Ch. 19: Day of Peace
Izuku fell back onto his soft bed with a weary sigh as he finally got a second to rest. He wasn't expecting his class to be so interested in his life but they eventually stopped asking about it.
About six hours later.
But now that he was alone, his thoughts drifted back over what happened at U.S.J., more specifically, what he did. While he was glad that no one was holding anything that he did against him and even seemed to understand, it still felt… wrong to him. The only reason he walked away was because he let the voice in his head have its way. It ate at him. Made him feel like he was useless without that power and yet if one thing went wrong, he stood to lose everything.
"This power is the only way you have any chance of facing them. Without Rage Shroud, you have no hope. Your friends will die. Your family will die. They will destroy everything you care about. These horrible beings can't be reasoned with. They care only about destruction. Remember that."
Izuku tried to put everything together in his head. What would happen if he tried to fight Shigaraki without Rage Shroud? Could he do it? Would he be able to stop someone who turns all he touches to dust? Would he just die trying? And that's if it was just one-on-one. Kurogiri could also get involved. Then there were Nomus.
Nomus… monsters like him. The ones at U.S.J. were designed to fight and kill All Might by making them impossible for him to damage. Didn't work but they may have been on to something. If those things could stand to All Might, what hope did he have?
*Ring Ring*
'Who's calling at this time of night?" Izuku wondered as he reached for his phone. He was almost glad he forgot to bring it with him earlier. With his luck, one of the villains probably would have sniped it by accident when they tried shooting at him. He looked at the screen to see his dad, Hisashi, was on the line. 'Uh oh, looks like he heard about it. Guess I'll just rip this band-aid off and get it over with.'Izuku hesitantly answered the call.
"Hey, Dad," Izuku heard a relieved sigh on the other line.
'Hey, Son," Hisashi's voice was just as nervous as he was by the sound of it, "Um… how're you doing?"
"By the sounds of it, about as well as you," Izuku said with a small chuckle, hoping to ease his father's worries.
"Ha, I sound that bad, do I?" Hisashi cleared his throat with a cough, "I just read the message I got from your mother but it was really vague. Then I read the news report. U.A. was attacked?"
"Yeah, my class was right there when it happened."
"I see… Are you alright?"
"..." Izuku wasn't sure what exactly to say. He could just say he was but he's done enough lying, "No, I'm really not."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I spent all day talking about it, Dad. I'm really tired of talking about it."
"I'd be too, I guess. But can you indulge your father just so he can breathe easy?" Izuku sighed heavily. He didn't want to but since he was already thinking about it.
"Okay," Izuku spent the next ten minutes explaining everything he knew that happened, leaving out everything involving the voice.
"I… see," Izuku couldn't only chuckle at the response.
"Yeah, it wasn't what I call a 'good day at school' when I have to chop another man's hand off."
"Are you sure you should be telling me even half of this?"Hisashi asked nervously, "Genetically enhanced super mutants don't sound like the kind of thing they want getting out."
"Eh, who are you going to tell that'll believe you?" Izuku said with a nonchalant shrug.
"Fair." Hisashi conceded, "Still, to think that something like that is possible. It's nightmarish."
"Well, I guess it's not too far off from what they did to me so long ago. The only real difference is that I still have my free will and my normal appearance."
"Something I'm glad for but it does beg the question as to why?" Hisashi wondered, causing his son to think about it himself.
'Good question. Why do I still have my free will compared to those Nomus?' Izuku shook the thought from his head. Much like many things surrounding his time with All For One, he lacked the info to figure out the man's motivations himself. He continued to chat with his father for a bit longer before finally deciding to try and get some sleep.
Tsuyu was getting dressed to start her day, a bit groggy. She didn't sleep super well but she did fall asleep at some point. She considered staying in bed but she won't accomplish anything from her bed, even if she reallywanted to. As she finished putting on clothes, she walked out to her balcony to see Ochako halfway over the ledge of her own balcony's rails with a gym bag, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Tsu looked at the clock in her room to see it was just a little past six.
