After parting ways from Mei and Hitoshi, Melissa took it upon herself to bring Izuku to his home as the latter was still asleep.

Hitoshi volunteered to help carry him but the blond just nodded her head negatively and gave him a friendly smile that she could take care of it, but they knew it was forced. Reluctantly, they all parted ways and now Melissa was on her to Izuku's home where she could talk to his mother.

She needed a few things to confirm, and once she was done she was going to have a long talk with the cinnamon roll whether he responded to her or not.

Being told to kill yourself? That is not something to be taken lightly whether your quirkless or not. 'Then again, society never really gave a care about quirkless people. Even if they do, it's only out of pity or they want to put us down.' Melissa thought in anger as she unconsciously tightened her hold on Izuku who let out a slight whimper.

Remembering her charge, she immediately calmed down and whispered a small apology to the sleeping boy.

After walking down another block, they both arrived at Izuku's home. Melissa used a free hand and press the doorbell signaling that she was here.

"Coming." She heard and she also heard small sounds of pitter patter becoming louder before the door opened. She was met with the sight of a woman with a slim figure, long green hair tied into a ponytail and green eyes.

"M-Melissa?" she called out in surprise as the blonde nodded her head in return.

"Nice to see you again, Inko-san." She greeted with a small smile. Inko then turned her eyes to her son.

"Izuku!" The matriarch called out in worry. "My baby! Is he okay?"

'That what I like to know.' Melissa thought to herself before speaking aloud. "I think he just needs some rest. I found at the beach in the rain, I didn't want him catching a cold."

Inko nodded her head before noticing their attire. She saw that both of them were wet from the rain.

"For heavens' sake, I don't need you both catching a cold. Here come help me set him down and get out of this pouring rain." Inko said as Melissa nodded her head and came in. As she walked into the living room, she walked past it and found Izuku's room. Inko opened the door and they both set the sleeping teen down on the bed before Inko announced that she would go and make some tea.

Melissa brushed some hair away from Izuku's face before taking a look at his room. She saw that he had a lot of All Might merchandise around his room as she couldn't help but giggle.

She knew that he was a bit of a hero otaku and that All Might was his favorite hero. Her uncle did always save people with a smile on his face from when she met her father up to now.

But she also noticed something was off about him. She noticed the number of appearances over the years had decreased whenever he stopped villains. She wondered why but decided not to think to much on as she had other matters to intend to.

She would've tried to focus on it and Izuku at the same time but she couldn't, she couldn't think multitasking at the moment.

It must've been because of what she was told earlier. Her mind is a mess after finding out that her best friend had so much negativity in his life, Izuku's emotions were unstable at the moment and she could tell that he was close to committing a suicide act.

Suicide…

Melissa hated that word, she hated it so much because of how it can affect someone's mental state and just another way of saying someone died, but by offing themselves. Izuku was never the person to ever even consider taking his own life, until it was suggested to him.

Sure, it was threat by a classmate no less, but it was still an idea that was implanted in his head. From what Mei and Hitoshi told her, she only received their version of what happened in his life when she left. It didn't make sense. He was always so cheerful whenever he spoke to her on the computer, he loved telling her about his day and all the heroes he's been drawing in the books of his.

So why, why didn't he ever tell her about this? Did he think that if she knew than she would leave him, or worse start berating him?

He should've talked to her, he should've confided in her when he was struggling with social interactions, or Mei or Hitoshi, or his mother. All these thoughts roaming in her head made Melissa have a dark cloud above her as she gritted her teeth and started gripping her arm, she didn't care for the pain that she was feeling, her mind was too clouded with anger allowing her to ignore the nerves in her arm.

"Melissa." The blonde was brought of her thoughts when she heard Inko call her. Closing the door behind her, she made her way to the living room and sat down across from the matriarch.

"Thanks for letting me stay until the rain stops Miss Midoriya." Melissa thanked as the mother smiled gently at her.

"It's fine dear, it was the least I could do since you brought my boy home." Inko said to her.

Melissa nodded her head as she took a sip of her tea, enjoying the taste of the warm water mixed with lemon before setting it down on the table.

