Izuku relied mostly on Mina when it came to movement. His vision was so blurry he almost thought that he was blind, and there was just no strength left in his entire body that he was certain that he was going to collapse. He was trying his best to help, he truly was, but the days had taken their toll on him, and it was all now starting to catch up to him. Mina gladly supported him, trying to keep him on hit feet the entire time, and he wads grateful. Had she not been there, he would no doubt have collapsed and slammed his face into the dirt.
Luckily for them, Izuku had been tossed towards an area that was near a main exit onto a main street, which would lead them to the main square and get them to relative safety. It would at the very least, get them away from the fight that was now raging behind them.
Progress was slow. Very slow, but Mina went at Izuku's speed, not pushing him too hard. The streets were empty, thanks to the blast that All For One had unleashed. Any civilian with sense had run to escape the battlefield. There weren't even any police. It seemed more likely that they would be cutting this street off, so no one wondered down there by mistake.
So all they had to do was get to that police barricade. And then they'd reach people who could help. Who could get Izuku to a hospital. Somewhere with the equipment to treat him. The fight between All Might and All For One was devastating, and caused massive destruction in its wake, so that would end up causing a huge number of injuries that hospitals were certainly going to be filled to the brim with. Izuku's injuries had to be more serious than most though, right? Who knew what sorts of effects this whole mess could end up having on his body.
"I…. I can't… You…. Came…"
Several words Izuku said were muttered to the point of incomprehension, but Mina was able to understand his sentence from the short amount that she'd been able to understand. She looked over at him, taking another step down the street.
"Of course I came to help you!" She said, trying to make herself sound calm. Deep down, she was anxious, wanting to get to him to a hospital as quickly as she could. The injuries were awful to look at, and he was in so much obvious pain it hurt to see. "You really think that I'd just leave you for the Villains?"
"You…. You could get kick… Outta Yuuei for this…"
"Worth it." Mina answered without hesitation. "We all knew that there was a chance it could happen…. We all came anyway."
He couldn't help but give a small, open mouthed smile towards the ground, not bringing his head up to look at her. There were so many things that he wanted to say to her. So many things that he owed her. "I… I thought…"
"Don't talk, Izu. You're gonna need to save your strength." Mina told him. "I don't think the police are gonna be too far away at this point, but I don't think I can carry you if you pass out on me…" She could drag him, maybe, but she didn't want to injure the guy any more than he already was. Dragging his already cut and broken body along tarmac seemed like a good way to screw him up even more, so if possible, she wanted to avoid doing that.
"…Sorry …"
"You don't need to apologize. Just… Try to walk the best you can. Lean on me as much as you need to."
Mina wanted to talk. She needed to say things to him… More than anything in her entire life, she felt the need to speak to him right now.
But getting Izuku to safety, getting him treatment, and making sure that he was okay – That was far more important than a single thing that she wanted. In the face of that, her own wants and needs took the back seat.
The pair of them staggered down the street, stopping occasionally so Izuku could take a minute, and for Mina to reaffirm her grip onto him. At one point, she'd managed to slip her phone between her shoulder and her ear, and had responded to two phone calls, one from Todoroki, and another from Uraraka, the latter reporting a total success and that they'd managed to get to a main plaza and were watching the fight on the news, whereas the former was the calling party demanding to know where the hell Mina was, and if she was okay.
Both parties made long, loud sounds of relief when they hear Mina tell them that not only was she okay, she'd managed to get hold of Izuku, and that he was okay too. She'd never heard longer, or louder exhales in her life.
"Where are you?" Uraraka questioned. "Any idea what street or anything? We can come get you, or bring someone to help!"
"No idea." The horned girl replied, looking around the area. "Everything's destroyed. I don't see a sign, or even anything that looks like a landmark…" She honestly wasn't even sure how long they'd been walking. It felt like a while. Probably a lot longer than it actually was. "I think that… Hello?... Hello?"
Dead battery. Of course. Mina let out a groan. That was just what they needed.
They kept on walking, for what felt like an hour. Mina constantly looking down the main road, hoping to see the blue and red flashing lights of police cars and barriers. To hear the chatter of orders, and the sounds and yells of panicked civilians watching their Hero fight someone who was trading blow for blow with him. She just needed to hear people. See people. Get hold of people and beg them to help her.
One foot in front of the other. One step after another.
"You're gonna be fine, Izu. You know that, right?" She told the green haired boy, though really, it was more reassurance for herself than it was for him.
