'It seemed that if the outcome had been slightly different, it would have been possible to try again. Izuku put an end to it and left.'
"One for All…" Izuku thought. "This is the end, huh?"
He looked at his scarred hands, and a slight shiver ran through his body. This is definitely the end… Even the exhaustion told him so, and the silence in his head only pushed the likelihood of the end to the limit.
Just fleeting thoughts that crossed his mind whenever someone slapped him vigorously on the back or tearfully shook his hand.
"Thank you so much!" echoed loudly in his ears, making him feel both incredibly pained and pleased. At least… everyone's happy, right?
Restoring everything would probably take an eternity. It was pure chaos, but he had managed to stop it. Everything happened so fast that it was hard to say for sure if he was even involved in it.
Deku felt mixed emotions—somewhere between phew and what if.
In the eyes of others, he was completely different—the mask of a hero he had worn since childhood. It was perfect. Even All For One, that vile villain who seemed to have lived several times longer than Izuku… hadn't noticed a thing.
In a way, that was also a kind of victory, right?
He got angry, laughed, cried—but only when it was truly necessary. Sometimes he even overdid it, earning himself some embarrassing nicknames.
But weren't those just secondary things? Nobody really cared, he saw that. He saw their envious, spiteful looks. But that was fine—we're all human, after all. And if you looked now, they were a united team. At least they were all okay, all alive.
Maybe they didn't show it, but Izuku saw it—very clearly.
Everyone was scared and worried, trying to push through, but for the most part, they kept it to themselves. Though even the unshakable Momo had sobbed. There were so many tears it felt like Izuku was standing under a waterfall.
It made him laugh. Huh… I wonder why?
"Well, anyway, everyone did great, good job!" Present Mic shouted, trying to cheer them up somehow. After all, there had been losses. Problems were piling up—not like before, when there were just a lot.
Some screamed through tears, others clapped. It was a success, but the price had been far too high.
As congratulations and medical aid began for the others, Izuku smiled faintly. People slowly dispersed—maybe some already knew… His classmates sat in groups, each trying to comfort one another. Strangers also offered whatever help they could. Bakugou and Todoroki stood out quite a bit.
Especially Bakugou. "A damn miracle you survived." Izuku sat in the ambulance, fiddling with his bandages. It was pretty cold.
Deku was genuinely glad. Death was hard to earn, and for Katsuki, it wasn't an option.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring. The good days are over… Though for some, it's just the beginning. Deku looked at the happy faces of his classmates—they'd all been through so much.
"Heh." He stretched slightly and walked away. The bloodied bandages fluttered in the wind, dangling from his arms. They had already frayed, despite being recently changed.
It was getting dark, and the long storm was slowly ending.
"Hmm, where's Midoriya?" Mineta asked. He wanted to thank him, but there were so many people that he got lost in the crowd. So for Minoru, this became a problem.
"Huh, Deku? Wonder how he's…" Bakugou thought.
"He should be nearby, with Eri—heard she managed to restore his arms," said Todoroki, sitting next to him. He pointed toward the nearest ambulance. "Yeah, over there… he was."
"Huh?" Asui quietly interjected. "Something wrong?"
"Yeah, do you happen to know where Midoriya is?" Shouto tilted his head in confusion.
"Izu-chan? He was right the—" That was weird. "Strange," Asui said, looking at the old bandages that seemed about to fall to the ground. The others gave Tsuyu a weird look. "Izu-chan was literally just there, but now he's gone. And I was talking to him not long ago."
"Did you ask Eri, Mineta?"
"Yeah, she said… he was by the ambulance…" He stuttered slightly—his nerves were playing tricks on him.
Asui had a small moment of confusion. Less than ten minutes had passed since their conversation.
"Just call him!" Kaminari shouted as he approached the group.
"What, did electricity fry your brain?!" Bakugou snapped, exhausted. The others found it amusing.
"Kaminari, you know none of us have our phones right now. I'm afraid Midoriya doesn't either…" Kirishima spoke with a slight chuckle, but he felt uneasy that they couldn't find one battered guy.
"Oh! Sorry, heh, I didn't think about that."
Truth be told, only about five hours had passed since their victory over All For One, so it was understandable. "Well! Maybe he went to the bathroom!"
"Maybe…" Mineta rubbed his tense fingers.
But when Eri returned fifteen minutes later in tears, it was no longer a laughing matter. Even the guys who hadn't taken it seriously felt something strange.
"Eri, sweetheart, what's wrong?!"
"Deku… De-ku, he's gone!"
"Are you sure he's gone? Maybe he went to eat?" Uraraka asked. She had received medical treatment right after Izuku, so it struck her as odd.
"No! I checked e-everywhere, he's not in the cafeteria either!" Eri sniffled. She was telling the truth. There weren't many places to go, and nearly everywhere was crowded—civilians, volunteers, workers… She didn't stop crying until Aizawa arrived, and even then, Eri was still upset.
"Calm down, everything will be fine. What happened?"
Truth be told, Shouta wanted anything but to console his distraught kids again. Looking at the faces of his problem children only made him feel worse. And hearing those words made his heart sink.
"Midoriya… He's gone."