Chapter 54: Burst / painful memories

It was almost funny how nostalgic walking up those stairs felt. The dorms had been installed by the end of last summer and yet it already felt like home. Izuku slipped out of his red sneakers and barely stepped into the common area when someone almost ran him over.

"DEKU-KUN!" Uraraka gasped, both in surprise and joy. Iida was at her side in the blink of an eye.

"Welcome back! It is good to see you in good health, Midoriya! We were incredibly worried after the press conference!" He underlined his words with some enthusiastic air chops. A grin took over Izuku's features. He had missed them so much. "Uraraka-san, Iida-kun! It's good to be back!"

"Come on, you're late! Everyone is already here except for Tokoyami-kun and-" Uraraka reached for his arm and began pulling him inside, when her eyes landed on the person standing behind him.

"Oh! Hikari-chan, there you are! We were wondering where you were since Todoroki and Bakugou were already here!"

"Uhm, hi, Ochako, Iida." The girl waved at them, her smile a bit wobbly. Izuku glanced over his shoulder, a bit confused by the interaction. Then it hit him that he, despite texting during the holidays, might have forgotten to mention a specific detail to his friends. And Hikari definitely hadn't told them either that she had spent the time at his place. This could get a bit awkward.

Their eyes met and she mouthed a silent later, sharing the same thought, before giving him a slight shove so Uraraka could pull him inside.

"Guys, look who's back! We're almost complete!"

"Yo, Midoriya! Welcome back!"

"Welcome, kero."

"Bonsoir, my friend!

His grin only grew wider. It was good to see them all in one piece.

He pushed himself off, reaching higher than two weeks ago. Sure, five percent didn't sound like much especially since he was only able to use them for a very short time, but it was incredible considering he had expanded his limit that much in just a week. Five days to be exact. The incident with Nokobiri had given him and his friends the necessary push to go up and beyond. Each of them had worked longer and harder than before, they had helped, evacuated, saved, even fought villains. Still… They didn't get any closer to their goal. No other incident occurred, none of Dragon's minions showed up, no new lead on either Trade or Overload. At least not that the interns knew of.

Izuku landed between the trees, slicing a dark line in the moss. He took one more step, changed directions, turned his output down to eighteen percent and took another leap. He didn't land quite in the same spot, which was only logical considering he powered down seven percent, but All Might spotted him and came running.

"Young Midoriya, that was incredible! How much was that?"

"Eighteen percent just now, twenty-five before that."

"Five percent? You never cease to amaze me, my boy." The retired symbol's smile was big and sincere. He squeezed Izuku's shoulders, increasing the teen's mood tenfold. He had missed his mentor just as much. Not that he didn't appreciate what Endeavour, his sidekicks and Glitch taught them, but it wasn't quite the same, and not being able to talk about his quirk freely turned out to be quite the issue.

"It's not all", Izuku proudly announced, "I came up with something else. While following Endeavour I noticed that Kacchan and Shouto were at an advantage because they can change their course mid-air, while I have to aim for a direction the moment I jump and can only adjust my course by the next leap." All Might nodded, following his explanation carefully.

"But, if I do this," Izuku raised his left arm and forced a short but strong burst of fire from a palm sized spot. "I can practically do the same. I'm not very good at it yet, but eventually, I will be able to do it. And not just left and right, it also works for up and down."

"That's fantastic news! We should start working on that. Better manoeuvrability will boost your performance tremendously." Arms akimbo, the Symbol of Peace sank into thought. Izuku knew he should be doing the same, but he was so overwhelmed by his mentor's praise he could barely contain his excitement. Of course his growth would slow down now that the internship week was over, and his days were filled with classes and homework, but if he continued working hard every evening…

"...idoriya? Young Midoriya!" Izuku startled, not having noticed All Might addressing him. Two flames, similar to the one he showed a moment ago, burst out of his arms unwillingly. They were gone in an instant, but it was enough to sent blood rushing into his face. How embarrassing, just after he thought he had started mastering it. Izuku stammered an apology and averted his gaze. But the frown All Might gave him didn't last long. Instead, his mentor broke into a deep, heartfelt laugh.

"My boy, it seems we need to work on that first. You better not burst into flames every time you get too excited."

Izuku joined in with a bashful chuckle. He scratched the back of his neck, when it struck him; Burst into flames…? His arm dropped. He … He could use that. With a few adjustments it might even sound believable…

"Is something wrong, young Midoriya?" All Might noticed his blank expression. Izuku's head shot up.

"Burst… My quirk… I will call my original quirk burst," he decided. The sunken in eyes of his mentor widened.

