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Chapter 34: Chapter #33 | Shame of the Light

Notes:

Welcome back everyone! Sorry for the funky upload schedule thats shot to all hell right now. I am incredibly busy right now with both my job and my side projects but I'll endeavor to not take almost a month to update again!

Without further ado chapter 33!

Chapter Text

Shimura had been quiet for some time. This wasn't to Midoriya's surprise, of course. Their hallway argument had left both parties fuming and contemplating the insults slung at the other. When All Might stepped through the doors of the president's office, she smiled. When he deflated like a sad balloon, she gasped.

Her head whipped towards the only one that could hear her, only to find a mirthless smirk. "What happened to him?" Midoriya ignored her, instead focusing his attention on the man in front of him. Yagi had taken his seat, and under the hateful gaze of his student, the eternally annoyed look of Aizawa, and the cool, silent stare of the school's president, the large man couldn't help but shuffle in his seat.

Briefly coughing, Yagi began to attempt to get things started. "Well, I suppose we should-"

"Not yet, All Might. We're still waiting on another guest for this meeting." Nedzu wasted no time in cutting Yagi off before silencing him with a paw. Midoriya leaned back quietly into the chair that he'd claimed. He'd moved it when he'd first entered, and while Aizawa had been confused before, he could understand the action now.

He's placed himself so that he can see both the president and the buffoon without ever losing sight of either. Aizawa could admit it was a smart move if not worrying, considering that they weren't his enemy.

All Might started fidgeting once again after several minutes had passed. After twenty, he was practically bouncing in his seat. The bouncing quickly stopped when the doors opened and the sound of a cane came rhythmically tapping towards them. All Might didn't so much as breathe as the blood drained from his body.

Midoriya couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow. Just who was this old man that the symbol of peace froze up like a scared chicken when he heard him coming? The quiet was broken for Midoriya when Shimura began to laugh. "Oh- oh god. You've seriously let yourself go, Sora. Holy hell." The laughter only continued while Midoirya's eye twitched at the sound.

Quietly, he muttered to his ethereal companion. "Give the guy a break, he looks like he's running on seventy."

"I'm not that old yet, kid. Who are you talking to?"

"And apparently your ears are fine, Mr.?"

"Torino, and if you call me mister again, I'm going to break your kneecaps."

"It's good to see you, Gran. I'm sorry for calling you in, but I figured you'd like to be apprised of the situation considering to whom this pertains." The words had hardly left Nedzu's muzzle when the old man's glare snapped from Midoriya to the president, and finally to the frozen corpse of a man spitting up blood in his seat.

"What did you do? You're going to want to speak up, boy, because Nedzu wouldn't have called for any kind of simple mess."

"How do you know Mr.-" The old man's eyes snapped to Midoriya, who at that moment, knew Torino would actually do his best to break his kneecaps. "Let me rephrase. How do you know Torino?"

"Simple. After Miss Shimura's passing, Gran approached this institution with the interest of teaching Yagi during his first year."

"I asked Gran to take care of him if I couldn't. I-" Shimura's voice caught when she spoke before she took a deep breath and continued as Nedzu explained as well. "Part of me knew I wouldn't make it back from my fight with All for One."

Midoriya's eyes flicked to Shimura before his eyebrows knitted together. He looked back to Nedzu. "Wouldn't that put you at least in your thir-" Nedzu's paw smacked down on the table and the chimera gave a quick bark, bringing everyone's eyes to him.

"Let's not speak of age, shall we? It's in poor taste, don't you think? Instead, let's get down to business, as I am sure Gran would like to be going home." Young Midoriya seems to know about Shimura. How interesting. Torino gave one final glare at Yagi before sweeping his gaze across the other three and stalking over to the sofa at the side. Sitting with a harrumph, he gestured at the president to go on.

"Now, first order of business. All Might, you nearly got four students killed. You authorized gear that you shouldn't have for a student that both shouldn't have had it as early as he did and was flagged as volatile."

"Young Bakugo wasn't volatile…"

"Trying to convince Nedzu or yourself?" The sneer in Midoriya's voice had Aizawa glancing towards the boy and finding abject acrimony.

