Chapter Text
It was a slow, meandering walk that took Midoriya and Hatsume the long way to the dormitories. On one side of Midoriya, Hatsume walked along with her eyes trained on him. He felt like an old man, as on the other side, Midoriya walked with a cane supporting his weight. The bandages chafed at his wounds, and the white of the cotton bandages peeked out from underneath his shirt and shorts, covering the skin that was revealed.
Evidently, the resentful annoyance present on Midoriya's face wasn't enough for the students along the path to cease their stares at his injuries. Midoriya could understand that, he supposed. It wasn't often that you saw someone under twenty-one look like they had just crawled out of the grave.
Midoriya looked down at the paper in his hand with a scowl. Instructions he'd have to follow if he wished to remain in U.A., instructions that he would have liked to have told Nedzu to shove up his ass. Ambush him with a truth quirk after he had just woken up. Ambush him with questions about things that were none of his business. His military service was his to share and his alone. Midoriya wouldn't have even cared about the truth quirk, he couldn't lie anyway, if refusing to answer wouldn't have been an affirmation in and of itself.
"You know, we could always threaten to transfer. Pull our funding and go somewhere like Shiketsu. I'm sure they'd love to have us." Midoriya snorted at the mere idea of the threat.
"Oh, the board would hate that, sure, but no school's going to take me right now. Quirkless and a killer. Too much heat to take in something like that." Hatsume scowled, opening her mouth. Midoriya cut her off. "No, I don't see myself like that now, but it is how they would see it. Besides, Nedzu's just pissed that he had no chance of figuring it out. Well, that and the self-experimentation. He's royally pissed with that."
"Shouldn't be," Hatsume grumbled. "You didn't harm anything sentient." Midoriya made a noise amounting to an eh and wiggled his free hand.
"With his past, experimentation is a bit of a sore subject. I'm sure I'd have had just as violent a reaction if I were in his shoes."
"Tiny shoes." Midoriya gave Hatsume a blank look. "What?" she drew out the word with a seemingly innocent smile. "He has tiny little strange digitigrade shoes."
Midoirya gave a bit of a wry smile before frowning again and looking back to the page of instructions.
"You know, Shimura hasn't shown back up yet."
Hatsume raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a good thing? She was driving you insane."
Midoriya took a breath before letting it out. "I'm not so sure anymore. She showed up in my memories."
"Excuse me? Like, overwriting your memories, or some sort of temporal bullshit?"
"No, no. Nothing like that. When I was out cold, I was reliving a few of my memories. She showed up, and we had a bit of a talk." Hatsume frowned,though her voice was soft when she spoke next.
"That something you do a lot? Relive your memories?"
"Every time I close my eyes. Some good, some bad. She found me in one of the bad ones."
"You worried that she's still in there?"
"I hope for her sake she's not."
"You sure she wasn't just a hallucination in that brain of yours?" Midoriya smacked Hatsume's shin with his cane. The inventor couldn't help but yelp at the blunt force and bounce a bit on one leg.
"Huh, so that's why Recovery Girl likes these so much."
…
Despite most of the students still being inside the building, it was quiet in the dormitory for Class 1-A. A serious and sullen silence had descended, hanging as if a cloud over the building, and as much so the heads of the very students themselves. There were few people in common areas of the first floor, and as such, there were few heads that turned when the front doors quietly clicked open.
Toga slammed hard enough into Midoriya's ribs to have him heaving a breath. The blood had left his face, and despite the cane, Toga had him on the floor while his ears rang and his vision swam. Midoriya's faculties were slowly coming back to him, and when they did, the room was in a panic.
"I- I- I didn't know, I." Jiro's panicked expression was matched only by Toga's tone.
"I'm. I'm good." Midoriya's croak came out raspier than he'd intended. Raspier than he thought should have been possible, considering his throat was coated in- ah. That was why they were panicking.
"You very much aren't good, Midoriya. You're spitting up blood." Midoriya turned his gaze toward Class 1-A's president and gave a smile, one that would have been more convincing if his teeth weren't stained copper. Carefully, Midoriya took Hatsume's offered assistance and slowly regained his footing. He reclaimed his cane, gratefully leaning his weight on it.
"Yes, well, I'll admit this is probably the worst I've been injured in a long time. I'll survive a bit of blood in my lungs." The wry comment did nothing to comfort or soothe the faces of his- he paused, considering. Classmates? Students? Hell, it didn't really seem to matter anymore. "Could you do me a favor, Yaoyorozu?"
