In the midst of the intense studying session, Class 1-A was drowning in the stress of finals week. Pages rustled, pens clicked, and the room was filled with a collective sigh of exhaustion.
Mina groaned into her notebook, "Someone should just put me out of my misery with all these exams."
Izuku, looked up from his notes, "Can I join you?"
Laughter erupted, everyone appreciating the dark humor until Izuku, seemingly lost in thought, asked, "Have any of you ever wondered what death is like?"
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence.
Sero tried to steer the conversation back on track, "Well, Midoriya, you've come closest to it. What did it feel like when you almost died?"
Izuku's expression turned grave, "It was... strange. There was a complete lack of awareness. No time, no feeling, nothing."
He hesitated before continuing, "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I never woke up from my coma. Would it stay like that, or would there be something after death?"
The class exchanged uneasy glances, and Todoroki, sensing the gravity of the moment, pressed on, "Midoriya, are you okay? You shouldn't talk like that."
Izuku mumbled under his breath, "Maybe things would have been better that way."
The room went silent, tension thick in the air. Uraraka, concerned, hit him lightly and scolded, "It's not funny to joke about that, Deku!"
Quick to defuse the situation, Denki stepped in, "Come on, Midoriya, you're just messing with us, right? Finals are getting to everyone's heads."
Izuku, catching on to the concern, forced a laugh, "Yeah, yeah, just a weird thought. Sorry about that."
Todoroki, however, wasn't convinced. He kept a watchful eye on Izuku, silently noting that some things might need more than just a laugh to resolve.
After the study session Todoroki approached Izuku.
"Midoriya, can we talk for a moment?"
Izuku greeted him with a tired smile. "Oh, hey Todoroki. Sure, what's up?"
Todoroki got straight to the point. "You seemed serious back there. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, just tired from all the work. You know how it is."
"It didn't sound like just fatigue. Something's bothering you."
"Nah, it's really nothing. Just overthinking things."
"Midoriya, I can tell when something's off. You can talk to me."
Izuku hesitated before admitting, "It's just... I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately."
"You need to talk to someone about this. Maybe Recovery Girl or Aizawa-sensei. Hound dog has been helping me lately, maybe I could help you set up an appointment?"
Izuku sighed, "Thanks, but I can handle it, really, I always do."
"That's not healthy. Keeping everything bottled up won't make it better."
"I appreciate your concern, Todoroki, but I've got this. I just need some time to sort things out."
Todoroki reluctantly let it go, knowing there was nothing he could do to change Midoriya's mind. He hated it, but he knew pressing on at this point would do more harm than good.
"Ok, just remember you can always talk to me ok?"
"Thanks Todoroki. You can always talk to me too" Izuku smiled.
Todoroki couldn't help but feel hopeless as he watched him go.
.
.
.
Katsuki hadn't been present during the study session when Izuku's unsettling thoughts first surfaced. The tales of Deku's odd, morbid question reached him, but he dismissed it as a Deku's usual bullshit. After all, he'd always been weird like that. However, when confronted with it directly during their private exploration of Hamlet's soliloquy, Katsuki realized there was something different this time. He couldn't ignore it anymore.
As they read the lines together in silence, Izuku picked a particularly morbid line to mutter to himself, "To die, to sleep, no more," he said, his expression uncharacteristically serious. Katsuki, caught off guard, couldn't dismiss this as normal weird nerd muttering.
