A/N Hey! Sorry I havent uploaded for a while. University has been really hectic, and I had been working on some other projects, like the Romantic Fall series that I'm posting in my HitoZuku drabble book!
Was also making music! XDXD
Back to the story!
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"Alright, the lesson is almost over... but you guys did that mathematics test a few weeks back..." Ectoplasm picked up the stack of papers on his desk, "Most of you did decently... but uh... I guess I should give the papers back first..."
Ectoplasm walked around the room slowly, handing the papers back to each student, and Midoriya lowered his head slightly. He had a feeling that he hadn't done as well as he had hoped, and he was praying that he was just being paranoid and was overthinking everything. Mathematics was one topic that he refused to get less than 100% for, and he really didn't know what he would do if he got any lower than full marks.
It didn't take too long for the mathematics teacher to make his way over to Midoriya's table, gently placing his test paper on his table, before moving on to the next student.
Much to Midoriya's dismay, he stared at the test paper on his table; he had only gotten a 99.5%. Hastily flipping through the test paper in a panic, Midoriya tried to find the source of his downfall. He knew this topic very well, and there was no reason why he would be losing marks.
The greenette just stared at his paper. He had lost marks, simply because he had forgotten to write down the final units for one of his answers. It wasn't because he didn't know how to do the question... he had just been really, really careless. He was such a disappointment.
Sure, he may have been distracted almost all the time since they were having the test while Shinsou was still hospitalized, but there was still no reason why he would be losing marks for absolutely no reason.
"Kaminari, Ashido, Shinsou, please stay back for a minute or two... the rest of you can go for lunch." Ectoplasm stated, eliciting sighs from the blonde and the pinkette. The rest of the students eagerly started clearing their tables and heading towards the cafeteria, but Midoriya just remained in his head, staring at his paper in utter disappointment.
"You okay, Zuku?" Shinsou turned around to face the smaller boy, and Midoriya looked up slightly, gazing at the taller boy, before nodding.
After waiting for a couple of minutes for the others to leave the classroom, Ectoplasm sighed, "Kaminari, Ashido."
"Uh... hai..." Kaminari tensed up, but Ectoplasm shook his head, "I'm not mad. You two seem to be doing pretty well for this topic, right?"
"I mean... yeah?" Ashido scratched her head, "It's the highest test score I've ever gotten."
"Looking at the rest of your mathematics scores for this test... I think it is possible to pull your mathematics grades up if you had done very well on this test." Ectoplasm stated, "Not to say that you've done badly, but you would need a better test grade if you want to pull the rest of your grade up to a safe level."
"It's not like we can retake this test..." Kaminari muttered, but Ectoplasm shook his head, "No. Shinsou will be sitting for this test next week, since he missed the actual test. If you two want to, I can allow you to sit for the retake as well, and I will take the higher score and use it for your grades."
"Oh." Shinsou stated, scratching his head, "Well... that's fine with me, I guess."
"We can!?" Ashido grinned, "Kami, let's go study and smash this test!"
"Aw yeah!" Kaminari cheered, punching the air, "Let's go!"
"Can I... also take the retake?"
Ectoplasm paused. It wasn't Shinsou, for sure, and the voice was so quiet that it definitely wasn't Kaminari or Ashido. The Hero looked around the classroom, wondering who it was, and his eyes landed directly on Midoriya, who was looking up at him from his desk. His hands were balled up into fists as he pressed his test paper into his table, his entire body shaking.
Ectoplasm really felt bad that he had almost forgotten that Midoriya hadn't yet left for lunch, but he had been assuming that Midoriya had just been waiting for Shinsou. Those two were clearly very close, practically joined at the hip, and Ectoplasm hadn't been expecting that perhaps, Midoriya had been waiting to talk to him.
"Midoriya... why do you want to do the retake?" Ectoplasm frowned slightly, "You did well for this test."
Midoriya muttered something under his breath, and shook his head.
"Midoriya, you only had half a mark taken away for a minor careless mistake. Looking at all your other tests, even if you average it out, that half a mark is not going to make much of a difference. It's alright. Plus..."
