A Ray of Hope for Tenya Iida

Take a Hike

3rd person pov: Iida had decided, after a bit of thought, to start reporting the class issues anonymously to Aizawa in order to help them, so he started taking note of different behaviors in his classmates that he felt were important. Midoriya's breakdown earlier that day, Bakugou's sudden change in tone and body language, along with him not finishing breakfast, and Todoroki's zoning out were all mentioned along with a bit of other information were mentioned in a written note. Iida made sure to write it in handwriting much different from his own and use a pseudonym not expected of him: Antagonist. He knew it was simple and the message of "evil" was straightforward, which is something he would never use in a typical pseudonym. He'd typically use one with a message of good and one with a more complicated meaning in order to show an in depth understanding of what he was trying to communicate. He'd gone out to a store to pick out paper quite different than the paper he'd usually use for any kind of note (a notepad with dark red roses and thorny vines. The whole paper gave off a creepy aura, with a yellowed background and a dark red hue to every other part), then wrote in red ink. He was currently walking to the 1A classroom with the intention of getting there, putting the note down, and leaving as quickly as possible. He stopped by the classroom to put the note down when he noticed another note taped to the door with glittery duct tape. 

"I noticed Iida hasn't been acting like himself lately and I thought you should check it out. He missed breakfast and went outside during that time, then went straight to his room once he came back in. ~bara" the note seemed to be nothing too noteworthy (haha get it?), just a bubblegum pink paper with valentine red ink writing in cursive and lots of hearts drawn on. Iida took the paper down and replaced it with his own, taped with clear scotch tape instead, before walking down the hall again to get to his room. Someone was onto him, but who could it be? It's not like just anyone could've noticed this and then taped the note there, right? It had to be someone observant, almost too observant, and someone who'd take note of that kind of thing. He couldn't single out just anyone in class 1A yet, especially since they were all extremely clever. He couldn't single out boys just because of the traditionally feminine style because anyone could be faking it like he was. His prime suspects currently were Bakugou, Todoroki, Midoriya, and Mina. Bakugou saw him outside, so he could've seen him crying, and it's hard to tell where Bakugou is if he's trying to sneak around. Midoriya was outside his room and might've just given an alibi for his presence there. 

As for Todoroki, he was very smart, and already accused him of not giving and answer and called him suspicious. He was also very quiet and stealthy, making him a threat if he wasn't careful. Mina already wrote similar to the style, but she didn't write in cursive. Other than that, the styles were almost identical. He'd have to be careful around them all, and maybe find a way to change what they think is going on without it seeming like it was him. What if Aizawa had already seen the note, or someone passing by? What if everyone already knew? What would they say when they next saw him? He didn't want to have to explain that he had nothing to be upset about but he didn't want to say he had reasons when he didn't. What if they already knew everything including the fact he didn't have a reason? What if they'd known the entire time and just didn't tell him? Were they secretly judging him behind their backs, knowing he didn't have any right to tell them how to behave when he didn't have any issues of his own to prove he'd earned the title? Did he even deserve to be class representative? Midoriya had been chosen at first and the only reason he'd even been chosen in the first place is he jumped onto a sign and yelled at some students and because Midoriya knew he wanted the position. He was there only because of the pity of a friend. He didn't want to be pitied, and he had no reason to be pitied, there was nothing wrong! He was fine, his way of life was fine, and everything was ok!

So why was he feeling like this? There came the same question again. As his thought spiraled out of control, he hadn't realized he'd walked past his dorm and straight out of the building and was just walking in a straight line away from the school. He'd already gotten tears welling up in his eyes again, and it hadn't even been a day since he'd cried. God, he was such a loser today, he couldn't even clear his head for once just to get a task done for the day. He was in UA because of his quirk, which wasn't even a result of his own hard work, but his genetics, and because other test takers happened to perform poorly. If anyone had performed better than him, he wouldn't be here, right? As pathetic as it was, he was here from dumb luck, not because he deserved it, because he'd worked for it, or even because he'd persuaded someone to let him in. He'd walked straight into the road, still unaware of his trance-like journey, and was walking down the road. A car, driving straight towards him, screeched to a halt right in front of the boy and gave him a honk to hopefully snap him out of it. 

Iida's pov: Why was I outside? On a road of all places? I was supposed to be walking to my dorm, not taking a hike. There was a car in front of me, honking it's horn. I supposed I should apologize, right? After all, I was being an inconvenience. "Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was walking in the road, I'll get out of your way." I bowed to show respect, then got out of the road. I pulled out my phone to see no notifications still, but it didn't matter because I was trying to find my way home now. I pulled up maps and put in UA as the destination. How'd I gotten a half mile away from the school? And I didn't even notice? God, there was something wrong with me- wait, no there wasn't, scratch that, I was fine, perfectly ok. I walked back to UA and got to my dorm to take a small break from the pressure, and soon I was relatively safe in the comfort of my dorm room. I locked the door so no one would accidentally intrude and then got to my desk and pulled out some early work I managed to persuade Aizawa sensei to give me. It wasn't too hard, but at the same time, it was something to do that would distract me for a while, and that was better than nothing. It was already 2:30 pm, meaning I'd missed lunch as well. At least I was still getting dinner, which would be prepared by Bakugou, who knew his way around the kitchen fairly well. He was certainly a better cook than I was, I couldn't compare to that kind of skill no matter how hard I tried. Not now, though, I needed to focus on the work, not these thoughts.