"Midoriya…" Nedzu's soft rebuke had Midoriya tsking and leaning back in his seat, animosity still readily apparent in his eyes. Torino laughed.

"Well, I've gotta say, this is a first. I've not seen anyone that hates you quite this much."

"Back on topic. This isn't a trial, All Might. This is your sentencing. It's already been decided what will happen in regards to this incident. Officially, you'll be taking a brief sabbatical from teaching and hero work to make amends with the victims of this accident."

"Incident." Nedzu's eyes flicked to Midoriya briefly before he continued, his face a stony visage.

"Unofficially, you'll be taking some time off to receive your teaching license. Be sure to thank Gran, because he's agreed to come out of retirement just for you." A dark chuckle escaped from Midoriya at the sight of All Might. If the man hadn't looked like a walking corpse before, then he certainly did now.

A nervous sweat chilled along Yagi's spine as he stuttered out objections to the situation. "Sir, what about my classes? I can't be away from my students for so long, and not to mention the hero work! I have a job to do. Peace to keep!"

"Believe it or not, Yagi, your coworkers will manage for a bit. As for your classes, you don't have any until you get your teaching license, and even then it won't be 1-A anymore. Midoriya and Aizawa will manage, I suspect, better in your absence."

Yagi's jaw flapped like a fish out of water as he choked on objections. "Young Midoriya may be capable in the medical field, but he's no teacher!"

"All Might, I have more degrees than you have gods damned brain cells." The snarl cut his words short even as Nedzu interjected once again. Something that was getting old very quickly.

"Enough. Like I said, this isn't up for debate, Yagi. It has already been decided. Midoriya has his license already, because of his inventions and the training that they require. At the very least won't let a first-year student carry bombs into an exercise that students shouldn't have been in on their first day." Nedzu winced as the words came out of his muzzle. Perhaps he was more bitter about this smudge on the school's reputation than he gave himself credit for.

"As fun as this little pissing contest is, I'm sure you didn't call me here for this Nedzu. We already spoke about this." Nedzu took a slow breath and focused on smoothing his fur down for a moment before nodding. At the same time, Midoriya reached across the desk, pulling on a sticky note as well as a pen.

"Indeed. The reason I called you here is in regards to an incident earlier today. Not the training accident. Yagi here decided to make yet another mistake." The anger from earlier leached into his tone and Torino focused in on it. It took a lot to rile the rat up to this point.

"Well, that makes things easier." Aizawa narrowed his eyes at Midoriya. He'd been watching him since he'd pulled the pen.

"What are you talking about, Midoriya?"

"Torino knows about One for All, so I'll just keep things nice and simple for the sake of time. Your student tried to cram his quirk down my throat against my will." The room froze. Aizawa and Nedzu had known this, of course, but had planned to tell Torino a bit more diplomatically.

Torino, on the other hand, looked as if his operating system had crashed. One beat, then two, the room was dead silent aside from the whirring of computer fans and the faint ambient noise of campus life going about their days as if nothing was wrong. When Torino finally processed exactly what had been said and turned very slowly towards Yagi, who behaved as if he was staring down the grim reaper, three low, soft words were all that was spoken. "Is this true?"

"W-Well, I mean, yes bu-" Midoriya let out a soft whistle as Torino blurred and a boot made solid contact with Yagi's face.

"You dare." Torino's face contorted into a rage as he stood on top of the cowed hero. Grabbing at Yagi's oversized shirt, Torino continued. "She gave you that quirk to be her successor. To be better than she was, and you did THIS?"

"Torino, let him go." Eyes all around the room snapped to the person they least expected to say the words. In fact, even Midoriya looked disgusted by the words coming from his mouth.

Yagi, of course, took it the wrong way and softened his face before lightly saying Midoriya's name. This just caused Midoriya's face to twist in disgust further. "Don't get me wrong, All Might. I would love nothing more than to watch your mentor pummel you into gelatin, but unfortunately I can't ignore Shimura begging me to stop Torino."

Not for the first time, the room froze. Slowly, Torino slid off of All Might before staring coldly at Midoriya. That isn't funny, kid."

