Deer

Chapter 12

Hitoshi groaned when he saw the entirety of their grade in front of the entrance to the classroom.

Of course they would be here. After hearing the fiasco of the USJ invasion, of course they wanted to scout the main competitor.

Hitoshi understood. He really did. If he was not lucky in that Entrance Exam by gaining a lot of rescue points and having to be placed in General Studies, he may be one of the people in the crowd. Standing around with jealousy evident on their faces. Just because they have flashy Quirk. Just because they won the lottery in genetics, now they are an aspiring Hero?

But then, Hitoshi was lucky. He is one of the students of the Hero Course. He was present when those villains ambushed them.

And he was there when everything went to absolute shit.

Why couldn't they just leave them alone? Give them space to breathe. Sure, the recognition they got was flattering. Ashido and Kaminari were having a blast with the attention. Yet even the socially awkward Hitoshi recognized the nervousness in their manner. How they looked over their shoulders, making sure the people standing behind them were their allies. Every single one of them was jumpy. And half of his classmates were stuck staring at their phone screens, messaging whoever it was that kept stubbornly pinging them. Hitoshi himself just finished informing his mother not to worry, he will go home soon after he passes this obstacle, texting 'No, it's not another villain attack, Mom. I'm okay, seriously.'

The blonde-haired teen, called Monoma Neito, stepped forward. What could be insults were right at the tip of his tongue.

Before Midoriya Izuku emerged from behind the class, the biggest Deer plushie he had ever seen, as it was as big as Izuku's torso, was cradled lovingly in his embrace. Any girls present in this impromptu meeting let out a tiny squeal at the sight.

Hitoshi had to admit that Izuku looked cute there. With his small stature and messy locks, he looked like a child who just woke up from a nap.

If only they knew that same hands of his had chopped a limb of another human like it was a mere piece of paper. 

He apologized to Shinso and Asui this morning. Guilty, for traumatizing them both dearly, but he never said he felt any guilt for harming the villain. 

Monoma, after blinking incredulously at the sudden sight of a figurative child in their midst, was now back to sneering. Mocking him for playing with a doll instead of training to be the best hero out there. Izuku's answer to that was a loud yawn, completely disregarding whatever Monoma had just said. The greenette fished out his phone from the hoodie pocket and started dialing, totally ignoring Monoma's demand to pay attention to him, speaking with an even tone the moment the person from the other side picked up the call.

"Hello?" Izuku said, "Remember our discussion about hiring a professional therapist for the school? Can you hold the meeting for a while longer? I think I'm going to be late because some troublesome kids decided to trap us in our own class, Nezu-san." Oh damn. He called the principal? Their shoulders tensed in fear and one of the students had already run to the other hallway the moment that that name registered in everyone's mind. Shinso knew Izuku was weirdly chummy with all of the UA teachers but he didn't know he had the bear/rat's number on literal speed dial. Izuku nodded or shook his head, agreeing and disagreeing with whatever Nezu had asked. At some point, he perked up. Blinking in wonder before he let out a long sigh. Izuku lowered down the electronic device from his ear, pressed the loudspeaker button, and showed the screen to everyone present. The face of Nezu winking was evident for them to see.

"Hello, dear students of mine." Yup. That was definitely the voice of their principal there. They unconsciously stood straighter as Nezu spoke. The headmaster cheerfully asked them to let class 1-A go. Telling them that the parents have been contacting the staff of UA since this morning, asking about the credibility of the school's ultimate defense after the disaster of the Media's Storming and the USJ invasion. Inko, Izuku's mom, even threatened to bring him to the court if her son was one second late. There was a deliberate pause there. Then he continued, voice even more chipper yet somehow, sounded even scarier than before.

"So, why don't you all go home? Don't want anything bad happens to you if you piss off the wrong person, hm?"

...Damn.

Predictably, everyone dispersed like the Red Sea, faces pale and bodies trembling. Izuku mumbled 'troublesome mother' and turned to his classmates, informing them to visit a therapist the school will provide sometime soon before the Sports Festival begins. He told them that it was a mandatory visit, and to not even try to get around it, he would know. Facing those villains was not an easy thing and bottling up your feelings just for the sake of not wanting to show weakness is the opposite of being manly. Taking care of yourself is the first step to being a respectable hero, even if they won't talk about the experience to the said therapist because they felt uncomfortable opening up to a total stranger. Family and friends were a respectable choice for them to talk to as well, though Izuku still wanted them to get help from a professional. People who knew how to handle paranoia and night terror.

Finished with the pep talk, he yawned once again and finally walked away from the commotion. The crowd formed from the other classes was slowly thinning out after Nezu's admonition. Only a couple of them were still standing around, probably curious about the enigma of 1-A. Or his proposition of the new staff that'll handle their mental health for tomorrow piqued them. But now that the shock of the fact that a supposedly normal student was actually their principal's favorite kid had receded, one of them moved. And surprise, surprise, it was Monoma. He let out a low snarl, stepped forward with purpose, ready to snatch Izuku's wrist—

Before a loud whirr of a machine echoed.

And tons and tons of kunai were now pointed directly at Monoma's face.

The platinum-blonde-haired teen choked in fear, and the spectator behind gasped in shock. Izuku stood there, deer plushie thrust to the fore. Instead of staring at a cute doll with fluffy fur, however, they were met with dangerous weapons instead. It came out from the open belly of the toy, showing them the mechanical engine inside. Izuku was twisting the deer's horn with a steady knuckle. And was in the middle of pulling it apart from its place. His tense stance showed that, once he did, it would send those kunai flying. Putting holes in Monoma's whole body and ending his life in an instant where even Recovery Girl could never heal his injury.

Izuku's tone didn't waver. It was still unchanging and monotone as he said.

"A hero should never play with a doll, huh?" He then turned the device off, staring uncaringly when Monoma's leg gave up, as he was now sprawled shamelessly on the tiled floor. Izuku turned his nose, Deer plushie back to its original state as he hugged it tight and mumbled back, "Not like I'm a Hero anyway."

Then he walked away. Leaving them all with gaping jaws and widened eyes.

Shinso always reminded himself that Midoriya Izuku is someone not to be messed with. It began with his retaliation towards Iida's sudden approach. The one-sided match he had with Bakugo in the battle trial. How he easily broke every single bit of their Quirk's factor and gave them tips to improve their performance. Then the USJ.

He may not be a proper student of UA, yet it relieved Shinso that Izuku was on the side of the law. No matter how disgusted he was with the concept of Hero and Villain, it was visible. His hidden kindness, that is. He easily put himself in danger as long as his classmates were okay. How Izuku was the only student unlucky enough to get injured because of that, Eraserhead was not included. Class 1-A knew he was strong, he knew a Quirk meant nothing to a determined person, but sometimes, Shinso forgot.

That Izuku is just a normal human.

That nobody could ever face that horror without flinching even once.

Maybe, the one who really needed a therapist here is not them, but Izuku.

After all, an uncaring person won't bring a lot of weapons into a safe and secure location, right?