"Miss Midoriya." The blonde spoke earning the older woman's attention. "Can I… ask you something?"

Inko became curious when she heard Melissa's tone change from calm to sad.

"What's the matter?"

"It's about your son Izuku. He's been completely down lately. Mei and Hitoshi told me that he hasn't been himself. Is that right." Melissa asked.

"Yes, that is true." Inko gave her a frown as she knew what the girl was saying. "He hasn't been himself lately. He would always be coming home with cuts, bruises or worse. He would try to hide them from me or his friends and tell us he was fine but we could see it behind the fake smile he would put on."

"Did you know that he was being bullied on a daily basis?" she asked.

"I was able to figure it out as soon as he came home one day. It was when he turned 4 right after he was diagnosed quirkless. He told me that his friend Katsuki gave him those slight burns on his body, but he told me not to worry about and said he was fine. I told Mitsuki about it as soon as possible but it always seemed to have repercussions. No matter what she told her child, Katsuki would retaliate in a violent matter, he was always stubborn and prideful."

"A month ago, he told me about this argument he got into with Mei and Hitoshi." Melissa raised her head at this in confusion. "I still don't know all the details but he told me that he was at fault for it, he said he didn't deserve good friends like them that he was selfish for asking them."

Melissa eyes widened in concern. Her friend was thinking that he was selfish for getting them involved in their problems, he didn't ask them too they volunteered too because that what's friends do for each other.

'What was he thinking saying that he didn't deserve us?' Melissa thought.

"It was also the same time I found out that he was hurting himself." Inko says suddenly bringing the girl out of her thoughts. She was confused their she heard those words.

"What? What do you mean by that?"

"You didn't know." Inko said once she realized that Melissa eyes widened in concern even more. "I caught him one time in the middle of the night, I was coming home late and saw him with a knife in his hand."

These words started to fill Melissa with dread, not wanting to know what happen afterwards.

"I thought he was having a midnight snack but it was unlike him too. And that's when I saw the cuts… the ones on his arms." Inko said as tears started to form in her eyes. "When I stopped him, I was so confused and angry. Why he would do it and what would encourage him to do so? But I knew what it was."

Melissa gaze turned into anger as she remembered the bullying from what Mei and Hitoshi told her. She knew that it was bad but was it really that bad to the point her best friend had to go and start hurting himself.

Why didn't he tell her any of us!? why did he hide it all from him?!

"It's my fault." Inko admitted with a guilty tone. "I shouldn't have let him go back to school, I should've pulled him out."

"Miss Midoriya, it's not all your fault." Melissa tried to console her but that didn't work.

"Yes it is." Inko let out a small yell surprising the blonde at her outburst. "My baby, the whole time he's suffering and I've been watching it happen. While I may be a pacifist and forgiving person, I am still a mother at heart and Izuku comes first. My baby has been hurt for too long and I'm tired of letting this go on." Inko wiped away her tears before her expression became stern and serious, an unusual look on the matriarch's face.

"Tomorrow, I'm taking him out of school." Inko stated firmly. "I'm not going to let him suffer anymore than he needs to and from everything that's been happening lately, I'm going to get it resolved one way or another." She explained as the blonde nodded her head in agreement.

While she knew Izuku would protest it would be better at having him angry at them than letting him suffer in school, in what was suppose to be a safe zone is now a red zone for him and could set him off at any time soon.

"Miss Inko, what's the relationship between Izuku and Katsuki?"

"Those two were childhood friends. His mother and I are and still old friends and that's how they met, they were raised together and almost did everything together. But after finding out about Izuku being quirkless, Katsuki stopped being friends with him and started bullying him." She said as Melissa's expression darkened.

Clenching her hands in her lap, she found more reasons to hate the blonde boy. He stopped being friends with Izuku for being quirkless, it just really shows how prejudice society is. It's like the saying, the strong survive and the weak die, in this case those with quirks were the strong ones while the quirkless were labeled weak. This was really starting to tick her off.

