He never liked alcohol, especially the stronger beverages that curled his tongue and made him gag.
Even so, the nearly empty bottle of whiskey that hung in his hand caused him enough to pain to numb his true suffering.
But no amount of sore throats and hangovers can bring back what was lost.
"Damn him." Was that his voice? It sounded so raspy and weak. Whatever. He couldn't feel the pain anyway, if there was any. Oh, who was he kidding? Of course there was. The pain has been no-stop ever since his damn brother decided to go solo…
And paid for it.
"Damn him" The words hissed past his chapped lips.
He should have known better than to let him go once he started to act stranger. The higher number above his head should have been a dead give-away.
Why didn't he just do something?
Anything?
Not that it matters now.
His brother is dead and here he was with nothing.
Nothing but the constant stares.
"Piss off!" His shout caused any nearby people to flinch and quickly lock their gazes back on the sidewalk. Nosy bastards. Just because he looked rough and probably smelt of booze didn't mean they could all watch him like he's some animal.
They were the animals. Nothing but livestock compared to him. Weaklings that he could take from with ease. The numbers over their heads gave him the upmost confidence that he could beat them all with his bare hands.
Wait, no. That was the booze talking.
He needed to calm down.
Oh, right.
The pain.
Besides, not like the number 2 above his head was anything so dazzling. If he could remember correctly, his brother's number was somewhere in the late 20s, maybe early 30s.
One thing's for damn sure.
That number won't be changing anymore.
All because he got too greedy.
All because some bastard ripped him apart like a monster.
"Damn him…"
He could still remember the way his mutilated body looked when the mortician showed him the body. Even he almost couldn't recognize his own brother, and he wouldn't have if it weren't for his pale brown eyes.
Those cold… lifeless dead eyes.
"Damn yo-"
He lost it. His pent-up aggression and sorrow boiled over and spilled out in a scream for everyone around him to hear.
Only for it to be cut short.
That anger fell in the shadow of his newly found fear.
The number 134 stared back at him from the few people around.
The number hung above a mere boy.
A boy with the blackest eyes and pupils that glowed an eerie green. Those same eyes stared at him in confusion for his outburst, and now also why he met his gaze.
He turned and ran. He ran faster than he ever has in his entire life as fear scraped its claws down his back.
The bottle of whiskey had fallen to become a sad mess of glass shards and the smallest amount of liquid.
Everyone stood in place, confused and bewildered.
But a certain teen with black eyes felt a little more when the man stared at him of all people.
..............................…
Izuku wasn't really sure why he hesitated. His right hand was balled into a fist as it hovered directly in front of the door, yet there was something that kept him from doing so.
There were too many possible reasons on why, so…
Izuku lightly sighed through his nose, his mind full of contemplation.
"Just come in already." A voice, slightly muffled, came from the other side. It surprised Izuku a bit, but there was no way to turn back now.
He grabbed the door handle instead of knocking and went in. Who he found wasn't a discovery, but the state they were in sure as hell was.
"Aizawa-sensei?" The name came out as Izuku's eyes fell upon the person fully wrapped in bandages and casts, including his head that only let his hair hang out from the top. If it weren't for the heart monitor that beeped in the background, Izuku could have thought the hero was dead.
"That is me, believe it or not." Aizawa said in a mopey voice that was muffled due to his mouth being covered. "Sit down." The man commanded in a softer tone.
Izuku did as told and chose one of the many other chairs that were used by his fellow classmates in the previous days. Izuku sat in one that was near the bottom right corner.
"Good to see that you're still alive." Izuku stated in a low voice, not entirely sure how he should go about this.
"Like-wise. Especially when I heard that you had a one-on-one confrontation with this Nomu that I've been hearing so much about." Aizawa didn't take long to get right to the point behind the reason for this requested visit, but Izuku expected it at this point from his teacher.
"Yeah." Izuku answered after a brief pause.
