Deku's Secret Illness

Ch.4

Recovery Girl welcomed him warmly as he entered her office. "Oh, nice to see you again, Aizawa. How can I help you today?"

"I have a case I need a second opinion on," Aizawa replied, his tone serious.

"A case?" she inquired, curiosity evident in her eyes.

"It's a strange medical occurrence that could give me a lead. I need you to look at the file and tell me what you think."

Recovery Girl examined the document and frowned. "This looks familiar."

"Oh?" Aizawa prompted.

"I've only seen a handful of cases like this before. I've encountered it twice in my time as a hero."

"And?" Aizawa pressed for more information.

"I think you might want to sit down for this one."

"Shit. Really?" Aizawa muttered, a sense of dread settling in.

"It's not good news, Shota." He took a seat near her desk.

Recovery Girl continued, "The most recent case I've seen like this occurred due to a dangerous mix of quirks. It's a one in a million chance, but so is this injury."

"What is it?" Aizawa asked, his concern deepening.

"It's called Quirk-Induced Cellular Dystrophy. It's a condition that occurs when a powerful quirk interacts with a person's genetic makeup in a specific way. It triggers a rapid deterioration of the body's cells, leading to a progressive loss of bodily functions over an extended period, resulting in death. The first sign that something like this has occurred is an incident like this. Something with severe internal consequences with seemingly no external cause. The symptoms you listed here and the progressive nature of it all line up well. Extensive testing is needed, but odds are high."

Aizawa took in the information, his mind racing. "And this occurs how quickly exactly?"

"It varies. Usually within the course of a few years. Death is inevitable, but treatments exist to help manage symptoms."

"But not to treat the condition."

"No, there's currently no known treatment, and little research is being done to find one due to the lack of test subjects."

Aizawa sighed, sinking into his seat. "Fuck."

Recovery Girl's voice softened, "It sounds like this is a very personal case."

"I guess you could say they're a colleague of mine."

"I see. I'm currently treating a patient with this condition. If this does turn out to be the case, I could help walk them through what life is going to look like for them. Though the case I have is fairly recent, so I'm not sure how much I can help with later stages."

Then it clicked.
"It's Midoriya, isn't it?"

"Shota, you know I can't discuss the personal files of my patients."

"This is an exception."

"Legally, I cannot discuss this with you."

"I know Midoriya talked to you that day, and things haven't been the same since."

"I can confirm that I had a recent conversation with Midoriya in which it was explicitly requested that I not share any of his personal information. My hands are tied."
The kid is dying and he's refusing to let anyone know. This is so much worse than Aizawa could have ever imagined.

So Aizawa knew. Even if he didn't officially know, he knew he knew. But Midoriya didn't. Midoriya had no clue Aizawa knew and Aizawa knew that he couldn't help Midoriya unless he knew that he knew.