"Uh… Morning Tsu!" Ochako quickly said with a cheery smile that wasn't at all fake, "I was just on my way out so don't mind me…" Tsu just crossed her arms, unimpressed.
"Well, I could use something to do anyway so let's go," Tsu said as she walked back in to grab some workout clothes.
"Nononono and she's not listening…" Ochako whined as she realized Tsu was coming with her, whether she liked it or not. Though, it did make her smile that her friend cared so much about her.
Izuku woke up the next morning feeling like trash as his alarm clock started to blare. "No sleep for him", his overworking mind said. "You can sleep when you're dead". Izuku groggily rolled over to his side and slapped the top of the All Might's plastic head to shut it off. He took a moment to remember what Nezu had told him.
'No school today. I forgot to turn off the alarm last night,' He stared at the ceiling for a minute deciding whether or not to get up yet, 'Well, if I'm not going to sleep, no point staying in bed.' Izuku crawled out of bed and warped on some comfy sweatpants and a t-shirt to grab a bite to eat before he began his morning workout. With no school, he'd have to amp it up a little that day on his own to make up for it but it wasn't anything different from what Aizawa spent all winter drilling into him.
Izuku took the elevator down and was immediately hit with the smell of something cooking in the kitchen. Sweet smelling food. He looked out to see Yaoyorozu sitting at a table studying out of a huge book that didn't look like any of the textbooks they were given. No one else was there so he checked Bio-Scanner to find Sato was the one in the kitchen. Why they were both up, Izuku could only guess.
"Ah, good morning, Midoriya," Izuku was pulled from his thoughts as Yaoyorozu greeted him with a friendly smile. Izuku returned the pleasantry with a wave. She had a slight hint of bags under her eyes. She didn't sleep well either.
"You both are up early for a day off," Izuku remarked as he took a seat. Yaoyorozu looked confused before she remembered what Izuku could do with Bio-Scanner. It made sense that he could tell Sato was in the kitchen. "You don't look like you slept well."
"Well, I've been getting up at five in the morning for so long, it's just a part of my routine," Yaoyorozu admitted, "Though I'm not sure about Sato. He was already in the kitchen even before I was up," Izuku had to do a double take. How long was he in the kitchen for? And what was he making that took over an hour?
Izuku looked down at the book Yaoyorozu was studying. It was filled with a lot of chemical formulas, all of which were handwritten. And going by the other writings nearby, written by Yaoyorozu herself.
"My quirk is Creation. I can create any non-living material that I know the molecular makeup of." Yaoyorozu's voice echoed in his mind.
"Trying to memorize all those formulas?" Yaoyorozu recoiled slightly in surprise at the question.
"Well…" Yaoyorozu hesitated to answer, leading to a solid ten seconds of stiff silence that began to worry Izuku, "I've just been… reevaluating myself." Izuku's brow furrowed in confusion before she continued. "Back at the U.S.J. I was so scared when we fought you that I couldn't even think of what to make or what to do to stop you from hurting Jirou or Kaminari. I felt useless against you and… I'm not sure how to handle it." That hit Izuku in the gut.
'So, it's my fault she's doubting herself,' Izuku thought before listening back to what his deputy was saying.
"Yesterday was so hectic, I didn't even start thinking about it until I went to bed and it kept me up all night."
"So, I was right? You really didn't sleep well at all." Izuku asked, earning a nod from Yaoyorozu.
"Though I don't think you're one to talk yourself, Midoriya," She replied with a smile, "I can see your bags just as well."
"Yeah, I guess not," Izuku conceded, rubbing under his eyes, "Though I'm surprised you're admitting that to me of all people. We barely know each other."
"Maybe but it does concern you so I only felt it was fair to inform you."
*Ding*
The two were pulled from their conversation as the sound of a timer went off in the kitchen, followed not too long after by the smell.
"What's Sato making?" Izuku asked as he got up to see, wondering why he smells something… extremely suspicious.
