Wings of Awakening

Part 40

After arriving home, Izuku was immediately enveloped in his mother's tearful embrace. "My baby, don't scare me like that!" Inko cried, her hands shaking as she checked every inch of him.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Izuku murmured, feeling guilty but grateful. "I didn't see the Nomu until it was too late. But it didn't hurt me much," he reassured her, though she still had tears in her eyes.

By Monday morning, Izuku could feel the weight of all the attention following him through the hallways. Headlines were everywhere: "Hero in Training Captures Hero Killer." Stain's speech had gone viral, and all eyes were on him now, especially when he entered the classroom.

"Yo, Midoriya! We saw the news!" Kaminari grinned, coming over to his desk with a bright smile.

Izuku groaned, wishing he could just disappear. 

"How did you manage to take down the Hero Killer?" Sero asked, his eyes wide with curiosity.

"Yeah, dude, spill!" Kaminari added eagerly.

Izuku scratched the back of his neck, finally giving in. "I just... um, slammed him into a wall a few times," he said, sheepishly.

"You slammed the Hero Killer into a wall?!" Sero repeated, and some jaws dropped.

Wanting to avoid more questions, Izuku gave a quick summary. "I was flying around on lookout because of the chaos in Hosu, and that's when I saw Stain had cornered Iida and Native. Iida was down, trying to protect Native, who was unconscious, so I dropped down and kicked Stain into the wall. He got up and attacked again, and Iida warned me about his quirk... so I just kept slamming him into the wall until he passed out. I, uh... apologized before I did that."

The room fell silent for a moment, before Kirishima broke it with a grin. "That's so manly, bro!"

Before anyone could ask for more details, Aizawa entered, his presence silencing the class. "Settle down," he said, giving Izuku a slight nod. With that, the school day began.

During lunch, Iida quietly thanked Izuku for not telling the class about his actions with Stain. Izuku gave him a reassuring smile and replied, "Just focus on being a good hero, Iida."

Despite his efforts to stay low-key, some students approached, eager to hear more details about his fight with the Hero Killer. Izuku tried to avoid answering, but the crowd persisted until Todoroki intervened, calmly saying, "We're trying to eat." His icy gaze was enough to get the students to back off.

Suddenly, Izuku felt a sharp slap on the back of his head. He turned to see a blond boy with a smug smirk—the same one he'd seen around after the Sports Festival announcement: Monoma from Class 1-B. "Didn't notice you there with that big head of yours," Monoma sneered.

Izuku could sense Monoma was itching for a reaction, but he stayed calm. "Hey, that's not very nice! What did Midoriya even do to you?" Uraraka protested.

Izuku shrugged and said, "It's alright, Uraraka. Some people just like to hate." He continued eating, ignoring the rising frustration on Monoma's face.

"You think you're hot stuff because you took down the Hero Killer?" Monoma goaded, trying to get under his skin.

Izuku looked up, unbothered. "Don't put words in my mouth," he said simply. Monoma launched into a rant about how Class 1-B would outshine Class 1-A. He was promptly karate-chopped by a girl with bright orange hair tied in a high ponytail.

"Sorry about Monoma," she said, looking apologetic. "He has a bit of an inferiority complex."

"Don't worry; I know someone like that too," Izuku said, glancing in Bakugo's direction, feeling the familiar weight of his glare. He turned back and introduced himself, "I'm Izuku Midoriya, Class 1-A representative. I hope our classes can build a good relationship."

"I'm Kendo, Class 1-B representative," she replied, shaking his hand with a friendly smile. She then dragged Monoma back to their table.

"You handled that well, Midoriya," Iida said, impressed.

"I've learned to ignore people like that," Izuku replied, smiling as he and his friends finished their meal in peace.