Chapter 19 patients and parents
The golden light of the vestige realm felt quieter now that Ashborn had stepped through the portal and vanished. Izuku stood there for a long moment, staring at the empty space where the swirling violet gate had been, his mind still spinning from everything he had just learned.
Before he could fully process it, one of the glowing silhouettes stepped forward — a tall, lean man with sharp features and a calm, almost detached presence. The Fourth User. Hikage Shinomori.
"You felt it, didn't you?" the Fourth said quietly, his voice steady but kind. "That prickling at the back of your skull. The sharp static that kept getting stronger."
Izuku nodded slowly, still trying to catch his breath. "Yeah… it started on the bus. Then it got worse inside the dome. Like something was trying to tell me danger was coming."
Hikage gave a small, understanding nod.
"That's Danger Sense," he explained. "My quirk. It warns you of any imminent threat to your life. The closer and more dangerous the threat, the stronger the feeling. It doesn't tell you exactly what the danger is or where it's coming from — just that it's there. You have to learn to listen to it and trust it. It has never let me down."
Izuku's eyes widened slightly as the pieces clicked into place. "So… that's why I kept getting those stabs of pain. It was trying to warn me about the villains… about Shigaraki…"
"Exactly," Hikage said. "It's not perfect. It can be overwhelming if you're not used to it, especially when combined with everything else you have going on. But it's a powerful tool. Use it well."
Before Izuku could ask anything else, Nana stepped forward again. She wrapped her arms around him in another warm, motherly hug.
"You've been through so much already," she murmured gently against the top of his head. "Your body has a lot of work to do right now, Izuku. It's rewriting itself, healing, adapting… you need to rest. Let it happen. Sleep, sweetheart. You've earned it."
Izuku felt a sudden wave of exhaustion crash over him all at once. The golden light around him started to feel softer, warmer, pulling him gently downward. He slowly nodded against Nana's shoulder, his eyelids growing heavier by the second.
"Okay…" he whispered, voice sleepy and small.
Nana smiled softly and held him a little tighter as his eyes finally drifted shut.
The hospital room was quiet except for the steady beeping of monitors and the low hum of machines. Soft overhead lights cast a sterile glow across the two beds placed side by side in the private recovery suite. Outside the window, the city lights of Musutafu glittered in the distance, but inside, the atmosphere was heavy with anxiety and exhaustion.
Izuku lay unconscious in the left bed, his body hooked up to multiple IV lines and monitors. His breathing was shallow but steady. The doctors had done everything they could, to stabilize him, pumping him full of nutrients, and running every test they had available. But his condition remained critical. His body was breaking down, failing in ways they couldn't explain.
Momo and Shōko sat between the two beds, each holding Izuku's hand or arm. Momo's eyes were red-rimmed from crying, her usual composure cracked. Shōko's face was pale, her expression tight as she stared at Izuku's still form, her free hand resting on Nerissa's arm.
Inko sat beside Izuku's bed, tears streaming silently down her face as she clutched his other hand. She had barely moved since arriving, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs. The doctors had told her they were doing everything possible, but the looks on their faces made it clear they were worried about his chances.
Nerissa lay in the right bed, her chest rising and falling in a slow, mechanical rhythm thanks to the machines helping her breathe. The wound in her chest had been closed, but the black substance that had kept her alive was still visible in the faint dark veins beneath her skin.
The door to the room opened quietly.
Edmund Ravencroft and Akari Ravencroft stepped inside, their faces pale and drawn. Edmund was tall, with sharp British features and neatly combed dark hair streaked with gray. He carried himself with the rigid posture of a man used to high-stakes international work. Akari, his wife, had the delicate features of her Japanese heritage, her long dark blue hair tied back in a simple ponytail. Her eyes, the same bright pink as Nerissa's, immediately filled with tears when she saw her daughter lying motionless in the bed.
Momo and Shōko stood up immediately, bowing slightly out of respect.
Akari rushed forward without hesitation, stopping beside Nerissa's bed and gently taking her daughter's hand. "My baby… what happened to you?"
Edmund stood a step behind her, his jaw tight as he took in the sight of both injured teenagers. His eyes lingered on Izuku for a long moment before he turned to the doctor who had followed them in.
"Tell us everything," he said, voice steady but strained. "No sugarcoating."
The lead doctor, a middle-aged woman with tired eyes and a clipboard in hand, nodded gravely.
"Nerissa suffered a direct stab wound through the heart," she began. "By all medical logic, she should not have survived long enough to reach us. However… there is an unknown black substance in her system that appears to have kept her alive. It has been circulating on its own, supplying oxygen even when her heart stopped beating visibly. We've stabilized her and repaired the damage as best as we can, but we're still running tests. We're confident she will pull through, but it's going to be a long recovery."
