You looked up from your work as you heard Midoriya's front door click shut.
Getting up from your desk, you retrieved a fabric bag and began to collect the various dumbbells he gave you. You'd purchase your own sometime later today.
Your feet carried you out the door and to Midoriya's. You proceeded to click the buzzer. "Hello. This is [L/n] speaking. I have brought Midoriya's dumbbells to return."
"C-coming!" The boy's nervous, stuttery voice traveled through the door. He opened it, giving you a shaky smile. "H-hey, [L/n]!"
For some reason, the boy was extremely jittery. You didn't know this, but coupled with hinting at his secret to Bakugou and hearing about your chilling trial from Uraraka, it made Midoriya's knees knock together.
Gulping, he hesitantly reached out for the bag. His teeth bit down on his lip to muffle the squeak that would've come out when you bridged the gap between his hand and the bag.
His eyes steeled as he muttered with a weak smile, "Thank you."
"You are welcome."
When the door closed, Midoriya berated himself in his head.
He had to remember that you cared about All Might-- that you weren't the heartless person everyone else saw.
He had to remember that you'd insisted he not go outside when he was sick, that he stay inside if he was ill.
Midoriya had to remember you cared.
It was not long after returning the equipment to Midoriya that you visited the sports goods store.
"Oh, [L/n]? Didn't expect to see you here!"
In the dumbbell section, you turned around to see Kirishima walk towards you. He was smiling, still in his school uniform. Meanwhile, you were wearing a light grey long-sleeve, white khaki shorts and white sneakers.
"Thought I'd see what this place has 'ta offer before taking the train." He easily made conversation with you, as if everything in sixth period hadn't happened.
"Hello, Kirishima. I am here to purchase dumbbells." You noticed he didn't carry the same uncertain, uneasy expression everyone else seemed to have.
"Dumbbells?" Kirishima's brow perked up at this. "But your arms..?"
His confusion ended when he read the regimen you handed to him.
Perking up entirely, he crowed, "Ohhh, I see! This is a pretty sweet regimen. Did you write this?"
"I do not think the paper tastes sweet. And no I did not, Midoriya wrote it."
Grinning, Kirishima guffawed. "I meant "sweet" as in like, y'know, nice! Cool!"
You curiously stared at him.
It did take you a bit, but earlier, you'd noticed the cautious way almost everyone treated you.
Kirishima was one of the only ones with the guts to tell you to stop dissecting Kouda. He even touched your shoulder.
"Why are you treating me this way?"
"Huh?" Kirishima's eyes darted up from the red dumbbell he was inspecting.
Immediately understanding your question, he began to smile. "I'd rather get to know you myself than judge ya based on one thing, y'know?"
He chuckled at your innocent, owlish eyes. Your eyes always seemed to be like that.
"I wouldn't wanna get judged like that. If I was.." The redhead whistled softly, shaking his head. "..then I'd be labelled a coward for the rest of my life."
His crimson eyes grew distant, as if stuck in a memory.
You didn't pry. "..Thank you."
You honestly didn't care about how everyone else treated you seeing as you had a mission, but Kirishima being pleasant like this was a nice break from the antsy stares.
Also, you should care more. Melissa wanted you to have friends, after all.
Kirishima sent you a sincere smile, lips pushing against his cheeks. "My pleasure, dude!"
It was ten minutes of browsing later did you settle on a $10 pack of weights varying in weight. It was surprisingly cheap.
Now outside the store, Kirishima turned to you with curiosity in his eyes. "Y'don't have to answer, but I'm curious.. did killing that bird really not affect you at all?"
You adjusted the bag on your right elbow. "I apologized to it."
Another chuckle left his lips. "Man, you're like a little kid.. but that's good! Just speak up for yourself, alright? Everyone's just gonna keep their opinion of you if they don't."
"I see."
That is not an order from Melissa. I do not know whether or not to speak up for myself.
What would I say?