"I don't know but I fear it might need to be classified as a chemical weapon of some sort," Yaoyorozu answered as she followed behind him. She needed a break anyway. The two walked into the kitchen to see the big man himself glaring daggers at a tray of brownies. The smell alone probably would have killed lesser beings but they were hero course students. So, of course, it just made them both gag instead.
"You alright?" Izuku poked Sato in his buff biceps, causing the larger teen to finally break his gaze.
"Oh, hey Midoriya," Sato grumbled, annoyed with his work, "I had a flash of inspiration last night and got hungry. I wanted to see if I could make a new recipe for brownies but no luck so far."
"I'm sure it can't be that bad," Yaoyorozu said with a cough, clearly not convincing anyone. Sato just smirked before he pulled out two brownies and handed them both one.
"Bet you they are," he replied. Izuku looked at the brownie in his hand. It looked fine but he was very sure it would probably be a bad idea.
And unfortunately, bad ideas are his forte. Izuku took a bite of the brownie while Yaoyorozu looked on, incredulous that Izuku actually went through with it. Izuku, face completely neutral, chewed twice, walked over to the trash can, spat it back out, threw the brownie in, grabbed Yaoyorozu's brownie out of her hand and the tray it came from, dumped all the brownies into the trash and then threw in the tray too for good measure.
"Yeah, no, that was the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten," Sato just burst out laughing, delighted by Izuku's antics.
"Did you have to throw away the tray too?" Yaoyorozu inquired, confused.
"It's been contaminated. It can never be used again. Ever."
"Well, that's cooking for you," Sato replied with a wide smile, "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."
"Well, I wouldn't know, I've never actually had to cook for myself," Yaoyorozu admitted.
"Your family's rich right so you probably have people to do that for you," Izuku noted, as Yaoyorozu nodded, "I guess it was something you never needed to learn before."
"Well, I'm getting nowhere with this so how bout I teach you how to make some basic brownies," Sato offered.
"Would be a nice surprise for Eri. She loves sweets," Izuku accepted.
"Well, I suppose it would be a good experience," Yaoyorozu agreed before pulling out three more trays out of her arm. "We'll probably not want to use the one Midoriya just threw away," She suggested, causing Izuku to bashfully chuckle at his actions.
"So, I've got to ask, what's up?" Tsu and Ochako were walking up to Gym Gamma, which was actually two buildings, one containing a large space for quirk training that was used by hero course students, and an actual gym for all students who wanted to work out and exercise at their leisure. For today, they were heading for the latter, as was Ochako's plan.
"What do you mean?" Ochako nervously asked. Tsu looked at her eyes.
"You know exactly what I mean." She said as she stopped her friend and ran a finger under her eyes, "You've got bags on your bags and I know what crying eyes look like from taking care of my siblings for so long. What happened?"
"I… I don't want to talk about it," Ochako turned away from Tsu, who just sighed.
"What happened to not keeping secrets from each other?" Ochako groaned at Tsu's question.
"I walked right into that…"
"With arms wide open. Well?" Ochako looked around, as there were a few people already up and about, heading for the gym. It was almost as if yesterday never happened and everyone was just going about their lives. But she couldn't.
She wasn't strong enough yet.
"We're in public, can we talk about it later?" Tsu nodded before patting her on the shoulder with a comforting smile.
"Don't think I'll forget, ribbit." The two continued walking into the gym to get a workout in.
The three cooks stood in the 1-A kitchen staring at the plates in front of them with three sets of brownies. Izuku's were basic-looking but serviceable, Sato's were finely decorated with a practiced ease, while Yaoyorozu's were extravagant looking with sprinkles, frosting, a small dot of whipped cream, perfectly color-coded with its decorations.
"I feel like somewhere along the way, this turned into a competition and I wasn't informed," Izuku sighed at his first ever attempt at Sato's recipe when in comparison to the plates next to his.
"Well, anyone can make food look good but it's down to the taste test to see where we stand," Sato said as he grabbed a few of Izuku's brownies and handed them out. "Bon appétit," he said before downing the whole thing in a single bite.
