Tanaka's POV
When I got home, Keigo was livid with me. He was so angry that I had basically gotten myself killed, but at the same time, he was proud of my bravery for fighting Stain head-on. "Oh, your phone got destroyed too, right?" he asked.
I nodded and he pulled out a new one, "Here, just try not to die with it on you again."
I chuckled and said a quiet thanks while booting it up. Unluckily for me, I no longer had the same number, so I had to get everyone's numbers again. I relaxed for the rest of the weekend, sore from all the work I had been doing in the past week. Eventually, it was time to go back to school again. I got on the bus and stood in silence, keeping my eyes fixed on the ground when a certain person walked on the bus. Luckily for me, he didn't try to talk to me and I was able to journey to school in silence. As I was walking toward the classroom, one sound caught my attention. Laughter. I quirked a brow in confusion, but as I walked through the door, I understood why.
Bakugo's hair... the iconic spikes had been smoothed down into a respectable side part.
Best Jeanist you absolute mad lad.
I slowly walked in, trying to contain the bubble of laughter that was forming in my throat, but as soon as I made eye contact with Bakugo, I couldn't hold it in. I burst into laughter and watched as Bakugo went from pissed to embarrassed to downright furious. "IT'S NOT FUNNY! I TRIED TO BRING IT BACK TO NORMAL BUT IT'S STILL LIKE THIS, EVEN AFTER WASHING IT!" he exclaimed, his hair popping back into its normal fashion.
That only made me laugh harder. I was eventually clutching my side with pain because I was laughing so hard. "Tanaka! You haven't been responding to any texts from the group chat! Why???" Mina exclaimed as my laughing fit ended.
I put a hand behind my neck and chuckled nervously. "Oh, uh my phone kinda got destroyed during my internship..." I explained.
"You should've seen Kaminari, he was panicking thinking that you had died during the battle with Stain and that Iida, Midoriya, and Todoroki were just lying about it because they didn't want to scare us," Kirishima remarked.
I froze, noticing that the aforementioned boys did as well. "Um... about that..." I started, only to get interrupted by All Might bursting into the room.
"Alright students! I know you just got back from your internships, but it's time for hero training! Let's see what you learned over the past week!" All Might exclaimed, "Suit up and meet me at Ground Gamma!"
I sighed and grabbed my gym uniform. While changing, the girls all stopped. "Wait Tanaka, are you not going to wear your costume?" Yaoyorozu asked.
I nervously chuckled, "It kinda got destroyed during my internship, so I have to wait for the support companies to make my new one."
"Wow, was that also when your phone got destroyed?" Mina asked.
I nodded as I finished changing and walked away, not really wanting to continue that conversation. All Might explained the exercise and I was with the second team. I watched the first round as Midoriya showed off his newfound moves and level of control with his quirk. 'I didn't really notice that he wasn't breaking his bones during the fight with Stain. Well, good for him,' I thought to myself, grimacing when he lost his footing and fell to the ground.
Then, it was my turn to go. All Might shot off the flare and I shot up into the air. I then sent out a large number of feathers as surveillance, one of them finding All Might in a matter of seconds. I turned and instantly flew through the complex to reach him, earning myself first place.
After the exercise, we went back to change in the locker room. Jirou then heard something and told all of us to get quiet, allowing us to hear a faint and muffled voice. "What's going on?" I asked.
Jirou looked disgusted as she moved toward a small spot in the wall. I narrowed my eyes and saw a hole. 'Oh god...' I thought to myself as Jirou jammed one of her earphone jacks into the hole, a muffled scream sounding from the other side. "Mineta?" I asked.
"Mineta."
The entire locker room shuddered in disgust. After we finished changing, we walked back up to class to find that Aizawa was there waiting for us. "Ok, now that that's out of the way, we have a few things to discuss. Number one, your final exams are fast approaching. Make sure to not only study, but to train your bodies hard. Number two, during summer, there will be a training camp. Those who do not pass the final exam will not be going to the training camp," he stated.
