Boku no Hero: Illusions

Chapter 20

Monday morning and it was the first time he had felt like calling in sick and staying home from UA. His nerves were getting the better of him especially after taking Eraserhead's advice and taking the rest of last week off.

Against his mother's wishes, he had spent last night watching clips from the sports festival and seeing Hitoshi loose to Todoroki hadn't been surprising considering that Todoroki didn't seem to be the type to easily talk even when pushed. Bakugo had then gone and won the whole tournament but still protested the gold medal a bit.

"Sweety, I know you want to stay home but you've been so much better since starting UA, I can't let you throw that away by staying home all the time again." His mother had said when he asked if he could stay home. He knew she was right and he wasn't thinking logically, but it still stung a little to hear out loud.

"Would you feel better if I went with you today?" He nodded and have a small smile to his mum who began to hum as she began to get ready to go with him.

It was weird how the moral support of having her on his trip to UA made him feel better, but there was no way he was going to question the feeling in case it went away. He missed feeling okay. These past few days were hard and he was glad for being able to emotionally recharge; but now the hardest part was actually returning and seeing everyone again.

"Alright sweetie are you ready to get going?" His mother asked and he again nodded.

Together they headed off to the train station, a five minute walk from their building. Once they were on the train it was a twenty minute ride before another ten minute walk to school from the station. All around them UA students walk to school in groups of mainly twos or threes. In the distance he thought he saw the distinct hair of Todoroki, but it was only a flash so there was no real way to be sure.

"Alright sweety, I can't go any further than here. I'll see you when you get home okay?" He gave her a tight hug and was tempted to not let go even as be heard a few snickers from students he didn't know.

Walking into class he saw that he wasn't the first to arrive, the few there that spotted him congratulated him and hoped that he was feeling better now. He was however the first of what probably was their friend group. His insides twisted and his imagination began running wild, thinking if ways he could be rejected. Before his mind could get too far though, Yuri walked in.

"Midoriya! You're okay!" She exclaimed excitedly, almost running over to hug him. "We were so worried about you when Present Mic said you had to leave early. You didn't even tell us you weren't feeling okay."

She said all this while still clinging to him like an octopus and he had trouble keeping up with everything she was saying . "Sato you're going to hurt him if you continue." Takanibu spoke surprising them both.

"Yuki call me Yuri." She huffed. "And don't you wanna hug him too? Its been forever since we last saw him!"

"An awful exaggeration but yes, welcome back Midoriya. I hope you are well."

"Ah y-yea. Th-thanks." He managed to get out once it was clear they were looking for an answer.

"Good to hear. If you need anything then don't hesitate to ask." Takanibu added before sitting at his own desk not too far away.

The panic with in him was starting to soothe. It was strange having so many people care about his well being rather than berating him for his absence. What did he do to deserve friends like them.

"Hey do you know what's up with Hito?" Yuri asked after a couple seconds of silence, breaking him away from his spiralling thoughts.

"Hi-Hito?"

"Oh that's what I'm calling Hitoshi now, isn't it cute?" She grinned. "I still need to come up with a nickname for you but I'll do that later."

"Oh Hito-shi. I-I don't know." He replied saddened, there was still the questions of if Hitoshi still wanted to be friends.

"He's been acting weird since the tournament, all he said after the fight some lines were crossed and he didn't want to talk about it." She pouted and he began to feel guilty for causing this mess.

Maybe he could sink into the floor before class started. If he remembered right there was a student in 1-B that could help him with that. However it was too late to take drastic measures as Present Mic walked into class with a loud greeting and Hitoshi entered just before the bell rang. Throughout class he could feel his friends looking at him but he didn't have the courage to turn and face them yet. No doubt during lunch he'll be cornered and forced to talk. Somehow he was both dreading and looking forward to it, leaving his stomach in a mess of butterflies.

He'd been correct in his assumption. Well for the most part. Yuri, Takanibu, Kazuo, and Soda had come up to his desk almost impossibly fast; leaving him no time to properly think over what he was going to say. Luckily it seemed that he didn't have to say much.

"Midoriya, we are planning to eat lunch outside today and would like to know if you wanted to join." Takanibu spoke up, not giving Yuri the chance to talk.

Eating outside did sound nice. "Uh ye-" he cut himself off when he spotted Hitoshi leaving the classroom with a tight expression. "I-I'll see yo-you out the-re."

They seemed reluctant to agree, but he assured them that he would be fine and he just needed to talk to Hitoshi alone. When they let him leave he thanked them before heading after Hitoshi, guessing where the other went. It wasn't too hard. The cafeteria was crowded and only getting louder by the second. Knowing Hitoshi like he did, knew that the quieter tables were his best bet. Finally after going against the ever moving tide of students, he spotted the signature purple hair if his friend.

"H-Hitoshi." He managed to call out. The boy in question looked at him in confusion.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Hitoshi asked stiffly.

He took a deep, calming breath. "I-I want-ed to-to talk a-about what happened during th-the sports festival."

"I see." Hitoshi mumbled, looking away.

"I-I wanted t-to apologize for-for what I-I said. I-I was stressed an-and was thinking a-about stuff that-that I-I shouldn't ha-have." He managed to apologise to a stunned Hitoshi.

"Why are you apologising? I should be apologising and begging for forgiveness. I said all those mean things to try and win, I made you drop out of the competition for crying out loud."

"Oh... uh th-that wasn't y-your fault. I-I bumped in-into En-Endeavour an-and he... yea..." he tried to explain but none of the words were coming out. He didn't want to mention Todoroki as the other not had enough on his plate with out him spreading rumors.

"I'm going to kill him." Hitoshi

"Heroes don-don't k-kill people." He protested.

"I know but it wasn't very hero like of him to antagonize a high school student." Hitoshi sighed. "I still have to apologise for everything I said to you during our fight. You have every right to be nervous of your quirk and I exploited that in hopes of winning a meaningless contest. I hope you can forgive me. I also promise to try and be a much better friend in the future."

He looked at his friend with bushes tears and smiled brightly for the first time in a long time.