It's been a while, folks, but I'm trying to pick up where I'd left off.
It was a few days after Class 1A had decided to do a song and dance performance.
"Just hurry up and get it off." Y/N demanded. He sat angrily in a chair, with his foot propped up.
"You're not much for patience, are you, kid?" a man said. He entered a numeric code on his laptop, before pressing 'Enter'. The annoyingly large ankle bracelet on Y/N then blinked green and unlatched. The man removed it from Y/N's leg, placing it in a special case.
"So, did you guys just make me wear that to mess with me, or what?" Y/N asked, looking back.
"Wasn't my idea, Maverick. Honestly, I forgot you even had the ankle bracelet." Tsukauchi replied, chuckling.
"Yeah, you and several others. It's not really the main point of my story. I've got other crap going on and it's by far the most forgettable thing I've mentioned." Y/N assured.
"Something must've gotten lost in translation because I can't believe that you actually got sent home with an ankle bracelet meant for parolees." Tsukauchi laughed.
"And why was that thing so big, anyway? All the slim and modern technology we have and I practically had to live with an old TV strapped to my leg, for like a week." Y/N ranted. Tsukauchi continued to laugh at the young hero's pain.
"I swear that detective from the Hassaikai Raid must've just wanted to mess with you. That's the only explanation." Tsukauchi said.
"Yeah, well, this one-sided prank war kept me from seeing Eri at the hospital, today. Thankfully, Izuku and Mirio still went, so she'll at least feel valued by them." Y/N explained. As he stood up from his chair, Y/N noticed the very same detective from the Raid, whose name he didn't even know.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, Maverick. I'll let you get back to your School Festival planning." Tsukauchi said. Y/N didn't reply and headed for the nearest exit. Before going through the doors, Y/N called out to the nameless detective, pointed to his ankle and flipped him off.
"That kids going places." Tsukauchi said, sipping his coffee. Y/N emerged from the police station looking reasonably irritated. With his hands in his pockets, he contemplated where he was.
'Maybe I should stop in and see Sir. Haven't seen him since...awhile.' Y/N thought, walking.
Before long, the young hero had arrived at Nighteye Agency, immediately reminded of his last experience there. He made his way up the stairs to the office area. "Hey. What's going on?" Y/N greeted. Centipede looked up from his desk and Bubble Girl, who'd been talking with him, turned around.
"Y/N! Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?" Bubble Girl said, smiling. She gave Y/N a light hug.
"Oh, I was just at the police station. Nothing serious, just taking care of something stupid." Y/N assured. Centipede stood up from his desk, moving in front, to lean back against it.
"A rather vague way of putting it, I must say." he replied.
"Sorry for showing up unannounced. How are things going without Mirio here?" Y/N asked, curiously.
"The workload is nothing we can't manage, especially with Sir Nighteye here." Centipede said.
"We, uh...still can't thank you enough for helping him. I mean, you saved him." Bubble Girl added.
"Is Sir in right now?" Y/N asked. He motioned to the closed office door.
"He is. You may see him. He's in a good mood today." Centipede replied.
"I'm guessing not for much longer." Y/N joked. He gripped the round doorknob, recalling the shock and thrill of when he'd restored the hole in Nighteye's torso. But with that memory also came disappointment, in what had followed after.
"Y/N. What a pleasant surprise. Please, sit." Nighteye said, kindly. The young man pulled back a chair and did just that. "Can I assume that you got your ankle brace off today?" Nighteye asked, knowingly.
"How's it feel to be right all the time?" Y/N asked.
"Not all of the time. Perhaps most of the time." Nighteye stated.
"I hear you guys are getting along pretty well, even without Mirio?" Y/N mentioned, questioningly.
"Precisely. If we were to fall apart because of one temporary loss, then how could we call ourselves Pros?" Nighteye asked.
"But, uh, this isn't a temporary loss, Sir. I mean, you were there. You saw it for yourself. I tried as hard as I could; I couldn't bring back Mirio's quirk." Y/N reminded.
"Is this what brought you here today? Some sort of lingering guilt over something that's out of your control?" Nighteye wondered.
"I don't know. I'm not sure how I feel anymore... At school, I act like usual, but I've stopped working out, and I'm barely using my quirk at all. It's like I've lost my nerve. My mind keeps going back to Overhaul, Mirio, you. Replaying all this stuff in my head. I've been working double-time on our School Festival planning, just trying to keep my mind off it all." Y/N confessed. Sir Nighteye leaned back in his chair, a stern look on his face.
"Y/N, the way I see it, the problem you're facing isn't guilt. It sounds like PTSD; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I think that you've endured so many stressful, life-changing experiences at in such a small timeframe, that your mind is struggling to cope. It's why you don't want to use your quirk. It reminds you of those experiences." Nighteye explained.
