Worthless Necessity [HitoZuku]

Chapter 73 - There was no way

Midoriya left his room, with Reiko and Ryuto tucked in his hood as he trudged towards the main UA building. His body was aching all over, and he was tired. He had just taken a shower, ready to leave his room to check if the nauseating smell of pizza had left the common room and that his classmates were done eating. Nezu had texted him, telling him that he wanted to talk to him in his office, and that he didn't need to alert the teachers about him leaving the dorms as they were already informed of the meeting. Midoriya didn't really think too much about it, and snuck out of his window, trying to not go near the common room, before making his way to Nezu's office.

It didn't take him too long to do so, given how many times he had been to the principal's office, and he placed Reiko and Ryuto on the ground, before knocking on the door. He heard the sound of footsteps, and the door swung open. Much to his surprise, Nezu promptly wrapped his arms around Midoriya, though the principal was so short that he only reached up to Midoriya's waist.

"You're alright. I was so worried when I heard the news about the attack from the Hero Commission." Nezu breathed a sigh of relief, before gently leading the boy into his office. Nezu let the smaller boy sit on the couch in his office, and Midoriya noticed a plastic bowl with steam coming out of it, sitting on the short table that was located by the couch. He looked at it curiously, as Reiko and Ryuto leapt up onto the couch beside her, the cat gently nuzzling the larger bird, before curling up around him. Ryuto settled down, and let out a content chirp as Nezu patted him on the head.

Midoriya leaned over slightly, seeing that the bowl contained some plain soup, noodles and vegetables. It did smell nice, and he hadn't eaten his dinner yet, and he glanced at Nezu curiously, wondering why the animal principal had noodles in his office. It was pretty late, after all, and he assumed that Nezu would have already eaten dinner. Maybe he was working late?

"Eat." Nezu nodded his head towards the bowl, "I didn't think that you would eat dinner, given how many people there were crowded in your dorms."

Midoriya blanched, and quickly shook his head, protesting, "I can't... It's your food... I-"

"Don't worry about it, Izuku." Nezu calmly patted his arm, "I've already eaten; I'm not really hungry at the moment. Just eat it. You deserve it, especially after everything that happened today."

Midoriya paused, but with a bit more encouragement from Nezu, the greenette picked up the metal chopsticks that were with the bowl, and started eating the noodles. He picked up that pace when he realised that, one, the food was actually delicious, despite the meal being relatively simple, and two, he was actually pretty hungry, though on most days, he usually did his best to ignore his stomach.

The office was filled with silence, with the only sound being from Midoriya eating, before Nezu spoke up again, "I was so worried when I heard that there were four members of the League attacking the students, and I knew that you would do your best to protect everyone."

Midoriya looked away from Nezu guiltily, and Nezu sighed, gently patting Midoriya's leg, "I'm not mad. On the contrary, I'm proud that you trusted yourself, and decided to take matters into your own hands because you felt that you could handle it. I care about you, Izuku, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who was worried about your wellbeing while you fought the League."

Nezu paused, before continuing, "I'm just glad that you're okay, Izuku. Recovery Girl already informed me about the injuries you got from the villains... and while they're pretty bad, I'm just relieved that it's not as serious as the last two times you ended up in the hospital."

Midoriya froze, and he slowed his eating down, trying to process what Nezu was talking about. He was almost done with the noodles anyways. He knew that Nezu did care about him, and accepted it, as much as he found it hard to believe. Even though his injuries were healed, they were still aching, and Shuzenji had already told him that if the pain was too unbearable, he should go find her the next day. But he wasn't about to bother her, nor Nezu, about that. Shuzenji was probably busy, and he didn't want Nezu to worry more than he had to.