Layers Of Suffering (Tokoyami BNHA)

Recognition (Epilogue Part 1)

--

~Midoriya~

The class had just ended. It was weird how much had changed since that fateful day.

That empty seat at the back of the class was usually hard to spot, yet it felt like an empty void in the class.

What was weird was that that person was also just as unnoticeable. Tokoyami easily blended into the shadows. Even when he thought he had gotten used to Tokoyami's absence from the previous month, it did bite back at him with the confirmation of his passing.

Midoriya couldn't imagine how Todoroki felt, being right being Tokoyami's seat.

He looked back at Tokoyami's seat. It was filled with flowers and gifts from his classmate.

For him, he put something that meant so much to him that was a reminder of his friendship to Tokoyami. A white band with the number '615' written on it. It was a band that helped him proceed in the Calverley battle during the sports festival. Tokoyami was the reason he had succeeded in advancing.

Looking at his classmates' gifts to Tokoyami, he felt a little grateful he had a stronger relationship with him. Nevertheless, Tokoyami did not hesitate to save everyone, regardless if he had a strong bond or not. That's how much he cared within that stoic expression.

This wasn't the only time either...

He remembered during the forest camp, Tokoyami had begged him to leave him alone... he was not worth saving.

"Having painful thoughts?" Shoji asked, placing one of his limbs onto his shoulder.

Midoriya looked up, realising he had been staring at Tokoyami's table.

"Yeah... Thanks."

Shoji looked at Tokoyami's table for a short while. Shoji didn't put anything at Tokoyami's table. It seems that being one of Tokoyami's closest friends, he was the most affected out of the class.

"Care to join me for lunch?" Shoji finally said.

"... Sure."

.
.
.

The cafeteria was surprisingly empty. Midoriya was glad he had a friend to keep company.

After taking his food, he sat next to Shoji and quietly ate.

Tokoyami's cafeteria group usually consisted of Shoji and Koda. They were a quiet bunch.

He tried to distract himself with spoonfuls of katsudon, but his mind was forced to y78...

"We should eat together as a class more often..." his voice came out soft.

Shoji processed his words... Before nodding once.

"Tokoyami didn't talk much," Shoji said, picking up on Midoriya's hidden agenda.

"He only discusses school work. It was saddening to hear how little he talks about himself."

"He had nothing to talk about?"

"No... In fact, the opposite."

Midoriya looked at Shoji before formulating a hypothesis.

"... He's afraid... afraid of saying too much." He proposed. Shoji's lack of response justified his theory.

Midoriya sighed.

He placed so little trust of us... What made our bond so... Fragile?

Midoriya closed his eyes, recollecting Tokoyami's return. Tokoyami mentioned his return was a second chance, his actual body had already moved on... Gruesomely. The memories of Tokoyami's death was still fresh in his mind, but he knew it was nothing compared to what Shoji felt.