"You're lucky that your bones are strong and that you can regenerate. Otherwise, I might not have been the only one like this. Or even worse. It wasn't your place as a student to willingly put yourself in danger like that." Izuku lowered his gaze as he was scolded. "However… if it weren't for your actions, I very well might be dead. Thank you." That came as a surprise for Izuku to hear those words from the uptight person that he thought Aizawa to be.
"Um, you're welcome." Izuku felt a faint smile when he knew that things were going to turn out okay from this.
"So, with that out of the way, I need to know. How are you doing?" Aizawa asked in a way that suggested that he was talking about Izuku's ability to cope afterward.
"I still might be trying to wrap my head around a few things… but I think I'm alright. There was a strange guy I saw earlier today, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary." The idea that a whole villain organization attacked them was still crazy considering the circumstances, but it was something Izuku would have to deal with just as his classmates did.
"Good. As your teacher, I need to make sure each and every one of you is ok. If there is anything you need to ask, then I'll be here. If you still feel like something is injured, then head straight to Recovery Girl. Other than that, therapists have been hired for their services for the students of 1-A. I'm sure you've heard about the details from your classmates about what happened." Aizawa explained.
"Y-yeah. About the villains." The subject of villains has been an on or off topic among the dorms. Some try to figure out and piece together clues of the killer. Others pretend it never even happened.
"Then I'm sure you also know about our plan to conceal this as a cover-up." Aizawa asked.
"Yes." Izuku answered again, although this time hesitantly. Covering up a small incident with UA's power shouldn't be that hard.
But this was no small incident.
"Good. If this were to get out to the public, there would be discomfort among the people that could cause problems for both heroes and students. This needs to be kept quiet until we can make the next move. Understood?" Aizawa make it very clear that Izuku could not leak the news of what really happened in the USJ. No one could.
"Yes, Sir." Izuku agreed. Even if it was strange, it made sense.
"Alright. You may go." Aizawa said before he let out a sigh past his bandages. His tone indicated that he had probably wanted for this day to end. Izuku took the chance and got up to leave. Halfway to the door, however. "Midoriya." The teen stopped in place and turned to look back to his teacher. "Is there anything you need to ask me?"
Both were silent.
Izuku wasn't sure why he asked that. For some reason, obviously. But, oddly enough, there was one thing Izuku did want to ask. Something that he's meant to ask for a while. Something only Aizawa would know.
"How did you know that I was at the door?" The slightly gloomy atmosphere was wiped away with that simple question.
"I know many things, Midoriya." Aizawa answered mysteriously. Izuku darted his eyes throughout the room at the strange reply. After that, he didn't really know what to do, so both were left in an awkward silence. "I saw your shadow beneath the door." Aizawa finally said after a few seconds.
"Oh, you can see? I thought your eyes were patched up." This entire time, Izuku hardly looked at his teaching as he thought eye-contact was unnecessary. However, upon closer inspection, there was in fact a very thin slit in the bandages across his face.
"Indeed. If that is all, then I need to rest. Oh, and check your phone" Aizawa spoke in a way that signaled to Izuku that this wasn't the first time he's had this conversation.
"Alright. I hope you better soon." Izuku waved as he opened the door behind him and left.
Slowly, he was getting through the day himself. But first, he apparently needed to check his phone. As he walked down the hallway, he pulled it out of his pocket and searched for any notifications.
None directly in his messages.
Wait, that's right. His student email.
If Aizawa wanted him to check his phone, it would probably be something related to scho-
New Email
Principle Nezu: Come see me in my office, please.
..............................…
*Knock, knock*
"Come in." Nezu called out to his visitor. The door to his office opened to reveal the person he wanted to speak to. "Ah, Midoriya, wonderful timing. Come, come, take a seat." Nezu gestured to the chair in front of his desk with a paw.
"H-hi, Principle Nezu. Is something wrong." Midoriya looked slightly confused as to why he was brought here. He did as told and walked over to take the seat he was assigned.
"Why would there be anything wrong?" Nezu asked with a grin and the urge to tease.
