Traumatized

Chapter 22

IZUKU POV

Two months have passed since I moved in with Pops and quite a bit has changed. Ms. Midnight comes over twice a month to help me deal with my past. She's actually even tags along when I'm being introduced to a new teacher since all of them can be over the top. It's weird having a therapist that actually gives a shit and will push you to better yourself. She said that finding the root of my issues will take time to uncover but she wasn't going to stop till she found it. Honestly her answer was as comforting as it was terrifying. "I guess I'm stuck with her for a while."

Principal Nezu's education plan is complex and all his questions are open ended. I'm not sure if he just enjoys watching people suffer or if he just writes what comes in his head first. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't helpful, he's been helpful in showing me to look at the bigger picture in situations. "It would be nice if his questions didn't have so many hidden possibilities. I mean how am I supposed to assume that a room with no windows and no way out is actually the safe room of a warehouse with a gas leak."

Recently I even started a part time job so to speak. I don't actually go anywhere but I've been asked to help out with a teachers radio show. It's been fun learning more about mixing and mastering from someone who gets paid to do it. He actually got me to start playing guitar again. "That was a rough session having to explain to Ms. Midnight why I started having an episode when he forced the guitar in my hands." It feels good to play again, I missed it a lot. It's funny whenever I play I can sometimes hear Kyoka telling me to relax or to do my warmup exercises. Once I could have sworn I saw her sitting next to me smiling as I played a song. "Damn... I miss you Kyoka. I hope you're doing well."

The biggest change of all has to be with me physically. Pops training has started to put some muscle on me and I'm starting to enjoy the training more, even though he can be a tyrant sometimes. After the first session when he tricked me into confessing that I brought alcohol into his house he decided to run me until he felt like I threw up any alcohol left in my system. Then he proceeded to take my bottle, pour himself and Mama Joke a glass, put the bottle in his liquor cabinet, and give me a lecture on why drinking at a young age is bad while drinking my whiskey. "That's just adding insult to injury." But he sometimes will pour me a glass for 'special' occasions. His thought process is that if he's with me it's alright since he makes sure I won't drink too much. So far it's only happened once since I started living here but I'm trying to stay hopeful.

I've really enjoyed my time here altogether and it was about to get better because today Pops was going to start hand to hand combat training. I finished changing into my training gear and made my way into the training room. Inside Pops and Mama Joke were waiting for me. A small smile spread across their face as I walked in. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah Emi's just excited for today and I'm ready to see how far you've come in this short time." He crossed his arms as he faced me. "But before we start we have some things to go over."

"You got it Pops." I gave him a slight smile as I stood in front of him.

He let out a small sigh. "Alright true or false all quirks have a tell."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "That's false because not all quirks work similarly. Principal Nezu's quirk has to do with his intelligence and it has no signs when he uses it."

"Good, so let's say you're fighting against an opponent who's quirk you don't know. What would you do?"

I took a moment to think about an answer before I saw a smirk on his face. "I'd play it safe and wait for him to give me an opening. If it's me he's fighting I'm assuming he knows I'm quirkless. With that knowledge he's sure to try and take advantage of it. So I'd stay defensive till I figured out what I was going against. Once I know what exactly they can do I counter attack."