I cannot just confess that my brain is damaged. The other students will just try to damage my head further since it is my weak spot.
"[L/n]? Hellooo? Anyone in there?" Kirishima snickered at his own little joke as he waved a hand in front of your face.
"Yes. My consciousness continues to reside within my body." Not knowing he was joking, you answered his question quite literally.
That was when Kirishima doubled over, laughing so hard tears bubbled up in his eyes.
You blinked dubiously as he continued to hoot.
His stomach hurts, but he is laughing.. Is this a case of delirium?
Kirishima does not seem to be sleep-deprived, nor is he intoxicated.
"Whew! You sure are funny, [L/n]." Kirishima straightened up, his smile still on his face as he wiped an eye.
"I do not see how I caused you to laugh. You are crying."
"Just tearing up, not crying. Don't worry, man." Kirishima's smile grew. You acknowledging that he cried kind of felt like you cared for him, which touched him more than it should've. It felt special coming from someone so aloof and seemingly unfeeling.
But the redhead knew better. He wasn't going to get ahead of himself.
"Well.." He turned, looking over his shoulder with a bag of wraps in his right hand. "I'll see ya tomorrow! Gotta catch the train!"
As he jogged off, you called, "See you tomorrow."
The usual text arrived at eight p.m.
You'd already settled into a routine-- do homework, work out, eat dinner, shower, text and get ready for bed.
< | Melissa |
Melissa:
Eggs for all three meals and pancakes now!? I'm getting Papa to send you money for actual food!!
Eating like that isn't healthy!! I'll send you some easy recipes for breakfast and dinner
You can't grow if you don't eat healthy! Eat more avocados and nuts, you need to gain weight to get to a healthy standard
Your tech doesn't count in your overall weight, but our estimate says you are severely underweight!! Not good
And where did you get pork cutlet? Did you cook that yourself? You may be a big baby, but you learn quick 8-D
As usual, you'd respond the next day.
Dinner was pancakes, indirectly going against Melissa's texts.
I will purchase ingredients to make a healthy meal tomorrow.
[ ]
You stopped in your tracks at the sight of a horrendous blob of reporters and cameras swarm the U.A. gates.
There were so many.. How would you bypass such a mob?
"Hey, man!" Kirishima walked to your side, his grin friendly as it was yesterday.
He side-eyed the crowd. "Feelin' scared?"
"Hey, Kirishima. I have not experienced fear yet."
"Uh-huh. Now, let's get a move-on."
Kirishima lead you through the crowd, a firm hand on your forearm. Although he gave the reporters friendly smiles, he was rough in clearing a path. You were more docile, so whenever someone closed in on you, Kirishima would have to give you a firm jerk and tug you out of there. You weren't as keen on avoiding them as he was.
He was so friendly it confused you.
Kirishima is pleasant. Agreeable. Although I do not have set expectations for him, I am content with his current treatment of me.
I do not know if his hand on my arm counts as affection. It has to be mutual.
Kirishima greeted Aizawa as the man stormed by, but he was too focused on getting rid of the reporters to respond. The redhead shrugged to himself, smiling a little as you two passed the barrier.
"Whew! There we go!" He grinned with pride as he released your arm. "Feeling glad I'm here, aren't 'cha?"
You casted a tentative glance over your shoulder. "Yes, I am glad you are here. I do not desire to shove these people."
Despite your focus on your "mission", you weren't ruthless. Cold and robotic, but not ruthless.
You were gentle at heart, and you didn't know it, but you disliked violence.
Kirishima blinked twice. He'd only playfully asked you that to tease you.
Bashfully grinning, he scratched his cheek. "Glad to hear it! Let's go inside."
The last thing the others expected to see was Kirishima cheerfully conversing with you as the two of you walked through the door.
Your peers went bug-eyed at Kirishima's bravery. He was keeping up the flow of conversation like nothing, your literal answers only making him laugh with mirth.
It gave the others hope that Kirishima would somehow magically turn you into a regular human like the rest of them.