"Do you remember seeing what happened on the news earlier today, you know when they were both in danger?" Melissa asked as Inko nodded.

"Yes, both of them were taken hostage by the slime villain and were saved. Why was there something that happened afterwards?"

"Oh there was something alright." Melissa scoffed under her breath as she tunred back to Inko. "After they were saved, Izuku was scolded for not having a power and running into danger, while Katsuki was praised for his quirk." Melissa explained to her, she had a hint of venom when she said Katsuki's name.

"He was what!?" Inko said in shock. She saw what had happened to her boy and Katsuki on the news but she didn't know what had happened afterwards.

"He was scolded by them for being reckless but Hitoshi really drilled into them about being hypocrites for standing by and waiting for another hero to show up. They were lucky All Might got there before it got worse." Melissa stated.

"Those ungrateful…" Inko trailed off as her quirk started activating and her clothes along with Melissa started glowing, she then took a small deep breath calming herself down. "Izuku…"

"Miss Inko, if it's okay with you, I would like to talk to Izuku." She started earning a confused look from Inko. "Not right now but sometime tomorrow, I want to talk to him along with Mei and Hitoshi. He's in a dark place right now and I feel like that if we don't help him soon, he'll be out of our reach and will be lost in the darkness. I wanna keep him in the light, I don't want to lose him…" she admitted to her.

Inko was surprised by the blonde's words. She could tell that Melissa cared deeply for Izuku like Mei and Hitoshi but she could also see that she could probably relate to him more than anyone else since they both are quirkless.

The matriarch inwardly smiled at her, glad that her son had some amazing friends looking out for him after Katsuki.

"Melissa, you have my permission to talk to my boy." Inko says as the blonde nodded her head.

"Thank you."

Melissa then noticed that it was time almost 4 and that she needed to head home soon. So after finishing her tea, she then walked to the door with Inko right behind her.

"Thank you for letting me stay over, Inko-san."

"It was a pleasure, Melissa. And thank you for helping my baby boy. You and friends are welcome to come over anytime you like." Inko told her with a small smile.

Melissa then unfolded her umbrella before walking out of sight as the rain poured onto her umbrella leaving Inko alone as she closed the door. She let out a breath that she didn't even know that she was holding.

Quietly, she made her way to her son's room and opened the door. She saw his form still in the bed with his chest rising up and down confirming that he was still asleep. Inko made her way over to his bed and gazed at him with a sad expression.

For too long, she has let him be the black sheep at school. For too long, has she not done any action towards his abuse from his peers at school, letting him suffer both physically and mentally. And for too long had she let him get abused by his best friend and had not done a damn thing about it.

This was the final straw. She would not sit on the sidelines anymore and watch him suffer, she was going to finally do something and there will be hell to pay to all those that had hurt her son.

Kneeling, she brushed some hair away from her son's face as she spoke.

"Izuku, I'm sorry I couldn't support your dream, I'm sorry for letting you be alone, sorry for making you think that you were worthless…" she paused as she moved her hand to his cheek. "From this point on, I will support you no matter what, hero or not, you are still my precious baby and I will always love you." She finished as she pressed a soft kiss to his forehead and left the room, giving him one last look before closing the door.

Had she stay longer, she would've noticed her son opening his eyes slowly listening to every word she said and tears went down his cheeks.

"I love you too, mom." He whispered as he went back to sleep, still exhausted from today's events. But when he woke up, he made a mission to talk to his mother about everything that was going on with him, and then he would talk to his friends.

The first thing Melissa did once she arrived at her home was crash onto the bed. After everything that had happened today, she felt drained both physically and mentally.

She found out that her friend was suffering both inside and out, cutting and isolating himself from them but that might change after the breakdown he had at the station. He's been belittled, bullied, and scolded all in one day, then he was told by his former childhood friend to kill himself which may have been the straw that broke the camel's back.

Then the sludge incident where he risked his life to save his former friend only to get scolded by the pro heroes for endangering his life when really, he did their job because of what they're quirks weren't suited to save someone.

'Really that was pathetic of them to stand by and wait, they could of still done something without relying on their quirks.' Melissa thought as she was getting off topic before going back to the original topic.