Ectoplasm paused. Most of the students were somewhat aware of the nature of the quirk that Midoriya had been his with on the last day of their internships, but Shinsou was the only one who wasn't present during the explanation of the quirk. And given how close they were... he was pretty sure that Shinsou wouldn't be too happy when he found out what had happened to Midoriya, even if it ultimately didn't result in any harm to the green haired boy.
"Anyways... I don't think you need to sit for the retake." Ectoplasm concluded, "Ashido, Kaminari, you two will be sitting for the retake, right?"
The duo nodded, and Ectoplasm made a small note on his notebook, "Alright. You guys will have your test next Tuesday, along with Shinsou. You're all dismissed."
Kaminari and Ashido raced out of the classroom, and the mathematics teacher packed up and left the classroom. Shinsou quickly cleared his table, before he stalked over to Midoriya's table, "You okay?"
Midoriya looked up at the taller boy, and Shinsou used that opportunity to glance at Midoriya's test score.
"You know, 99.5% is really good, you know?" Shinsou gently ruffled Midoriya's hair, "Don't worry about it too much. You still did good, okay?"
Midoriya's mouth opened slightly, and he gazed up at Shinsou in complete and utter shock.
He did good?
Watching as Midoriya's eyes lit up slightly , Shinsou let out a small smile, "Yep. You did really good, okay? Come on, let's eat; I'm sure the others are waiting for us."
Ectoplasm let out an internal sigh of relief, having overheard everything from right outside the classroom, glad that Shinsou had managed to deal with the situation.
The boy had been consistently doing well in lessons, and Ectoplasm was fairly sure that if Shinsou didn't take up so much space in his heart, the lavender haired boy's wouldn't have been able to cheer Midoriya up. He had suspected that Midoriya was always diligent in his studies, since it was one thing that he could do that allowed him to "keep up" with the rest of his peers, but he didn't think that he was that hung up on complete and utter perfection.
What on earth was wrong with their reality? He knew about Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory; after all, everyone living on Earth right now probably heard about that theory at some point. But now... it seems like it wasn't just powerful quirks that would destroy their society, but the mere existence of quirks themselves.
An overpowering darkness rooted deep within the tangles of their civilization, brought about by the mere emergence of quirks, infecting everyone's hearts as generations went by, slowly corrupting their entire society from the inside out.
Ectoplasm shook his head, before he headed towards the teacher's lounge before either of the two boys could spot him.
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"Nezu."
"Yes?" The animal principal raised his head, gazing at Ectoplasm in confusion, as the hero stood by his door. Ectoplasm noticed that Reiko and Ryuto were sitting on the couch in Nezu's office, fooling around, and he guessed that Nezu was working with Inui in getting the duo registered as service and animals for Midoriya.
"Can I talk to you about Midoriya for a minute or two?"
Nezu twitched, his tail flicking around, and he placed his paperwork down, before looking at Ectoplasm with his full attention, "Sure. What's happened?"
"Nothing major... just... you remember that time where he was hit by some quirk and we didn't know about it... and I sent him back to the dorms after he finished a test early?"
"Yes, I do." Nezu nodded, "What about it? I thought we had already resolved that problem."
"Well... I just gave back the test that they did on that day... Midoriya seemed rather upset with his score. I asked Kaminari and Ashido if they wanted to do a retake to pull their Mathematics grade up, since Shinsou missed the test and had to take it anyways... Midoriya wanted to participate in the retake."
Nezu frowned. Surely Midoriya must have done terribly if he thought that it warranted a retake. Plus, he had been hit by a quirk, and even though it seemed to not affect him too much, he was also rather distracted that week. Maybe he really had done badly.
"How bad was his score?" Nezu asked nervously.
"... 99.5%." Ectoplasm deadpanned, watching as Nezu's jaw dropped slightly in disbelief, "I'm not joking. He just made a small careless mistake and forgot to write his units down on one of the questions. I had a feeling that if Shinsou didn't cheer him up, he would find some way to beg me to do the retake."
"I... I'll talk with him." Nezu scratched the back of his neck. How was he even supposed to bring this up with Midoriya? Should he just say "Hey, Izuku, I know you got 99.5% on your math test, and that's perfectly okay"?
