If anyone wants to draw Harper for a new cover, I'd appreciate it and give you uh... I... don't know. What would you want? I'm literally so bad at this sorry-
I would also like to apologize. A list of trigger warnings is something that should have been available from chapter one, and it was dumb of me not to make one sooner to include. If anything you read affected you negatively, I am so, so sorry. I've added the same image to every chapter so far two times, once in the beginning, and again at the end. The first chapter also has a typed up copy of the warnings in case someone tries to read while not connected to the internet.
Third person pov
Three.
Fucking.
Days.
Harper had been at this hell hole for three days, and she was already done. Not just jokingly done, or even running on fumes done. She was dead. For one thing, she looked fucking insane. For another thing, she probably was crazy at this point so her appearance wasn't exactly out of place! This school was going to be the end of her. She missed her shit hole high school full of crack heads with lazy thoughts or blank minds. Things were so much easier then.
Bakugo wouldn't stop thinking about Izuku's dick, Mineta was thinking about everyone's dicks, Iida was so depressed she actually had to compliment him for real a few times in order to curb his suicide plans, Kaminari STILL had the fucking Wii music going on, Jiro was constantly having sexual thoughts about Momo, Kirishima still thought they were destined soulmates, and god dammit, Aizawa loved his students too much!
"So I assume you have yet to find the traitor." Nezu said as though Harper didn't look like she'd just crawled out of a sewer somewhere after single-handedly fighting World War III. Her hair was a mess, her tie wasn't done, her top was crooked, her skirt was wrinkled to high fuck, the bags under her eyes were deeper than the Grand Canyon, and she felt like she wanted to cry. She was moments away from a mental break down. One stray thought and she'd snap.
"She looks like she went through hell! How pleasant. It seems she has found something if that look on her face is anything to go by. And why else would she be so twitchy? Or perhaps that's the caffeine... no matter! She smells like a four day old cup of stale coffee and, oddly enough, cinnamon. Is this a sign that she's been hard at work? I would like to think so."
"No, I haven't." Harper seethed out, whipping out her notebook and all but slamming it down onto the desk. She would ignore the stale coffee comment, but only because it was the cold hard truth. "But there's some shit we need to talk about. Like, now."
"Very well! Tea?" Nezu chirped before offering her a cup anyway. She glared at him, swiping it and downing it like it was a shot, because that's just the kind of mood she was in right now. She was fifteen, tired, and bitter. It went down so fast it barely had time to burn. Nezu looked a bit startled as she dropped the cup back on the desk before pulling up a chair and pretty much ripping her notebook open to the first page.
Harper was so fucking over Class 1-A. She got her ass kicked in hero training, though she had tackled a few people down using cut-throat tactics like hair pulling and headlocks that were less than pleasant. Crotch shots too. Aizawa had actually winced at those. He was painfully proud of her, which made her want to roll over and ask Izuku to stomp her spine in. So far, she'd fallen in with Iida's group due to the fact that she was trying to make sure he didn't do anything idiotic.
"Now. Exhibit A, Iida Tenya. Class president. Engines in the legs." Harper hissed out, tired and wishing she was at home.
"Ah, yes! His family has been going here for generations. I noticed you've been trying to befriend him." Nezu smiled happily. He had no fucking idea. Harper wished she could groan and just repeatedly bang her hand against the nearest wall until she passed out. She had a headache and English homework she had forgotten to do.
"Yeah, there's a reason for that." Harper flipped to the page that held some of Iida's thoughts and shoved it towards him. "He's depressed. And I don't mean just a little. His thoughts are on a constant, self-deprecating loop. I've been hanging out with him so I can curb his fucking suicide plans."
Nezu's smile immediately dropped, and he almost frantically pulled the notebook towards him. His eyes only had to span the page briefly for him to process the words written. His ears drooped, and Harper was sure his skin had gone pale beneath his fur. He read over the thoughts again, flipping the page and looking at those too. It was like everything had been drained from the principal, a frown taking the place of his grin.
"I... never noticed." Nezu sounded extremely bothered by this.
