A/N: Well then, I'm finally back. After a really REALLY long time. I don't even want to drag this intro out, I just wanna get into it. So yeah! I am glad to be back, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Hopefully I'm not too rusty lmao-
Izuku frantically looked out of the window of the train, tightly gripping the railing above him, the tracks making the carriages rumble and shake slightly, with Izuku desperately trying to stay as still as possible. He didn't exactly like being on the train when it was lunchtime, as the humid conditions and the stench weren't exactly optimal. The train during the evening was the most beautiful to him. The skyline during dusk looked so tranquil. The warm colours and the diffused summer heat just calmed him. Soothed his mind.
His mind was anything other than soothed. He couldn't stop worrying about Eri. Why was she in trouble? What happened? Was she hurt? Did she have to go to the hospital? Was it her fault? Was it his fault? Could he have done anything? Why? Why COULDN'T HE STOP HER-
No.
He couldn't think like that. He couldn't live with the grief. He couldn't live with the survivor's remorse.
It wasn't like the situation was that dire in the first place. It's high school. Eri's fine. He knew that. He knew that he had to be rational. He trusted that nothing bad would happen.
As the train stopped, the inertia made Izuku lean in the train's direction of motion, and then the sudden stop made him jolt back in the opposite direction, causing him to lose his balance. Nevertheless, the railing on top of him and his grip strength saved him, as he exited the train and took the steps down off the station and towards his old high school, surprised to be back here so soon.
Meanwhile, Ochako, Mina, Tsuyu and Katsuki were all sharing a taxi back to Izuku's house, Katsuki in the front seat next to the driver, and the girls in the back, catching up and talking. Katsuki put his phone down, a slight blush on his face, as he turned to face the girls behind him, his neck already being stiff since the morning.
"What's got you blushing Katsuki?" Ochako asked, noticing the rosy tinge on his cheeks.
"Wh- Nothing, I was just talking to Camie, that's all..." Katsuki mumbled, trying to forget about the particularly risqué messages his girlfriend sent him.
"Ooooooooooh~ Someone's gonna get lucky tonight huh?" Mina teased, leering at the blonde-haired boy, who said nothing and turned back around.
"Anyways, I'll tell Deku that the three of you are gonna be at home. I hope everything's okay with Eri, Nejire's gonna kill him if she's hurt." Katsuki commented.
"Who's that?" Tsu inquired.
"She's another friend of ours, she's actually a third-year" Ochako replied.
"That's interesting, I'd love to meet her at some point" Mina suggested, getting a simple nod from Ochako, as they pulled up to her home.
"I'll talk to you later Katsuki, bye!" Ochako called out, waving to him as she walked the stairs with her friends, letting them in.
"So what do you guys think?" She asked, hoping they liked the place.
"It's nice! I mean, it's a bit less modern than the accommodation at UA, but it's much bigger and probably quieter" Mina pointed out.
"Your balcony's nice" Tsuyu added, as she stepped outside.
"Thanks guys, I'm glad I found this place, and all the friends that came with it." Ochako said, smiling gleefully.
"So, how did you meet all these people then?" Mina asked as they all sat down on the sofa, listening to Ochako's story...
Izuku rushed through the hallowed halls of his old school, remembering it all as if it were yesterday. The spot where they saw Kaachan's first fight, the locker some kid punched in anger, with the dent still in it. It was oddly nostalgic, but he didn't have time to focus on that right now.
After getting to the office, he knocked on the door, as the principal of the school let him in.
"Ah, Izuku. It's been a while since I've seen you. How have you been?" She asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
"I've been better. So, why is Eri in here then? I mean, I don't think I've ever been in this office unless I came in voluntarily" Izuku asked, sitting down next to Eri, who looked straight down at the ground, arms glued to her side, and her face pale, with a distressed grimace plastered on it.
"Well, that's why I found this situation all the more surprising. Eri's in here because she assaulted another student and broke his jaw. He's been sent to the hospital, and he's currently being treated." The woman stated, looking at Eri, who had begun to sweat and slump in her chair slightly, the tension really getting to her head at this point.
"Uhm, okay." Izuku replied, taken aback by the revelation, "Eri, why did you attack another student?" He asked, turning to face her.
"w-well" Eri answered meekly, her throat drying up and her voice dying as she began to speak. She was scared and afraid, which Izuku could immediately tell.
Placing a hand on her shoulder, he hoped it would calm her down, as he turned back to face his old teacher, "Would you mind explaining your version of events?"
"I wouldn't. From what the teachers saw, there was a student that these two boys were picking on, Arata. Eri tried to stop them from doing so, and the situation escalated and led to her attacking them." She concisely stated.
