only would it have been bullshit at any point, but on that particular day? Nobody thought it was weird that he didn't go to class. They just wanted to know if they had missed something or if they could do something, damnit!

"This is bullshit," he hissed, taking one of his Pop Off beads and throwing it at a target. He hit the thing perfectly in the center, which wasn't rare but it didn't happen all the time. It only pissed Minoru off because his best friend wasn't around to share a high five with him or anything. 'This is bullshit,' he repeated in his mind, doing his best not to growl and shout as if he were Bakugo.

He was angry, he'd admit.

He was angry at the Sports Festival, for making his best friend feel like shit through what was supposed to be a great day for him. He was angry at the world, for all the vile they were throwing and would continue to throw on his best friend for something he'd done as a kid. He was angry at himself for not being able to help more.

Ultimately, Minoru was just angry.

"I know," Hagakure said from the side, where she sat and he could almost see her gloom even through her invisibility. Nobody was in great spirits that day, but it was especially evident with the usually bright and cheerful girl. As if he didn't have enough reasons to be pissed off already.

Why couldn't they be normal students? If they were normal, Endo's worst worry would be if some girl liked him or not. He wouldn't even need to worry about doing well as a hero, honestly. If they were normal, Hagakure would worry about her clothes or whatever instead of how Endo was doing with the shitshow going on. And there seemed to be a million more what ifs following those…

And Minoru hated it.

Even more so, he hated that he could do nothing about any of it.

He was useless, as usual.

"So much peace today, huh?" a voice called, loud and close enough to make Mineta turn. Immediately, he felt like he should be on guard. The purple-haired teen from Gen Ed was right there, the one that Endo didn't like. 'Shido or something? Mind control guy,' Minoru tried to remember. Honestly, he'd had more important things to focus on that day.

"Of course he'd drop by, Shinso," a voice to the side commented, and this one Minoru knew a little better. That was Endo's Gen Ed friend, Togeike. None of them were particularly close to her other than Endo, who wasn't around, but she'd stuck around as a fellow friend of the absent teen. The girls seemed to include her easily enough, at least, but Minoru didn't feel like doing much socializing.

Endo wasn't there to keep him from putting his foot in his mouth, for one. For another, it felt wrong to do stuff like nothing was wrong. It felt like a betrayal, to him at least. He guessed he was just being silly, stupid, like usual, but that was how Minoru felt.

"Remember not to reply to him, guys," Togeike told them, and Minoru was grateful for the reminder. He had forgotten about that too. The guy hadn't gotten to use that Quirk much in the final event, after all.

"Well, that's not very nice of you, is it, Togeike?" Shinso asked, plastering the most fake smile Minoru had ever seen, and he'd seen some terrible attempts in his life. Endo came to mind regarding that, annoyingly enough. "Then again, I can't say I blame you, with the company you keep."

Everyone paused what few exercises they were doing, not that they had been trying all that hard. It had been a half assed attempt at keeping their minds occupied, but they weren't doing a great job at it, really. Minoru saw Togeike twitch and all, looking like she was about to open her mouth and all.

"I really don't know what he's talking about," Togeike said, looking towards Jiro who was by her side. They all knew exactly what he was talking about though. Because he seemed like the kind to be a petty bastard. Endo had told them what this one had done for the second event at the Sports Festival and while they were fine with that, it certainly helped paint a certain picture of the guy.

"I mean, they used to call me a villain in the making, but I guess you preferred an actual one?"

And that was it.

Minoru smiled, finally happy about something that day. 'Fuck this piece of shit,' he thought, his lips pulling apart to reveal a grin that was all teeth. Shinso went to say something, but no words came out. Instead, only muffled sounds reached their ears as a Pop Off bead sealed his lips shut.

In an instant, Minoru took two more and threw them, setting them up in specific places. Then, with a short jump, he bounced on one bead, then the other, and then he had his fist on Shinso's gut. When the other boy fell down, Minoru grinned down at him, standing next to his head.

"He really isn't all that smart, is he?" he commented, to his friends. He didn't even feel like talking to the guy, Quirk or no Quirk.

"I feel kind of bad that I lost against him," Togeike joined in easily and she was instantly all kinds of ok in Minoru's books. She was the best. Endo had the best taste in friends, evidenced by her and Minoru himself.

Clear as day, really.

"Mr. Mineta," a voice called and he gulped, turning to see Vlad King towering over him. "Something you wanna say for yourself?"

Instantly, he wanted to apologize or say that the guy had started it. He felt scared and frustrated, because of course it'd be him that got in trouble. That was just the bullshit place that they lived in, he supposed. The kind of place that would punish him for standing up for a friend and punish his friend because he made a mistake as a kid.