We nodded and we all started talking about finals. Considering the fact that I got tenth on the midterms, I was about average. I looked around and saw everyone getting in large study groups. I sighed and looked around for anyone who could help me out. My eyes then landed on one person who I was sure would be able to help me out. I walked over and tapped his shoulder. "O-oh Tanaka, do you need something?" Midoriya asked.
I chuckled and said, "Relax, I was just wondering if you could help me study for the finals."
"Oh, sure! I'd love to help you out!" he said with a bright smile, "Where and when?"
"Well I would normally say my place, but since you live far, it would be easier for me to just fly to your place than for you to try to take public transport to my house," I said.
"Ok! And how about we do every night after school until finals?" he said.
I nodded and smiled, "Thank you so much!"
I was about to walk away when I heard my name called. I turned around to see Aizawa and he said, "The support company who makes your costume asked if they can borrow samples of your hair. They said that weaving it into your costume will help it regenerate alongside you should what happened with the Hero Killer happen again. They have done it before with another hero student whose clothes fell off any time he used his quirk."
"Ok, how much hair do they need?" I asked.
"Just a few strands. They have good enough technology that they'll be able to replicate enough of your DNA to weave it into your entire suit," Aizawa explained.
I nodded and pulled on a couple loose strands, wincing as they ripped out of my head. "Here you go!" I said, handing the hairs to Aizawa.
He rolled his eyes and grabbed a bag before taking the hairs and putting them in it. "By the way, do you need to talk to anyone about what happened with Stain? I'm sure that it's had a very negative impact on your mental health," he said.
I smiled softly, "I appreciate your concern, but I'm ok. If anything you should probably ask Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki if they're ok. They're the ones who saw it happen."
"You could still benefit from it. No rational person would expect a 15 year old girl to be ok with knowing that she technically died," he stated.
"Well, it's nothing that I haven't dealt with before!" I said quickly, not really thinking about my answer.
A pit of lead formed in my stomach as I realized what I said. Aizawa's eyes narrowed, "You've died before?"
'I said too much,' I thought to myself as my stomach dropped. I nervously smiled and said, "D-did I say that? I m-meant that it's nothing I can't handle!"
He stared at me for another moment and sighed, "If you insist... but I will be keeping my eye on you. If I see anything suspicious, I'm making you see the school counsellor. Got it?"
I nodded and he walked away. After school, I flew home to change into a random t-shirt and some black shorts before flying to where Midoriya's apartment complex was. I walked around the complex for a bit before I found myself at a door labelled 'Midoriya'. I knocked on the door and a few seconds later, a short, middle-aged woman with green hair and eyes opened the door. "Oh, hello. Is there something you needed?" she asked.
"My name is Fuka Tanaka, I'm here to study with your son," I said, assuming that this was Midoriya's mom.
Her eyes brightened up. "Oh! Izuku mentioned he'd be having a friend over today! I didn't expect that he meant a girl! You can call me Inko!" she exclaimed excitedly, pulling me inside, "Izuku honey!"
Midoriya then peeked his head out of his door and blushed as soon as he saw me. "T-Tanaka, I'm glad you were able to make it," he stuttered.
'I wonder what's up with him,' I thought to myself as Inko led me into the house. She sat me down on their couch and Midoriya sat beside me with several notebooks in hand. "S-so what subjects are you worried about?" he asked.
"Math and English mainly," I said, sitting so I was facing him, mainly so I could spread out and relax my wings.
He then grabbed the notebooks for those two subjects and we started going over his notes. After a few hours, Inko said, "Alright, how about you two take a break and eat some dinner."
"Are you sure? I don't want to be a bother..." I said quietly.
"Nonsense! No child goes hungry in this house!" Inko declared as Midoriya led me to the dining table.
We all sat down and I took a bite of the food. "Wow Inko, this is really good!" I exclaimed as I ate more.
"Thank you sweetheart!" Inko said happily, "Also, I just wanted to say that I thought you did amazingly in the Sports Festival. It's not just anybody who can make the top two of a big hero tournament."
I blushed and looked down, "I-it wasn't that great, I could've done better in that last fight against Bakugo..."