"So who attacked first?" Izuku asked.
"Eri did, she threw one punch before the teachers intervened, although that seemed to be enough..."
"Okay. Well first off, those boys should be punished for picking on someone else in the first place, and Eri only stepped in to help him, which should honestly be praised. Now, violence obviously isn't an answer to any situation like this, so I understand why she's in here. But, I know Eri, and I know she wouldn't do any of this without a reason. So, Eri, if you're okay, can you tell us what happened?" Izuku asked calmly, his tone softening as he asked his question.
"O-Okay then..." Eri said, a bit more confident this time, as she recounted the events from her perspective...
Flashback
"HEY! YOU TWO!" Eri exclaimed, running over to the assholes who she had the distinct displeasure of calling her classmates.
"What do you want? Did you get tired of sucking Kota off?" They snapped back, still choking the poor soul, the gravel beneath him digging into his legs.
"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response. Now, do you two want to stop trying to get Arata to join your BDSM cult? He doesn't seem like he'd be into that" Eri responded, seeing how much agony the aforementioned classmate was in.
"If we had a BDSM cult, you'd be the first to join honey~ But for your information, we're just teaching him a lesson." They replied sinisterly, tightening their vice grip around his neck.
"The lesson that enough of a force can crush someone's windpipe? He's super smart, I don't think he's the one that needs to be taught anything. Now just let go of him, before you two get your asses kicked." Eri proclaimed, not backing down an inch, as she felt no fear, despite her physical stature not being as imposing as the bullies'
"Oh noooo, Eri's gonna kick our butts, I'm so scared!" One of them said in a mocking tone, as he stood up, his face scrunching up out of anger.
"Yeah, I am. And if you don't leave him alone, the next time you see me will be in court where you'll be on the stand for witnessing manslaughter." Eri remarked, getting visibly pissed off, as Arata stopped struggling, giving up on the fight.
"Well, I guess you'd know a lot about manslaughter." The bullies jeered, sniggering at their insults.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Eri snarled, her tone suddenly much more menacing, running up to them, getting right in the bullies' faces, forcing them to let go of Arata, the fear causing their composure to become rattled.
"What? We all know what happened to your mother! And you weren't even there to see it, it was your brother. What, you think you can save Arata? Even your sorry excuse for a brother couldn't save your mum!" They rambled sinisterly, seeing Eri's expression change, as her nostrils flared in anger, and her eyes bore more hate than they had ever seen in their lives.
"Do you really think you can do anything to the two of us? At least your brother had the balls to be in the room when she died!" One of them added, not knowing whether to stop or to keep going until Eri backed off.
"You... you goddamn motherfucking bastards... how the HELL DO YOU KNOW THAT?! HUH!!?"
"My dad works for the police, I saw some old case files, and how could anyone forget that annoying ass face? I mean you've got a foul tongue to go with it, but at least Kota's gonna make good use of that~"
"Shut up, cunt. You think you're so fucking brave and strong. I'll show you, you piece of shit. Bullying others and thinking you can get away with it? HUH? I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT IT'S LIKE TO FEEL A FRACTION OF THE PAIN I WENT THROUGH!"
Eri snapped. Moving without thinking, she bolted towards the shorter bully, her footsteps sounding like gunshots, her explosive movement leading to a lot of momentum and power. Planting her dominant foot behind her, she swung her dominant hand towards his jaw, arcing it so that she threw an effective and deadly hook, which connected with fiery ferocity, as she could feel his bone shift out of place, and she swore that her mind conjured the sound of a visceral crack as her knuckles indented themselves into the scum's skin.
Before she came back to her senses, she was watching his unconscious body get put onto a stretcher, as she was taken away to the principal's office...
Present-day:
"So that's what happened..." Eri recounted, leaving out some of the other unsavory comments and filler, her blood boiling just thinking about it, as she clenched her hands into tight fists, as Izuku pried her hands apart, as she was about to draw blood from her palms, her relatively long nails being a detriment to her in this situation.
"Well to me it sounds like that bas- Sorry, that boy got what he deserved. Since he was the one who attacked Eri first." Izuku sternly stated, his mind filled with seething rage, though his face was stone cold.
"Izuku, I understand that, but-"
"But? BUT?! But what!? That boy attacked Eri's psyche! She's been dealing with grief, trauma, depression, all severe mental issues, and he made it a joke. Jesus did you hear what they said to her?! If you heard that in an office, there would be an HR complaint in seconds, and the victim of that verbal attack would be compensated, regardless of what he did. Countries have clauses in their legal codes to protect those affected by mental illnesses, as they lash out and do things that generally aren't considered normal. And this is the exact same thing! Honestly, the fact that Eri didn't attack him the second he said anything about our mother shows just how much she was holding back!" Izuku reasoned, slamming his fist down onto her desk, almost causing some of her ornaments to topple over.