Midoriya simply snorted. "Trust me, I'd like nothing more than to be joking. Unfortunately, there were a few side effects of the failed quirk transfer. Side effects that raise a number of rather disturbing questions about the nature of your quirk."

"Failed?!"

"Failed?" All Might couldn't help but exclaim in shock, even as the rest of the room asked in a more quizzical tone.

"Of course that's what you all get out of that. Yes indeed. Evidently, the quirk couldn't be transferred to me, which I learned from the past holders of the quirk itself."

Torino narrowed his old tired eyes at Midoriya before sighing. "That sounds insane." Midoriya simply laughed.

"I wish that was the most insane thing in my life. In fact, if I weren't currently looking at Shimura trying to coddle you, then I would think it was a fever dream brought on by my body rejecting the quirk."

Slowly, Nedzu rubbed his muzzle just the same as Aizawa rubbed his eyes. "You have to understand that without some kind of evidence, Midoriya, it is kind of hard to believe you. How about you tell us something only Torino would know? I'm sure there are at least one or two conversations that weren't written down."

Midoriya quirked his eyebrow seemingly at thin air. "Well then? You were the one that didn't want to keep yourself hidden. This is on you now." The silence stretched on for several moments while Midoriya imperceptibly tensed in his seat.

Well either he's telling the truth, or our most dangerous student is now seeing things. I'm not quite sure which is more concerni-

"No. Think of something else." Nedzu was brought out of his thoughts to find Midoriya's jaw clenched and a blank mask carefully spread over his face.

"What is it, kid?"

Midoriya tsked before muttering his resignation and sighing. "She says that you comforted her on top of a building when she gave up Kotaro. You just held her while she said, 'Sorahiko I never had a child.' That he doesn't exist."

Torino went rigid, his eyes widening into shocked plates before his legs gave out from under him as the full weight of the situation came crashing down onto him alongside the memories of that night. "Oh god, Toshi. What have you done? How is this possible?"

"By my best guess? One for All doesn't just stockpile the strength of its users. Likely, it stockpile's th-" Midoriya gagged before scrambling out his seat and retching in the president's trash can. The smell of blood hit Nedzu's sensitive nose first, but it didn't take long for the four seasoned pros in the room to catch the scent, as well. "Fuck. I suppose that's my cue."

Midoriya stood and rummaged around in his inner coat pocket while the rest of the room stared expectantly at him for an explanation. He simply stared them down while he pulled the pressure syringe from his pocket and pressed it against his neck. Aizawa's eyes widened, Nedzu's nose twitched and All Might practically jerked in his seat.

"Another side effect. One that I'm going to have to look into. You don't need me for this conversation, and I suspect Torino is going to need some time to come to terms with everything. If you need me, I'll be at the hospital taking care of All Might's fuck up."

"Wait! Nana! Is she okay? How is she doing? Is. Is she mad about what I did?" Midoriya turned cold eyes on Yagi, seething hatred mixing with now with pity.

"A dead woman trapped in limbo from a quirk as insidious as the one that birthed it. I wonder how she might be doing." Midoriya closed his eyes then and bit his lip. He hadn't intended to say that. His manners were all but gone, and the last thing he needed right now was to be around people. Yagi had deserved that, but Nedzu hadn't, certainly not Torino.

"She's as stubborn and naive as you are, All Might. Even if she were disheartened, she'd defend you to the last. I'd worry more about your other predecessors, though, because I've never seen a group of more disappointed people in my life."

Midoriya turned then, striding towards the door. Cold words from a cold heart is what All Might thought. But the words lingered from their truth. A truth shadowed by questions regarding One for All. In the end, no one in the room knew quite what to say to stop Midoriya from leaving.

…

The first thing that Midoriya noticed was how many people were crowded into the common room of the dorms. The first thing Class 1-A noticed when the door opened was that Midoriya looked as if someone had kicked him in the face.

Mina was out of her seat before anyone else and practically slammed into the poor boy. "Oh my god, Midori. Are you alright? Is Ochako okay? What happened wit-" Ashido squeaked when Midoriya grabbed her at her waist and deposited her back into her seat.