Ultimately, he pushed those feelings aside and looked down at the Gen Ed student as he let out muffled sounds of pain. Minoru wondered if it'd make things worse if he threw a few more punches. Almost definitely, but…

In the end, he just decided to be proud and imagine the laugh he'd have with Endo when he told them about that.

"The little shit had it coming," he said in the end, his grin coming back.

[}-o-{]

[Tooru Hagakure]

She might or might not be doing something wrong, she supposed.

She found herself, that day – that very specific day –, walking down a familiar street. She was alone, which wasn't a rarity, but she expected to be alone when she arrived, which was a little less common. Still, Mineta was dealing with detention, Todoroki had apologized and said he had family matters to deal with and Yaoyorozu and Jiro had decided to bow out of this.

Tooru herself had said she wouldn't do it, mainly because everyone was being dumb. Why did they seem so eager to leave Endo alone? He was their friend. Sure, he'd asked and justified himself saying he was tired on the previous days, but that day? He hadn't said anything at all. No messages had been answered and nothing had been replied too.

They had all taken their teachers' words and decided that Endo just needed space.

Tooru disagreed.

If he'd told them something that day, maybe she'd have agreed. If he asked them to stay away, then maybe. However, Endo had gone absolutely silent. None of the teachers had told them that Endo wanted to be left alone, just that he was ok and had asked to be able to skip classes that day. They'd even told them something about looking into things themselves.

But that wasn't enough.

So, Tooru had decided to take matters in her own hands and make sure their friend was ok. It was a shame Mineta had gotten in trouble for punching that Gen Ed idiot, because she was sure that he'd have wanted to come with her too, but he seemed to think it was worth it. Privately, the rest of them thought so too. Tooru almost wished that it had been her that gave the guy a piece of her mind.

However, she wouldn't be doing what she was if she did, so she'd take what Mineta's sacrifice had given her and go for it.

Eventually, she knocked on the door to Endo's apartment and waited… And then waited some more. It wasn't a long wait, but it sure seemed like it when she was just there, worrying about how her friend was doing. When she was about to knock again, however, the door clicked open.

Endo's form peeked out from behind the door as the thing was pushed back and Tooru was just glad to see him. He didn't look great though, sadly. There were bags under his eyes, he stood slumped and his distinctive black and red eyes looked dull. However, she was glad to see him all the same. She'd almost expected to be told to leave him alone through the door and she likely would have, if offering a little resistance. She didn't want to be a bother, after all.

She saw him blink for a second after he opened the door, like everyone always did when it was her on the other side. There was that slight moment of confusion before their brains figured out that it was her, the invisible girl. It was annoying, every single time, because it reminded her that she was invisible-

But then Endo smiled a little, a small fragile thing but a smile all the same, and all was fine in the world.

"Hey there, Bubbly," he greeted, sounding as tired as he looked. "Came to check on me, huh?" he asked, not even pretending he couldn't figure it out.

"You weren't replying to our texts," she pointed out some of her annoyance bleeding into her voice and he blinked again in confusion. Hadn't he even seen the messages? "We were worried, Creepy. You can't just ghost us like that. That's Ghosty's thing… or mine, depending."

"... Sorry," he said, like he was too done with things to say anything else. It was somehow just as concerning to see him like this as it had been to see him losing his mind at the Sports Festival. At least, there, they had been able to get to him a little. They could talk and help him.

There and then, Tooru half wondered if she was more invisible than usual or something, because he barely seemed to register much of anything, least of all her.

"Can I come in?"

"... Sure," he answered simply, almost shrugging but not quite managing. Instead, all he did was sort of raise his shoulders as he took a breath in and then drop them as he let it out. She didn't even know there was such a way to shrug, but it really got the point across about how her friend was doing. "You want something? Coffee, tea-"

"Soda, juice, water," she finished, because he always had the same stuff and he always said it in the same order. Their group had started making a game to see who would finish for him whenever they were over. "I'll make tea myself. It's always nice to drink some when I don't feel well."

"... You are not feeling well?" he asked her, making her glare at him. He couldn't see her, but she knew he could feel her annoyance and it'd be enough. "Fine, I'll go and-"

"I said, I'd make it," she interrupted, skipping past him towards the kitchen. Winning felt great but she was also glad that he could know what she felt without having to see her. Nobody could know when she was sad or angry unless they heard it in her voice or something like that. So, if she stayed silent, people would have nothing.

