All Might had left the sickbay; Recovery Girl continued some 'hear-and-there' checkups on Midoriya, but the prediction was still the same: he was still sleeping.
Not long later, Uraraka and Iida came to visit him.
'Hello dearies,' Recovery Gril greeted. 'Come to see him, have you?'
'Yes.' they both replied.
Recovery Girl smiled, turning back to her desk.
It's good to see he has some friends. she thought.
The two walked to the side of the bed, looking down at him. His face looked restless, a little frowny, one could say. There was a nervous twitch every now and then through his slumber.
Uraraka couldn't keep her eyes off his noseless face... Even with such small... quirks, she still found him a little cute... She still saw him as a good friend. No questions asked. She was grateful, in a way. She remembered when they worked together when fighting Iida and Bakugou. He had worked with her, sort of, to formulate a plan, that she noticed, kept her from fighting Bakugou for the majority of the plan. When the ending of the match begun, she was able to finish the match and win, grabbing the weapon. It was the small details that she had begun to notice; little things here and there that she could appreciate. Him being open with her and trusting her and all of those other things. Even without the nose or solid eyes, he wasn't that bad of a person, she thought.
'Is he alright?' asked Iida. The silence between when they first arrived and to the few seconds of standing there had felt like a whole day; her inner-recallings flicking faster than she could count.
'He's fine,' Recovery Girl replied. 'Not a break, fracture or anything of the sort. From what I heard, he may have broken his nose when he fell, but I guess that was sorted too.' she chuckled.
'So... then...' Uraraka said.
'Right now he's sleeping. Even I can tell that he used his quirk too much. His brain has more connections with the rest of his body than most people I've looked at or on record... I would go as far as saying that he is the new 'record breaker' on that note.'
'That is fascinating...' Iida remarked.
'I'll have to ask him more when the time comes, but on his entrance form, it said that his quirk was telepathy... Basic mind-reading... Even with that, he barely made it in... But that doesn't matter now, does it... He's proven himself far beyond capable... I wonder what environment he grew up to have such knowledge.'
'Knowledge?' Uraraka and Iida said in unison.
'What does that mean?' asked Uraraka.
'I don't really understand it yet; his quirk is something I don't usually get to work with... He has potential...'
She looked at the two students, seeing their youthful minds go off onto whatever trail they thought. She smiled to herself.
'But—— It's not my place to pry, nor is it yours either.' she said. 'Whatever he is willing to talk about with you two is up to him, and him alone...'
The two students nodded. Not long after, they left, not having much else to do as Midoriya hadn't woken up. Recovery Girl went back to work, sighing to herself and thinking of how her last years of life would be spent.
≈ θ ≈
Two bodies fell, one landing on a bar and the other, on the wooden floor on the other side. The floor was dusty and hard to breathe on for Shigaraki. Kurogiri had been able to catch himself, more like stumble, onto the bar. Blood trailed down Kurogiri's bartender's attire, and Shigaraki's was less noticeable against the black he fanatically wore. The only sounds in the room were the quiet groans of the villains. The monitor on the side of the bar was on, displaying some words in purple.
'How did it go?' asked the voice from the monitor.
The villains didn't respond, out of fear of the truth or of the pain, or of both.
'We failed...' Kurogiri was able to say. 'All of the members are gone; we don't know if any made it out of capture...'
'And what of the Nomu?' asked a second voice from the monitor. 'Do you have it?' The voice sounded eager and on edge.
Shigaraki took his turn to speak.
'It was left behind...' he murmured. 'You lied to me...'
'Lied?! I gave you one of my Nomus!? And you failed to keep it, either way, failing Master in the process!'
'Enough.' the deeper, first voice said. 'Even if the numbers say it was a loss, we have taken a step forward... We know more about our enemy, and how to defeat them... Use this loss as a lesson, Shigaraki... I expect you as my successor to do so...'
'Yes...' Shigaraki replied. 'Master...'
≈ θ ≈
'Heya,' Nightmare's voice spoke out from the darkness. He had finally appeared, after Shigaraki's bitterness or waiting. 'Sorry I couldn't make the big day...'
'Where were you...' Shigaraki sounded angry. His quiet, child-rage, angry. 'You were supposed to be at the attack... Where were you...'
'Something popped up.' Nightmare simply and lazily replied. 'I hope this doesn't make you mad, or anything... I'm still all for killing All Might and showing the world and all that good stuff... Unfortunately, I have some small investments of my own that require my attention...'
Shigaraku silently fumed, trying to stay cool under the pain of his bullet wounds. He asked his second question.
'Riddle me this... Who's the kid with green hair...'
Nightmare's smuggish smile dropped. He was still smiling, only doing so in a way that looked tempered and controlled. Shigaraki couldn't tell what was going on in Nightmare's head, but whatever was going on in there, Nightmare was doing a good job of veiling it. The darkly glisten of Nightmare appeared to grow darker, or wilder. It was impossible to see in the darkness, but Shigaraki swore he saw something move behind Nightmare.