"Yeah, Jiro said something like that..." Y/N mumbled, remembering.
"Pardon?" Nighteye said.
"There's more to it than that. I don't want to use my quirk anymore because I don't like what it means. My quirk being Restore and not Refill, means that I was wrong for my entire life. Not to mention that my parents knew all along about my real quirk and...this real father of mine. And they chose not to do anything with that knowledge." Y/N said.
"Maybe they had a good reason." Nighteye suggested.
"I didn't ask, I just left. I'm not even talking to them right now." Y/N swore.
"Why not? That's exactly what you should be doing. Here you have an opportunity to heal the first wound of many. Avoiding the truth is not going to help you. Keeping yourself busy is not going to help you. I say this as the man whose life you saved; confront the problem directly, and the solution will present itself." Nighteye assured.
"I mean, I guess it's nothing I haven't done before, right? Bleeding out in any alley? I refill my blood. Can't safely breathe the air anymore? Then I stop breathing. The big guy's too tough for me alone? I get backup." Y/N thought aloud.
"If you know what to do, then you should go ahead and do it. It's good to move at your own pace, but only if you're still moving forward." Nighteye concluded. Y/N brought a hand to his face in quiet contemplation. Before long, he stood and moved for the door. "One more thing: Even if restoring a lost quirk proves to be completely beyond your limits, there's still Eri." Nighteye interrupted.
"Eri?" Y/N asked.
"It's still up in the air, but Eraser Head and I think Eri may one day be able to bring back Mirio's Permeation with her Rewind. Especially since the quirk-destroying bullets were made from her." Nighteye stated.
"That's...That's incredible!" Y/N exclaimed.
"Indeed." Nighteye said.
"That's great news. Well, I guess I better get back to UA. Thank you for your time, Sir. It means a lot." Y/N said, gratefully.
As the hero student finally left, Nighteye lifted his arm from where it had been lying on his desk for the entire conversation. Though Y/N didn't notice, Nighteye's arm had been covering some kind of medical documents, which had a picture of Eri and a few names. Including the name: Y/N L/N.
Meanwhile, the young man in question stepped out onto the sidewalk, the bright sun beating down on him. Removing his phone from his pocket, he pulled up a specific contact. With a begrudging sigh, Y/N called the number. "Hi, Mom..." he said.
Several Hours Later:
At this point, it was late at night. But the hustle and bustle of the dormitory had not even slowed down, yet. Everyone was preoccupied with their work for the upcoming festival.
"I've got blisters on me fingers!" Y/N screamed, goofily.
"Is that a reference to something or are you being serious?" Kyoka asked. She ceased helping Kaminari practice guitar and moved to Y/N, grabbing his fingers for inspection. Upon quick glance, she noticed that his fingers were extremely worn and raw from playing guitar so much lately. "God! How much have you been playing? You aren't supposed to practice more than what I told you!" Kyoka reminded.
"Well, it turns out I kind of like playing guitar. Especially if it means I'll get to hear you sing, again..." Y/N replied, honestly.
"I...uh...S-Stop! Come on! You have to take break from playing guitar for a while and let your fingers heal. Once they're healed, they'll have calluses, so...the skin will be stronger." Kyoka stuttered, blushing. Izuku, who was walking by carrying a disco-ball costume, leaned over to Y/N's ear.
"Um, can't you restore your fingers to just undo the damage?" Izuku whispered.
"Pretty sure, yeah. But I don't really want the class to know how OP I am, yet. I'm still working stuff out." Y/N replied, quietly.
"Awesome." Izuku said, walking away.
"Hey! Were you listening? I need you to take a break from guitar until your fingers are better." Kyoka decided.
"What's gonna happen to me that hasn't already happened?" Y/N said, sarcastically.
"We have plenty of time left before the festival, so it'll be fine." Kyoka assured. She politely held out her hands, and Y/N handed over the guitar.
"I still think Tokoyami would've been the better choice for guitarist, over Y/N. I mean, what's more metal than a bird-headed guy with an electric guitar?" Mineta said.
"You're just mad that you didn't get one of the guitarist parts because your arms are too short to even reach around one." Y/N countered.
"Besides, our song isn't gonna be 'metal' anyway." Kyoka added.
"You bet your ass it will be! If I have to play the drums, then we're damn sure gonna kill 'em with music!" Bakugo shouted. He was seated at the drums as he spoke.
"We will not be 'killing' anyone with music. Our class performance shall be tasteful and awe-inspiring, as we've already discussed." Iida stated, arms crossed.
"Iida, when you were born, did you immediately start lecturing people? Or did it take a few years to kick in?" Y/N asked, sarcastically.
"You haven't been sleeping well, have you?" Iida replied.
"I'm working on it. What gave it away?" Y/N asked.
"I've noticed that when you're sleep deprived, you seem to insult other people especially badly." Iida swore.
