章 15: A hero’s name
Izuku remained laying on the floor once he woke up. His journey home was almost a blur as his mind was set on the events of only the night before.
He honestly wasn't sure how he even managed to navigate his way home.
He knew he must have slept for a while, as the deep bite wounds on his arms had healed and faded into only dark scars.
He remembered sitting up from the freezing floor and greeting the cool morning blue sky, the sun not yet visible through the gaps in the building.
It had to be around six in the morning.
As Izuku had begun his slow walk home, he let his mind wander. How could he have let himself be so careless? Stupidly allowing himself to pass out in the back alleys of Musutafu, a place known for being full to the bring with villains and sketchy people.
Then again, a student who had only just been on television for the sports festival randomly knocked out cold in a back alley was also pretty sketchy...
Once he made it home, his shared apartment with his mother was long empty. His mother seemingly already left for work that morning. His footsteps rang out through the silent apartment as he made his way to his room.
As he reached his room and held his hand over his doorknob, he slowly looked up to the All might brand Name tag which hung on his door.
He turned the doorknob and walked in, from all corners of the room All Might's face bore down on him. A face, which for many years, had brought so many feelings and emotions to his quirkless life.
Feelings of courage, happiness, and the will to keep going.
Now all he felt was guilt and shame...
He thought he should feel more, anger at himself and disgust for the things he had done but it left him feeling surprisingly empty.
The weekend passed slowly, laying on his bed in his room with the occasional interruptions from his mother's voice calling him when she came home from work and to see if he was alright to the occasional pings from his phone, indicating that someone had messaged him.
He was still too stunned from the ordeal after the sports festival to do anything.
When he woke up on Monday morning, he finally reached over and looked at his phone. 30 Texts and 15 missed calls. He clicked on the phonebook and was greeted with a long list of missed calls from the last 2 days from Uraraka. He silently scrolled down and saw a couple of missed calls from a different number.
They were from All Might. Izuku sucked in his breath slightly in his growing internal panic. He had just completely aired All Might!
Panicking he quickly clicked on the number and his phone began to call. He lifted his phone up to his ear and listened to the person at the other end pick up the receiver.
"Midoriya? Is that you? Are you alright?" All Mights worried voice could be heard from the other end.
Izuku remained silent for a moment.
".., I'm fine, All Might, really! I'm sorry, I haven't returned any of your calls this weekend I've been busy with something else and completely forgot to check my phone! I'm sorry, it won't happen again!" He rambled out, hoping to convince the symbol of peace.
There was a pause at the other end of the line.
"Midoriya, my boy, are you sure you are alright?
This isn't the first time you've missed calls from me. I'm starting to worry about you my boy, do you remember what i said to you after the USJ attack?
Izuku was beginning to panic. " Ahh, yes! Don't worry, All Might I remember, as your mentor and friend I want you to know that I'm here for you if you ever need any help" Izukus awkward laugh trailed out.
All Might could be heard humming from the other side of the phone line.
There was a moment of silence.
"…..All right then, Midoriya. I hope to see you at school later today." There was a slight pause, before All Might remembered something, "Ohh!
And Midoriya? Congratulations on getting into the final matches during the sports festival. I'm sorry I didn't have time to see you after you woke up, you were still unconscious by the time I had to leave.
Even though you didn't win or get into the final three. I'm still very proud of you...!"
Izuku could almost hear his mentors smile through the phone, causing him to look down in shame.
"All right then, I'll see you soon...!" Izuku hung up the phone.
He laid there in silence on his bed and watched the time on his phone slowly tick by. He knew he had to get up, he had to go to UA today. But for the life of him, he didn't have the energy. everything was beginning to feel so strenuous and exhausting these days to him...
As the minutes ticked by, a small knock could be heard from his bedroom door; causing his eyes to flick towards his slowly opening door.
"…..Izuku...?" His mother's undeservingly worried voice called out to him, "Are you feeling alright? Do you have a fever?"
Inko slowly made her way to her son's bed and gently lowered herself onto the corner of his duvet, placing the back of her hand on his forehead to feel his temperature, the sudden touch making him flinch back slightly.
"No... Mum, I feel fine. I'm just a bit tired." Izuku replied as he lowered his phone and turned to look at his mother's concerned face.
Inko bit in a frown, " Are you sure honey? You've been in your room ever since you came home after the sports festival and haven't seen you eat once, you must be staving." She slowly moved her hand for his forehead and began to stroke his hair back gently as she looked over to some of the All Might figures on the other side of the room.
Izuku remained silent, basking in the gentle touch his mother was giving him; all the while wanting to pull away from in fear. Her touch which he so desperately needed but was terrified from all the same.