"You sound almost like Aoyama," Yaoyorozu joked before taking a much smaller bite. Izuku followed suit with his own.
"Mm, nutty, with the right amount of fudge so that it doesn't overshadow the whole brownie," Sato praised as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. Izuku had to agree but not as much as he would like, "Not a bad first try, Midoriya. Was that your first time using an oven?"
"Well, if I've got a detailed enough recipe, I can probably make it fine," Izuku explained with a doubtful look, "I had to cook for me and Eri a lot but it was always simple things I could do on a makeshift grill in a forest or make at Minoru's place if I was lucky. I made food to eat, not necessarily to enjoy it, so I don't know what you guys are talking about. These aren't that good."
"Well, it is certainly impressive work, Midoriya," Yaoyorozu commented, "I can tell you've got some experience but I agree that it could use more work. It's a little bland for me. I'm sure Eri would love to see how much better you can make these."
"Well, if you want to see impressive," Sato grabbed two brownies from his plate and handed them to his classmates, "Check these beauties." The two tasted the brownies, now the complete antithesis of the abomination Sato made earlier. Tasty, smooth with a bit of crutch but with a strong richness to the chocolate and fudge. It made Izuku's brownies look amateur hour.
"Wow, it's amazing, Sato!" Izuku beamed at the delicious brownie.
"Indeed. It's so rich and delectable, it just melts in your mouth," Yaoyorozu sighed as she finished her brownie, wanting another.
"I guess it's not much of a surprise that the son of a baker can cook sweets, huh?" Sato said with a hearty laugh. The two nodded before they looked at Yaoyorozu's plate. No one in the room knew what to expect.
'Yaoyorozu seemed confident when she was cooking so it should be fine,' Izuku thought as the three grabbed a brownie each and dug in… only to immediately regret this decision.
"BLEH!" The three all recoiled in shock, spitting out the brownie in the garbage or sink, whichever was closest.
"Oh god, it tastes like a party in my mouth and everyone's vomiting!" Izuku cried out, trying to wash his tongue out with water, "How is this somehow worse than the first batch Sato made?!
"I think… there's something wrong with the brownies..." he said with a gag, feeling sick to his stomach "Scratch that, everything is wrong with these brownies…" Yaoyorozu couldn't help but agree, taken aback by just how awfulthese were.
"But… I don't understand. I followed the recipe to the letter," Yaoyorozu dejectedly wondered as she threw away the cursed brownie, "How could this have gone so wrong…?" Sato and Izuku saw the look of failure on her face as she stared at her plate of brownies.
"Hey, Yaoyorozu," Sato began, trying to cheer her up, "I'm sure it was just bad luck or something. I'm sure if we work together, we'll fix it, easy."
"Yeah, no need to look so down about it. We'll just try again."
"...Thank you both," Yaoyorozu said quietly before looking up with determination, "But I must conquer this hill on my own!" She immediately grabbed all the ingredients again and went back to work, "I'm sure I'll get it this time."
"Hey, aren't those two girls from the hero course?" a boy whispered to his friend, pointing at Ochako as she was preparing to deadlift with Tsu watching on from the leg press machine to make sure her friend didn't hurt herself.
"Yeah, I think I've seen them around," his friend replied as Ochako got ready to lift, making sure all fingers were on the bar and it was under her control. "Brunette's pretty cute. Maybe I could ask her out."
"Wait, is that girl from 1-A? The class that got attacked?"
"Is she? She doesn't seem all that tough if she lifting just the bar. Is she that weak?" Ochako overheard this comment and smirked a little. She was gonna enjoy this.
"Man, standards must be lacking. How'd she get into the hero course but I couldn't?" Ochako activated One For All and deadlifted the bar with perfect form before throwing it down to the mat with a heavy thud that could be felt for several meters, shocking everyone watching.
"You were saying?" Ochako giggled sweetly as the two boys quickly bolted out of sight at her response. "Release." Ochako released the gravity before picking up the bar like it was nothing to her.