"Oh, w-well, it's just the last person I would expect to want to see me is you." Midoriya answered with what seemed to be a genuine answer.
"Is that a bad thing?" Nezu decided to tease again.
"N-no-… well, it could be. If there was something wrong like I asked." Midoriya just like many others fidgeted under the calculative gaze of the mouse and his many questions. It never got old to entertain him.
"If that's the case, then do you, Midoriya, think that something is wrong?" Nezu stared directly into Midoriya's eyes as he said this. In turn, the boy pondered this for a moment.
"No?" A simple answer.
"…"
"…"
"Hm. Sorry to pull your leg. It's gets awfully boring in here at times. Anyway, I called you here today to ask some actual questions." Nezu said nothing more of what he had in mind as it would provide nothing more but distrust between them.
"About?" Midoriya tilted his head as he seemed to ignore the principle's strange reaction.
"I was hoping you could tell me about your experience with the Nomu personally. Besides Aizawa, you are the only one to have fought it." Nezu responded. Whatever information the boy could give would be greatly beneficial to their investigation.
"I'm been hearing a lot about that thing today." Midoriya said half to himself.
"That is to be expected when a deformed humanoid is said to be able to kill All Might himself. So, it would be best to learn from this so that we may be better prepared for next time." Nezu himself had not seen the full scale of this Nomu, but from the description that the rest of class1-A was able to give, it must have been something more than human.
Now, no more than a pile of severed meat and muscle lay in the wake of the mysterious murderer of USJ.
"Next time?" Midoriya furrowed his eyes at those 2 words.
"Yes. This is the first anyone has heard of this 'League of Villains' so, I do not doubt it will be the last. From the results of our investigation so far, their goal is the destruction of the hero society and The Symbol of Peace. It would be foolish to assume this will be our last confrontation." While Nezu didn't exactly like the idea that his students would be put in danger, it simply couldn't be helped for as long as those villains still roam the streets.
"Then who knows what kind of monsters they'll bring next time." Midoriya added to the statement. A sigh slipped past his lips.
"Correct." The principle nodded his head.
"Well, firstly, as far as I could tell, blunt damage had no effect on it." Midoriya started. The teen was a little stunned to see that Nezu had somehow already gotten a notepad and pen in front of him to write down. A little trick that Midoriya does every once and while.
"And your quirk allows you to shed your flesh to expose your bone which you can then use as a weapon, right?" Nezu asked as he wanted to compare the boy's abilities to the Nomu. Midoriya hesitantly nodded. "And from what I've heard, your strength is above average, and yet there were still no visible signs of damage?"
"None that I could see. However," Nezu quickly looked back up to Midoriya. "I was able to cut into it using my fingers. So, it might be able to be defeated by sharp objects." Midoriya looked to his as he said this. Nezu figured he must have thought back to when he fought the Nomu.
"Ah, yes. Your bone claws that you use as your main weapon." Nezu visualized those polished white blades that reminded him of a predator.
"You've seen them?" Midoriya looked up with confusion to meet the principle's eyes.
"Of course. I watch all of the school events. Using them against the robots in the entrance exam was superb. But I must ask. With you being able to cut the Nomu as you said along with your strong defense, how is it that you were beaten?" Nezu asked the question that was near the top of the list the made Nezu curious.
"Because it didn't matter how many times I slashed into it, the Nomu had some sort of advanced healing that recovered any wound in a matter of seconds. With that, it didn't matter how good my defense was. After some time, it was able to overpower me eventually." Nezu saw how Midoriya slightly curled in on himself as his eyes swam with a distant memory.
"I see." Nezu sighed. "All Might was the one who found you buried in a small hole. There was plenty of blood around to show the signs of struggle. But that also reminds me." Midoriya looked back to Nezu who met his gaze. "Your short fight with someone else, Tomura Shigaraki. Do you perhaps know anything related to him?" Midoriya thought about this question for a moment.
"All could really figure out about him is that his quirk has something to do with touching something with his hands. I think he's able to deconstruct objects into dust simply through physical contact." Midoriya had a thoughtful look as he thought back to the villain.