Then somewhere along the line, he ran off to be by himself making her worried of where he went before she found him at the beach but she could tell that he was void of emotion and he sounded so broken once he reunited with them.

'You don't need powers to save someone, it's like this society has forgotten the meaning of what heroes stand for.' Melissa thought grimly as she sat up from her bed.

She took off her clothes while staring at the mirror in front of her. Undressing her blouse, she tossed it on the bed before tossing it on the bed and then did the same thing to her skirt, revealing her lingerie, a red bra with matching red panties as she stretched her arm over her head.

She went to her bathroom wanting to take a quick shower. Closing the door, she discarded her bra and lifted her legs individually, taking off her underwear before stepping into the tub. She sighed as she felt the warm water cascading down her body.

She thought about on what to talk about with Mei and Hitoshi, she hasn't been around them for a long time. Living on I-island and America, she's only been video calling them. She wanted to surprise them but things haven't been okay ever since she came back. They never told her that he was hurting himself, maybe they didn't know about it or maybe they did and didn't want her to worry too much.

At this point, she needed answers and she was going to get them. After a quick wash, she turned off the water and step out of the bathtub drying herself off. Minutes later, she had herself wearing a t-shirt and pink shorts while walking barefoot.

Making her way over to the bed, she picked up her phone and made a video call to both Mei and Hitoshi.

Seconds later, a screen popped up on her phone and the first one to answer was Mei.

"Mei Hatsume reporting for duty!" The eccentric pinkhead answered as another screen popped up right beside her.

"Hey." Hitoshi said as he raised his hand in the air. Melissa giggled making them both confused at her action. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, it's just that Mei came up with this small entrance while you just give a simple wave." The blonde girl explained as Hitoshi gave her a blank look.

"Well not all of us are as eccentric and excited as Gearhead over here." Hitoshi said.

"Hehehe, guilty as charged." Mei saluted to him as the latter just groaned and shook his head.

"Anyway, how's Izuku, is he okay?" Hitoshi asked as Mei's attitude turn 360 as she showed worry for the green boy.

"He's okay… well… I'm not sure if that's even the right word." Melissa started, a frown making its way onto her face. "I thought it was just the bullying but, this goes way deeper than I thought. Did you two know that he was…" she trailed off earning worried looks from them.

"Was what?" Hitoshi pressed.

"Did you know that he was cutting himself?" Melissa finished. Her question earned looks of shock and horror from both teens. Hitoshi just stared at screen while Mei had dropped what she was doing and immediately covered a hand to her mouth.

"He… what?"

"Izuku….he… no he wouldn't…" Mei tried to deny but Melissa gazed at them with sadness.

'It looks like they didn't know about it either. Izuku why can't you let us in?' Melissa thought in frustration before speaking once more. "I'm sorry, I thought you both already knew, I didn't think you were kept in the dark too."

"I knew the bullying was extreme but… cutting himself…" Hitoshi said in a lost tone. 'He has he really been driven to that point?'

Mei on the other hand was trying not to cry at finding out her friend was in the state of suicide. It only started with cutting to feel something before he would be driven down further into the dark and then be lost forever.

"Izuku…" She started before turning her head back to Melissa. "how long has this been going on!?"

"I asked his mom and she says he's been doing it for a month." She said with a heavy sigh. "But something tells me that he may have been doing it longer."

"Dammit!" Hitoshi cursed as Melissa heard something hard through the video, but she could tell that he either hit the wall or his desk. "I should've used my quirk on him to tell us what was going through his head."

"Hitoshi, no!" Mei shouted through her side. "Izuku wouldn't want you invading on his privacy like that."

"What privacy!?" He argued back. "He's hurt, he's mentally sick and refusing to let anyone help him and is in a suicidal state! I don't want to use my quirk on him but I will if it meant keeping him from hurting himself. I rather have him mad at me then lose him to suicide!"

"Suicide or not, that's not your decision to make!" Mei's sadness was replaced with anger, she knows that Hitoshi wanted to keep Izuku safe but that didn't mean she wanted him to do it as if he was a drone.