"You… You're here… I know I'll be…" His voice trailed off. Was he concussed?
Another step. Another foot. Mina refused to stop moving. Help was nearby… It had to be.
"The Villain's stopped moving…. Yes! It's a victory! All Might is Victorious!!"
Her ears suddenly perked up. She could hear the slightly scrapey voice that came from what was either a Television set, or a radio, what it was yet she honestly couldn't tell. A small smile managed to creep onto her face. From the sounds of the broadcast, All Might had been victorious against All For One, against all the odds in the world… He'd managed to come out on top, as the Hero everyone always said he was.
The smallest, and weakest of smiles could be seem on Izuku's lips as he heard the same thing that she was hearing. He couldn't help himself. "You…. Did you hear that?.... All Might…"
"Yeah…. I heard, Izu." She smiled at him, just as happy as he was to hear. Of course, she was glad to have heard that All For One had been defeated… But her joy came from another source at this exact moment.
Whenever the origin of that sound was, it meant that there were people there – People who could help.
She couldn't see anyone, and they certainly weren't on this street. The sound was clear, but it wasn't originating from the same immediate area. Other than the news report, blaring out through the air, the place was more or less eerily quiet, like near everyone had been rushed out of this place the second that All For One and All Might clashed. It was like a ghost town. Silent, aside from the echoes of a news report that still reached out here.
And then, the voices came.
"Holy crap, he actually did it…"
"That's the number one Hero for you... Even if he does look degraded now, he's still the best there is - "
"Help!!"
Bellowing at the top of her lungs, and praying to God that whoever was out there would hear and actually come to their aid.
Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long to actually get a reply.
"Holy crap, a Civilian?! – Hello?!"
"I need help!!" The pink girl shouted, the desperation in her voice clear to those who could hear her. "I've – I've got someone who has serious injuries here!"
Within less than a minute, Mina was found by the people she'd yelled out to – By chance, there were two of them, both being police officers, who knew exactly who Izuku was. Neither of them hesitated in helping, the later one, whom had red skin and four arms, lifted Izuku like he was a Hero saving a citizen from a fall, in such a way that neither of Izuku's arms were pushed against or uncomfortable in any way. The other officer was female, and displayed no superhuman mutations, though she helped Mina to her feet and offered gentle words of reassurance.
It was over. This whole rescue mission… The horrible fighting… The dreadful fear… It was all over. Mina felt as if she could sleep for a thousand years. And Izuku was no question doing a whole lot worse.
The officers brought both Izuku and Mina to their car, placing them both in the back seat, Izuku laid out over both the seats with a blanket over him, and his head rested on Mina's lap. Mina kept eye contact with him, not looking away from her battered boyfriend for a moment. The driver, the woman, immediately put on the sirens, and drove with furious purpose.
On their dashboard, seemed to be the source of the newscasting that Mina had heard earlier – A built in television screen, which would normally be purposed for accessing the police database. There was no question in the slightest that because of the fight, the officers had used it to tune into the news reporter's coverage.
Izuku looked at the dashboard, only to see All Might point at the camera.
"You're. Next."
And then, he blacked out.
Injuries like Izuku's were the worst kind that Recovery Girl dealt with. Received by stupid, reckless, testosterone driven men who didn't know when it was time to just stop and preserve themselves, to put some value on their own wellbeing, and to stop shattering themselves to pieces. She saw it too often in her line of work, from Heroes to students. It was always the men, too. Rarely ever was it a female or intermediaries or even people of other identification. It was always the men who seemed to end up like this.
Battered, broken, willingly destroying themselves through their own bodies and their Quirks just to get an edge.
It was always worse when it was kids. People who weren't even legal adults destroying their own bodies over admiration of those they looked up to. People that they wanted to be like. Izuku Midoriya was just another kid in the long line of people she'd known like that.
But he was easily the worst when it came to battering his own body into oblivion. With a Quirk that wasn't even his, he willingly tore himself apart to be like All Might. She understood that this time, it wasn't his fault. That he'd been protecting someone at the time when this happened. That he'd done the best he could in the situation that he'd been in.
Still, the results were the same though. She'd told him that she refused to heal this sort of injury again, and she'd meant it when she said that. She didn't want to watch this poor boy rip his own body into a thousand pieces just to become a Hero. He needed to find a better way to utilize his powers…
A better way than this anyway.