"These are very serious thoughts. Severe depression, plans for suicide, inferiority complex, self-hatred... my word, this boy needs help immediately!" Nezu mentally cried.
"Yeah, that's the issue. No one has. He thinks he sucks for reason, even though he managed to get into this hellscape and comes from a long line of formidable heroes. It's frustrating as fuck. He thinks everyone is annoyed with him and believe's he's just a burden. I have no idea why, either. He's freakishly good at hiding it, and it's going to fuck him over." Harper raked a hand through her tangled hair, not caring how it pulled. She was too frustrated.
"I'll do something about this immediately without mentioning you or giving away your position. 1-A needs to have mandated therapy sessions for what happened in the USJ anyway." Nezu promised, pushing the notebook back in her direction lightly. "What else?"
"Right, next is Koda Koji, the animal whisperer kid." Harper sighed heavily, flipping a few more pages. "I don't think he's the traitor. He's actually pretty nice."
"Then what's the issue?" Nezu tilted his head slightly. "Don't tell me he wants to die too!"
"The opposite, actually. He likes his classmates... he just has very, very detailed murder plans for all of them. How to evade the police, hiding spots, weapons, shit like that. He's even got me. He's thought up ways to get around my fake ass quirk and everything. It's the same for literally everyone in class, plus teachers. He's thought about blowing out Jiro's eardrums, using insulated materials to get to Kaminari, and using flash bangs on Tokoyami. It's gruesome as hell." Harper grimaced. Nezu looked a bit dumbfounded. A weird emotion to see on someone usually so composed and eerily pleasant.
"...Ah." Nezu chirped. "1-A is truly something else. I suppose I should look into Koda's past, then. Make sure to keep an eye on him and his activity, as well as his families's store purchases if I can. To ensure he isn't gathering... 'supplies'."
"Right, next is Aizawa. Definitely not the traitor, but I'm going to slit my own throat if I don't tell at least someone." Truly, Harper was going to pull out her hair. "He's one of those. And I can't fucking stand it."
"Those?" Nezu looked intrigued. "Aizawa is a mystery even to me. Knowing the inner workings of a mind as brilliant as that man's..."
"He's the opposite of how he portrays himself! He acts cold and detached, but on the inside he's loud and- and bubbly! He's referred to me as every baby animal on the fucking planet, won't stop shrieking over how 'cute' we all are, and he freaks out anytime one of us moves! I'm going to choke him out by the end of next week at this rate." Harper hissed. Nezu looked startled, and Harper picked up that he'd been expecting something completely different. A laugh bubbled out of him.
"Yeah, it's real funny." Harper griped, feeling a bit lighter now that she'd told someone about Aizawa's alter ego. She flipped to another page. "Next is Kaminari. Little shit has the Wii music playing on repeat in his head every damn second of the day and gets frequent migraines-"
"Wait, you can tell when he has a migraine?" Nezu lit up. Harper groaned, resisting the urge to slap her hands onto her face. She just wanted to get this over with and get out of here. She had schoolwork to do. If she wanted to succeed here, she needed to work hard. She was way behind everyone else, physically and knowledge wise. Iida had offered her notes and she'd accepted, half so he'd feel useful and half because she desperately needed them.
"Yes. I can also tell what people are feeling if I focus. My mother's an empath, so that's where that shit comes from. It's all connected to the brain; it's not rocket science." Harper grumbled. "I don't know whether or not Pikachu's the traitor, but his quirk has fucked up his brain. There's a reason his grades are so low. He has genuine brain damage. He's in the small club of people who have quirks that will eventually leave them dead or severely disabled for life, and he's the damn president. He needs extra help."
Nezu looked serious again. Good. Him laughing at her pain made her want to sock him right in his fuzzy little snout, and she somehow didn't think that would go over all that well. "I'll get on it right away and have Recovery Girl take a good look at him. I'll also see about getting his family to agree to an MRI or CT."
"It's a relief Harper is here. We never would have caught any of these issues without her. Not for a while, at least. And to think what could have possibly happened to Tenya Iida..." Nezu was truly concerned, which was a relief to Harper. It was good that he cared about his school and the people in it despite not appearing to like humans all that much. He still valued the students and their health, mental or physical. She even caught fleeting thoughts pertaining to her well-being. It was the only sign he wasn't actually trying to kill her off.