"It's funny how they're all talk till they see just how out of their league you are," Tsu joked as she started going through her reps, "It's also good to see you're smiling again. Maybe I should find some more boys for you to embarrass and make them feel inadequate."
"Please don't," Ochako groaned as she put the bar back where she found it for a moment, wondering if there was a heavier one she could use. "I didn't come here to show off, I came to get stronger and practice my quirk."
"So, how much weight was that?" Tsu asked as she took a small breather between her sets.
"I got it to feel… maybe five times heavier so not much," Tsu took one look at her before pointing at the bar.
"It says '30 kg' on the bar so you say lifting 150 kg is 'not much'?"
"Well, for me, it's not much," Ochako replied, unintentionally bragging, "Besides, it's just a guess. I'm not so good at raising gravity that I can just… feel it out." Tsu nodded before looking off behind Ochako to see a boy with messy purple hair occasionally looking their way, just in earshot. His face looked like how Aizawa's looked most days: tired and disinterested but with an anger burning beneath the surface that Aizawa often lacked since he was upfront and honest about his opinions, especially his anger. She could tell he was listening intently, even when he wasn't looking. Something about him gave her the creeps. He quickly got up and walked over to a bench press, farther away from them once he realized he was caught.
"Tsu?" Ochako asked as she looked at her friend with confusion in her eyes.
"Hmm? Oh, there was this guy watching us," Tsu whispered back, "I don't know but something gives me bad vibes about him." Ochako looked at her with uncertainty as she thought about the description of the boy.
"Bad vibes how?"
"Aizawa bad vibes."
"Ouch, that's pretty harsh, Tsu," Ochako said as she grabbed weights and the deadlift bar again, carrying them all as they weighed nothing with her quirk active.
"Actually gonna do it right this time?"
"Well, I can't seem to find a bar that's heavier than this one so I'll just have to make one so I don't push my quirk too much and get sick," She explained before sighing, "Besides, I don't want people to keep asking me why I deadlift with just the bar."
"I don't know, I found it entertaining," Tsu remarked as she started on her next set.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Tsu."
Yaoyorozu's frustrated eyes looked at her fourth batch now, which only seemed to get worse and worse with each attempt, starting to wonder why on earth this is so hard for her. Literally, all she did was follow the instructions but no matter what she tried, it always came out horrid.
"Why?! Why can't I do this?!" Yaoyorozu cried in exasperation. Sato and Izuku exchanged glances.
"I don't know, I'm not a chef. I can barely cook as it is, much less tell someone what they're doing wrong. Maybe the oven just hates you or something," Izuku wondered as he looked over the oven, unsure why his classmate was having such a hard time.
"I'm even more confused," Sato remarked as he examined the brownie, "I watched everything she did and she did it just like I told her and it still didn't work. Maybe you have some sort of curse that prevents you from making food right."
"D-don't be silly! There's no such thing as curses!" Yaoyorozu protested, before growling at the plate of brownies, "I'm just… having inexplicable amounts of difficulty with something this simple." Izuku could feel her annoyance boiling over and walked towards the door.
"Why don't we take a break for now? Getting angry over this isn't gonna help." Yaoyorozu took a deep breath and nodded, with Sato following behind with a few glasses of water for the three of them.
"If it helps any, you did everything right," Sato tried to reassure Yaoyorozu, even though it wasn't working.
"Honestly, I'm surprised how heated you got over something like brownies," Izuku added, "I guess you're passionate about a lot of things, not just school."
"Of course I'm passionate," Yaoyorozu replied, "I want to do my best at everything I do, no matter how trivial or insignificant it may be. It's the standard I set for myself," Izuku nodded, understanding a little about where she's coming from.
"So, failing at something is a new experience for you," Yaoyorozu nodded at Izuku's deduction,
'It probably stings extra hard for her, since the U.S.J attack happened yesterday and I made her feel like a chump when she was too scared to think.' "Well, maybe it's time to return to basics." Izuku recommended, causing the puzzled Yaoyorozu to look at him in surprise. Tai's words echoed in Izuku's mind.