"Enough!" Melissa interrupted them both earning their attention. "Fighting with each other is the last thing on my list right now! Izuku is in a dark place right now and we need to be there for him. Do you know what will happen if he found out you too were arguing right now!? He would dissolve it and then blame himself for something that wasn't even his fault." She huffed at the end before taking another deep breath to calm herself.

"Look, I just… I don't Izuku to be hurt anymore than he already is, so please don't fight." Melissa said as she gave them both a sad look. "I'm sorry… for shouting at you."

"No, I'm sorry." Hitoshi apologized. "I' shouldn't have gone off like that."

"Me too." Mei added. "I just want our friend to be okay…"

"We all do, but we can't do it with arguing. We put that stuff aside and focus on healing him, even he won't say it, he knows that he needs it."

"Yeah." Hitoshi nodded his head.

"Hai." Mei added.

"Oh, that's right, I talked to his mom about this as well."

"His mother/Miss Inko?" They both questioned. Melissa then proceeded to tell them what he told the matriarch earlier today. From what she found out to what she wants to do for Izuku. "I made a promise to her that we would bring Izuku out of his depression, and I want to keep it. I want my friend back so badly, it hurts to see him become empty and void of life that I feel like we're failing him." Melissa then looked at her friends with determination in her eyes. "So please, help me bring him back."

Both teens nodded their heads in agreement, without hesitation. They were not going to lose their friend.

"We won't fail. We'll make sure we get Izuku back." Mei said with determination.

"No need to tell me twice." Hitoshi said as a small smile made its way to his lips. "When do we start?"

Melissa couldn't help but smile in joy, glad that she had these two as best friends.

"Thanks guys. Meet me at Dagobah Beach around 9:00 on Saturday." Melissa said earning confused looks from them both.

"The garbage dump?/The junkyard?" Hitoshi and Mei asked in sync with raised eyebrows.

"Hai. I want us to talk to Izuku in private and then possibly do something to help him get into U.A." Melissa told them. "I know you both want to go there too, so I thought of something that would help you guys get in."

"What about you?" Hitoshi asked her.

"I'm going for the support course although I might do hero as well." The blonde said with a hand to her chin.

"Can we do two courses like that?" He asked her in curiosity.

"There's no rule in the book that says we can't." Melissa answered.

"Eh." Hitoshi shrugged his shoulders while Mei just giggled. "So we meet Saturday?"

"Hai. We meet Saturday" Melissa nodded her head as she spoke. "I'm going to get Izuku first and then I'll bring him to Dagobah, we all need to talk to him."

"Alright, I got some cat videos to watch and a food to make." Hitoshi yawned as he rubbed his eyes with his forearm.

"And I got some babies to experiment with!" Mei said in an eccentric tone as she waved her hand. "!" Something exploded in the background. "Whoops, looks like baby #37 caught fire again. See ya later, guinea pigs!"

Mei Hatsume (Call Ended)

Hitoshi groaned as he facepalmed. "Remind me to never let her do that again, night." He said as he ended his call.

Hitoshi Shinso (Call Ended)

Melissa smiled as she set her phone down and was now by herself as she collapsed on her back on the soft mattress, staring at the ceiling with a soft gaze. She was exhausted after everything that happened today, all revolving around her best friend. To think he would be driven that far to the dark all by those who berated him for being quirkless, for trying to help others and not wanting anything in return and yet, he had to be punished for it?

What screwed up deity up there decided that it was okay for him to suffer so horribly?

Melissa narrowed her eyes in anger as she turned her body over and pulled the covers over her. Taking off her glasses and turning off her lamp, she closed her eyes with a new objective in mind.

'I'll save you Izuku. I'll free you from your nightmares and won't let you suffer anymore.' Melissa closed her eyes being lulled to sleep by the silence in her room. A moment later, a small tear made its way down her cheek.

'I promise.'

Melissa made a vow to herself that she would always protect Izuku from here on out. She would no longer leave him alone in the dark and free him from his torment.