What It Means To Be A Hero. (MHA x OC) COMPLETED

Chapter 16: Letting it all out

A/N: In this chapter, Italics mean thoughts, but in the flashback, italics are the letter that Ryomen had given Kageyama. So, yeah, that's it, let's get back to the story.
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Prior to the festival, UA had decided to close the school for 2 days, however, Aizawa, All Might, Principal Nedzu, Uraraka, Midoriya, Hagakure and Kazuma met up to the school because Kazuma had promised Aizawa to tell the truth, but Kazuma wanted to do it beside his friends.
"Mr. Kazuma, whenever you're ready."
Kazuma held Hagakure's hand tightly as he started to speak.
"So, it all started a few months after I got my quirk. I was happy as I was one of the only people who had a quirk at the point.
I was playing with my friends when an orange haired boy came up to me and looked at me, only to start crying. When the teachers asked him about why was he crying, he told them I had intentionally scared him. The teacher scolded me when he was in their lap, smiling. His name was Miyuki Hado, he'd do such things every single day. As we grew up people started calling me by names, scary-face, Black eye demon, monster, devil's reincarnation. One day, I decided to stand up for myself, I went over to Miyuki, but didn't even get to say a single word when he pushed me back, used his quirk on himself to get him a cut on his wrist and started crying that the monster had hit him. We were in 7th grade, so a boy crying at that time wasn't something everyone let pass by. I tried convincing them that I hadn't laid a finger on him. Everyone said that I was arrogant, and mean just because my father was a pro. They said that I used to think that I could get away with everything very easily because of my dad. Miyuki was the grandson of the school's director, so nobody ever said anything to the boy. He'd threaten me that if I told anyone about this, he'll have his father make dad retire, or stop him from doing hero work since his father was friends with the Head of the Hero Association. He'd use his quirk on me, as if I was a test dummy, he'd sharpen his needles every time, giving me more sharp cuts and wounds. That's when I one day snapped at him, we got in a fight, and I cracked my ribs because of him, and what did I do? I just gave him a blue eye, but my wound was ignored because of Miyuki's 'Privileges', during the fight between me and him, his friends were cheering him as if he was a hero, and who does a hero fight? A villain. That's where I got the name. Dad was furious as to why they would ignore an internally cracked rib of a boy who wasn't even in his teen years. The school claimed to have no evidence of Miyuki hitting me with his quirk, but had a bunch of clips of me hitting him. Dad insisted on bringing the doctor who did my check up in. The school agreed, but even the doctor was turned by Miyuki's father. The doctor was a good friend of my dad's, so when he saw his friend lying because of some petty money, he got outrageous, but he couldn't do anything because Mr. Hado might put in another fake witness of God knows what. So, after a while, we let it go, a few weeks later, it was revealed that dad was killed in duty. I knew that it wasn't the work of a villain, but a certain rich man. I started hating my quirk, people coined it as a villain's quirk, added to that, Miyuki spread the rumour that my problems made my dad go crazy and act recklessly. The school had branded me villain by now, they could have thrown me out of the school, but Mr. Hado insisted on keeping me in the school as a test bot for his son."
Aizawa slammed his fist on the desk in frustration, even All Might seemed pissed, Kageyama's friends were looking at him with concern, and tears forming in Hagakure's eyes. Nedzu was quietly listening to his student. Kazuma's eyes started filling with tears.
"Mr. Hado threatened me that if I told Ma anything, even the smallest bit of this, she would be next on the list. I couldn't do anything but endure it quietly, I wanted my dad to be by my side, I wanted him to stand up for me. I wanted to see him once again, not in pictures, not in the television, but in front of me. At one point, I got suicidal."
Everyone in the room gasped at the young boy's words.
"I was sitting in my room, knife in hand, and a note telling Ma not to worry about what made me do it, and just forget about me. A few days before Dad went on his last patrol, he had given me a letter. For the first few days, I forgot to open it, but when he died, I stayed away from it as much as I could. I was looking for a page in my drawers, when the letter fell on the ground, thinking that it didn't really matter what it meant anymore, I opened it to read it.