"If you ever feel stuck and are unsure of what to do, return to basics. The basics are your foundation that everything you are and can do is built from. You could have the sturdiest, most resilient materials in existence to make a house but if that house is built on loose sand, it will fall, every time. By the same token, you could have the strongest quirk ever seen, but if you don't understand the basics, you will fail, every time."
"Sounds about right," Sato quipped as he took a sip of his water, "My folks taught me something similar when I worked at the bakery."
"The basics, huh?" Yaoyoruzu took a second to ponder.
"You said something similar during our first hero class, remember?" Izuku stated, allowing Yaoyoruzu to recall what she said to her classmates.
"One should always start with the basics and devote themselves wholeheartedly to learning. That's the only real way to become a top hero."
"How silly of me to forget my own advice," she said with an embarressed sigh. "For me, that would be these chemical formulas I use to make everything from." Sato suddenly got an idea as he looked at the notebook Yaoyorozu was gesturing to.
"You know, chemistry is a lot like cooking," Sato stated, grabbing the two's attention, "If you don't have the right ingredients at the right ratios, you'll end up with something different then what you wanted." For Yaoyorozu, it was like a light went off. Maybe if she approached cooking differently then…
"I've got it!" Yaoyorozu shouted as she took off for the kitchen, leaving the two boys in a small state of shock at her sudden declaration. She tried the recipe again, this time with no doubts in her mind that it will work this time.
After all the waiting, she sat a plate down of new brownies and waited with bated breath as the two boys merely looked at the plate, a bit uneasy. Izuku figured he might as well before grabbing a brownie, causing Sato and Yaoyorozu to join in. The first bite…
"Huh, this isn't half bad this time." Sato remarked as he happily finished off the brownie.
"Yeah, it's so much better that I'm actually not sure what you did differently," Izuku agreed, more than pleased with the result. So was Yaoyorozu, who managed to overcome at least one hurdle.
"I think it was my mentality. I was so focused on my failure yesterday that it affected me today, even if only subconsciously. So, I returned to the basics and approached it with what I had: Chemistry." The two boys smile, happy their classmate was able to improve herself and get a bit of confidence back.
Midoriya stood on the lawn in front of the dorm, breathing in the nice, cool, spring air as he went through his warm-ups. All the fun in the kitchen sidetracked him a little so after eating some of his mother's cooking for breakfast, he got straight to work. About halfway through his stretches, he heard the dorm's front door open.
"Yo, Zuku, you got up this early on a day-off?" Minoru noted in surprise, bringing a smile to Izuku's face at the sound of his friend's voice
"Against my better judgement," He snarked.
"Ha, you never were one for sound judgement," Minoru joked as he walked over.
"Now that's just low," Izuku remarked with a smirk as he resumed stretching, "So, why are you up?" Minoru took a seat on the ground as he watched his friend go through his routine.
"Couldn't sleep a wink for the life of me. Had a nightmare about being trapped at the Flood Zone all by myself with all those villains."
"Heard about that. I'm glad you guys got out of that with nothing more than a broken finger," There was an awkward silence as Minoru scratched the back of his head and just looked towards the sky, watching the early rays of the sun.
"Yeah…"
"You okay?" Izuku stopped stretching to look at his friend with a concerned look.
"Don't know. Let me get back to you on that," Minoru put on his best fake smile to reassure his friend but Izuku wasn't buying it. Though he knew better than to force the issue, "Anyway, we're still having that movie night later with the girls?"
"Ochako and Tsu haven't said it was off or anything."
"Cool, cool," Minoru watched as Izuku went back to stretching. "You know they have a gym here, right?
"Yeah, but do I want to?" Izuku asked, "I mean, we were all over the news yesterday and last I checked, we still are on the news. People are probably gonna be sick to death of us before Monday comes around."
"Maybe but we'll never be able to hide from it forever."
"Hide from what?" The two turned and looked to see Eri looking at them, bewildered by the conversation she just walked up on. The two smiled at the arrival.
