Deer

Chapter 11

People often called Tsuyu an expressionless human being.

She didn't mind. It actually gave her a bit of leverage when she spoke too directly towards others, especially her opponents. People heard her even tone and saw her unchanging face and knew she didn't mean anything bad whenever she asked for clarification. Just a mere curiosity. Kaminari had asked her about this 'skill' of hers after he saw that exact scenario at today's lunch.

She had bluntly told an upperclassman that his zipper was open. The senior laughed out loud and thanked her earnestly, even though people started sniggering at him. His gloomy-looking friend sighed as he scolded him, saying that just because he kept losing his clothes as a side-effect of his quirk, didn't mean he had to 'lose' his dignity as well.

Kaminari complemented Tsuyu on her straightforwardness and then begged her to teach him how to do the same. Where he could speak his mind out loud and have no consequences befall him. He could not handle Kyoka's wild attitude any longer, hitting him on the head just because she didn't like the thing she heard coming from his mouth. The punk girl then punched him for that comment, grumbling about him being insensitive while Kaminari whimpered.

Tsuyu giggled softly at their comedic performance, answering Kaminari's request with a 'Why not ask Midoriya?'.

Everyone knew both of them were friends, especially after he helped Kaminari in improving the control of his Quirk. Their other classmates asked for his input too, of course. Knowing Midoriya's tips had helped the class clown a whole lot within a day. Enough that even Aizawa-sensei complimented Kaminari for the drastic improvement. Izuku was friendlier, or at least easier to approach, now that he had bestowed his knowledge upon them all. People started to include him in conversation whenever they could or invited him to lunch. But he was still a lot closer to Kaminari than anyone else except for Bakugo.

Maybe because Kaminari was the first person Izuku willingly spoke to or because the electric teen had the worst control of his power and Izuku wanted to keep a tab on him. Maybe a bit of both.

Back to the topic. Izuku knew how to keep his emotions in check. If he bothered to wake himself up and not be buried by his own paperwork full of complicated essays and calculations. Tsuyu had seen him 'smile' before. 'Annoyed' or 'intrigued' appeared once in a while, usually when he was absorbed in Quirks theory and its application. He could express himself but decided not to. In conclusion, Kaminari should've learned from Izuku. Tsuyu was literally born with this face. It wasn't something she could teach to other people.

This is a skill a hero should have anyway. No civilians wanted to be saved by a stuttering or panicked Hero.

Kaminari's grin petered off to nothing and he immediately went silent. Not in agreement, but hesitation. His yellow orbs flitted to the sleeping Izuku who sat beside him, resting his head on the metal railing.

Regarding the greenette's presence on this trip, Aizawa and Izuku had a fierce argument on the way to the parking lot this morning. The teacher didn't want him to come, not when he was safest inside UA's walls. But Izuku completely ignored him, climbing onto the bus and then proceeding to nap. Tsuyu had never seen her teacher so frustrated before, meanwhile Katsuki snickered evilly in the background.

Kaminari faced her once again and shook his head. Speaking with a voice so soft, she almost couldn't hear him amidst the roaring bus.

"I...don't think that's a good idea."

Tsuyu remembered feeling confused at that, blinking in wonder. Questioning the sudden drop in mood.

She didn't manage to ask the reason why though. Bakugo, who sat at her side decided to roar in frustration at that moment, annoyed at Kirishima's inquiry over his opinion towards this trip. The red-haired teen laughed unabashedly at his reaction, prompting the other classmates to tease the brash blonde for his personality. Tsuyu slyly joined in. And the weird conversation she was having with Kaminari not even a minute ago was forgotten.

At least until USJ's raid happened and the girl thought, 'Maybe this is why.'

Right now, as she was frozen in fear when the villain with hands, named Shigaraki Tomura, reached towards her face, ready to turn her into dust, Izuku appeared, seemingly teleporting. Deer mask down and sword finally unsheathed, he used the other hand to push Tsuyu down, and- 

Slash

Thud

"AAARRRGGHHHHHH!"

The villain's hand was severed, right at the wrist, blood spraying into the air.

She heard Shinso's breath hitch at the gruesome sight.

A portal quickly opened, swallowing the man-child and his severed hand, whisking him away from the student. It didn't hinder Izuku. He just zoomed past the villains and went for the large bird-like humanoid.

Shinso clambered to the girl's side, asking with a trembling voice if she was okay. She didn't answer. Even when he hastily pulled her away from the field as the battle heated up. Aizawa was crushed under the Nomu's large hand and Izuku tried to attack the exposed brain yet could only graze the flesh before the monster back-handed him in the face, causing him to crash into the lake. Even when the greenette, bloody, battered, and limping, mask cracked in half and barely hanging on by the thread kept on fighting, this time, throwing a bunch of kunai and shuriken from one of the numerous pouches on his body. Even when All-Might came and launched the Nomu into the stratosphere, after the teachers had arrived and saved them, she didn't answer. She couldn't answer.

Because she was too busy crying.

And she didn't know why.

Was it for the terror she witnessed with her own eyes? For the sheer brutality her classmate unleashed upon the enemy?

Or was it for the dead, dead gaze of Midoriya Izuku? The resigned despair and immense guilt that whirled upon his uncovered face at that split second before he shut it away into his usual uncaring expression?

"I...don't think that's a good idea." Kaminari had said, yellow eyes flitted to the ground as he bit his lip, "I don't think he even wanted to control his own emotion in the first place."

Shinso awkwardly patted her back as he let Tsuyu sob.

Izuku didn't want to control his emotions.

But he was forced to.