vampire king: izuku

Chapter 23: Through the Fire and Flames True Heroes Are Born

The following week went by as usual for Izuku. The only difference that this time was the after school counseling that the vampire had to take. Hound Dog was in charge of it, using his time with the vampire to talk about the events that happened on Hosu.

The vampire collaborated with his teacher, answering the man's questions to the best of his abilities. Izuku didn't regret his course of action on the district, and he stated the fact clearly to him teacher; guilt wasn't on his mind, neither was regret. Of course some melancholy would strike the vampire once in a while, but he toughened his resolve and endured his burden. He had been doing it since young, it wasn't anything new for him.

The whispers and rumors about him had increased among the halls and rooms of UA, the student body still unsure what to make of him. His sensitive ears could easily pick the hushed whispers and under-the-breath talk of a few second and third-years as they discussed rumors about him.

Izuku wasn't one to pay much attention to hear-say and he did his best to ignore the side glances that happened when he passed by. Hostility was rather rare, but fear of the unknown was a great source of fuel for rumors, especially when inside a high school.

Among his classmates, it was clear that a divide had happened. He wouldn't say factions, but his classroom had become divided into a few clichés that had their own ways. There were those that calmly talked with him and seemed mostly unaffected by the happenstance that was his fight against the Hero Killer as well as the noumu: Todoroki, Uraraka, Tokoyami, Kyouka and Iida.

There were those that disliked the vampire and either wanted nothing to do with him or tolerated him: Bakugou and Yaoyorozu.

And there were the remaining students that either were neutral to him or kept their distance from him: that group was made of the remaining students. To say that there was tension in class would be an understatement, considering the circumstances.

Izuku was never one to compare or scale his hardships against those of other people; life wasn't a competition to see who had suffered the most after all. Yet, he couldn't help but harbor some hostile feelings for a few of his classmates, due to this sort of attitude. He knew it was petty to hold this sort of grudge against those that were (justifiably) scared of him, but in the end he was still a human.

Such topic had been the focus of today's session with Hound Dog. His personal feelings on the matter of the attitude of both his classmates and the student body towards him. It was one of the few sessions this week that Izuku had had some trouble expressing himself. Normally the vampire was quite eloquent, if a bit reserved, with his words and feelings. Finding himself relying on his wild side to express what was in his mind was an unusual feeling, since Izuku was always trying to only use his rational mind.

The vampire exited the room he had been talking with Hound Dog and released a tired sigh. He wondered if Mei was still waiting for him or if she had already gone home. She had been rather enthusiastic to show him a few pieces of support gear she had developed especially for him, making the hemomancer curious about the equipment. There was also the matter of the First Term Exams coming up.

Just because U.A was a heroics school did not meant that they had leeway to slack off on their studies. Izuku felt that he needed to hit the books for a few subjects, all the recent action leaving little time to academic matters. He could set a study session with the mechanic to see if there was anything she felt unsure and help her out.