In Loving Memory

Is This a Problem? I'm Not Sure

"Nothing," Katsuki grumbled. However, it wasn't nothing, and for the first time since he was a little kid, he didn't feel safe anymore. He shifted awkwardly in his chair, resisting the urge to yell at whatever was behind him, but he was sure he would be seen as crazy. Somebody was there, he knew it. However, they couldn't be seen.

"Are you sure you're okay? You look a little jittery."

"I'm fine!" Katsuki snapped, and Kirishima winced. Katsuki pursed his lips and quieted his voice. "Sorry. Just leave me alone." He laid his head on the desk again and Kirishima walked away, a little dejected after the encounter. Nearby, however, as the feeling of being watched started to let up, Izuku had just entered the classroom only to find Yosuke staring at the class, and more specifically, at Katsuki.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Izuku said, albeit a little shakily as he floated over. Yosuke looked over at Izuku and smiled.

"Ah, you're here. Just wanted to take a look at these kids you're so intent on protecting."

"This isn't somewhere you should be, I think."

"Neither is it a place for you."

"I'm watching over some friends."

"And I'm coming to see you."

Izuku paused. "Why do you want to see me?"

"Just hanging out with my favorite student."

Izuku pursed his lips. "I guess."

"Do I make you nervous?" Yosuke tilted his head to the side. He smiled, half showing off his fangs. "Is it the teeth?"

"No, you don't make me nervous," Izuku lied. "I'm just really tired, I guess. The whole possession thing knocked the wind out of me."

"Ah, you've been practicing?"

Izuku shook his head. "Still tired from Sakura."

"Right. She really is a little exhausting to possess." He laughed shortly. "Now, who are these friends of yours?"

"Why does it matter to you?"

"Just curious."

Izuku thought quickly. "You mentioned to Sakura that you died in a fire. How did that happen?"

"I was asleep during a fire in the dorms. Woke up, and I was dead."

"Sounds like a lot of tragedy in a short time."

"It was, but the good thing about being a ghost?" Yosuke picked up the hem of his shirt. "I'm not all skin and bones anymore, see? You could hardly tell how I died!"

"Oh?"

"Once you die, your ghost shows you at your prime, or at one of the most impactful moments in your life. At least I'm not in front of you looking like some horrible burnt skeleton or being skin and bones from eating very little food at the time." Yosuke dropped the hem of his shirt. "I wonder why your spirit took the form of when you were fourteen. I remember being fourteen, it sucked."

"Because I am fourteen. I'd be fifteen if I hadn't died."

"Oh. I forgot about that part."

"Besides, this was hardly the prime of my life. Jumping at every loud noise and getting bullied just for existing?" Izuku scoffed. "It was pretty miserable." He sighed, then continued. "I miss my mom."

"I miss my mom too," Yosuke agreed wistfully.

"What was she like?"

"She made the best food. Gave the best hugs. Could cure the worst days with a smile. She was great."

"She sounds awesome."

"She was great company. I miss her a lot. When she eventually dies, I'll get to talk to her again."

"That'll be an interesting conversation."

Yosuke laughed sharply. "Imagine that."

"Imagine."

"But hey, who are your friends in here, anyway?"

Izuku cleared his throat. He had no reason, really, to not trust Yosuke. But why was he hesitating so much? "The blond boy and the brunette girl. I don't really know the purple haired boy, but I'm here to protect him."

"The little one with the punchable face?"

"No, the fluffy-haired one."

"Ah. Good. I know of the little one. Haunted his mother once. She's a nice lady, but her son is a terror."

"You haunted his mother once?"

"I was young." Yosuke wove his hand dismissively.

"And so am I, but why did you haunt her?"

"I was also bitter and on a mean streak. It was only when she called an exorcist that I decided to leave."

"Decided?"

"A good handful of exorcists don't actually have power to get rid of ghosts, like the guy she called, but I realized how much I had impacted her life only when she was desperately calling exorcists to get rid of me. I was just playing and messing around, but she was really scared. I left of my own accord."

"And you never apologized?"

"The apology would give her a heart attack. It wasn't her time. Besides, I can't appear in the human world as easily as you can. I specialize in possession and interacting with the world of the living. Some people call me a poltergeist, an apparition, whatever." Yosuke ran his fingers through his hair. "Now the kids, the ones you're protecting. Katsuki, Ochako, and Hitoshi, right?"

"How did you know that?"

"Listen, Midoriya, I've been around the world of the dead longer than you have. I know a good portion of the city by name. Like your mom, Inko right?"

Izuku moved a little closer to Katsuki, putting himself between Yosuke and Katsuki, but disguising it as simply moving to sit on an empty desk. "So you know me?"

"Hardly. You were a little boring when you were human."

"Why do you call the living humans?"

"Are they not?"

"Aren't we still human?"

"We're ghosts, or more specifically apparitions."

"I think we still count as human."

"Why is that?"

"Why would dying make me any less human?"

"They don't call us human. They call us ghosts and apparitions and ghouls and sometimes 'just the wind' or 'the house settling.'"

"People are still people regardless of how many people say otherwise."

"Fine. Whatever you say." Yosuke said dismissively, glancing around the room. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Ochako. "How do you know her?"

"I saved her during the entrance exam."

"Saved her?"

"A big robot was gonna crush her. It wasn't her time to go."

"Was it your time either?"

"It wasn't. Which is why I couldn't watch her go just yet."

"You didn't even know her name. How come you would help her like that?"

"I don't know. Why wouldn't you?" Yosuke was silent. "I don't know why you're here, Yosuke, but I'll protect my friends- no, this class- from anything at any cost. You can go spend your afterlife haunting people and possessing strangers for your own goals or whatever it is you do in your spare time, but I want to help people. Always have. Even if people can't see a smiling face, I want them to feel safe."

Yosuke half-smiled, with a bit of a chuckle. "You're a special kind of kid, Midoriya. Call if you need any help with that. The news will get back to me pretty quickly." And with that, he vanished through the door, and Izuku let out a sigh of relief. Unbeknownst to Izuku, Katsuki's shoulders finally relaxed and the anxiety left him.