Breakdown Buddies

Chapter 10 - A Fun Chat

Recap -

I get up and follow after Aizawa-sensei, giving Kaminari-kun a reassuring smile when I see him looking concerned. I follow Aizawa-sensei down the halls until we reach a staff room where he goes in, holding the door for me. Nobody is inside the room, and he goes and sits down on the couch. Taking a seat next to him, I can't help but be nervous about what he wants.

"So, you're going to tell me why you flinched earlier today when you looked over at your seat," he says simply.

Sighing to myself because I know lying will only get me in trouble, I tell him the truth. "Well, Aizawa-sensei, it's kind of a long story..."

"Don't worry, problem child, I can always message Nezu to watch over my class for the rest of the day if necessary."

"I... I think that would be a good idea, Aizawa-sensei."

"Okay, give me one moment." He turns, grabs his phone from his pocket, and proceeds to call the principal and tell him about the situation.

Once he gets off the phone, he turns to me and says, "Nezu said he's on his way to the classroom now."

"O-okay. Just know, not even my mom knows about everything, and I'd like to keep it that way." he nods his head, so I continue, "Kachan... no, Bakugo and I used to be really close when we were little. Our moms are really close friends and have been since they were young, so Bakugo and I grew up together. He was like a brother to me, and I looked up to him."

"This still doesn't explain why you would react like that. If you guys are so close, then wouldn't you want to hang out with him?"

"I'm using past-tense for a reason, Aizawa-sensei. We used to be really close and would do everything together. Though, that all changed when he got his quirk and we found out I'm quirkless. When I told him, I thought he would be nice and caring, but boy was I wrong. He turned against me, my one and only friend, someone I looked up to, started bullying me."

"So, he's your bully? I guess that would make sense, but you flinch really hard."

"I wish that was all it was. He would torment me for years, along with his lackeys. He would be verbally abusive, but also physically abusive. I can show you some of the scars he's given me if you don't believe me."

"If you don't mind, I would like to see a couple of these. Only if you're okay with it, though."

"Sure," I say as I take off my blazer and start unbuttoning my shirt. I let the shirt fall off my shoulders and lay on the couch. I face Aizawa-sensei and see his eyes widen in shock. I have a few small scars on the front, but the major ones are on my back. I give him a shy smile before slowly turning away from him so he can see my back.

I hear him give a slight gasp and say under his breath, "God damn..."

"Y-you can t-touch them if you want to, Aizawa-sensei. It's mainly scar tissue and it doesn't hurt."

I can feel his fingers graze over the different ones on my back and lightly touch the one on my shoulder.

"Can... can you tell me about one of them? You don't have to."

"Sure. The one on my shoulder is from near the end of middle school. We were packing up to go home and he came up to me, took my notebook out of my hands, exploded it, and threw it out the window. That's the one Dabi was looking at at the hospital. He put his hand on my shoulder and started his quirk, not hard enough for it to explode, but it became super-hot and burned my skin. He was telling me to give up on being a hero. Though, what he said when he was leaving the classroom is what affected me the most that day."