"I," Izuku stared at his hand, "I can't explain… It just feels right. I could also use it to cover for One for All, like, my quirk is actually sudden bursts of power that either take the form of green flames or can be used to enhance my strength…"

"That… That might work. With the quirk singularity theory getting more popular these days, it doesn't sound impossible for a quirk to evolve beyond what it was thought to be, especially since you are already a special case as a supposed late bloomer," the blond theorized, stroking his chin, "I will propose that idea to the principal. It's better if you don't go around announcing things just yet, but I have a feeling we are on to something."

"Hey, pst, Ochako!" Mina waved at her. The anti-gravity girl blinked and leaned over her friend's desk. "What is it, Mina?"

"So, Hagakure and I noticed something… Don't you think there's something off about Midoriya?"

"Deku-kun?" Ochako tilted her head. It was only Monday morning. He had seemed fine during the weekend. She pondered, unsure what her friend could mean, until… "Oh! I know! I noticed, too!"

"Is he acting any different?" The horned student seemed intrigued, but Ochako shook her head.

"Not that I can tell. I think it's something about his appearance." Was it his hair? Had it grown a bit longer? Maybe. But his face seemed the same, with its freckles and everything. His arms? No. His uniform, maybe? He was wearing his short-sleeved dress shirt, but he had been doing so since the other part of his quirk awakened. There was nothing off with the jacked hanging from his chair, the black sleeve-thingy he wore because of his injury peaked from under the hem of his sleeve. What else-

"His tie," it hit her, "Deku-kun's tie is tied correctly."

"Nice tie, Midoriya," Ashido giggled and winked as she passed him to sit next to Asui. I startled Izuku enough to send him stumbling until he reached and sank down on the nearest bench, half placing half throwing his tray on the table.

Iida and Shouto sat down on the chairs across, with the first excitedly reporting what else he had learned during his internship while Shouto listened attentively. Izuku just managed to follow again after missing a few sentences when someone plopped down at the free seat to his left. Distracted once more he asked, "What did Aizawa-sensei want?"

Hikari didn't react immediately. She picked up some red rice from one of her three bowls and stared at the food between her chopsticks in disgust.

"Was it about extra class?" Izuku pressed on, a bit worried. At last, she evaded, "Among other things." She glanced across the table then to their right as if checking who was listening. Iida was still excitedly telling about that one time they followed a villain into an art gallery and had to be extra careful not to damage any of the paintings, but Shouto's eyes darted into the girl's direction before turning back to Iida, showing how his attention was divided. Apparently fine with that, the girl lowered her voice and announced, "I'll have to testify against my brother."

Izuku almost dropped his chopsticks. Shouto was now fully turned to her and even Iida interrupted his story.

"Wait- Like in… Like in court?!"

"Neo Kumo hasn't been convicted yet?" Iida threw in at the same time. Hikari shook her head.

"No… It's… Complicated. His first offences go back nine years, there is a lot to investigate. And no, they think it's too dangerous for me to be anywhere near him. My interview will be recorded and used to help with the investigation first. It could still take a while until they can lock him up for good."

Izuku didn't know how to feel about that. He tried to remember the last time he had to talk about Dragon. No wonder she looked that tense.

"They don't have a date for the trial yet?" Shouto deduced. Hikari only grimaced

"I don't think so. Even if there was, they wouldn't tell me. They're trying to keep everything under wrap. As far as I know they're afraid something like what happened to Overhaul might repeat itself since he was part of the League, they don't want to take risks until he's safely put away." She rubbed her temple. "Just… Please keep quiet about this. I don't even know when I have to go, just soon, probably this or next week."

Izuku shared a look with his friends. They all nodded. Iida adjusted his glasses. "Thank you for sharing this with us, Shikogane. I promise we won't tell anything until you're comfortable talking about it with everyone."

"Thank you, Iida-kun. I appreciate that." Hikari smiled softly and Izuku was relieved, knowing how his friend was usually quite a bit intimidated by Iida.

When Aizawa-sensei called her after classes ended on Thursday, Hikari immediately knew. Her heart grew heavy, it became difficult to breathe. It was time. She quickly let Momo and Kyouka know that she would probably be gone for a few hours, but that everything was fine. It was obviously not, but she would rather see them upset later than have them worry for the rest of the day.

No words were exchanged during the ride. It still felt weird leaving the campus without being accompanied by at least two pro heroes. Technically, her protection program was still running, practically, not so much. They even had her walk back to the agency on her own during the internship and no one cared. She was sure, if she asked, they would allow her to leave the campus for short walks, but she didn't. She never took any detours on her way back. Maybe she was paranoid, but after seeing Tomomo walk the streets freely, she… She felt all but safe. The heroes, the police, the whole system had failed her too many times.