"It would appear so from the damage to Aizawa's elbow. He also gave a similar explanation. What I find strange is that two of your classmates, Tsuyu and Mineta, said that Shigaraki used his quirk on you, but it had a unique reaction." Nezu remembered the report from those 2 about how the villain's quirk failed to affect Midoriya's bones.
And he saw the Midoriya knew exactly what he was talking about with the uneasy expression he had.
"Y-yeah. It was a first for me too actually. I didn't know if it was a coincidence or something else, but apparently my bones aren't just strong, but somehow immune to the effects of other people's quirks." Midoriya explained his suspicions.
"Coincidence? Do you perhaps mean that something like this has happened before?" Nezu's curiosity came out when such a discovery that a special ability to be immune to quirks could be present in Midoriya.
"Yes. Just one before. With Uraraka on the day of the entrance exam. She used her quirk on me on accident. When she did, I realized that while I did feel lighter, I still had a significant amount of weight in my body." Midoriya thought back to that time which was when he first began to suspect the hidden trait of his bones.
"I see. Very interesting." Nezu mumbled as he was pleased with this information. Everything of importance was written down in his notepad.
"U-um, Principle Nezu?" Midoriya asked.
"Mm?" Nezu hummed as he still wrote down some final details.
"These questions… they sort of feel about me just as much as the Nomu that you said they were for." Midoriya finally expressed his unsureness behind the mouse's intentions. Of course, Nezu knew this and stopped. He looked up to look Midoriya straight in the eyes with his usual smile.
"Well, that is to be expected when you give so little detail in your file about your quirk. Makes you look suspicious of something, don't you think?" Nezu set down his pen and paper before he folded his paws together in a very confident posture.
There was no way to hide the fact that Midoriya shrunk a little at this statement.
"I-I'm not sure what you mean." Midoriya hesitated in his words.
"Your file's description of your quirk is 'bone manipulation', and… nothing. No information about being able to manipulate any other part of your body or being able to use it as a way to heal yourself. The strangest part about it is that for it to be a simple bone manipulation quirk, you decided to call it 'Grimm'." Nezu continued on as his gaze never left the boy. Nor did Midoriya's black eyes leave his. "Why is that?"
There was no immediate response. But to say the least, the atmosphere of the room changed drastically.
Nezu saw that Midoriya could no longer keep eye-contact as his glowing pupils fell to the ground.
"I was a kid back then. I thought if I named it something cool, then it would be something more than what it already was. There's no other reason behind the name. As for the lack of information, that's simply because I haven't updated my file in a long time for reasons I wish not to tell." Although Midoriya never looked Nezu in the eye, he spoke firmly without error.
His answer wasn't something that Nezu could argue against.
"Hm. Very well. But I would like you to know this, Midoriya." At Nezu's statement, the teen tilted his eyes back to the principle. "It is not particularly a bad thing to have secrets. We all have them, whether it's for the greater good. I do not doubt that you have secrets of your own. But…" Nezu leaned forward ever so slightly. He pearly black eyes stared directly into Midoriya's own and his smile suddenly wasn't so friendly. "If any of those secrets happen to put anyone in my school in danger, I will no longer view you as a student, but as a threat."
Nezu couldn't see it, but a cold chill ran down the boy's spine.
And while Midoriya couldn't see it, the same happened to Nezu.
"I… I understand." Eventually, Midoriya responded with a nod.
"Good. You may go." Nezu reciprocated the nod as a gesture to the door. Midoriya stood after a moment and turned to leave. However, unknown to Nezu, he did the same just as Aizawa and stopped him half-way. "Midoriya." The boy stopped and turned. Nezu did the same to set his eyes on him. "I am grateful for your selflessness. Because of your actions, you have saved one of staff and two of your classmates. For that I thank you." No matter who Nezu viewed, there was no way around the fact that Midoriya did indeed save 3 lives that day.
Midoriya looked slightly surprised at this turn of conversation before a very faint smile appeared.
