ATOMIC STRUGGLE

8「hospital visit」7

The next day, many of the UA students began waking up. However, even though they had all slept very deeply, none of them felt refreshed and most of them looked worse for wear when they regained consciousness. All of them reported having terrible dreams. The doctors first suspected sleep paralysis before getting a statement from one of the kids that one of the villains called Mare had explained that her quirk knocked people out and gave them terrible dreams for as long as they stayed out. 

Mineta wouldn't stop shaking and didn't want to go back to sleep. Ashido looked shellshocked, overreacting to each movement but, weirdly, not to loud sounds. Ojiro was also quiet. Iida was the only one that seemed unaffected by the dreams, just a bit mad at himself for getting caught up in the fray and becoming a victim rather than actually helping out the two that had managed to deal with their foes. 

Tokoyami, Shoji, Bakugo and Todoroki had fought the villain known as Moonfish and ended up hurt but victorious, so after their injuries had been taken care of, they had been discharged fairly quickly. 

Those that had been poisoned were split. Kendo and Tetsutetsu had been poisoned, but took care of Mustard and passed out with some injuries, but they woke up without any complications. Yaoyorozu did wake up fairly quickly too along with Awase, Shishida, Fukidashi, Honenuki, Kuroiro and Rin. Everyone else besides the remedial group and Shinso, Midoriya, Koda and Izak had yet to wake up, and were presumed to be the ones that had had their souls taken hostage. 

The list of students with their souls stolen was as follows: From class A there was Aoyama Yuga, Asui Tsuyu, Uraraka Ochako, Jiro Kyoka and Hagakure Toru. From class B there was Kaibara Sen, Kamakiri Togaru, Kodai Yui, Komori Kinoko, Shiozaki Ibara, Shoda Nirengeki, Tsunotori Pony, Tsuburaba Kosei, Tokage Setsuna, Bondo Kojiro and Yanagi Reiko. 

It was obvious that class B had the most victims because they had been spread throughout the forest while class A had been split between the clearing, the trail, and the remedial hall. As for the pussycats, they had all awoken fairly quickly and were discharged after getting their statements. Ragdoll was still missing.

Those that hadn't gotten hospitalized made sure to visit everyone that had, bringing gifts with them to hopefully help with their swift recovery. Sadly, they were only allowed to visit the patients that had awoken, since doctors weren't sure if interacting with soulless bodies would be detrimental to the young students, either physically or mentally. 

Meanwhile, Izak had left the apartment to go to the hospital. He had gotten a call earlier from Souta, basically pleading with him to come with him to the hospital so that he could be filled in on Koda's personality and traits and stuff so that he didn't get caught. So, low and behold, Izak saw Souta waiting for him on a bench right outside of the hospital. 

"Hey," He greeted, his hands in his pockets as the other person bolted up. 

"Izak!" Souta exclaimed, meeting him halfway with a sigh of relief. "Thank god, this whole thing has been a nightmare."

"What has?" Izak quirked an eyebrow, causing Souta to shake his head. 

"Do not even get me started. I thought this dude was a dude, but he doesn't have a dick, but he doesn't have a vagina either. I looked, there's only one opening! What is this?!" Souta held his head and sort of flailed. Izak didn't feel inclined to tell him that he had turned Koda non-binary, so he just let the dude rant about it as they stood on the sidewalk. Eventually, Souta calmed down. "Sorry, it's just been a weird few days," He sighed. "Anyway, let's go. While we walk, can you tell me what this Koda Koji person was like?"

"Very skittish and quiet," Izak said as they started towards the entrance to the hospital. "Their quirk is the ability to call upon animals, but they are ridiculously afraid of bugs."

"Something we agree on."

"They are friends with Jiro, Tokoyami, Shoji and Sato, though it's been a while since I've heard Koda actually exchange words with them rather than just hanging out with them and listening to them," The maroonette finished off, causing his companion to nod as they finally made it into the hospital. From there, they went to visit those that were able to be visited, and eventually Izak and Souta parted ways. 

It was that day that the press aired the news that All Might had resigned from his position as a teacher because of a ransom letter. The reporters had concerns, but Nezu put them to rest by explaining that having All Might leave UA wasn't a demand that the kidnappers would exploit by not fulfilling their end of the bargain, since something like a million dollars or having UA shut down made more sense than having just one teacher resign. He then went on to explain his plan of reinforcing the UA barrier as well as enforcing a new policy at UA that would be announced at a later date. 

As soon as the program aired, the students that had lost their souls began waking up. None of them could remember how they had been knocked out, the most that one or two recalled was hearing a branch snap, but that was their last memory of that night. They were all very confused as to why they were waking up in a hospital and why their families came in crying like it was a miracle that they weren't dead, but they were soon filled in by the investigators that had come to get all of their statements. 

Meanwhile, a certain someone was frowning at his screen. "Why would you ask for All Might to resign from UA when it is an advantage to have him in one place? Besides, I thought we agreed on a monetary ransom, Art."

"Are you unsatisfied with the results, sir?" Art asked as she stood in front of the TV connecting their talk. "To me, it appears that the public has lost faith, even if only slightly, in both All Might and UA High School. They know now that even though All Might was on staff, the students were still harmed and even held for ransom. It is a slight against All Might's record, but that first crack will widen as we exploit it until he finally falls from his pedestal."

"Hm, while it is not how I had envisioned it, since it seems you put much thought into this strategy, I'll continue to support you and your team," All For One said. "So continue as you will, Art."

"Yes sir."