"Kageyama,
                  I know things may seem difficult for you right now, I know what you have been going through, I'm sorry I was never really by your side when you needed me the most. But that doesn't mean that your mom won't. I love that woman and one thing I know, is that no matter what, she'll always be there for her honeypie. I want you to know that I love you with all my heart, okay? I think I know what might happen in a few days, so, I just want you to know that I'll always be by your side, watching you.
And there's one thing that I want you to do. Remember back when you were a boy, and you told me that you want to become a hero? I want you to focus on that, I want you to become the best hero you can be, and I KNOW that you will be a far greater hero than your dad ever was or will be. I wanna tell you something that a certain hero told me back when I was new in hero business. "The ones who are always smiling in this world are the strongest." Her name was Nana Shimura. And of you're wondering, then yes, she was the grandma of Tenko."
All Might widened his eyes at the fact that his student's father knew All Might's master.
"I want you to print this in your heart. I want you to stay strong no matter what, I want you to smile, I want you to be happy. Try your best and become a greater hero than your dad, no, greater than the Pro Hero: Tele-Kinectic.
It's going to be okay.
Love you,
Dad."
Kazuma continued.
"When I read that, I let it all out, all the pent up feelings, all the anger, the despair, I didn't cry at my father's death, I guess all I needed was a little tap to let the tears overflow. I made my father's wish my dream.
I started to stay positive no matter what the circumstances. But I still couldn't summon the courage to walk freely with my left eye open. But when Izuku told me that I can be a hero too, and when the students said that my eyes weren't scary, but amazing. After hearing that, I think I might be able to walk around without the eyepatch freely, and keep the promise I made to dad, that I'll become a hero better than him.
I guess that's about it."
Everyone was speechless. They didn't know what to say. Aizawa was furious at the teachers of the school and the Hado guy for their insolent behaviour. Nedzu advised him to calm down and told the students that they will do something about it. All Might stood in the same place, but then he went towards Kageyama.
"Young Kazuma. I'm sorry for what you had to go through, but you should know that you have really caring friends here at UA. They won't ever leave you, and we won't abandon or expel you for such a reason. Young Kazuma look at me."
Kazuma looked at All Might. All Might noticed that the boy in front of him was the real Kageyama Kazuma, not the one who was always cheery and positive, but a boy who was begging for help, help from anyone to pull him out of darkness, to bring him into the light. He put his hand on the boy's shoulder while wiping the tears on the boy's face with his other hand.
"Young Kazuma. A thing such as a villain's quirk simply does not exist. Your quirk doesn't define who you are, what defines you are your actions, what you do and how you do it. And one thing I can tell from looking at you since you've been at UA, is that you have leadership in you, you're kind, but daring as well. You are gonna be an amazing hero, just like your dad."
The young boy wiped his tears and gave a bright smile. This smile wasn't something that anyone had seen in a while, it was the genuine smile of a boy who aspired to be a hero
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Kazuma was walking back to their homes with his friends. They were casually chatting when Kazuma felt a hand in his pocket, he turned around to see Hagakure putting some sort of note in his pocket before said her goodbyes, getting on the train.
Kazuma took the note to read it.
"Kazuma-kun,
                     I want you to know that neither me, Uraraka-san, Midoriya-san, or Iida-san will ever leave you, EVER. And I couldn't help you last time, so let me make it up this time by inviting you to lunch. And I won't take no for an answer. Not this time >:(
Meet me tomorrow at 10am at Hosu city mall, I'll be waiting, and don't you dare cancel on me.
See ya soon,
Toru Hagakure."
Kazuma smiled at the note before his face went blank.
"WAIT A SECOND..."
"DID I/SHE JUST..."
"INVITE HIM/ME TO A DATE???"

With this, the day came to an end.