"Make you new bandages? You're bleeding through those." The stony tone had Midoriya sighing as he looked down and saw that, yes, evidently, he had busted the stitches in his side.
"Himi, could you go get the first aid kit? It should have what we need. As for what I need from you, Yaoyorozu, I have information for the class, both my own and what I was asked to pass on from our rat overlord. Could you go get the rest of the class? And if it isn't too much, could you send someone to go collect 1-B next door? It would be best if I do this all at the same time."
"I can try, but…" Yaoyorozu trailed off before finding her words again. "Some of the students have been taking things worse than others since the USJ." Midoriya dipped his head and sighed.
"Just, do your best. That'll be enough." Yaoyorozu offered a sort of cringe at the statement but nodded. She strode off just as Toga was coming back. She helped Midoriya remove his shirt before beginning to unwind the bandages around his midsection. The exclamation he heard had Midoriya blinking blearily, his face tipped in the students' direction.
Almost all of 1-A had taken up residence in the common area by the time Midoriya looked around, while several students from 1-B were still trickling in, their expressions aghast, their eyes wide and fixated on him. He'd zoned out. Odd, must be more out of it than I thought. Hagakure, Midoriya realized, had been the one to gasp at the sight of him. He gave her a sardonic grin. "You guys happen to catch the number of the bus that hit me?" A round of awkward, humorless chuckling.
"I think it would be easier for your classmates to laugh if you didn't look like a butcher had just finished putting you back together, Midoriya." Midoriya's eyes rolled drolly to the doorway, where three people that he hadn't expected to show up stood, watching him with quiet apprehension.
"To what do we owe the honor of U.A.'s big three making an appearance like this?" Togata frowned while Amajiki hid, half behind him. Hado was the one to answer, far softer than he had come to expect from the girl.
"We're just coming to check on our underclassmen. You all went through quite an event." Discontent murmured its way across the class as Midoriya's smile struggled to stay plastered on his face.
"Yes, well. Feel free to sit down. I need to talk to you three, anyway. I was going to get to you tomorrow, but we'll just get it over with tonight."
The last few students, it seemed, had already made their way in, finding places around the room to stand. Midoriya sighed and, nodding, stood with only slight difficulty.
"Hello, everyone. As Hado has so lovingly stated," he began, his tone thick with unintentional sarcasm, "we've all been through a tremendous deal of stress over this past week." Midoriya took a deep breath, looking at each of them and then down at the piece of paper in his hand.
"The truth of the matter is that, in this line of work, you will have to see things, do things, that will haunt you until the day you die. But the truth of the matter is also that it should have never happened this early. It is unfortunate that an attack occurred on school property and even more so that it happened to students so young and early in their careers. The faculty will be working tirelessly to improve and help the students, so that a situation such as this does not occur again, and so the students can move forward with their chosen career paths." Midoriya found the same varying levels of disgust that he had felt at repeating the statement reflected in the faces of the two classes in front of him. Even the big three looked a bit queasy.
"That's the official statement of the faculty and board of U.A. University to us students. I can tell from the look on your faces that it sounded just as much like political bullshit as it tasted to say." Midoriya folded the piece of paper in his hand once, twice, against his leg, allowing himself a brief pause before continuing. "Luckily for us, our president may be a psychotic, chimeric ass at times, but he understands full well that political BS isn't what we want to hear at the moment." A chorus of affirmations had Midoriya shifting, nodding.
"So what the hell is he going to do for us?" Midoriya turned slowly to the voice on his left. Sero sat with Kaminari. His voice was horse from smoke inhalation, and his arms were wrapped in bandages, discolored from what Midoriya suspected was burn cream. Kaminari sat next to him, looking as if he was one angry accusation away from crying, which, the situation being what it was, Midoriya supposed, that could be exactly what was happening.
"Before I get to that, I should address some of the questions you have about me, don't you think?" The middle finger Shinso flagged in the air caught Midoriya's attention first. It made a lot more sense, though, when he followed it with sign language.
"What did he say?" Tsunotori asked the question. Poor girl is barely getting a hold of Japanese as a language. She's in for a hell of a time when she has to learn JSL. A few of her classmates echoed the sentiment, which had Midoriya quietly pursing his lips. Another class to recommend for them.
"He apologizes for being unable to speak. His throat is still healing after his stint in the fire zone." A few members of the class went rigid at the mention. "He then asks how exactly the villains from the USJ knew me and I them." More waving of Shinso's middle finger. "I'm certain that you don't all need that part translated."