That said… Looking at him when she was first called in to help operate on him…. She couldn't just turn away. She couldn't just leave him like this.
"...I know it's bad. I know it is... But how bad is it? Exactly?"
Recovery Girl hesitated, looking at the pink girl with uncertainty. Information about the status of the patient in question was not information she didn't like disclosing, since it normally resulted in more worry for the recipient. It didn't matter that this girl was her patient's girlfriend, or that she'd been staying in this room almost religiously for two days straight waiting for him to wake up. Professionally, she should have had her sent home days ago.
But it wasn't as simple as that, she knew.
This girl knew about One For All. The entirety of Class 1A did by now, or at least knew that the Quirk wasn't originally Izuku's. Mina Ashido was one of the only ones who knew the full truth, and the true extent of it. She had All Might's trust, and the trust of the current, and now only, holder of this unique Quirk. This girl was in the best position to actually do something about the situation. Maybe even more than All Might was.
She let out a small sigh. "...There's a lot of permanent, internal damage. Torn muscles and tendons, though those will heal in time. A lot of the scars on his abdomen, neck, and his back... They're not going to fade in time. Those are thing he's just going to have to learn to accept."
For two days straight now, she'd been stopping to give him regular treatment. One big dose of recovery wasn't going to heal the boy. In fact, doing it all in one go would probably kill him, so she'd been coming at regular intervals – One dose at midday, and another dose at midnight. Mina had been there every single one of those times. She'd made herself a makeshift bed from chairs and a green and black hoodie that probably didn't belong to her. Every time Recovery Girl had come in, she'd been sat there, holding onto the unconscious boy's hand, sometimes talking to him about whatever hit her mind. She hadn't even gone home or spoken to her family since she took part in that insane rescue operation.
For someone so young, the older woman had never seen someone so dedicated to a loved one. Regardless of if he knew it or not, Izuku was a lucky boy, the Hero thought to herself. She smiled gently, before her face fell again.
"…The biggest issue are his arms... Frankly, I'm amazed we were even able to save them. There are going to be a large number more scars along the forearm primarily, and on the right bicep, he's suffered third degree burns from what you said was a Pyrokinetic Quirk. Those aren't going to heal either. Aside from that, we removed the bone fragments and set the bones themselves back in place, and Recovery seems to be working well. His arms were broken and the cuts and wounds that created were left so open, they could have gone septic. But they didn't. In regard to infection, we've managed to treat what there was with anti-biotics. He's extraordinarily fortunate in that respect... I need to warn you though. If you do indeed care about this boy, you need to take care of him. Now more than ever."
Mina gulped. There was always bad news when it came to hospitals. That was why people ended up here. It was their entire reason for existing. It was why she never liked being in these sorts of places. "Why? What's wrong?..."
"...His ligaments and muscles have suffered extensive permanent damage. Had I been able to operate sooner, I might have been able to do something to reduce the extent of the damage to them. But the effects are permanent now…"
A pause.
"I don't think his arms will be able to sustain another injury like this. If he breaks them again with One For All, I can't even guarantee I'll be able to leave the arm attached to him. And even if we can, he'll lose all use of them though. That goes without saying."
The Acid girl's eyes widened, and she looked towards her unconscious boyfriend, and the bandages that were wrapped around his arms. She shuddered, and felt the shiver run all the way down her spine. "Izu…"
"You've been with him the entire time he's been here…. Has there been any incidents worth mentioning?" the Healing Hero asked. She understood how helpless those close to her patients felt. How much they wanted to do something.
It wouldn't be much, but if she was given any kind of report, it would help lift Mina's burden. If only just a little.
Shaking her head to snap back to attention, Mina looked towards her schools Nurse. "He… He wakes up every so often… Maybe once every four hours? But only for a few minutes at a time, and then he's back to sleep… I don't think he remembers ever being awake though. Every time he wakes up again, he doesn't seem to know where he is."
"Does he say anything while he's awake?"
"He says he has something he needs to tell me…. But that's it. He's mentioned it a couple of times."
Recovery Girl nodded. "That's good. He's suffered a lot of trauma, and I imagine my Quirk isn't helping him stay awake much either. The good news is that he should be completely okay with enough rest, and regular doses of Recovery. I'll have to keep him in a coma-like state for a few more days. That should be long enough for my Quirk to completely work its way around his body."
Mina nodded, and looked back at her boyfriend, running her hand over the cast, and where it ended near his hands.