Midoriya's head shot up immediately, "But you did so good! Nobody else put up nearly as good of a fight against Kacchan!"
"I got distracted by something though... my head wasn't fully in the game because of that, and that's why I lost. Bakugo even said it himself, it's why he was so mad at the award ceremony," I dismissed.
Inko sighed, "That boy has always been so prideful. Even back when Izuku and him were in preschool, he was always going on about being the best."
I cocked my head to the side, "You and Bakugo have known each other for that long?"
Midoriya nodded nervously, "Yeah..."
"Y'know, that explains a lot," I remarked.
Inko chuckled, "Anyway, is there a time you need to be home? I don't want to worry your parents."
I sweat dropped at the idea of my parents, but shook my head and said, "Well, my uncle has been really busy lately so he's probably going to be home really late. And if he ever gets too worried, I'm sure he can use his heroing abilities to track my phone."
Midoriya chuckled and Inko asked, "Oh, you live with your uncle? Who is he?"
Midoriya and I sweat dropped. "I'm surprised you haven't guessed it, we look very similar. Most people guess it almost immediately," I joke.
"I don't pay as much attention to heroes as Izuku does, sorry," Inko remarks.
"Mom, he's not just any hero. He's the number three hero, Hawks," Midoriya explains.
Inko looks back over to me for a moment and gasps, "Oh my goodness! To think that the niece of the number three hero is in my home!"
I chuckle and say, "Yeah, it's not a big deal though."
We finished dinner and Midoriya suggested that we study in his room so his mom could watch TV in peace. I follow him and was shocked by the amount of All Might merch this guy had, but decided not to comment and just sat down on his bed. We started studying a bit more, but as I was doing some practice problems, I noticed that Midoriya had stopped working. I looked up and saw that he was staring at me, almost puzzled. "Is something wrong?" I asked.
He blushed and said, "N-nothing, I-I was just thinking about some of the things you've said to me."
"Like what?" I asked.
He went silent for a moment, twiddling his thumbs. "Like whenever you mention your childhood... like during the Sports Festival... or what Kacchan said afterward... and then what you said in the hospital..." he said quietly.
I sighed, "I guess I haven't really been discreet, have I? And not that I don't trust you... it's just not an easy thing to talk about..."
"It's ok, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Midoriya said.
I looked into his sincere emerald eyes for a moment. His aura was so kind and welcoming that I felt the overwhelming urge to just pour my heart out and tell him every single secret of mine. Before I knew it, I had started opening up about my childhood. "So your parents were apart of a yakuza and the boss's kid would use his quirk on you? What was his quirk?" Midoriya asked.
I shuddered at the thought. "It was called Overhaul... it allowed him to completely disassemble and reassemble molecules. He would rip me apart and put me back together. It was... quite a painful process. One day, he didn't put me back together... he was frustrated and decided to just leave me as a pile of blood on the floor..."
"Was that the time you were talking about? In the hospital, you said that you'd been resurrected before," he asked, his eyes watering slightly.
I nodded and looked away, not wanting him to see the tears that were falling down my cheeks. However, the next thing I knew there were arms wrapped around my body. I stiffened at first, but then relaxed when I realized it was just Midoriya hugging me. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to. The hug was all I needed to burst the dam. I started shaking, sobs catching in my throat. I buried my face in the crook of his neck as I sobbed, holding onto him for dear life. He reached up and started rubbing circles on my head, running his fingers through my hair. I kept crying for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes. As I started calming down, Midoriya started to speak. "You've been through so many terrible things... most people would've become a villain after everything that happened to you. But... you didn't. You're probably one of the strongest people in our class. And... thank you for trusting me with this. I'm sure it wasn't easy to talk about."
I sniffled and backed up enough to look at his face. "T-thank you..." I said.
He gave me a soft smile and said, "Of course. What are friends for?"
A smile worked its way onto my face. "It feels like a massive weight has been lifted off my chest..." I remarked.
Midoriya's smile widened. "Well, if you ever need help with anything else, you can always talk to me, ok?"
I stared into his emerald green eyes for a moment, feeling nothing but gratitude. "Ok."