"It's been my dream to be a hero for as long as I can remember, and that's not change anytime soon." Midoriya replied with full confidence.
Nezu only nodded at this.
Midoriya took is at the end of the conversation and left back through the door.
A click of the door latch left Nezu to sit in silence.
He started a sigh that ended when he leaned back into his chair.
"Midoriya… why is it that your eyes make me feel this way?"
..............................…
"Hey, Midoriya."
A familiar voice, but not quite in a familiar tone. It sounded…hesitant almost. But it was more than enough to bring Izuku out of his stupor.
He looked up the rest of the stairs to see Tsu as she came around corner.
"Oh. Hi, Tsu." Izuku greeted her with some confusion in his voice. From the way she spoke, it sounded like this was something more than a simple greeting. There sure were a lot of people that wanted to talk to him today. "Do you need something?"
"I just wanted to thank you. It's what I should do." Tsu stayed true to her personality in speaking her mind. And just like her, Izuku never was one to never take thanks greedily.
"No, no. There's no need to thank me. I'm sure you would have-"
"And that I'm sorry." Tsu didn't give Izuku the chance to finish. Didn't matter much when Izuku's full attention was on her last sentence.
"What? Sorry? What are you…" Izuku trailed off in confusion. He had no idea how to go about this, but he didn't need to as Tsu continued.
"For the way that I've acted around you. It was unfair of me to think of you that way after you protected me from that villain." Tsu didn't stutter in any way, nor was she unclear. But even if she were, Izuku would still have no idea what she was talking about.
"Tsu, you're going to have to make more sense. What are you sorry for?" Izuku voiced how lost he was as he went up a few steps to be more eye level.
But Tsu gave no answer. She stayed quite before Izuku's question.
Izuku silently exhaled through his nose. He really needed to up his social skills to deal with this kind of stuff, otherwise he'll be faced with for the rest of his life. At least until he graduates and hopefully becomes an underground hero.
"People live such comfortable lives." Tsu finally spoke after several moments of silence. "At least more than they did before we all had roofs over our heads and was able to make light to see in the dark. Before all that, their survival instincts were always there in every move they made. Today? Not so much. But in animals, that survival instinct never went anywhere. That's how it is for people with animal mutation quirks. Those instincts come back. I can feel it ever since I was four years old. It warns us of the danger, of what is safe and what is not." At first, Izuku wasn't sure where Tsu was getting at with this. However, the next words that came out of her mouth made so much sense. "I feel that with you, Midoriya. Even now, I can feel the instinctual urges in my mind telling me that you are a danger to stay away from, and I don't know why."
Izuku finally understood. It all made so much sense that he felt stupid that he didn't realize it so long ago.
The only thing that was strange was that animals always avoided him even before his quirk awakened. Before Grimm awakened.
Wait, no. Grimm said that he's always been conscious ever since Izuku was born. I might have been because they could sense Grimm, despite that he hadn't emerged yet.
That would also be the reason why other people with animal mutations never even got close to him. Izuku never knew. They never told him.
Was Izuku just that much of a freak that even nature itself rejected him?
"Midoriya?"
Tsu's voice once again snapped Izuku back to reality. Their gazes met, both confused while Izuku was a little startled.
"U-uhoh, sorry. And, uh, I accept your apology. I got to go." Izuku spoke in a quickened pace as he walked up the rest of the stairs and past Tsu. The girl merely blinked at the strange behavior as she watched him go.
Izuku got to his floor and split off into the male's wing. His room door appeared before him in only a matter of moments as he swung it open.
Gently he pressed his back to the door and let his weight push it back until he heard the click of it lock into place. Izuku stood there for a bit until he finally felt obligated to walk to his bed. Instead of sitting on its surface, he sat on the floor with his back against the side of mattress.
A long sigh, probably the hundredth one today, soared from his throat the entire way he landed his head back on the bed's top.
Today has been truly exhausting.
All of this… has been exhausting.
Ever since the USJ, things have been different.