'The boy with no nose...' Shigaraki said to Nightmare, who too, had no nose. 'The boy whose quirk was almost identical to yours...'
Nightmare's secret agitation ripened almost.
'Care to explain...?' Shigaraki asked.
'That kid's connection with me is of no concern to you.' Nightmare said, a tight and threatening smile now took place of his face. 'That, I can assure of you, as he is nothing... I would not trouble yourself over him.'
'He was able to control the Nomu...' Shigaraki said. 'Even when the Nomu was designed to follow commands from me personally... He was also able to poke his mind into all three of ours...'
Nightmare's shock was minute: calm under a veiled lie of false security.
'So...?' Nightmare asked. 'He's growing, as do most...'
Shigaraki was thinking of something to say, breathing angrily at Nightmare's direction. A hand snaked to his neck, tugging at the flakey skin.
'Would this boy be related to you in any such way?' asked the deeper and more opposing of the two voices from the screen. Shigaraki stopped scratching and looked at the screen. No one had ever been spoken to by Shigaraki's master. No one to of Nightmare's position. Shigaraki's master had never been around to listen to someone and had never spoken to any of the thugs that had been in the bar. Shigaraki was enraged.
That little...! Shigaraki thought. The fact that his master had spoken out to someone of such "worth" was quite triggering. Nightmare hadn't really proven himself to the League, mainly because of his absence and his anonymous "investments". Maybe the brat is apart of his "investments"...
'We are related.' Nightmare said mildly. 'That is all I will say.'
The deep voice didn't say anything to him after.
'You are dismissed as of now, Nightmare.' said the voice.
Nightmare melded further into the shadows until his one eye was gone. Shigaraki thought his mind was still playing tricks on him, as he felt its gaze and thought he saw brief movement through the shadow.
'Master, I—'
'He is still of use, Shigaraki.' said the voice. 'He has yet to prove himself more. In time, I picture his skills as a useful asset to our goals. You might even get along with him if you so desire... Even if trust would run shallow, his trusting faith in us would be invaluable... He has still yet time to prove himself, Shigaraki...'
Shigaraki didn't respond, glaring back towards the wood of the bar in front of him.
'As you wish, Master...'
≈ θ ≈
The day after the USJ attack, the school was temporarily closed. After that initial healing and recovery day, Uraraka and Iida had met up at the train and walked up the hill together, earlier than usual, eager to see their bedridden friend and to avoid the swarming media. After they went to class and put away their bags, they headed off to Recovery Girl. She was sitting at her desk again, looking over some file work or some other boring work. The one thing that was of specific interest was the absence of Midoriya. This both thrilled them to know he was awake and made them reclaim a little worry.
'He left later after you two left yesterday.' Recovery Girl had said to them. 'I was about to try and see if waking him myself would do the trick when he sat up, looking as if he had enjoyed his 'nap'. He didn't say anything and left soon after.'
'Thank you!' the two students said, before briskly walking off to class.
When they arrived, they found Midoriya at his desk, looking like he hadn't slept at all. His eyes were sunken — eyeless as they were — and were half-closed. He looked over at them when they came up to him, muttering out a "good morning" (is what they thought they heard him say). They both greeted him and began to ask him motherly how he felt.
'Tired.' he said, 'Tired...'
'Well, that's no good!' Uraraka said. 'You did amazing at the USJ! I've never seen, or heard, of a student that took on so many villains! That's amazing! Apparently, you saved All Might too!'
'Yes; I am also intrigued by this.' Iida put in. 'Did you save All Might, by any chance...?'
'I guess... I did...?' Midoriya wavered. 'Something like that...'
Iida and Uraraka's faces, which were already lit like a light, lit up even more.
The class eventually began, to Midoriya's relief and to his friends' disappointment. Before it did start, the class was rowdy and on edge about their teacher. When Aizawa had been whisked away in an ambulance to the school, the class had worried for him, as well as begin to worry about who would be teaching them in his wake. To their surprise, he was still at work; receiving treatment from Recovery Girl was enough to get him back on his feet to teach the class again. Only now... he was wrapped, head to toe in bandages. He sounded the same and acted the same, to 1a's relief. They had their teacher safe and sound.
Through their classes, Uraraka couldn't keep her eyes off Midoriya, often drawn to the admiring thoughts of 'how brave he had been' and of her worry for him. What she noticed with this, was the constant whisper and glance at Midoriya. Apparently, Aizawa noticed this as well when he called out two boys who had been sneaking each other a whisper or two now and then. It was the same two boys from before, who seemed to be making the most 'ruckus'.
'Anything you two have to say? If not stay quiet.' Aizawa said gruffly. They sat down and went back to whatever they were doing, deciding that they would hold in whatever they had to say until lunch or whenever.
It was clear to Uraraka that they were talking about Midoriya, as not only them, but the majority of the class continued to glance at him as well.
Poor, Deku, she thought to herself.
≈ θ ≈
Hey there, thanks for reading today's chapter! It was a bit late because I'm on holiday and updates will be a bit slow as my writing will too. Either way, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I look forward to writing more,
- Eclipse