"Right, this one is the most sensitive, and probably the worst damn thing I've ever had to listen to." Harper grimaced as she turned to Shoto Todoroki's starting page. She had a lot on him, but mainly because she he was right next to her, so he got a lot of his thoughts first. She recorded every single one she thought was even slightly important. And boy was there a lot. "He's not the traitor either. I have a list of everyone, and he's crossed off, along with Aizawa Shota, Izuku Midoriya, Tenya Iida, Present Mic, Momo Yaoyorozu, and Bakugo Katsuki, but that's besides the point."
"Right, of course. This room is sound proofed and monitored solely by me, so you don't have to worry about anyone overhearing." Nezu assured, folding his paws over one another atop his desk. Harper sighed heavily. This one was the most stressful, most devastating. While Tenya's thoughts were pretty up there, she'd experienced depression before. Not this bad, but it was something. He wasn't terribly new. But Todoroki... some of the things that crossed his mind truly scared her. There were times when he'd sink into a memory and she could almost see it playing out.
"Shoto Todoroki is being abused. Severely." Harper grimaced. How the fuck had she gotten to this point? What was her life anymore? Nezu tensed. "Endeavor's his dad or some shit, and he's not as noble as he seems. From what I gathered, his mother was involved in some sort of quirk marriage. Apparently she's in an institution now. He thinks about visiting her a lot. I think she gave him his scar. He refers to his left side as unsightly, and I've pieced together some real fuck shit."
Nezu felt angry for once, and looked it too. He was also relatively stunned. Harper could feel it rolling off of him. "Abused? I always knew Endeavor was a rather vile man as far as heroes go, but to abuse a child... what all has he done? Just what has Harper been able to gather? Perhaps young Todoroki's aversion to his own fire will be explained..."
"He hates his fire and he hates his dad, but he's scared as shit of both of them too. He rarely sees his siblings. His father trains him so hard he pukes and gets burns severe enough that he has to worry about being fit for the sports festival, which is in two weeks. As in he's afraid they'll be bad enough that even after that time they won't be healed enough. He's expecting real bad shit." Harper felt herself getting gradually more pissed and irritated. She wasn't friends with Todoroki, but shit parents were shit parents.
She continued, "His mother was forced into the marriage even if it wasn't for quirks, and then forced to have kids. Todoroki is isolated from his siblings. I think Endeavor thinks they're failures, but I'm not super sure on that one. Apparently Todoroki's a 'tool' to surpass All Might."
Nezu was dead silent as Harper huffed, shoving the notebook at him. His thoughts invaded her as he flipped through what she had on the half-and-half boy. "It's much worse than I ever, ever would have guessed. He's stuck in a truly vile situation, but he won't be for long if I have anything to say about it. Endeavor cannot continue to be an influence in hero society. Yes... yes, he needs to be brought down! Arrested."
And then his thoughts devolved into near maniacal laughter that Harper chose very wisely not to comment on.
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Miss Rye. I surely never would have found out otherwise." Nezu's pleasant smile was quite convincing. Harper was actually a bit impressed, especially considering how fucking pissed he was. He was still maniacally laughing. Harper was sure she could pitch a scheme to murder Endeavor and he'd hop right on the bandwagon regardless of what the law dictated.
"Oh, one more thing." Harper sighed. Nezu nodded, bringing his tea up to his lips. "I keep passing this blonde skeleton-looking fucker on the way to lunch and on the way back. He's got seven voices that aren't his own attached to him, but they're not in his head. I'm pretty sure he can't hear them, but the shits are there anyway. It's pretty fucking weird. It's like he's trying to be a schizophrenic but not quite making the cut."