There's been a new feeling in the air among his classmates. It was hard to describe. It was just like… they were affected by something dark just as Izuku has been.
Hell, they had it worse.
People were murdered, and in some way, most of them witnessed it. Even if they were only students, it felt like they were already getting the hardships of being a pro hero.
…
"You've been awfully quiet today." Izuku spoke to an empty room.
However, his voice was not unheard.
"Didn't know my input was wanted." The inhuman voice of Grimm came after the usual short echo in his mind. There was only a slight edge in his words.
"That depends." Izuku replied without much thought.
"How so?" Grimm asked.
"Can you finally answer some of my questions?" Izuku didn't waste time getting straight to the point. But he made sure that there was no roughness in his tone. Merely a level and soft voice asked the question.
"… Very well." Still, Izuku thought the forewarning sound of Grimm's voice to be that of an echo that has been rewinded. At least that way he won't be startled when a voice suddenly pope into his head.
"… Grimm… what happened… that night? Eleven years ago." Since last night that Izuku heard Grimm for the first time, he has been able to come up with questions he's wanted to know the answers to for a long time.
"Mmm…" A soft grumble came from the depths of Izuku's mind. One of remembrance. "… Do you remember what Mother said? How she found you passed out in your room? At that time, I too was undergoing a similar process. The only difference was that I was the first awake. And… let's just say that I did not wake up smoothly. My actions were not what I intended." In Grimm's voice, Izuku could sense the memories he spoke of. Grimm woke up that same night. Izuku woke up the next morning. And if Izuku remembered correctly, he was quite confused about the state he was in. If Grimm felt the same thing, then it must have been drastically enhanced for him as he has never experienced anything for himself outside of Izuku's mind.
"Why did you make my body twitch at random times?" Izuku got right to the next question. "Even now, you still do it every once and while." Speaking of which, Izuku felt his shoulder raise upwards for a split second before it rested back into place.
"Force of habit." Grimm answered flatly.
"Oh." Guess Izuku couldn't complain too much about that. He's gotten used to it after all these years. "Alright. What is that forest place, and why do I end up there every time I clear my mind?" Something else that had been a common occurrence over the years is that dark forest with the moon that gives barley any light.
"That is my domain. Where I reside besides as your skeleton. A place where we can both exist separately." Grimm gave a few names to the forest.
"Okay. Now, why is it that you kill me half the time I go there?" Izuku didn't hold back when he let some of his anger show in that sentence. He wasn't too surprised when he heard a low growl. However, this one was not of aggression, but rather for Grimm himself. More like a moan it seemed like.
"Of all the possible questions, this one was the least I wanted to be asked." Grimm stated with obvious displeasure.
"Why?" Izuku was curious for the answer. He felt like her deserved it to be honest. Past all those years, Izuku estimated that he had died at least 100 times in those damn woods.
"It is something that is hard to describe and even harder for you to understand." Grimm continued his low tone in hopes to move on, but Izuku wasn't having it.
"You've had plenty of time to think it over. Surely you have some sort of explanation." Izuku pried even further. Although, Grimm was in no rush to say anything.
But once he did…
"Fine. Fifteen years, and I have only been able to watch from the sideline as someone else got to live in a body I couldn't control. You could not possibly begin to understand what that kind of loneliness and boredom can do to someone in that extended amount of time. For more than a decade, I have lived in a desperate hope for something to happen in my life, not yours. I am simply a dry soul who took any opportunity they could for a change. No matter what you think, destroying your mind form was one of the reasons I was able to stay sane in that place."
Izuku wasn't entirely sure what he expected as an answer. But that… that was one hell of an answer. Did he like it? No, no, not really.
"That's it?" Izuku was rhetorical in his question, but the emotion in it was very real. Real enough that he leaned forward from his bed and held his arms to his side as if he were really arguing with someone directly in front of him.
Silence.
"Resentment."
The word came as not a voice, but a crackling growl of old anger. It made Izuku shiver slightly at how animalistic the Grimm's tone could be.
