Zero - A Vigilante Deku Story

Chapter 32 - What happened?

POV Zero

His arm hurt. That was the first thing Zero noticed, as well as his wing. What had happened? He couldn't remember. The smell of disinfectant and gummy bears was in the air. Which meant Zero was with Recovery Girl.

Had he had an accident?

It throbbed between his temples as he tried to remember. Together with Kacchan, he had done the exercise. They had been good, even more than that. Then Zero's memory ended all of a sudden.

Why didn't he know how he had hurt himself?

His senses cleared and he could hear someone breathing. With great effort, Zero opened his eyes. They felt as if they had been glued shut and were completely dry. He grunted and forced his eyelids apart. His throat also hurt, as if it was sore and overworked. As far as Zero knew, he didn't have a cold, nor had he been using his voice excessively.

"He's waking up."

"Zuku, can you hear me?"

He blinked a few times and spotted two blurry figures beside him. "Ka-Kacchan? Toshi?"

Did it just seem that way, or did he hear a general sigh of relief? Zero blinked a few times to finally see clearly. He really was in the infirmary. A little further into the room stood Shouta and Mic, both looking at him with concern. Shouta's quirk was active, as Zero could tell from his hair and eyes. Why? Whose quirk was he deleting?

The underground hero didn't take his eyes off him, which meant that it was his own quirk that Shouta was erasing.

Zero became nervous. What had happened? He raised his hands because he didn't trust his voice. But as soon as he tried to move his left arm, a sharp pain shot through his body. The whole arm was wrapped in a bandage.

"What's happened? Why am I here?" Zero asked in a shaky voice.

"You don't remember?" Kacchan asked back. The blond teenager looked tired and his eyes were red and swollen.

"Remember what?"

Shouta came closer. "Promise me you won't run away, Zero. All of us here are on your side and want to help you."

The greenette was overcome with fear. What had happened that he might need the others on his side? He swallowed hard and nodded.

"Okay." Shouta deactivated his quirk. "What's the last thing you remember?"

With a furrowed brow, Zero thought about it. "I was in the forest with Kacchan. We were doing evacuation training with you. There were two girls. We took them out. After that, a boy." He thought hard about what had happened after that. He couldn't think of it.

"That's all?"

"Yes."

Shouta sighed. He still looked tense, but his restraint had eased a little. "How do you feel about All Might?"

"All Might?" How did he come up with the number one hero now?

"Exactly."

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Kacchan had leaned forward slightly and wasn't taking his eyes off him.

"I think I used to like him a lot, wanted to be a hero like him. We both wanted that, didn't we Kacchan?"

The blond boy cleared his throat. "Yeah, that had been our shared dream once, before..." He licked his lips and fell silent.

"I see," Shouta said. "And how do you feel about All Might today?"

Zero tilted his head. "I still think he's a good hero. But I no longer believe I can ever be like him. I'm still not sure I can even be a hero with my past."