Nezu choked on his tea and began to wheeze so hard Harper expected him to cough up a tiny lung. The brunette was sure this was the only time she'd ever see the mammal so close to death.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harper dragged herself off to class after her talk with Nezu, ready to fall to the ground and literally just fall asleep. Take a page from Aizawa's book. The one thing he wasn't faking was his exhaustion and naps. The guy had some weird fucking dreams. She obviously couldn't see them, so the sounds out of context gave her the shivers. Gunfire? The sound of a squeaky hammer? And why was he thinking so much about war trenches?
The third years were going off to lunch, which meant she was caught in the crossfire. Yes, another reference to Aizawa's perplexing dreams. Her head began to pound harder as she trudged through the crowd. A pair of thoughts crashed into her like a train wreck. She wondered vaguely if she'd get in trouble for trying to jump out one of the windows. Probably. Harper was almost willing to risk it. Nezu would catch her with robots or some weird shit anyway, so maybe it was just pointless.
"How do I tell Tamaki I'm in love with him? Is he gay? He's my best friend! I adore him, but- he's just so cute. I mean, I've liked him since middle school. Surely I would know if he was gay by now..." A tall blond kid was squinting down at his shy friend, who looked like some sort of fucking elf Sasuke. But with anxiety. Harper tried not to groan.
"Mirio keep staring at me... does he know I like him? Is he disgusted? He probably hates me. Yeah... yeah, he'd never like me. He's too cool, and bright! And-" The elf one glanced nervously up at the blonde as they passed Harper. Jesus fucking- she should be getting paid for this.
"Oh my god." Harper spun around and marched up to them, tapping on the tall one's arm a bit harsher than she'd meant to. Whatever. She was in pain. He was made of muscle. The blonde, presumably named Mirio, turned to her questioningly. Elf turned too, looking extremely nervous and startled. Yeah, that was a major anxiety disorder. He should get that checked the fuck out. She was so tired, and done. She never should have come to UA! But now there was no turning back! Fucking fucking fuck!
"You're a first year!" Mirio smiled brightly. "Are you lost?"
"No." Harper grumbled, massaging her temples. "I have a mild empath factor in my quirk. Some emotions are stronger than others. I have a headache and I'm frustrated."
Mirio faltered at her blunt openness. "Ah, I see. Do you need Recovery girl?" He asked, worried. Elf Sasuke was staring at her with wide eyes and a flushed face, wondering if she knew and if she'd out him. Harper glared up at the both of them without meaning to. She was done with UA, and with this day, and with this life. Why was everything so damn irritating?! Harper needed either coffee or a nap! Both, if possible. She was just... she was just losing it.
"No." Harper grit her teeth. "Look, this is invasive, I'm sorry. But you're irritating!"
"What?" Mirio looked even more taken aback. "What's she talking about?"
"You're both gay for each other!" Harper all but shouted, gesturing between each other. "You're in love with one another. Stop being fucking pussies! God, I hate my fucking life!"
Like a grumpy toddler, Harper spun around and began to storm off, leaving Mirio and Tamaki to gape after her with wide eyes as she fumed. This school was the worst. Never had she seen so many people with so many problems piled into one place. She just wished the'yd go to the fuck away! And her head hurt like a bitch, and hey, maybe she was running on little to no sleep, but that was besides the point! People's thoughts were loud, and Harper was tired.
Amajiki went red, turning to Mirio in slight horror. His cheeks were red, and he averted his gaze awkwardly while rubbing the back of his neck as Harper disappeared down the hall, still simmering. Tamaki was sure he'd pass out at any second. He'd never seen that girl before, so she could be lying... was she? If she was, that meant maybe he could weasel out of this by saying she'd been lying about him too.
"U-Uh... That was..." Mirio trailed off.
"W-Weird?" Tamaki offered, his voice a squeak. "A-A-Any idea wh-what she was talking a-about?"
Mirio looked uneasy, giving a vague and doubtful shrug. Tamaki winced, heart aching and shame bubbling. Faintly, a shriek was heard from somewhere down one of the branching halls. Tamaki and Mirio looked away from one another, the blonde clearing his throat as they continued to walk. Their feelings went completely unsaid. Just around the corner, Harper was pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes and trying not to break down into frustrated and tired tears. She was going to burn this place to the ground with everyone in it, and she was going to laugh.