"We should be able to take the casts off around his hands in a day or so. If that's of any comfort."
"Thank you…"
"We also have some showers up on the next floor if you want to freshen up."
"Thanks… I'll wait until he next wakes up and falls asleep again. I don't wanna risk him being on his own."
The nurse nodded. "Thank you for your help, Ashido. I'm sure he appreciates it too." She gestured towards the sleeping boy. "As I said…He's going to need you, you know. More than ever." She then left the room, leaving Mina alone with her thoughts.
Thoughts of how.
How had they ended up here? How was this the way that things had turned out? How was it that this was how they had turned out?
A lot of the time, Mina had wondered about things like the butterfly effect. One small change, insignificant, inconsequential even, led to drastically different things changing the fate of the world. Everyone thought about it once in a while. Everyone wondered what they could have done differently in their lives to end up where they were today.
She looked at Izuku, listening to his heartbeat monitor beep periodically. Forty-five beats per minute. She looked at all his new scars, his injuries. The casts on his arms. The injuries that he was now going to have to live with for the rest of his life. That he would live with, and be reminded of everything that had happened to him. What happened to him and to Bakugou was going to live on with him until the day that he died.
She thought back to all the time that she and Izuku had spent together. Every moment, every laugh, every kiss and every date, the latter of which, they'd honestly had very few of. She remembered all their moments together, every time that she blushed and laughed when she was with him. Every time he complimented her, and called her cute, and every time she called him a nerd or a dork in retaliation. The feel of his hand wrapped around hers.
She knew what had caused him to end up in this bed, with all these injuries. She knew what had spearheaded his fate.
It was because of her. And it had started the day that she'd spoken to him.
A stupid whim.
That was the truth behind why she'd started to talk to Izuku at all.
An impulse. Something she did without really thinking or understanding. To her, it was just a matter of not wanting to be bored on the way to the train station, and Izuku was the first person that she'd spotted across the way. There was no deep reason why she did what she did. Why she called him Midori. Why she put her number in his phone. Why she'd invited him out that same four-day weekend.
She just did. Because that was the kind of person that she was. She liked to talk to new people. Talk to people that she hadn't before. Get to know people. Spend an afternoon with an easily flustered dork and then move on with her life. That was always the plan.
Then she saw his bravery first-hand.
Overgrow, the grass-like Villain, he was only stopped because of him. And then about his past. About how he was treated by his old classmates. How he grew up without a power, and how that had made his life a living hell. About his Quirk. How he was supposedly a later bloomer, only to later learn that the truth was his power had been given to him by All Might. That he suffered from a birth defect. That he was genetically Quirkless.
And there just wasn't any going back to being just classmates after that. She knew more about him than anyone in 1A did. She understood him far more than she thought that she would ever understand a person like Izuku. But she saw how he was. Why he was so kind and caring. Why he was so smart. Sometimes it baffled her just how smart he could be. Just like it baffled her how he could be so forgiving. To Bakugou. To his old classmates. To everyone who wronged him, it sometimes seemed. And she admired that. Respected it.
But then, the Hero Killer incident happened. And for the first time, she was horrified. Afraid for her friend's safety.
That wasn't unusual. What sort of friend didn't care about their friend's safety? That was a completely normal reaction to have… But she learned about it after the fact. When it was too late.
She'd gotten his message, with his location, asking for help. And done nothing.
That guilt was still something she felt to this day.
When she learned what happened, she realized just how close she came to never hearing from him again. Never seeing him again, confined to a fond memory of a boy she used to know. She would have been learning how to climb up walls with her Quirk while Izuku was being stabbed to death. And that shook her.
And for some reason, it hurt.
She could list a thousand reasons as to why she loved him. But couldn't ever point to a moment when she started to love him.
Maybe it was before the Hero Killer. Maybe it was after. Maybe he was just her type. Or maybe the thought of losing him turned into too much to bare. She didn't know. But the thought of losing him… It was way too heavy a burden to bare.
When the next opportunity to spend time together presented itself, she took it.
When she finally worked up the nerve, she confessed to him.
And she thought that would all it would be.
Just fun times forever.
Looking at Izuku now, unconscious, battered and broken, only looking slightly healthier thanks to Recovery Girl, she felt her eyes watering yet again.
"What a joke that was huh, Izu?..." She said, with a forced smile, trying to make a joke of it.
