once forgotten, twice removed

chapter 6

It was a Sunday afternoon—almost two weeks since Izuku had been here—when everything went to hell.

The dorm was bustling with activity, everyone rushing around to either complete their homework, play video games or catch up with friends. Tenko was currently murdering everyone at Mario Kart. Todoroki had been avoiding Izuku ever since he last spoke to him. Iida lead a five-person study group to figure out Present Mic's newest assignment. Kaminari had tried to rope Izuku into helping them, but Izuku only took a sip of his drink and gave him a cheeky smile. He'd done his time during school and wasn't too keen on going back.

It was strangely nostalgic, being in the dorms again.

Yaomomo approached him not five minutes later while Izuku was watching as Tenko won his fifth Mario Kart game. Kacchan threw his controller at Tenko's head and Uraraka had to hold Tenko back from lunging. Kirishima did the same to Kacchan.

"We're planning on doing a class trip to the mall. We have a few ingredients that we need for the next week if we're going to cook," Yaomomo said. Their conversation drew a few people over, probably wondering just what they were talking about. The Mario Kart game was put on hold (which was probably for the best anyways). "Want to come?"

"I'm not part of the class?" Izuku said, slowly.

"But you stay here often enough that we figured you would be lonely if we all left," Yaomomo said which was true, but she didn't need to say it. "It would be rude not to invite you."

"Besides, it's better to have a hero with us if villains attack," Sero said. 

At least he was honest, but that was not the most comforting thing to say. Especially knowing Class 1-A's luck.

"I...do not have the best experiences at the mall," Izuku said sheepishly, remembering the last couple of times his mall trips had ended up sour. Shigaraki and the League had never made mall trips fun for him.

Tenko laughed in agreement, rubbing the back of his neck. "I understand how you feel."

He probably does, Izuku thought and shuddered to think of what his counterpart did.

-

Izuku went to the mall.

In the end, he was no match for the combined persuasive power of 1-A. Sero's point also rang true—if anyone wanted to start trouble, they would have to go through him first.

At first, the mall was great. Even though Izuku ended up having to cover all of his face to prevent being confused for his nasty villain counterpart, he was glad to be out of UA. He hadn't been able to leave in almost a week, with the other week spent in a police station.

The mall was familiar and fun, the shops bright and colorful. It was a welcomed distraction to Izuku's current situation. If he stopped for a moment, he could almost pretend that this was his world, with his friends and his home. Then, one of his much-to-young classmates would walk in front of him (or he's glance at Tenko) and the image would be ruined. He tried not to feel bitter about it, he really did, but the rock in his stomach only grew heavier as time went on.

For the first hour, nothing remarkable happened. The class stuck together as they migrated from shop to shop, teasing and laughing. A couple people recognized them from the Sports Festival and asked for autographs. Izuku made himself scarce when that happened. Jiro ended up buying a kazoo on a dare. Uraraka bought some limited edition Thirteen merchandise (Izuku wished he could buy some too, but he didn't have money and would've felt guilty asking. That didn't stop him from staring enviously at Uraraka). Iida ended up dragging half the class into a sports' wear store, and coming out with a variety of new shoes, leggings and training gear. All in all, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.