Tenya Iida's Breakdown (A My Hero Academia Short Story).

The One and Only Chapter

Tenya laid in his bed, his rectangular glasses sitting neatly on his nightstand table. He let out a loud sigh as his dull, blue eyes locked onto the ceiling. It has been over two hours since he got back from the hospital. He got a message from her during the sports festival, telling him to call her as soon as he could. He didn't know what she was saying. As soon as he called her, she went and begged for Tenya to come to a hospital in Hosu. It was then that he discovered that his older brother was attacked by the Hero Killer Stain while on patrol. She explained to him how Tensei failed to win and was now in Intensive Care and was fighting for his life. He didn't know what to do, what to say. What could he say? The person who he looked up to throughout his childhood was now in the hospital. He paced the waiting room for what seemed like hours. He hoped that the doctor taking care of Tensei would come out and tell him that he was awake. That Tensei would be all right and make a speedy recovery. Yet, even after visiting hours were over, Tensei never woke up. The fears and worry that he had for his brother bounced around in his mind like it was some giant pinball machine. What if his brother never woke up? What if they never catch Stain? Would Tensei ever be the same if he did wake up? He felt tears well in his eyes before quickly falling down his cheeks. It was so much to deal with, along with all of the pressure of being his class's rep was beginning to be too much for his mind to handle. Sure, he managed the stress of handling his class, but how was he supposed to represent his class if he was too busy worrying about his brother? Who could he tell about his feelings? He was the class representative, for god's sake! What would his classmates think about him if they saw him in such a weak state? What would his teachers think of him? Would they remove him from being class representative and give it to someone else?

He huffed and rolled over to his side, facing his bedroom wall. He couldn't put that burden on his parents. He had to be strong, for their sake! It was bad enough that one of their children was in intensive care, but they shouldn't have to worry about him as well! He wanted to make them proud of him, surely they'd look down on him if he was in a weak state. He was going to become a professional hero, after all. They dealt with stress all the time, so why couldn't he? Yet, as he thought about the stress, it didn't feel like that to him. He felt like staying in his bed, even if the sun rose. He wanted to be buried in blankets for the rest of his life. But deep down, he knew that this wasn't just any ordinary stress. He felt as if all the pressure from being the class representative, along with all the issues with his brother weighed down heavily on his shoulders. He had no idea how much more he could take, but he had to remain strong! He turned over again and looked towards his alarm clock, the bright, red, fluorescent lights showing that it was nearing three AM. He closed his eyes once again to try and sleep, yet, it never came. But he had to go to sleep, he had school in the morning! What kind of class rep shows up to class late because they decided to sleep in?!

He was sure that come morning, all of these feelings would be long gone, and he'd be back to his normal self.

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"Tenya! You're going to be late!" Tenya jolted upwards in his bed as he heard his mother call for him. Shit, how long did he sleep?! He nearly fell out of his bed as he grabbed his glasses and looked at the clock, seeing that it was nearly seven AM. His eyes widened at the sight. Class was going to start at seven-fifteen! He scrambled to get out of the bed and throw his uniform on, nearly falling over several times in the process. Dammit! He should have gotten up earlier, why did he sleep in?!