Heroes of Tomorrow

Part 54~Waiting

Naka stared at the floor, an emotionless look on his face. He could hear the ambulance siren taking Akiko away.

"I don't understand! How could you send her to the hospital but don't know if it's serious?!" Uzu stomped his foot as Momo placed her hands on his shoulder, trying to pull him away.

"We can't use Recovery Girl's Quirk until we understand the damage. Trying to use her quirk could cost more energy than Akiko's body currently has," Aizawa tried to explain as Uzu gaped.

"That sounds serious!"

"Hey, let's take a deep breath," Momo suggested, finally succeeding in pulling Uzu away from Aizawa. "Let's get some tea while we wait for news."

Uzu blinked, a tired look on his face. "I don't like tea."

"Then we'll get a hot chocolate," Jiro suggested as Momo stared in shock.

"How could someone not like tea?"

Jiro gave Momo a look. "Momo, that is not what we should be focusing on."

"Yaoyorozu and Jiro are correct! We should return to the dorms until we hear news."

"Mr Aizawa," Midoriya stepped closer as Aizawa turned to him. "Is the festival going to be cancelled?"

"Geeze, Midoriya, is that what you're really worried about?" Kaminari gave Midoriya a disapproving look as he blinked.

"Not for me. It's just Eri is here, and I don't want her to miss out because of us."

Aizawa nodded. "The festival is continuing. You're all welcome to explore the festival if that is what you want." Aizawa turned, leaving as Kaminari sighed.

"I don't think I could continue the festival after all this."

"Well, those who don't want to continue can come back to the dorms with us," Jiro suggested as the class divided.

Momo, Jiro, Uzu, Aoyama, Midoriya, Iida, Uraraka, Tsu, Mina and Bakugo all headed back to the dorms. The rest are divided into coping in their own ways. Some went to a training room to work out their issues on a training dummy while others continued through the festival, and some stayed at the food stands, trying to eat away their problems.

The air around class 1A didn't recover, no matter what they went to do.

Kirishima didn't leave, looking at Naka as he continued to stare at the floor. After a second, Kirishima sighed, kneeling before Naka. "I am going to get one thing through your head no matter what! I don't care what possessed your brain; I care for you, and I won't let this continue! You are an amazing person, and I can't watch you destroy yourself. Whatever is going on, we can fix it, you can fix it. You can't give up. Please, you can't."

"I'm not."

For a second, Kirishima's eyes lit up.

"I'm not an amazing person. I'm not a good person."

"Why would you say that? Naka, you are."

Naka blinked as the tears started falling from his eyes. "I let Sero die. It's my fault Akiko became a murderer. I'm the reason her friend died. I'm the reason they had to suffer. Everyone around me gets hurt, and I just walk away-" Naka stopped as Kirishima pulled him into a tight hug.

"I'm not hurt. What happened to Sero and Alfie was not your fault. It was not your fault that Akiko and Uzu suffered, and I will say it every day until you believe it."

Naka slowly lifted his arms to hug back, tears falling from his face. "It's my fault. It was all my fault."

"No. None of it was you."