Essence of a True Hero

Just Visiting - Jail Time

Kon'nichiwa minna! Welcome to the next chapter of Essence of a True Hero. This chapter is dediated to Legacylyric33 who started following me. Thank you for supporting me as I write.

I am also very sorry, my dear readers. Writing has given me lots of lemons. I've had this chapter done for a little while now, but it hadn't felt right...or something, so here I am forever later with your next chapter. I hope you enjoy! A warning to ALL readers: there will mentions of suicide and attempted suicide in this chapter. If you are not comfortable reading that, please read at your own discretion. The heart monitor unendingly rings in Izuku's ears as he sits certain that his hero is dead, and worse still, it is largely his fault. Why did this have to happen? Why does he have to keep trying? Why do his friends keep pestering him? What's the point of it all any more?

Midoriya Izuku's P.O.V.    

    I have never been a sociable person in the face of loss. When I was told that I could never be a hero, I pulled away into the seclusion of my room. When I happened upon the article reporting the news of the Sludge Villain incident in Musutafu, I pulled away from society. When mom died, I closed myself off becoming the most difficult person to work with. I can still hear oji's voice in my head, "You know that crying won't bring her back. Pick up yourself so that she didn't do it all for nothing," even now as it's happening again. I had just found peace with All Might, but now he was gone. I had heard nothing from anyone about it.

    No announcement had been made, not even to the students, so nobody knew, except me. The teachers did announce that Yuei would be entering an impromptu hero licensing exam in two weeks right before the start of the next semester, and by then I couldn't wait any longer.

   I paced my room trying to breathe, "I know that we agreed that I should keep my head down while I was in school. It's all happening so fast. None of it makes sense."

   I glanced at my door as I heard knocking yet again and became deadly silent. My muscles felt taut as I waited for the danger to pass. This time it was Sato, "Come on Midoriya. We know you're in there." Eventually, his heavy footsteps faded, and I released the breath which I had been holding.

    It had happened like this many times. My classmates felt the need to pry through expressions of pity to various degrees as they knocked on my door and asked me if I was okay. I would remain silent and wait for them to go away. Even Ka-chan banged on the door telling me to come out which I wasn't expecting, but my mind muddled through everything quickly and in a jumble once they were gone and I was left in peace.

    "I could become licensed in two weeks before I ever actually took a hero class. I should be excited. What would oji say? All Might was dead; it's my fault. What would oji say to that? How am I even ready to take a licensing exam if I haven't taken one hero course? What am I going to do now that All Might is dead? I'm not ready for this. I have to be ready for this. This is what I've trained for. Who am I kidding? There should have been more time, a whole year's worth, but I missed that because I'm quirkless and had to find something else. What do I do?"

     The absent dialogue continued as I argued back and forth with myself until my head was spinning.  I had tried to leave several times, but every time I tried to even open my door, every door in the hall swung open, and I saw faces peaking out before lighting up and rushing towards me.

     I immediately slammed the door shut, leaning against it with a huff. "I have to become used to them. Maybe I'll just sneak down stairs into the living room and go out for a walk at night."

     To my great surprise on one such occasion the door was slammed open, and I was thrown on the ground. I moved quickly up and out of the way to the far corner of my room. I began looking for plausible exits as Ka-chan was stepping over the threshold. Denki and Kirashima's heads were popping over his shoulders to get a good view.