How naïve.
As you bade Kirishima a temporary farewell and walked to your desk, Todoroki's icy eyes followed.
He knew he was in a different league than most of his peers and had stated it himself, but something about you seemed to bother him in particular.
He was obviously better off than you were, but the boy couldn't shake off the air of superiority you subconsciously carried.
Someone so inexperienced and unworthy being seemingly above him..
Todoroki hated it.
Yaoyorozu had the maturity to put the past behind her. She gave you a warm smile and a little wave.
You returned the wave and attempted a smile, which looked like you were showing off your new braces or something. Your lips didn't curve in the slightest, resulting in your mouth looking like a rectangle.
The girl blinked and then laughed, settling a hand on her mouth and shaking her head.
The area by your diaphragm became warm, and it wasn't a bad feeling.
Soon enough, everyone was seated when Aizawa sat behind his desk. "Good work with yesterday's battle training. I've looked over your grades and evaluations."
The man set down a stack of paper. "Bakugou. Grow up already. Stop wasting your talent."
His words were incredibly blunt. Bakugou could only sulk slightly, gritting his teeth as he grunted, "Got it."
"And it seems Midoriya ended yet another day with a broken arm."
Said boy could only jump in his seat and bow his head in shame.
"Learn to control your Quirk.. because just trying isn't going to cut it." Aizawa looked up. "I hate repeating myself, but you do have potential, assuming you can overcome this. Work at it, Midoriya."
Sweating and determined, Midoriya yelped, "Yes, sir!"
"And you— loudm— [L/n]." Aizawa seemed to glare at you particularly. Uraraka had to slap her hands over her mouth not to laugh at his little slip-up.
"Yes?" You looked up from the wooden pencil you gripped in your right hand.
"Quit hesitating. And although whoever gets burned by you has to deal with it themselves, this is still training. Focus on fine-tuning your combat skills and dial down the heat. Recovery Girl was livid when she saw what you did to Yaoyorozu, believe me."
Yaoyorozu seemed to shrink a little at that. Her lips were pursed, self-deprecating thoughts running through her head.
She took her anger out on herself rather than you.
Aizawa frankly continued, "Since scaring your classmates does nothing useful, it would be nice if you could tell them why you didn't react to killing that bird."
Every one of your teachers received medical information on each student in case of emergency, so they all knew about your brain damage.
Upon hearing you killed a bird, Yaoyorozu's breath hitched.
Like Yaoyorozu, you felt your breathing stop at your teacher's blunt suggestion.
Reveal your weakness and cater to your classmates, or protect yourself and leave them in the dark?
Everyone was silent as they stared at you with anticipation, their breaths just as halted as yours.
The harsh snap of a wooden pencil broke the silence.
"See?" Aizawa wryly grinned as you stared at the broken pencil in your hand with eyes widened just the slightest. "He gets nervous like the rest of us."
Yaoyorozu released her breath and turned to you, smiling determinedly as she rested a hand on your desk. "You don't have to say anything, [L/n]. The choice is yours."
"The choice is yours."
You stood up from your desk, the pencil pieces still in your grasp. "I will only reveal the reason if every one of you vow not to exploit it."
You taking charge like that was a huge surprise. Yaoyorozu smiled up at you, proud her encouragement could help you.
Meanwhile, Kirishima grinned. You were speaking up for yourself, just as he'd told you to.
Shocked, the others all exchanged uncertain glances. Aizawa didn't seem fazed in the slightest— he seemed pleased, actually.
Those three saw something in you the others didn't.
"..I promise." To everyone's surprise, it was Todoroki who spoke up first.
Next was Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, Kaminari and eventually, everyone made their vow.
All except Bakugou.
They now all watched you with bated breath.
Your lips parted. "My brain suffers damage in numerous places. It cannot properly process emotions, and thus I do not react to certain situations in the same way as all of you. I do not recognize most social cues due to memory loss, but I have the ability to learn."
