Shinko's Pursuit

Chapter 36: Refusal or Reluctance

.... I'm sorry. (Not reall-) ANYWAY OUT OF MY CORNER I COME WITH CHAPTER 36 OF THIS BULLSHIT. I still don't know why you guys are still here, my writing is fucking trash-
Thanks for being here guys. With 76k reads and 4k votes, I'm actually fucking crying here. I really don't deserve you guys. This chapter took a long time cuz I was having trouble figuring out how to finish the sports festival.
To those of you who are wondering, What a Tragedy is going to be posted next, the chapter is also taking a while because flow is an important thing, and balancing it with other things is harder than it looks. Motivation has been lacking too. But the chapter is almost done! I won't make promises on when it will be updated, but it should be soon. (Please stop hounding my ass-)
So here's 36, and back to my corner I go!

Enjoy~
_

Toshinori was walking down the hall, searching for a specific student.

He'd been putting it off for a while because he was waiting for Togata to give him an answer, but the boy still wasn't sure about it. He was slowly loosing more and more of his time in his hero form, and he needed to find a successor, and quick.

The last he'd seen of Midoriya, he was being carried off to the infirmary with Bakugo. (And just to think, he saw that boy nearly everyday and called him by the same name each class and it wasn't even his real name. The same boy he'd been looking for with Tsukauchi had been hiding right in plain sight.)

He had gone to the infirmary only to find Aizawa talking with Recovery Girl while Bakugo lay on a cot with his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling with a listless expression.

Aizawa had quirked an eyebrow when he'd told them why he was there, and had pointed back into the hallway, saying that Midoriya had gone out to take a call. He breifly questioned who would be calling the boy and at this time. He knew from his old friend that his father was a no show, and that his mother had perished in the fire a year ago. But he didn't pay much mind to it. He'd just ask when he saw him.

It took more time, but eventually he stumbled across the boy in an isolated hallway on the floor. He was curled up against the wall, small and fragile.

His shoulders shook violenty with suppressed sobs as he hid his face on his knees, and let his black hair fall over them. Midoriya's phone was in his right hand, being squeezed so tight that Toshinori could see the cracks beginning to form at the corner.

He could faintly hear the quick labored breaths being smothered by his legs.

"Midoriya-shounen?"

Midoriya's head snapped up and his eyes met Toshinori; tears streaming down his cheeks, and panic in his green eyes. He looked at him for a few moments, confused, before he blinked and wiped his eyes hastily. "How long were you standing there?" The boy asked.

"Not long, I just got here. Mind if I sit?" Toshinori gestured the spot on the wall next to him, and the boy shrugged.

Toshinori slid down, and sat against the wall, keeping a good few feet between them as to not crowd the kid, and kept his eyes forward. He pretended not to see the glare of distrust as Midoriya continued to wipe the tear tracks from his face. "What do you want?"

"To talk, thats all."

"I'm sure I've gotten enough talking from you to last a lifetime," Midoriya mumbled, but it held less bite than his usual remarks.

"That's fair, I guess. I never did apologise for what I said, did I?" Toshinori replied.

"For what?" Was the skeptic response.

"For what I said. I was comparing myself to you when I should already know that everyone has different strengths. I should know by now that Quirks aren't everything. I remember the Sludge Villian incident. You were very brave. I had meant to tell you so at the police station, but by then you had already ran," Toshinori explained.