"Well? It's a good question. How the hell did you know the villains, Midoriya?" Midoriya dipped his head in Shoji's direction.
"First, allow me to reintroduce myself." Midoriya placed his left hand behind his back while keeping his right on the cane to keep himself stable. "My name, as you all know, is Midoriya Izuku. Physically eighteen, born July 15, 2293."
"What does this hav-"
"I am also known as Lieutenant Perry Midoriya Izuku, second in command of the Black Cats." The room froze, having put Midoriya's military service out of their minds with everything that had happened since the revelation, cast aside as it was. Yaoyorozu made a note to herself to have her family look into these Black Cats.
"What are the Black Cats?" Uraraka and Togata questioned simultaneously. Midoriya smiled briefly at their shared look at one another.
"The Black Cats are the unit I served in for the majority of my military service. They were a black book special forces unit."
"Midoriya, are you telling me that you served not only underage but underage in the special forces." Midoriya dipped his head at Iida's strangled tone and expression.
"There are extenuating circumstances that the police are aware of." One police officer. "And a vast majority of my time wasn't spent underage."
"How old are you?" Midoriya sighed at the follow-up. He expected it, of course.
"Do you want my physical or mental age?" The joke wasn't received as well as he'd hoped. "I am currently eighteen years old, Iida. Same as you."
Midoriya shook his head at their confusion. "I would tell you how, but, if I'm being honest, I don't like talking about it. Knowing the exact details of the situation also involves an active investigation, so if you want stories of my service, sure. Just understand that what happened to me isn't going to make sense chronologically."
"That doesn't answer Shinso's question." Kirishima this time.
"Right. To get back on track, I grew quite disgusted with heroes a few years ago, a fact that I'm sure some of you have already picked up on. I have my reasons, but getting into those here would keep you all night. Using the skills afforded to me by my experiences and the technology developed at Moonlit Industries, I began operating as something akin to an information broker."
The room at large seemed to still. "So, you work with villains." Sero's face twisted bitterly with disgust. Midoriya inclined his head.
"I have worked with heroes, law enforcement, the government, vigilantes, and villains. I've hired all of the above if I believed them to have the skills necessary to achieve the goals I'd set or that were set for us. Primarily, we work closely with the government." More mixed responses.
"Then you've worked with the ones that attacked us before?" It was more of an accusation than a question from Sero, but Midoriya didn't let it get to him.
"No. In this case, I have never-" Midoriya gagged, scowling as he covered his mouth with the back of his hand. Several of those in the room eyed him with concern. "Sorry. No, I've never worked with these specific villains. I have been part of a deal brokered between myself and their leader. To be clear, it was the government itself that brokered that deal." Now that got a reaction from the class, and even from the big three. Midoriya put his hand up after a moment more of chaos.
"The government is working with villains?" Tetsutetsu asked, looking more like a mummy than a person. Midoriya just wiggled his free hand.
"Before I answer that question, I need to distinguish something. We as a society overuse the word villain. A vast majority of the people you encounter will never be dangerous enough or commit deeds that deserve that title. They are criminals, yes, but they are not villains." Nods of understanding had Midoriya continuing.
"These individuals aren't like that. Around the world, there are a handful of true villains that even the government classifies as existential threats to the peace and prosperity of society, should they attack us. Japan has two of these. One on the west coast, one in Okinawa. In both cases, the government could do something about them, but it simply isn't worth the cost both to the country and its people."
"So we just have to live with them?" Kendo looked like she was going to be sick.
"It depends. If they are a threat and refuse to come to heel, the government is likely to strike at and remove them. This has happened thrice in the last decade in the European Federation, for example. In this case, we're lucky. Both of ours take care of the people in their regions." Yaoyorozu snorted derisively.
"Yeah, and the mob in Italy takes care of their people, too." Midoriya dipped his head in concession. Before he could respond, however, Togata chimed in, gaining the attention of both classes. The way his expression twisted, so laughably adverse to the confidence and hopefulness that he usually wore, reminded Midoriya errantly of someone who'd eaten something sour.
"They teach you about both them and this in your third year normally, and it's supposed to be a thought experiment." Midoriya clicked his tongue at that.
"Yeah, well. When people can turn themselves into weapons of mass destruction, that changes." Monoma raised his hand, catching the attention of the two men.
"What exactly do they teach as a thought experiment?"
Midoriya poised to answer as Togata continued sucking on his metaphorical lemon.
