One More Step (Would It Make Me Free?)

Force-Fed Friendship

Hitoshi began actively avoiding other students at UA.

He didn't want to look at any of them. Couldn't, not after he tried joining 1-A for hero training. Aizawa, Yamada, Nedzu, and hell, even his therapist encouraged him to give it another shot. "You don't have to use your quirk again, if you're not ready," Aizawa had told him. "I can make sure you're only paired with people who have non-combat oriented quirks. I think you'd do well with someone like Uraraka or Yaoyorozu."

Hitoshi couldn't deny that he appreciated the concern, but it wasn't enough to sway him. Not when the entire class saw him for what he really was. He didn't think Aizawa's idea would work, either. Why would anyone want to train with Hitoshi after everything, especially if their quirk wasn't meant for combat? It was a ridiculous notion.

He stuck to his lessons with Nedzu and those lessons only. He waited until after the bell rang and everyone had gone to class to go into his office, and waited until long after it had rang at the end of the day before leaving. He was content to keep this up for as long as he could, even if he knew it couldn't last forever. It was working for now, and at the moment, that was all Hitoshi cared about. He was decidedly ignoring the anxiety looming in the back of his mind at the back of his mind about having to face everyone again.

Unfortunately, Nedzu had other plans.

The principal made tea for the two of them, as he always did. Hitoshi didn't understand why he liked it so much when coffee existed - Aizawa had offered him some despite Yamada's complaints and he hadn't been the same since - but he always kept that thought to himself. He had no reason to think anything was amiss as Nedzu made tea.

That was when Nedzu "accidentally" spilled tea all over Hitoshi's lunch. The excuse was complete bullshit - Nedzu was not that clumsy, and his lunch had been nowhere near the tea when he'd set it down - but the principal didn't care. He gave Hitoshi the fakest apologetic smile he'd ever seen, one that aggravated him to no end - not that he could do anything about it. "Ah, my apologies, Shinsou! How clumsy of me! I suppose you'll just have to get lunch from Lunch Rush today!" He didn't even bother to try to sound genuinely apologetic, the bastard.

Hitoshi just wished he could figure out why Nedzu was doing this in the first place. He clearly had something planned, but what? Everything kept going as normal, minus one little detail. The principal had stepped out for a moment, apologizing and saying he had to do something important before coming back as if nothing happened. He did not elaborate on what the important thing was, and Hitoshi knew he wouldn't get an answer if he asked.

Only a couple minutes passed before the lunch bell rang. "Hm, looks like it's time for us to stop for a while. Better get to the cafeteria!" Nedzu said, voice full of false cheer. Hitoshi did not want to go to the cafeteria - he was perfectly content skipping lunch, he'd been hungry for much longer in the past - but the principal was already ushering him out the door.

He was already trying to figure out which vent would be best to hide in for the duration of lunch - Nedzu made the mistake of teaching Hitoshi all about the school's ventilation system and he was going to utilize that information, damn it - before promptly running directly into someone. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. At least he didn't fall on his ass this time.

He opened his mouth to apologize, but fell short when he saw who he'd run into. It was Kaminari. Because of course it was. So this had been what Nedzu was planning.

"Oh, sorry, man! Didn't see you there!" Kaminari exclaimed, looking sheepish. That confused Hitoshi far more than any of Nedzu's scheming had. He should hate Hitoshi. He shouldn't want to even look at him ever again. And yet, he looked guilty for running into him? He apologized?