Feel Your Pain

Chapter 1

When Aizawa entered the classroom on the first day, it took the students around eight seconds to quieten down or to even notice he was there. Not good enough.

Some might call him strict or cruel for threatening them with expulsion on the first day or for expecting them to act without fail, but as their homeroom teacher, Aizawa needed to show them just how cruel the world could be. He needed them to experience the fear of failure at least once before they made it out onto the field; it was a necessity in his line of work.

There were some interesting quirks this year, ranging from corrosive acid to powerful explosions to the incredible ability to break every damn bone in the user's body (he could tell that last one was gonna be a right problem child from the get go). Glancing around the classroom he noticed that a few kids were already chatting away about soulmates. It seemed that some students had already created bonds with one another, one of the girls, with seemingly permanent pink cheeks and short brown hair was super excited about being bonded to bone breaker boy, who was obviously flustered and confused. Interesting. On the first day? That's unusual. Usually it took at least a week for this many soul bonds to accumulate. Why were there so many? What made this class different?

"I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta. Put on your P.E. uniforms and meet me outside on the grounds in 15 minutes. Don't be late."

He had a bad feeling about this year.

)()()(

Soulmates were a fascinating thing. Mutating at a similar time to quirks, soul bonds became widespread after a few generations, and soon enough everyone had a soulmate, whether they be platonic, romantic, monogamous, polyamorous or familial. They allowed a person to feel what their soulmate was feeling, joy, sadness, fear, grief, love, anything, and if someone's soulmate was badly injured, the pain too could be felt through the bond (although slightly dulled down) after they make physical contact with one another.

Aizawa had three soulmates. Firstly it was Hizashi Yamada, his loud mouthed, obnoxious friend, who hauled him up onto his feet after he got beaten down by one of his more aggressive classmates during training, their bare palms clasped together as suddenly Shouta felt slightly lighter than before. The feeling was strange at first. Unlike Shouta, not many people meet their first soulmate so late in life, so when he found out that he was no longer alone in his own head, he would forever deny that he freaked the fuck out.

Then there was Oboro Shirakumo, his other enthusiastic, optimistic friend, who patted him on the shoulder after a particularly rough training set, where his hand met his skin where his hero costume had ripped. Suddenly, Shouta's head was even more full than it was before, the positive feelings that flowed through the bond made his head spin and his chest clench every time he felt it. It was almost overwhelming. He'd never felt so complete, but there was still something missing.

Then arrived Kayama Nemuri, with her revealing hero costume and her welcoming words of encouragement.

He only found out she was his soulmate after the incident, when she pulled Aizawa into a tight embrace as the remaining three sobbed and cried on the rooftop of the school. Where they were once four they were now three.

His head was once filled with positivity and humour but now he found himself empty, the only emotions being pumped into him were anger or grief or both. He still had two other soulmates, but they weren't enough. He would never be complete. It was supposed the be the four of them, Shouta, Hizashi, Kayama and Oboro against the world but that would never happen. He never had the luxury of feeling complete. He could push himself further and further, reach higher and higher but it would never bring Oboro back. It would never bring his best friend back.