Not Endo though, and she really liked that. 'Not the time for that,' she reminded herself, shaking her head. She was there to cheer up her friend. Besides, she wasn't sure if it was good or bad that she was happy about his Quirk. On one side, it should be a good thing that there were good parts to it, right? On the other, that Quirk made her friend miserable…

Ugh, thinking was hard. So, she focused on making the tea for herself and Endo. He didn't say anything, didn't even follow her or anything. Instead, he seemed to have gone to sit at the table and just stare at the screen of his TV…

Tooru frowned.

"Wait…" she said, looking towards the screen and seeing that it was news about him. 'Because they just don't have anything else to talk about, do they? We all almost died but that didn't cause nearly this much of a mess,' she thought, annoyed. Some small part of her felt very proud to be able to even think that without feeling the cold biting at her. "You are looking at those idiots?"

"I guess I am," Endo replied, barely sounding like he was there.

"Why though? You could be looking at the aquarium instead. Much better, in my opinion. Or at the super awesome board- Oh, right!" Tooru exclaimed, hurting to pull something out of her backpack before bringing it to Endo. Then she hurried again to get the tea all set up before she ruined things. "I had those made after the Sports Festival. There's some cool ones from all of us… Granted, there were more of yours and Yaoyorozu, since you guys got further, but we got some too."

As she put their drinks on the table, she chanced a look towards the TV, but she didn't really pay attention. It was the kind of shit she'd grown tired of already. She couldn't fathom why Endo kept looking at those news.

"They do look nice," he commented with the same weary tone. "That's yours? Bold color, Bubbly."

"What? But it was wh-" she started arguing before stopping herself and narrowing her eyes. "Idiot," she hissed, getting a weak chuckle from him. Then his eyes went back to the TV and whatever smile he'd managed was gone. "Hey, why are you looking at this, honestly? I think it's awful and it's not about me."

"I just can't stop, I guess," he replied, self-deprecating smile on his face as he kept his eyes on the screen. "I just…" he started then, trailing off and seemingly unable to find the right words for what he wanted to say. "... can't," he finished lamely.

"It's fine, Endo, I just," Tooru started, noticing a weird shift in the scene at the TV, but dismissing it as a change in frame or something. She really didn't want to look at it. She'd had enough of those already. "We are just worried about you. Why didn't you go to school? Was it… worse than you told us? Is there something we can do?"

"You did plenty at the Festival, I'd say," he replied to her. He wasn't looking at her, and that hurt. Sure, he couldn't look at her, but he usually tried. He seemed to try more than most people and succeed more than most too. Maybe it was his sensing or something else, but he'd even managed to actually look at her eyes sometimes, even if he didn't know.

And now he couldn't look away from those stupid news.

"It's not a quota, Endo. We can and want to help you as much as we can," she told him, hoping against hope that something she said would catch his attention. Nothing did, however. His expression remained the same. His eyes remained locked on the screen.

The image shifted again and this time Tooru frowned.

"Wait, is that… Is that looped?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah… Yeah, it is," Endo answered, a smile with no happiness whatsoever on his face.

"But why? Why would you… loop… it…?" she started exclaiming before her voice word by word turned into a whisper. She stared at the news report that her friend couldn't look away from.

"I'm disappointed, in UA and in our heroes in general, for allowing a travesty such as this," the woman that was being interviewed said, lips pursed and frowning. "The Black Rampage was a disaster, a dark mark in our history and we are supposed to learn from history. We should have learned, and instead, we are allowing that history to repeat itself. It could be a year from now, a month from now, tomorrow. It could be today and it seems like the people meant to protect us don't care," the woman said, and Tooru felt sick just hearing her talk. "So… I'm disappointed… and I'm also sorry. Sorry, for not having been able to keep this from happening. I'm sorry for contributing to this. To all his victims, I'm sorry."

And then the video started again.

Somehow, even though her words were awful and the entire situation was too. None of that was what got to her. No, what did that was that she finally understood. Looking at the woman talking, with a very familiar hair color and complexion, she just felt more and more sick as she processed that.

Especially when she read the tag underneath the woman, for the viewers to see.

'Mother of the Black Rampage,' it read.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

I really, really hope that I managed to convey what I wanted with that last part well. I start with that, because I know that some people would have expected something different. I didn't want to go the Bash way, like having her call him a demon and being all comically bad. That's not what I wanted here.

Because, oftentimes, awful people don't sound like awful people. If you aren't paying attention or don't know any better, awful people can even sound like good people. But then, if you do, if you take a moment to think things over and understand what they are really saying, then you also understand how truly awful they are.

I hope I managed to do a good job with this, because I feel like it's more important than usual.

I also hope you liked the chapter.

As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:

P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Please let me know how I did with that last part and the chapter in general. I'd really appreciate it. Please?

See you.