Akari let out a shaky sob of relief, squeezing her daughter's hand tighter.
The doctor turned her gaze to Izuku, her expression growing more serious and grim.
"As for Midoriya… his condition is far more concerning. The same black substance has completely replaced his blood. All our tests show his body is breaking down at a cellular level. His organs are under immense stress, and his vital signs are unstable. We've hooked him up to machines and are supplying him with nutrients, which his body is absorbing at an extreme pace, but… we don't know how to stop the deterioration. We're doing everything we can, but right now, we're fighting blind and….. his body looks to be failing."
Inko's quiet crying grew louder. Momo and Shōko exchanged pained glances, their hands tightening around Izuku's.
Edmund's face hardened, but his voice remained controlled. "And you have no idea what this black substance is?"
The doctor shook her head. "It's unlike anything we've ever seen. It behaves almost like a living entity, adapting, protecting, and now apparently rewriting his biology. We're running every test we have, but it's going to take time. But our best guess is it has something to do with Izuku's quirk."
Akari stood up slowly, wiping her eyes as she looked between the two beds. "Nerissa has been talking about Izuku for years and she sounded even happier in recent months.… but I never imagined it would come to this."
Inko's quiet sobs had grown softer but no less heartbreaking as she clutched Izuku's limp hand, her shoulders shaking. Momo couldn't stand it any longer. She rose from her seat between the two beds, crossed the short distance, and wrapped her arms around Inko in a gentle but firm hug.
"It's going to be okay, Midoriya-san," Momo whispered, voice thick with her own unshed tears. "Izuku is strong. He's always been strong. We're all here with him… we're not going anywhere."
Inko leaned into the embrace, one hand coming up to grip Momo's arm as fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. "Thank you… thank you for staying with him."
Shōko remained seated, one hand still resting protectively on Nerissa's arm and the other lightly on Izuku's shoulder, her expression tight but resolute.
On the other side of the room, Nerissa's mother had finished speaking quietly with one of the doctors. After confirming that her quirk would not interfere with the black substance or the ongoing treatment, she stepped closer to her daughter's bed.
Akari placed both hands gently on Nerissa's chest, just above the bandaged wound. A soft, warm golden light began to glow beneath her palms as she activated her quirk. The energy flowed carefully, accelerating the healing. The light pulsed steadily, knitting tissue and stabilizing what the black blood had already preserved.
Edmund stood a step behind his wife, one hand resting on her shoulder, his face a mask of controlled worry as he watched both teenagers.
The room was filled with the quiet beeping of monitors and the low murmur of medical staff moving between the beds.
---
In a separate conference room down the hall, the situation was far more tense.
A large screen dominated one wall, displaying a live video call with a team of the world's top quirk specialists. Recovery Girl stood at the head of the table, her usual cane leaning against her chair. Several leading doctors from the hospital flanked her, and a group of researchers were on screen from I-Island who had been pulled in through All Might asking an urgent favor to David Shield.
The head of the I-Island team, Dr. Hiroshi, adjusted his glasses as he reviewed the latest scans on his tablet.
"His vitals are not too worrying, but the cellular breakdown is continuing at an alarming rate," he said. "The black substance that has completely replaced his blood is acting like a secondary circulatory system, but it's also breaking down tissue at an alarming rate. We're essentially watching his body tear itself apart and rebuild simultaneously in a back and forth cycle."
One of the hospital doctors rubbed his temples. "We've tried every stabilizing agent we have. His body is absorbing nutrients at an extreme pace, but it's not enough. If this continues, we're going to lose him."
Recovery Girl's expression was grim. She had been unusually quiet, her small frame tense.
An intern — a young woman with wide eyes and a nervous fidget — timidly raised her hand from the back of the I-Island group.
"Um… excuse me," she said, voice small. "What if… this isn't his body failing? What if this is his quirk trying to make changes?"
The room went quiet.
She continued, gaining a little confidence. "Most quirks cause some kind of physical mutation or adaptation when they awaken to help the body handle the new power."
The lead doctors exchanged glances. One of them shook his head.
"We considered something similar," Dr. Hiroshi admitted, "but we discarded it. He's eighteen. Quirk awakenings or major changes usually happen in early childhood, not this late."
Recovery Girl finally spoke, her voice sharp and certain.
"He didn't awaken his quirk at the normal time," she said. "It manifested much later than most children, it happened under extreme stress when he was nine. That delay could have prevented the necessary physical changes from happening back then. His body is catching up now, all at once, and the stress of the USJ incident has forced it into a state of do or die."
The room fell into a heavy silence as the implications sank in and thought about it.