"Morning sis," Izuku said as he kneeled down and patted his sister on the head affectionately, "Did you sleep well," She shook her head, causing his smile to fade. "Why not?"
"Mr. Aizawa's not back and I'm worried about him."
"He was pretty beat up," Minoru said sadly, causing Izuku to look over at him with an unamused stare, "Sorry, not helping..." Izuku sighed before thinking about it. Aizawa was kind to Eri so it was only natural she'd be worried about him.
"Well… Maybe we can go see him," Izuku offered.
"Really?!" Eri asked, hopeful, "Can we go see him?!"
"Are you sure about that?" Minoru asked, "Last I checked, you're in a gilded cage and can't leave."
"I can't leave unsupervised," Izuku corrected with a smirk.
Izuku held Eri's hand as she was led down the hospital halls. The sterile environment reminded her a lot of Chisaki's base that it gave her shivers. It wasn't nearly as warm and pleasant as Recovery Girl's office. But she had her bro at her side so she was fine. He was all she needed to get through the unease. She took note of the people that were supervising them.
"Thanks again for doing this, Mr. Hizashi, Miss Nemuri," Eri said with a happy smile, causing Kayama to chuckle at the cute girl.
"Oh, it was no problem, sweetie," She cooed, "I'm more than happy to chaperone for my favorite brave girl and her brother."
"I was planning on coming to see Shouta anyway so I say the more, the merrier!" Yamada nearly shouted, having to be shushed by a passing nurse, causing Eri to giggle at the antics.
"I doubt Aizawa would be very merry to see me, after all the problems I've caused him," Izuku stated, remembering all the training he had to receive from Aizawa to help him better control his power, not to mention all the problems going on with his class and the coming-out party about his past and what he is. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he just saw me as an annoying pest he can't get rid of."
"Well, I've known Shouta since we were first-years at U.A. so I know him like the back of my hand," Izuku was taken aback a bit. He wasn't aware that Aizawa went to U.A., "Trust me, he's like that with everybody. If he didn't care, he wouldn't even show up to work," Izuku had to concede that much. If Aizawa didn't care, he probably wouldn't have bothered to train him at all, much less for four months.
"Don't worry too much about it, Midoriya. I doubt you haven't at least proven yourself worthy of his time if you're still here," Kayama added as they came to the hallway with Aizawa's room. After passing Raahil's room, they arrived at the room containing Aizawa and Thirteen. Hizashi pulled the door open like he lived there and walked in with the other three following behind. Izuku and Eri got their first look at the two pros. Thirteen was lying on their stomach with the back of their suit ripped out while Aizawa looked less human and more mummy after the doctors were done with him. Body cast from head to toe. Aizawa's eyes opened to see his guests.
"Mic, Midnight, Midoriyas," Aizawa's raspy voice made Izuku feel guilty. The man must be in a lot of pain from all the damage. He should be resting and here he was trying to visit him. Eri walked up and stood at the bedside, face scrunched with sorrow. "I understand Mic and Midnight but I'm surprised to see you here, Midoriya. I was under the impression you thought I didn't care about you," Izuku instantly remembered his recorded conversation with All Might so of course he would know about that.
"Mr. Aizawa…" Eri muttered.
"I'm not the biggest fan of you, true, but I still owe you so much for your help last winter with Rage Shroud and being so nice and patient with Eri that I can't really hate you, even if I don't like you," Izuku stated plainly, "And it was Eri that wanted to come. I just figured I'd tag along."
"Hmm, fair enough, I guess," Aizawa simply replied.
"Dang, kid, tell us how you really feel," Kayama chuckled a bit at Izuku's response.
"Anyway, if you're curious, I had two shattered arms, two broken legs, smashed orbital bones, three ribs cracked, four broken, hemorrhaging diaphragm, and a broken nose," Aizawa listed off the laundry list of injuries he suffered, earning a shiver from Eri, even if she didn't know what an "orbital bone" was or what "hemorrhaging" meant. "Thankfully, I seemed to have gotten the worst of it, relatively speaking."