"That's nonsense. (yawns) Now get the fuck out of my way, before I demolish you." Y/N said, sleepily. Iida remained standing with his arms crossed, but side-shifted a bit, to let Y/N pass by.
"Damn. I might prefer him sleep-deprived." Bakugo stated.
"Perhaps it would a good time for us all to turn in. It's nearing 1:00am." Yaomomo said.
"Yeah, I'm feeling kinda beat." Kirishima agreed. Kaminari shrugged his shoulders.
"But tomorrow is Saturday. We can stay up late with no consequences!" Kaminari cheered. On one of the green couches was a sleeping Aoyama, who was wearing a bulky disco-ball costume. Next to him on the couch was Izuku, who'd also fallen asleep. Mineta had taken the opportunity to wrap up Izuku's head in some measuring tape, leaving only his mouth visible.
"Yep, I'm calling it a night." Kirishima reiterated.
"Right behind you." Shoji said.
"I'm exhausted." Ojiro agreed. As everyone started slowly making way to their rooms, Uraraka poked the sleeping Izuku's cheek.
"Ah!" Izuku startled awake.
"Everyone's going to bed now." Uraraka said.
"Oh. Thanks." Izuku said, confused. He began unwrapping the soft measuring tape from around his head.
"Wake up, Aoyama." Ashido spoke.
"Merći!" Aoyama jolted.
'Wait. I think Eri is supposed to come tomorrow. I can't wait to show her around UA!' Izuku thought, happily.
The Next Day:
It was mid-morning and Saturday. Izuku and Y/N were outside, sitting on the front steps of their dorm building. "So, you finally reached out to your parents? That's great! You haven't spoken to them since the Raid, right?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah. It's just been too hard." Y/N replied.
"What did you guys talk about?" Izuku asked.
"Not much, I just invited them to the Festival. Told them about our performance and that it's important to me that they be there." Y/N said.
"That's all?" Izuku said, disappointed.
"You know things are weird for me right now. I really think this Festival is the key to helping me, though. There'll be lots of opportunities." Y/N replied.
"Well, that's good. Because without using your quirk, you've been pretty limited in our Hero classes. And you can only stall for so long. We gotta get both you and Eri back to smiling!" Izuku reminded.
"This Festival will let me burn off some steam, possibly forgive my parents, and hopefully make Eri smile. After that, none of the 'traumatic' shit in my head will matter anymore. I'll get back to being the hero I'm supposed to be." Y/N replied.
"You okay?" Izuku asked, concerned.
"I'm excited!" Y/N confessed. Just then, Kirishima's bursted through the front door.
"Are they here yet?!" he asked.
"As a matter of fact, we are." Aizawa replied. He walked up with his hands in his pockets and Eri at his side.
"They're here!" Kirishima yelled into the dorm. The other students of 1A all erupted outside to greet Eri. Sensing the impending crowd, Izuku and Y/N had managed to get off the stairs, before they could get trampled.
"Okay, as you all know at this point, this is Eri. Today, I, along with Togata will be showing her around UA." Aizawa explained.
"Huh? But what's Togata doing?" Izuku quietly spoke. Meanwhile, others were kindly introducing themselves to Eri.
Y/N's happy expression turned somewhat confused as he realized what Izuku meant.
'And people think my jokes are bad...' Y/N thought, cringing. The others seemed to ignore Mirio's attempt at humor and continued fawning over Eri.
"Go easy, folks. Eri here isn't used to being social, so she's here today to adapt a little, before the Festival." Aizawa said.
"Does that mean she gets to come?!" Izuku asked, glowing.
"Yeah. Principal Nezu has given his approval. But, again, today is a means of getting her used to people. We don't want something as big as the Festival overwhelming her." Aizawa explained.
"Mr. Aizawa, I would gladly shoot everyone here, before I ever let this girl cry again." Y/N confessed.
"I suppose your enthusiasm counts for something, L/N. Also, never say that sentence again." Aizawa said.
"What? I said, 'shoot', not, 'kill'." Y/N clarified.
"Hey, Izuku, Y/N, you guys wanna come along while we show Eri around?" Mirio asked, happily.
"Definitely! Thanks, Togata!" Izuku said.
"Sure, I'd love to come along." Y/N agreed. Aizawa suddenly moved closer to him, as everyone was distracted.
"Listen. If you're going along, then I don't need to stick with Eri. I've got a few important things to do, and, worst-case-scenario, you should be more than capable of shutting Eri's quirk down, right?" Aizawa asked, seriously.
"Uhh... Is this a test?" Y/N asked.
"There's three of you. Just keep Eri calm and entertained. You'll be fine. See you soon." Aizawa said. With that, he headed off to handle his other tasks.
"Alright, where to first?" Mirio asked.