"….. forgot to tell you, but the day after the sports festival had finished, that nice girl from your class, came over to see you. She had seemed quite worried about you but you had been asleep all day and hadn't woken up so I told her you were fine and just asleep."
Inko signed deeply, her concerned and calming tone suddenly shifting to something more serious, the tone he knew she only used when she was desply determined or utterly serious about something. He could bear to look at his mother in the eye, not after what he had done.
Her words from after the sports festival still tore into him with guilt.
"Izuku dear, I don't know what's been going on with you, but you haven't been acting yourself. I know you have only recently gotten your quirk and while that deeply worries me its self, ever since you have started going to U.A you've been acting strange. Ignoring your friends and making them come to the conclusion they have to come here personally to check on you just isn't like you!? I don't know whats happened to you but please talk to me, sweetie. I'm your mother, it's my job to help you and ill always support you, no matter what but I can't help you if you won't talk to me..."
Izuku remained silent but looked up at his mother in shock, it wasn't the first time he had heard her use that tone or even heard it being used on himself; but at his lack of response, Inko slumped down slightly, seemingly slightly disappointed.
"I know I haven't been very supportive of you becoming a hero in the past Izuku... But I'm here for you now and ill always be here to support your decision and what you think is best"
Izuku didn't reply, but he could feel his tear glands wanting to be released. Inko took a deep breath and closed her eyes, stopping her hand from stroking his hair and pulling away.
"I'll call UA and tell them you're not feeling too well, tell them your gonna stay of school another dayAlright?" She said worriedly slowly getting up from her seat on the side of his bed and walking towards the door.
UA…
Izuku wasn't even sure he really wanted to go back again, this was the first time he had never wanted to get out of bed and go to school again.
Because what was the point? Each day he spent here, the closer he became to being found and being thrown in prison. The longer he stayed the more likely his friends were to get harmed by him. lida, Asui, Uraraka, and by extension everyone in his class was in danger from being around him.
Uraraka had already suffered enough from his hand, whether she chose to acknowledge it or not.
Izuku furrowed his brows slightly as his eyes began to ache.
But then again, even if he wasn't there, his class would still be in danger anyway... Hagakure would still be there, and even though she wasn't as physically dangerous as Izuku in his ghoul form, her affiliation with the league of villain made her just as much as a threat to UA as he did; going by how much damage she had caused just from the USJ attack alone...
And he was the only one who knew about the mole which had managed to make its way into the school.
Izuku quickly sat up in bed and called out to his mum how had just made it to the door, "Mum,
wait!"
When Hagakure had revealed her true affiliation with the league of villains, Izuku had felt so betrayed, alone and useless. But while revealing herself and blacking him, he had also been placed in a similar position with her.
Inko turned around to look at her son with confusion.
"I want to go to school today! Don't worry, I feel fine!" He said with the greatest smile he could pull off at that moment, even if it wasn't very convincing.
Inko frowned. "Are you sure honey? It's alright if you stay here another day, it won't matter."
But it would...
He was the only one who could prevent anything else from happening to his classmates. Even if he just slowed it down till he could find a permanent solution.
Just like Hagakure, he would watch her every move. Prevent her from taking anything more from UA and causing harm to his classmates again. He had a job to do and it was the only way he felt even partly comfortable going back to UA with his dirty hands.
Besides, two negatives always made a plus!
Right..?
"Yes, Mum! I'm sure!"
Either way, he didn't feel like he had many other options...
On the journey to school that morning, the sky poured down on the cities below as Izuku sprinted his way from the train station to UA.
'Geez staying in bed till he had only 45 minutes to get to school was not a good idea. 'He grumbled to himself in his head as he ran through the rain, trying to hold his umbrella straight as he went.
As UA slowly came into view as he went up the hill towards the school, Izuku had to remind himself to stay calm and breathe. Had he lied to his mum saying he was fine? Yes. Did he have to lie to himself, saying he wanted to go back to UA today or ever again? Very much so.
Izuku ran as fast as he could towards UA and sprinted through the entrance, making his way towards the Class 1-A lockers. Not wasting any time he quickly shoved his umbrella into his class stand, wasting no time to shake the water off, and began sprinting to his classroom.
As he reached the floor his classroom resided, he quickly sprinted around the now empty corridors; not bothering to check the other direction to make sure he didn't run into anyone. God damn it. He was already late, wasn't he? As he neared his classroom, his movement caught the attention of someone who was standing in his classroom dodway; who looked up at him as Izuku neared the classroom.