At last, they came to a halt in front of the closest police station, where they were received by two men, a friendly looking elderly detective with a snout for a nose and big, round mouse ears and his quite bland looking assistant. They guided the student and teacher into a small, brightly lit but cold and sterile looking room. It even had a one-way mirror, making Hikari feel like she wrongly ended up in one of her crime novels. Not that she hadn't been in one of these rooms before, she had seen plenty of those after she fled from her family and had been found roaming streets, barefooted and covered in blood. But that had been ages ago. It felt like that happened in another lifetime, a lifetime she had so desperately tried to forget.

Hikari clutched the hot plastic cup filled with bitter tea to refrain from fidgeting. She still couldn't feel the heat with her right pinky and ring finger. The assistant set up a camera in front, and Aizawa-sensei got ready to leave. Panicking slightly the girl reached out and held him back. It was sign enough for the experienced detective.

"Your teacher is welcome to stay if both of you agree. He simply needs to sign a few documents first."

Hikari scrubbed the cold sweat from her shaking hands, then proceeded to splash her face with cold water. She didn't want to leave the restroom. She didn't want to go back in there. Sure, she had expected this to be hard, her stomach had been aching the whole week. But this… They didn't just ask her to describe the moment he attacked her at Seishin or every other place outside U.A. No, they wanted more. They wanted everything.

"Let's take a break," the detective had said. He bestowed her with a sympathetic look as he noticed her irritation. "I wish we could end it here, but to ascertain the exact amount of his crimes, we need to know more details. You are the only person who can help us. We went through all files including the statements you gave five years ago, but they were not very elaborate."

So that was what they really wanted from her.

"I know this must be hard for you, but we need your help. If not for us, please do it to give the families of the people he hurt closure."

Hikari's stomach turned. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to relive the worst three years of her life, all the memories she had tried to repress, but… She had to be brave. If this was how she could stop her brother once and for all, it would be worth it. She just hoped she wouldn't throw up right in front of the detective.

Four hours. It took them almost three more hours, not including breaks, to get through everything. Halfway through she barely managed to ask for a minute off before she finally emptied the contents of her stomach in the luckily abandoned restroom. She couldn't eat the chocolate bar the detective offered her afterwards, one more reason why she felt shaky, exhausted, famished, and generally like shit.

It all came back. Bodies dropped in front of her eyes, screams rang in her ears, invisible hits rained down on her. Her scars burned, her airway grew tight, making it hard to breathe, her limbs felt heavy as if liquid led ran through her veins instead of blood, there was pain, so much pain.

He hurt her. He hurt her until she broke and didn't even try to fight back anymore. Until she listened to the cries of the victims but did nothing, until all she could do was hide under her blanket and pray for it to end. She didn't help them. She didn't try to stop her family, she let them suffer, she… Hikari let them die.

A hand landed on her shoulder and squeezed it. Aizawa-sensei didn't say a single word. She couldn't even look at him, too ashamed of what she had done, or rather, not done. Maybe it had been a bad idea to ask him to stay. He wouldn't look at her the same anymore. Did he regret his efforts at keeping her in the hero course? Did he think she wasn't cut out to be a hero after all?

The cold air was soothing. Her whole body shook but it wasn't from the cold.

"Would you like some dinner? I know a small ramen place around the corner."

A woman had taken pictures. Pictures of all the scars her brother was responsible for. Aizawa-sensei and the detectives hadn't been there, obviously, but he already knew from Recovery Girl. Now he knew where exactly how they came to be.

"Shikogane?"

Hikari nodded, unable to find her voice. She buried her face deeper into her scarf as her teacher sighed.

"I'll call the school before they send a search party. You should tell your friends as well."

She was so tired. Her fingers were freezing. Wasn't it supposed to snow tonight?

Aizawa moved away for the call but never let her out of sight. Hikari found it both reassuring and a bit creepy. Deciding to follow his advice the girl reached into her pocked and unlocked her phone. She stared at the bright screen in the dark of the January evening, but no words came to her mind. What could she even tell them? Hey, everything's fine, gonna grab dinner with Aizawa-sensei, will be a bit late?

Nothing was fine. It was well after 9 pm, and she was so done lying to her friends. The young hero in training sighed and lifted her head to the dull night sky. The moon was half full, dozens of stars twinkled through a large gap between the clouds above. The universe was so big, compared to that, her problems meant nothing. Oh, how she wished she could just shoot into space and build a new existence in some far away galaxy.

Stop reading so many sci-fi books, she scolded herself and turned back to the world in front, the phone long forgotten. It was a rather small but busy street with many bike couriers passing. Small shops lined each side, their windows brightly illuminated in the darkness of the early winter evening. The one on her right was selling a large variety of expensive pens and ink, some fancy looking leather notebooks, while the shop behind tried to sell them second-hand toys for cheap. It was still open. Something struck her eye.