"For as long as I lived, I had the idea that I was a prisoner, and you, my cage." That statement held years of anguish and helplessness. Dare Izuku say it, but… he felt responsible. "If I am to gain your trust, then I am to be truthful. For some time, there was nothing more I wanted than to kill you in hoped that it would set me free."
"That's… comforting." Izuku hid his hint of fear in sarcasm. Then he realized something. "Was that when I visited you the first time in the forest?"
"Yes." There was no anger this time. Only sorrow. "After the first, I became mad for a while. With that being the cherry on top, I acted without reason." Grimm spoke softly in a tone that sounded like he regretted those actions. "I had no other way of communicating with you other than jerking bones… No way of redeeming myself past the horror I revealed myself as to Mother eleven years ago… Nothing…" Gradually, Izuku heard Grimm's voice fill more and more with sadness of time existed but not lived. "It finally got the point where I felt that I had committed an awful crime that I was not even aware and be imprisoned for the rest of eternity. I managed to make through some days. Others, I wished for nothing more than for it all to end. On some, I simply couldn't hold back and released my wrath onto you, until finally…"
Grimm gave a long pause. A pause in his story that made Izuku hold his breath in anticipation.
"I just accepted it all." Grimm has gone through every stage of grief. He lived through it his entire life to the point that there was nothing good to back to… because it never existed. And so, there was nothing else but to accept it. Accept what Izuku had forced upon him. "If I could not exist on my own… then I might as well as try to help the existence of another. To make use of my life. And I'm sorry if that sounds selfish. But I don't care anymore. In my own suffering, I have inflicted it on you as well-"
"No." Izuku interrupted firmly. The voice and echo in his head abruptly halted. Izuku imagined that Grimm was surprised at this. Well, he's about to get another surprise. "No, I'm sorry. It doesn't change the fact that you're right. Because I was selfish and paranoid, I kept you locked away. I never tried anything different. I never tried to see if you need help. I viewed you as my enemy, and nothing else. It is my fault. There have been something. I don't know, anything that I-"
"Stop." It was Grimm's turn to interject. Izuku was left on hold from his small emotional confession. "It is both our faults. We misunderstood each other. And for that, we have both paid for years of constant stress. Despite everything that had happened, and for what it's worth, I ask that we may start over… where we should have." Now, Grimm spoke in his otherworldly strange voice that resonated softly in Izuku's head. Like a reassuring whisper.
A whisper… that Izuku found himself putting his trust in.
"Yeah… Yeah, I think that would be nice." Izuku answered with no hesitation. This was his chance, and he's taking it.
Grimm's first response if a long sigh. Something that Izuku felt like he's been doing all day.
"Well… that just happened." Grimm mumbled.
"It did, didn't it? Not exactly how I thought it would, but it did nonetheless." Izuku relaxed. Fully relaxed for the first time in a long while. Of course, he still had more questions behind some of Grimm's actions, but that was enough for today. There was nothing anymore pushing and pulling at his muscles. No haunting sensation in his mind that screamed danger. It felt like bliss… before it was quickly replaced by anxiety once more. "If only all of my problems left with that." Izuku furrowed his eyebrows at the thought.
"Mm?" Grimm hummed in confusion.
"Tsu. She said her animal mutation made her afraid of me. Probably because of you, no offence." Izuku stated.
"So?" Grimm asked as he didn't know where Izuku was going with this.
"Then… what about Nezu?"
..............................…
Speaking of…
*Beep*
Nezu perked up from his work at his phone alerting him to a call. The number it read revealed it to be Recovery Girl. He leaned forward and clicked the button to put it on speaker.
"Nezu here." Nezu presented himself. As expected, the voice of Recovery Girl came from the other side.
"Nezu, I need you to come down to the patient's room. We have a situation." The woman's voice came with a bit of excitement and unsureness.
"Is something the matter?" As he asked, Nezu pulled himself out of his chair to get ready to head over there.
"It's Tokoyami. He just woke up."