"Midoriya! You have ten seconds till you are late!
I'm disappointed that you wouldn't make reasonable efforts to try and get here at least ten minutes early- And don't run in the Halls! It's unbecoming of UA Students!" lida shouted at him as he neared him.
Izuku quickly morphed his sprint into a kind of speed walk as he paced into his classroom past lida before taking a deep breathe to stop his panting. He looked around the room and looked over to a worried Ochako on the other side of the room, who was steadily making her way over to him, "Sorry about that lida! I woke up late-"
"Midoriya-Kun!"
Izuku felt a weight swing around his neck, causing him to momentarily freeze.
"Hey, now it's nice to see you-" Izuku began as he grabbed the person who was hanging around him from behind as he turned to look at them.
When he caught sight of the floating uniform in front of him he quickly shoved the girl off of him and back away, the commotion causing the rest of the class to quieten and watch the interaction with interest and concern.
"Hagakure, what are you doing?" he said nervously with a worried laugh to try and ease the building tension from inside him.
The girl in question, seemingly not put off by the sudden shoving movement, hummed happily in front of him. Izuku felt a cold sweat begin to form down his back and sides from being around someone who caused their class so much pain.
"How ya' been Midoriya-kun! We had so much fun last weekend." She began almost dreamily before switching to something much more cheerful and bubbly," We should do it again!"
Izuku could see Ochako out of the corner of his eyes looking at him, clearly shocked at the conversation going on between them, obviously wanting to know what the hell was going on.
"uhh.." He managed to mutter out, completely stunned into what to say to the girl. Her portrayal of the perfect UA student was flawless, leaving a bone-chilling sensation down his spine at the two-faced hero in training in front of him. "Sure... ok." He said to her, smiling awkwardly as he held his hand up in front of him, desperately wanting to get away from her.
Lucky for him, Ochako chooses that moment to come over; carefully watching Hagakures floating uniform as she walked towards him.
"Hey Deku..! How have you been?" She asked cautiously as she approached him.
He looked over to her and smiled at her wearily, feeling utterly drained before carefully eyeing Hagakure who had now walked off to talk to another group of girls in their class.
"I'm fine..." He began quietly, " We can talk later, come back to my house again...?"
Just as Ochako eyed him worriedly before nodding, the sounds of someone clearing their throat from behind them caught their attention. The pair quickly looked up in surprise before noticing their teacher waiting patiently for them to move out the way.
"Don't run in the corridors, Midoriya. Next time I see you doing that you're going straight to detention" Aizawa said bluntly.
Izuku's eyes widened slightly before gulping, "Ahh!
Yes, of course, sensei. Sorry, it won't happen again!"
Aizawa grunted, signaling for the pair to quickly walk back to their seats.
Izuku watched nervously as Aizawa walked into the room, taking notice of the silence he held even while stood at the front of the class. Their senses eyes slowly panned of each individual in the room, slightly lingering on him and especially Ochako the longest.
Izuku felt his heart rate pick up nervously as he took in the unnerving silence their teacher was giving them, slowly noticing the second scar on his sensei's cheek which his own kagune had left just under the one he had received from the Nomu only weeks beforehand.
Izuku felt a little bit sick looking at the scar he had left on his senseis check.
As the silence started to become deafening to him, Asui decided to speak up.
Thankfully Asui decided to speak up.
"Mr Aizawa, your bandages are off! That's good news.
Aizawa rubbed the scar under his eye before placing his hand on the still red surface of the scar he had received only a few days before.
"The old lady went a bit overboard with her treatment again," he murmured out dryly before pulling his hand away from the sore, tender skin on his cheek, "Anyway, we have an important lesson today on hero informatics"
Izuku felt the air around his tense as all of his classmates looked forward to their sensei in fear.
'Oh no, hero informatics?' Murmurs could be heard coming from all corners of the room, fearing what dreaded pop quiz they would have to take.
Aizawa paused and waited for the class to calm
down.
"You need code names, time to pick your hero names."
Their class stood up in a cheer.
'This is going to be totally awesome' A select few in the class cheered gleefully.
Aizawa grunted in annoyance at the sudden noise and glared at the class, instantly making them settle down.
'That was strange, 'Izuku thought to himself,' Normally he uses his quirk to quieten the class down. Did he notice the other night how his quirk affects mine?'
Izuku eyes widened in sudden realization, 'Does that mean the school staff has narrowed down their search to just our class.'
The feeling of fear began to swarm around in the bottom of his stomach.
"..That would make sense though.. Considering how it was only our class in the US. I should have suspected that...'