The reactions to your explanation varied.
Many jaws were dropped, eyes were either wide or crinkled with guilt and regret and everyone seemed mortified overall.
Kaminari in particular seemed pretty guilty. He'd made a sarcastic comment behind your back when you'd left the locker room yesterday, and now it was coming back to haunt him.
"Man.. What a cool guy."
To think he told you he'd show you what a friend was and turn on you the moment you did one abnormal thing.
Yaoyorozu covered her mouth with horror, murmuring, "How horrible..!"
Todoroki felt his dislike of you waver for only a second.
Kirishima shot Kaminari a pointed look, who returned it with a sheepish glance.
Midoriya gripped his knee under the desk. He'd judged you so easily and he paid the price with the bucket of guilt washing over him.
Iida clenched a fist, feeling triumphant. Now the gossiping would come to an end and your reputation was clean. He would never remain idle if someone in his class was getting smeared without valid reason.
Uraraka bit down on her lip. She'd so readily rambled about you to Midoriya and now she was regretting it.
Shouji had no regrets, seeing as he remained decent to you even after witnessing you scorch that poor animal.
Kouda sighed in relief, thankful you weren't some heartless killer.
"Now, on to homeroom business.." Aizawa nonchalantly broke the solemn silence as you sat down. "Sorry for the sudden announcement, but today, you'll pick a class president."
Everyone gawked at how normal that was.
Immediately, all hands flew up except yours and Todoroki's.
You thought to yourself, What is a class president?
"Quiet down, everyone!" Iida's commanding tone garnered everyone's attention. "Leading the many is a task of heavy responsibility, but ambition does not equate to ability!"
His seriousness was unnecessary, although amusing. "This sacred office demands the trust of its constitutions..! If this is to be a democracy, then I put forward the motion.."
His arm trembling as he raised it high, he grunted, "..that our true leader must be chosen by election!"
Sero raised a brow, calling, "Chill out, dude! This is a classroom, not Congress!"
You honestly kind of spaced out during the entire election, instead thinking about Melissa and I-Island.
You were so devoted to her anyone would think you were her lover.
You felt a sense of pulling within yourself, the urge to fly back to I-Island being all too strong.
But Melissa's orders were all she needed to keep you put in Japan, where you would fulfill the dream you once had.
"[L/n]?" Iida held out a small black box to you as he made his way to your desk. "I've come to collect your vote."
He adjusted his glasses, peering at you with concern. You'd just been staring at the back of Yaoyorozu's head, both you and her blissfully unaware.
"Iida." Remembering his little speech, you immediately knew what to do. He handed you a little slip of paper and you wrote on it with the leaded nub of your shattered pencil.
There it was-- your habit of repeating the greetings said to you. It was a little endearing.
Iida's lips twitched into the tiniest smile as he thanked you for your participation. You were like a parrot.
The votes were tallied on the board, and you felt nothing upon not seeing your name up there.
Midoriya having three votes surprised both you and him, however. You honestly didn't think someone as jittery as him would make an efficient "class president"-- whatever that meant, you at least knew that position held authority.
Iida was hunched over his desk, horribly defeated. "Zero votes..! I thought as much! This is the harsh reality of this sacred office..!"
Yaoyorozu's brows creased. "So you voted for someone else..?"
Satou glanced at him with exasperation. "You're the one who proposed an election. What exactly do you want, Iida..?"
Yaoyorozu received the vice president role. Biased or not, you thought she was more suited to the actual president position. She carried an air of intelligence even someone like you could sense, and her smart words always supported her elegant air.
She was also.. calm. Sweet.
Understanding.
She was everything Midoriya wasn't.
All that was the reason why "Yaoyorozu" was what you'd written on that little slip of paper.
You looked up at her as she stood by the blackboard, her brows furrowed as she gave the nervous Midoriya a judging look.
"The choice is yours."
You'd been feeling helpless to the ultimatum, but all it took for you to turn the tides were those encouraging words.