"That crime, at its fundamental level, cannot be eradicated. If then we cannot eradicate it, wouldn't it be better to control it? To shape it in an acceptable direction? That we police certain crimes harsher and more doggedly while allowing others to go under the radar more often, or so the criminals think, that we could shape the criminal underground into a more acceptable form." More mixed reactions, mostly negative.
"This is, I say again, more necessary when the people in question can eradicate an entire city before they're stopped. The government brokers deals with a lot of various, and sometimes morally questionable, individuals to ensure that the general public can live peacefully from day to day."
"So what? Some kind of supervillain has it out for the government and that's why we got attacked? Who is it?" Sero, again. Midoriya didn't blame him for being angry but, nevertheless, shook his head.
"Sorry, I can't tell you that one."
"Why not? Don't we deserve to know who attacked us?"
"Tomura Shigaraki, class-3 emitter quirk, Kurogiri, class-6 warp quirk, a biological weapon designed to fight All Might, and finally, a slew of villains with quirks ranging from class-1 to class-2. That is who attacked the USJ. That is who is wanted for the attack."
"And what? Their boss just wasn't involved?" Rather than anger, Midoriya noted the anxiety in Sato's tone and saw it reflected in the faces of several of his classmates.
"In all likelihood, he knew nothing of this attack. If he wanted to do something like this? It would have happened very differently from how it did. I wouldn't be surprised if Shigaraki gets his neck wrung for this."
"Why are we being told any of this?" Aoyama spoke up from the back of the room, and for once, his sparkles weren't quite so bright. Wait, why the fuck am I seeing sparkles?
"Simple. This is what Nedzu wants to provide you. If not solace, then information. The first step of that is my being honest with you. I want you to know that any of you, and I do mean any of you, can come to me if you need something or have questions. As far as I'm concerned, labels of classes just went out the metaphorical window."
"We've been through hell, all of us, and each and every one of you sitting here today have gone through something I don't wish on anyone, no matter the experience. Each of you is a hero to the person beside you. Don't let anyone tell you differently. Brothers and sisters all, not in blood but in deed. Trust each other to have your backs, as you'll have theirs."
"Is Honenuki okay?" Kaminari's voice was small and hesitant. The tone had Midoriya turning to him. He felt his heart clench when Kaminari couldn't look him in the eyes.
"Honenuki had to have a pacemaker put in, and he'll be in physical therapy for a little bit. But he'll live." Kaminari hung his head even lower.
"What about Shishida?" As it was Setsuna who had asked, Midoriya turned discreetly to their sister class' president. He saw in Kendo's eyes that she had some idea already. She had seen him when they'd pulled him from the conflagration zone. Some part of her knew already, and she was dreading it, but it was her responsibility to ask. Slowly, she took hold of Setsuna's hand and nodded to Midoriya.
"I am sorry to inform you that Shishida Jurota died while in transit to the hospital. The fire had simply spread over too much of his body, and the shock of his injuries was too great. I'm sorry."
Nothing he had said before mattered at that moment. Not his injuries, not the deaths they had inflicted. No implications or insinuations. No one was a hero at that moment. Midoriya wasn't sure who was the first to break, or even who was second. One by one, the class shattered. 1-B had known Shishida the best, but he had been a friend to them all, someone who was soft and kind-hearted and relentless.
"It wasn't long that we knew Shishida, but it was long enough. He was protective, kind, smart, and so well mannered that he was almost a pain at times." A wet chuckle cropped up from somewhere in the room.
"Everyone here knows what it meant to him to protect those around him. From school assignments to the partnered combat training, he gave his all to keep his classmates safe, and that protection was one he enacted until he passed away. For his actions at the USJ, for the protection of not just those in the flames but for every one of us, we owe him a debt that we'll never fully repay. But by honoring his memory, he will never be forgotten."
Slowly, Midoriya made his way to Kendo. "We may not have known him as well as you all did, but it's enough. Shishida protected us all, and from now on, we'll all protect each other. Grab the spare futons from the closets. No one should be alone tonight. Too much information and not enough time to process it."
"The faculty won't like it." Not a question, just a statement of fact. The faculty wanted the hero course back in their respective dorms before curfew.
"If the dorm faculty have a problem with it tonight, given what's happened, they won't be faculty here long. The professors understand better than most. It's alright." Midoriya pointed at the three silent observers, watching as two hero classes began to mourn their fallen. He jerked his thumb at the staircase and elevator on the other side of the doorway, knowing that they would follow behind him. He could trust the classes to their presidents.
Notes:
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