"We're cleared," Aizawa let her know as he approached, "it's right down the road…"

Hikari pointed towards the small shop window. She still wasn't ready to talk but the teacher understood.

Izuku tapped the tip of his pencil on the open page of his notebook, but nothing came to his mind. His eyes traced the uneven lines of the sketch he made of that new pro hero who debuted this afternoon. Maybe he should ask Aoyama for help with his drawings after all.

It was no use. He couldn't focus. Izuku closed his notebook and packed his pencil case.

"Already going to sleep?"

He didn't expect anyone would notice. Funny how surprised he still was that people cared about him and paid attention.

"I'm still a bit tired from the internship. I'll call it an early night."

"Deku-kun, she'll be fine."

Izuku froze. Notebook and pencil case in his arms he stared at Uraraka who offered him a knowing smile. At loss for good words he simply echoed her smile and let her know, "Thank you. Good night, Uraraka-san. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Night!"

Izuku tossed and turned. What good was it going to bed early for once when all he did was lie awake and think about that one embarrassing time when he slipped on Ashido's acid and knocked over a group of grumpy second year gen ed students? The teen huffed and turned again, staring at the red streak of light on the wall coming from his All Might alarm clock.

Fine. I give up.

He reached for the phone lying beside the clock. Nothing. Of course, there was nothing. He would have heard it if a text came in. It wasn't even late, just past eleven, though it felt like he had been lying awake for countless hours. With a last sigh, he placed the phone back, pushed himself up and slid into his slippers.

It was dark in the hallway. Understandably, tomorrow was a school day and it was past curfew, but he could swear Kaminari was still walking circles in his room above. Eyes already adjusted to the dark, he closed the door behind his back as silently as possible and set off. He passed three flights of stairs without causing any noise but halted on top. Was it really okay to do this? He wasn't home anymore. This was a school building. And he should be in bed, Iida would get angry if he found out, but… Last time Izuku didn't check, his friend had been kidnapped. He would not let that happen again. He moved to the left and stopped in front of the second door, fist hovering in the air. What if he woke anyone else? How would he explain?

It didn't matter. Better safe than sorry. Izuku lowered his fist and knocked a single time. Nothing.

Should he knock again? He couldn't just burst in there. But what if the others heard him? He should have texted first. He was such an idiot! Why didn't he just call?

A door creaked and it wasn't the one in front. Izuku whirled around, his steps too loud, and found a silhouette peeking from behind the opened door of the first room. Who lived there again?

"Ya-yaoyorozu?"

"Midoriya-san?" She whispered back. Shit, how was he…? There was no need, since the girl did something unexpected. She seemed to be waving him closer. Cautiously, Izuku approached.

"She's here. She came back half an hour ago, I think. I heard something, I couldn't sleep because I was worried, so I went and checked on her. She seemed pretty distraught, I tried to comfort her, then she fell asleep."

Upon receiving an invitation, Izuku dared to look inside the recommended student's room. Most of the space was taken by what seemed a huge four-poster bed. The curtains to the balcony were drawn, so he couldn't make out much more. Finally, his eyes found the outline of a slightly moving bulb sunken into the soft cushions on the bed. His shoulders relaxed.

"Thank you, Yaoyorozu-san," he expressed his gratitude, but the tall girl shook her head.

"No need, she's my friend. We all care about her."

Hikari truly was in good hands. He wouldn't need to worry about her tonight. Everything was fine.

"Midoriya-san?"

"Y-yes?"

"Thank you for coming. I know it does mean a lot to her."

He just nodded, not really knowing how to reply to that statement.

"I was relieved when she told me she would be staying with you," Yaoyorozu continued, still whispering, "I was very concerned after that fight. And it did her good, this week she's been acting livelier than I've ever seen her."

Izuku felt a bit fidgety.

"I simply wanted to thank you, Midoriya-san." Yaoyorozu stepped back and bowed. "For looking after her. For caring for her."

Where was all that coming from? Izuku never realized how much their classmate's wellbeing meant to Yaoyorozu. He quickly rose his hands and waved it off, even if it was barely visible. "N-no need to thank me! She's also been taking care of me, we just keep each other in check, that's kinda our thing, i-it does come with the villainous parent-thing, I think-"

"I'm happy to hear that." He could hear the smile through her words.

"I, uh, I better go now. Good night, Yaoyorozu-san."

"Good night, Midoriya-san. I'll let her know you stopped by."

A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, Nixxon Mysterio and Grenobi. Your supportive noises were needed and are appreciated full-heartedly. It took some time, but I'm starting to feel better and I can officiall announce that I'll do my best to finish this fic for you! There isn't much left, actually. We'll start the short joint training arc by chapter 56 and then there's only the grand finale left. So it's hopefully not going to take years to write that haha.

Read you soon

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