"She broke his jaw and sent him to the hospital young man, I can't just allow her to be unpunished, and this school has a strict policy against violence, to the point of expulsion." The principal retaliated, putting her foot down now, although it was mostly out of fear since Izuku's serious side scared the living shit out of her.
"Oh so because Eri's strong you're going to punish her unfairly?"
"Well of course not but-"
"Because if Eri didn't break his jaw, then it sounds like there'd be less of a punishment, which is discriminating against someone just because they're stronger than another person! And that hardly seems fair, now does it."
The principal was truly stunned and agreed with Izuku. She knew just how hard it was for the sibling, but to let an incident like this go on the first day of the new year would lead to many more students misbehaving, which would have a domino effect on the entire school's environment. She felt cold-hearted for even having this discussion, but her responsibility as a manager was far too important, as each child in her school was her priority.
"Okay, you've made your point. If it were an ideal world, I'd let Eri go, no questions asked. But as you said, violence isn't a response to any situation like this, and sometimes in the world, people will say things to you that you don't like, and that they have no right to say. But you still have to deal with it in a healthy way. So, Izuku, what do you think is an ideal punishment?" She asked, not wanting the guilt of this decision to be on her conscience.
"Obviously I'd say that Eri gets no punishment... but I can sort of see your point. I guess a week's detention, an hour every day after school, for 5 days specifically. I'm sure she's already learned her lesson though, right Eri?" Izuku asked, turning to face her.
"Y-yeah, I promise I won't hit another student again" Eri pledged, hating the situation she was in.
"Very well then. Now, what are you going to do to punish that kid?" Izuku asked.
"I'll... exclude them. I can't have children like that in this school. It's not fair that they said that stuff to Eri, and it's not fair that they weren't taught right from wrong. To both of you, I'm sorry. I know how hard these past years have been. Izuku, I've seen you grow, and to know how far you've come, makes me feel proud, and I'm glad to have you as a student. Both of you have some time to rest and reflect, alright?" She said, standing up, prompting the siblings to do the same, as her tone finally got warmer and softer, as Izuku left the office, with Eri following suit.
The next five minutes were filled with pin-drop silence. Hell, you could have heard the sound of a silent film it was that quiet.
"So, that must have been one hell of a punch huh? I didn't know you were that strong" Izuku joked, breaking the ice.
"I- Uh..." Eri stuttered, at an utter loss for words.
"No, I'm not mad at you. I'm proud actually. You stood up for someone else, and yourself. I'm still pissed at those kids, but they're gonna rot at some other school anyways. Are you okay though? What they said was hurtful, I'm really sorry you had to go through that Eri..." Izuku responded, the concern on his face being scarily apparent.
"Y-yeah, I'm okay, still a little shaken up, but yeah. I think I got all my frustration out when I...punched him" Eri said, still embarrassed by her actions.
"Well, now you have to start going to the gym with me and Kaachan. He knows how to box a bit, he can teach you! Although you'll have to start cutting your nails if that's the case" Izuku replied enthusiastically, doing whatever he could to put Eri at ease.
"So you're really not mad?" Eri asked, still in disbelief.
"Of course not. As I said, you stood up for someone else and yourself. You didn't take shit from anyone, and you let everyone know that. No one's gonna mess with you after that, and if they do, you can handle yourself. You're not some damsel in distress, you're a badass person. I'm glad that's who you are, and I'm fine with your actions today. You were more than justified, so don't feel guilty about it, okay? I'll be at home all day, and we can chill and do whatever. But we're gonna be walking home, since I don't feel like paying for the train right now" Izuku explained, seeing Eri relax for the first time in what seemed like hours, as she breathed in, and out.
The duo walked back to their home, where a pleasant surprise would await them...
Meanwhile...
"So yeah, that's basically how I met them all" Ochako stated, leaving Mina and Tsuyu in deep thought.
"It all sounds really nice Ochako" Tsuyu commented.
"Yeah... but... are you sure you like Midoriya though? Like, the way you met him is kind of, weird right?" Mina asked, causing Ochako to look at her with a confused expression.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked, hoping that the answer wasn't as bad as she was dreading...
A/N: AND THAT IS MY FIRST CHAPTER BACK COMPLETE! Man, it feels good to be writing again! Anyways, I'll make this quick. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please tell me in the comments! I should be uploading tomorrow, hopefully with an update to Big Sis Nejire, but we'll have to see. I hope you're all having a great day or night, and I hope you all stay safe until next time! See you soon!