Actually... he should probably say that. Midoriya was smart... but his Emotional Quotient was nowhere near as good as his Intelligence Quotient. He's heard all sorts of stories about Midoriya taking things very literally, and with something like this, he couldn't mess up; if he didn't say it directly... Midoriya might end up misinterpreting everything, just like what had happened on Christmas...
Just thinking about that day had sent shivers down Nezu's spine.
Sure, he knew that it was a vital step for his pup to heal from his past... but still... he didn't like seeing Midoriya so unhappy, so unsure of himself, thinking that he was so undeserving of love.
He never wanted to see Midoriya so broken like that ever again.
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Midoriya hesitantly walked up to Nezu's office, and gulped. Their lessons were over for the day, and Aizawa had informed him that Nezu wanted to talk to him.
Shinsou had been about to accompany him, but Aizawa had pulled him aside for some reason, so he was completely alone. Midoriya was really nervous as to why the principal wanted to speak to him. It wasn't so much because Nezu was the principal; rather, he was really scared that he had disappointed Nezu.
Given his mathematics score, and that Ectoplasm was a hero, as well as a teacher, it wasn't a stretch to think that the Hero had informed him of his test result. And even though Shinsou and the rest of his friends kept telling him that 99.5% was already really good, Midoriya still wasn't satisfied.
He needed to be perfect. That was the only way to justify his existence in such a prestigious school like UA, especially since he was quirkless. Especially in a subject like Mathematics, where all the answers were not subjective, and there was only one right answer. He needed to be perfect, and if he couldn't be perfect in every way possible, then he was completely and utterly useless.
That was one of the reasons why his handwriting was so neat, to the point that his classmates had commented that it looked like a font; his former teachers had always been nitpicking his work, deducting points from all over the place from the slightest imperfection in his writing.
He just hoped Nezu wouldn't be too mad at him.
Reaching out, Midoriya gently knocked on the door, and immediately, a familiar voice rang out, "Come in!"
Midoriya pushed the door open, and Nezu smiled up at him, pouring tea into two cups, "Izuku! Take a seat! Hound Dog has already brought Reiko and Ryuto out; we're doing our best to expedite the process for getting them registered!"
The greenette nodded, and slowly sat down. He was somewhat relieved that the principal didn't seem too angry, but he had a gut feeling that Nezu didn't call him here just to talk about his animal family.
Nezu pushed a cup of tea towards him, before he sat down next to the greenette.
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
Midoriya's heart clenched. Nezu knew all about his failure. Nezu probably hated him right now, and was disappointed in him, and he'd probably think that he was completely and utterly useless -
"Izuku."
Nezu's voice snapped Midoriya out of his thoughts, and the greenette slowly raised his head, meekly looking at Nezu. Much to his surprise, Nezu didn't seem upset in the slightest. In fact, there was an expression on his face that Midoriya couldn't name, but he could distinctly remember the same expression his parents wore whenever he got full marks on a test in school.
The principal reached out, gently patting Midoriya's arm, and he could feel the boy tense up slightly, "Izuku. It's alright. I don't expect you to be perfect, and I'm sure none of the teachers expect you to be perfect either. You're consistently doing well in lessons, and it's alright to make mistakes. 99.5% is just as good as 100%, considering how much was going on at the time."
Midoriya's arm shook, and Nezu smiled softly, "Don't stress over it too much. As long as you try your best, I'll always be proud of you."
He's proud of me? He's okay with it?
The greenette nearly burst into tears at that point. Midoriya couldn't even remember the last time an adult was proud of him.
Nezu grinned widely at him, and patted him on the back, "Cheer up, okay! Everything will be fine!"
Midoriya's face lit up, and he bit his lip, before nodding vehemently.
Everything was fine.
Sure... he liked getting full marks, but still... why was he so upset over half a mark? It wasn't like he was dying, or the world was ending, or something of the sort. It wasn't like he didn't know the topic well; it was just a stupid careless mistake, brought about from days of sleepless nights.
He was just being silly, and was just overthinking everything.
It was no big deal.
He didn't have to be perfect.