"Thankfully?" Izuku asked with a raised eyebrow, "You're lucky to even be alive if what you just told us is anything to go by."
"The hero in me would prefer others be safe before I am. Barring that, they at least will be in better shape than me when the crisis is over," He sighed with annoyance, "Though, the orbital bones are the one I'm most upset over," Izuku nodded. The orbital bones are meant to protect and keep the eyes in place. Aizawa's quirk needed his eyes to function properly. "The doctor didn't mince words. I have an orbital floor fracture so moving my eyes is very difficult without pain. He said I should consider retiring from hero work."
Izuku was afraid of that when he heard about the orbital bone. Without his quirk, it would be very difficult for Aizawa to continue as a pro. He could still teach, sure, but he'd be limited in another attack by the handicap.
"Course, that won't stop you, will it?" Hizashi remarked with a sigh, like he expected as much, "You never were one to give up so why start now?"
"If he wasn't, he would have been stuck in Gen Ed the whole time back in school," Another thing Izuku learned about his teacher as Kayama explained, though he figured it was the case. He already knew Aizawa would struggle in a test like that since he pointed it out himself. Izuku noticed Eri looking at Aizawa with tears in her eyes. She was probably feeling even more down than usual about this. After all, she had the perfect power to fix it, but she couldn't.
"Eri…" Izuku muttered as he walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. Eri looked at the bed before climbing up to sit next to Aizawa.
"Don't worry about me, Eri," Aizawa reassured her, "I'll be fine."
"But… you won't be able to do your job anymore…" Eri said as she placed a hand on Aizawa's arm cast.
"Maybe. Maybe not. We'll find out soon enough," Aizawa replied. Eri just stared a hole at the cast with her gaze, upset that there was nothing she could do about it. She wanted, so desperately to help him. This man showed her kindness with snacks, patience and encouragement and agreed to help her control her power so she wouldn't have to be afraid anymore. That she can't use that power to help him hurt her down to the bottom of her heart.
"Wow…" Yamada said breathlessly, as if something incredible caught his eyes.
"Eri…?" Izuku was talking to her.
"Is that supposed to happen?" Kayama asked no one in particular. Eri turned to look at everyone, wondering what they were talking about.
"Your horn, Eri," Aizawa pointed out, causing the girl to look up and finally notice the glow radiating off of it. Aizawa turned his own quirk on to cancel out hers, causing a small gasp to escape the girl's mouth. Izuku was at her side in a flash as she started to breathe heavily.
"Shouta?" Yamada turned to his long-time friend as he watched Aizawa slowly flex his fingers.
"Was that Rewind?" Kayama wondered as she watched Aizawa fidget slightly.
"Mic, get a doctor. I want a full examination of me."
"Right! I'll get one right now!" Yamada said as he bolted from the room. Izuku and Eri watched as the doctor and nurse quickly wheeled Aizawa out to get examined, hopeful to hear good news.
An hour later, Aizawa walked into the room under his own power, looking just like he did the day before.
"They're calling it a 'miracle'," he stated dryly, as if he expected as much, "'As if I was never attacked to begin with'. The doctor gave me a clean bill of health."
"T-that's great!" Izuku remarked in astonishment, "You'll be able to keep being a hero now."
"Well, I was still gonna try, even without the doctor's approval, but now it doesn't matter," Aizawa got down to one knee to face Eri at her level, with a genuine smile on his face. "And I've got you to thank for that, Eri. Thanks." Eri beamed at the gratitude she was given. She helped. She really did help. Her power wasn't something that made others disappear anymore. It was something that could help people now.
"Way to go, little lady!" Yamada praised.
"I knew you'd be great and look at me being right," Kayama added.
"I'm happy for you, Eri," Izuku said with a hug.
"Hey guys," the group all turned to Thirteen, who they forgot was in the room. "Think I could get some of that. My back's killing me." Izuku chuckled a little before lifting up Eri.
"What do you say? Want to give it a try?"
"Yeah!"