"Like I was saying," Aizawa continued "These hero names you pick will be vital for when you're on your work studies. Hero names are what people will remember you by, so choose wisely. Though unlikely, they may be your name forever."
Izuku gulped nervously just as their classroom door slammed open, making him jump, as Midnight walked into the room.
"Which is why I am here to help!" She stated excitedly gathering the enthusiasm from around the class, Mineta seemingly the most excited out of the bunch.
Aizawa sighed and bet dow to pick up his sleeping bag, "Midnight has agreed to help since this isn't my forte, she will have final approval over the names you choose.
"So make sure you choose a name which represents the kind of hero you want to be!"
Midnight said gleefully as Aizawa walked over to the corner of the room and climbed into his sleeping bag, falling asleep instantly.
Whiteboards and pens were being passed out around the class as Izuku began to think if the Hero name he wanted.
'Names we will be remembered by hu...?'
Izuku thought back to the many new reports he had heard with his own villain name in shamefully...
'Last Night, two more victims were added to the list of people murdered by notorious villain Bloody stain. The victims once again include villai...
'The now identified bloody stain named as the perpetrator of the end of Kamui Woods hero Career. Are they really the hero people make them out to be or a dangerous villain...?'
To have both a hero name and a villain name? It was almost laughable.
He already had a name that would be remembered by the thousands of people of japan...
The kind of hero he wanted to be?
Theonly reason he was here to was to watch the traitor and...
Izuku frowned slightly when he remembered something, his mind had been too caught up in the insanity of his life he had almost forgotten.
One for all...
Izuku had begun to realize after the events of the
US that he could never become a hero with both powers, they weren't compatible. It wasn't until the morning after the sports festival, where he had woken up facing the cold morning sky that its reality really sunk in.
He couldn't keep that power...
Everything that had been happening and causing him to spiral down slowly into the depths of insanity. The gap which had been growing inside him from being a villain to playing the hero. The anguish he had faced because of the effect one for all had on the ghoul quirk, making it stronger and more powerful by the day while simultaneously increasing how often he had to eat.
The price to pay for power was something he no longer wanted.
While he knew his only reason for remaining at UA was to watch that traitor, One for All was also playing a large role in the situation of his position.
While One for All was the reason he had gotten into UA. It was also the problem which was preventing him from leaving and protecting his friends from himself...
He needed to give it away, at least in the near future.
For now, he would sit quietly and observe.
Hagakure had given him a reason to get his shit together and get going.
He guessed that was one he should be thankful to her for.
"Midoriya! You're up next!"
Shit, he couldn't think of a hero name!
As much as people wanted to believe that the second he zipped up his sleeping bag and rolled onto the floor he fell asleep, that just wasn't true.
Aizawa was much more awake during these times than people realized. Yes, he had heard the time Kiminari had whispered to his friends about the drawing he had done of him during a lesson instead of doing his work. Yes, he had heard Mina debating on who he was married to or if he was even married at all with the rest of the girls in his class.
It didn't bother him. As long as they didn't disturb his half-awake power nap for unnecessary reasons.
As Aizawa sat napping up against the wall he heard each member of his class go up and announce their hero names. As each student went up, he thought at least it was a good thing they were all seemingly trying to make decent ones, apart from Bakugo but that's beside the point.
When it got near to the end of class only three students were left to pick. He was unsurprised when Todoroki came up with only his name.
However, when both lida and Midoriya came up to the front with their names he was slightly surprised, more so at Midoriya considering what had recently happened with the lida family.
He slowly opened his eye slightly and took notice of the blank whiteboard in Midoriya's hand.
"I just couldn't think of a name..." He said sounding almost ashamed.
It was odd that one of his most dedicated students couldn't think of a hero name. It didn't seem quite right. All though, he didn't get any offers from the sports festival so maybe that had trodden on his confidence or something to do with that.
He had noticed, especially since the USJ attack, how close Midoriya and Uraraka had gotten over the last few weeks. They had both stated that they were in the same area during the attack along with Todoroki but with Uraraka being their main suspect at the moment, was there a chance that Midoriya or Todoroki knew something too?
"We can talk later..." Izuku had whispered to Ochako.
Slowly, so as to not attract attention he looked over to where Uraraka was sitting on the opposite side of the room. While the rest of their classmates had looked surprised at Midoriyas lack of hero name, Uraraka looked at him with understand and worry.
Mhm, interesting...
It wasn't until he got into the office later that he found out Midoriya got a late request from an old
hero.
Gran Torino.
Why did a hero who had a speed quirk want something to do with Midoriya he didn't know?
But oh well, whatever floats your boat he guessed?
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