"First things first, because I need to get back to the hospital fairly soon." Midoriya surveyed the common room to find that with a couple of exceptions, the entire class was staring back at him. Good. They'll be able to rely on each other like this. "Can any of the girls please go up to Uraraka's room and make her a bag of her things? I know it's a bit early in the semester and we've only known each other for a few days, but-"

"I'll do it." Midoriya's attention flicked to where a floaty pair of casual clothes stood beside Ashido. Hagakure, Midoriya realized belatedly. Mutedly, she murmured a comment to Mina to catch her up later before taking off up the stairs. Perhaps not everyone is doing so well.

"Good. Now I'll answer questions while she's doing that, and before anyone wastes time, I'm fine. Don't ask about me."

"I believe the most pressing question on everyone's mind is about Miss Uraraka. How is she doing?" Midoriya's eyes flicked to Yaoyorozu before he sucked on his teeth.

"She's stable and awake."

"Does that mean she'll be coming back soon?" Ashido sounded so hopeful. Painfully so, isn't she?

"Exactly how bad were her injuries? Kero." Midoriya sighed now, because that question didn't leave him a lot of room to maneuver, even if he wanted to lie. Couldn't anyways so it was irrelevant.

"Bad. With conventional medicine, she'll likely be crippled for the rest of her life." The class gasped, even as Ashido's eyes widened in shock. "No, I'm sorry, Mina, but I don't know if she'll be coming back soon. Or at all, for that matter. That's up to her now."

"What about the bastard that did this?" Shinso was the first to voice the question that was lurking in the back of everyone's mind first to break the uncomfortable silence that had settled over them.

Aggressive, but focused aggression. Is ready to go after Bakugo on his own but has the self-control not to do it. Potential willingness to deal with backlash despite past. Phoenix.

Yes, Midoriya?

Note Shinso down on the list of potential candidates.

Outwardly, Midoriya tilted his head back and forth, as if mulling over a decision before he nodded. "I suppose the professor will be along to inform everyone soon enough. Effective immediately, Bakugo Katsuki has been removed from the hero course for his involvement in the training incident." The class relaxed slightly. Evidently, no one wanted the foul-mouthed bomb back in their class after the previous day, certainly not after how he'd behaved since then.

"And why aren't charges being pressed?!" Himiko sprung out of her seat, fangs bared. Kirishima did his best to coax her back down onto the sofa but wasn't getting very far with it, as his own expression had taken a darker turn.

"Because of part two, but I'll leave that explanation for Aizawa. Anyone know how Iida is doing?"

Quietly, Koda raised his hand before fidgeting in his seat and gesturing to Midoriya with his hands. Midoriya couldn't help his expression softening. How on earth is someone like this going to become a limelight hero. "It's fine, Koda, just sign it for me.

Koda nodded rapidly before his hands began to form the signs of Japanese Sign Language. I checked on Iida earlier. Recovery Girl said that he'd make a full recovery and let him go. He's upstairs resting right now.

Midoriya nodded and glanced over to where Hagakure had returned with a simple duffle. He thanked her briefly before accepting it and stepping back out the front of the dorm after some parting questions and assurances. He didn't exactly have the time at the moment to explain the full situations, and both poor Jiro and Himiko had the questions redirected onto them once everyone learned that they had Midoriya's contact information.

Midoriya put his face against the wall around the corner and simply breathed. He could feel the blood creeping up his throat again. He needed to get to his lab. Needed to run a full spectrum analysis on himself. Needed Hatsume, who had gone back after the meeting, to check his augments. Needed to figure out why he was being haunted by a self-righteous spectre with a hard-on for her personal brand of justice. Needed to do a lot of things. But first, he needed to check on Uraraka. It was his fault that she was in this situation. His failure had done this. He could worry about himself later.

Deep breaths, Midoriya. Midoriya opened his eyes, but instead of the cool grey brick that his head had been resting against, what came into his vision was a face. Instinct followed Midoriya's next actions. He kicked off the wall, rapidly gaining ground between himself and whatever had startled him. In the meantime, he drew his sidearm and leveled it at the threat.

Nervously, Mirio chucked with his hands up and poking out of the brick wall. "Uh, sorry about that, Midoriya. I, uh, guess I should know better than to startle someone. Do you have a moment to talk?"