She wasn't prepared for everything to happen like it did. The Villains, the lodge, the kidnapping, the rescue… Everything had been flipped upside down in an instant. She hadn't been ready for that… She wondered if Izuku was.
If he'd been prepared from the start. The kind of life he'd had, and the kind of person he was.... It wouldn't have surprised her. He was practical. Level headed. Easily flustered, but earnest and responsible. He was smart, and he could push past his feelings to make the best call. Had he considered that things might end up going this badly someday? Had he prepared himself for if that was the case?
He was better emotionally adjusted than she was, for Gods sake.
He was far better at the whole dating thing than she was…
…
…A stupid whim.
That was how this all started. Not because of some sort of fate. Not destiny. Not because she was inexplicably drawn towards him. They weren't soul mates, and they weren't destined to be together. There was no cosmic hand or God that made this happen. Mina didn't believe in any of those things.
It happened because she was impulsive. Because she'd seen an opportunity to have some fun and taken it.
And then slowly, got dragged deeper and deeper into the world Izuku lived in.
Until she'd finally figured it out.
She had fallen in love. And she couldn't deal with this world.
Not without him in it.
Five days all blurred together when there wasn't much to do. Every day became indistinguishable from the last, especially when she barely got any sleep. The only times that Mina ever left Izuku's side was for one of three reasons. To go to the bathrooms to freshen up, or because the nurses needed the room to do… Medical things, whatever they were, or to get food. Reason number one was the most common, followed by number three. When the nurses asked for her to leave them be for a while, she would leave the hospital and go on a walk. A short walk, just around the local areas nearby.
People recognized her. It didn't surprise her at all anymore. She probably stood out more than anyone else in all of 1A. Maybe even the entirety of Yuuei. People knew her name and tried to speak to her, and she did her best to respond politely at the least, though she often cut the act and just told people that she was going through a rough time after the lodge. People generally got the message when they saw her new scars, all over her hands.
Not that she'd been left entirely on her own. Izuku's mother had dropped in pretty much every single day to see her son, to check up on him and see if there were any updates. She and Mina talked, though conversations were brief. They honestly didn't have a huge amount to say to one another. There was no malice, just… Uncertainty. Inko had gotten into the habit by day three to always bring something for Mina to eat, since she looked half starved when she first saw her. It was always good. Mina thanked her for it.
She had been in communication with the others throughout the days too, mostly with Uraraka and Kirishima, talking about how the plan had worked for the two of them, and what had happened after they had landed. Although, no-one could come out to visit. In place of visiting, their class had sent a huge card, wishing Izuku to get better, with everyone's signatures on it. Surprisingly, even Bakugou, Aizawa, Nedzu and, admittedly less surprisingly, All Might, had all signed it too.
They sent many messages of apologies for not being able to visit. They were all too busy moving into the new dorms – And suffering the punishment Aizawa had dished out for either going on the rescue mission, or staying quiet about the rescue mission.
The news that Yuuei was turning into a boarding school was news Mina hadn't been expecting, but she'd found herself actually very open to the idea. That idea sounded exciting. Like in Manga and comics. It gave her the chance to get to talk and interact with more of her classmates that she didn't really get to talk to…
And she would be the first to admit it – the idea of living in the same space as Izuku…. Had its appeal.
Though that was dependent on him waking up first.
She let out a long sigh, and looked towards the sky. She'd been out of the hospital for about an hour, just to let the nurses do their jobs. The fresh air was nice, and walks honestly did help her to relax. She wanted to be close to Izuku as much as possible while he recovered, but it did feel good to stretch her legs. How much longer was he going to be out for?... Recovery girl had been stopping off every day as promised, the same times, giving him the same dose.
He looked a thousand times better than he did when he was first administered into the hospital. Lots of minor scratches and cuts had simply just gone, and his arms seemed to be healed, at least to the point that they were back together and in one piece again. Recovery Girl's Quirk was absolutely amazing, Mina had concluded. Who knew how many months it would have taken Izuku to heal otherwise. Instead, in under a weak, his body had more or less totally healed.
Another glance down towards her phone – Both Kirishima and Uraraka had both sent photos of their rooms to her, using Uraraka's phone. She rolled her eyes at Kirishima's room in particular, unimpressed. Uraraka's room was basic, though that did make sense when she remembered that she wasn't from the most well-off family. She'd had to learn to live off the bare essentials. They also sent her a floor plan as well. While there was a difference of two floors between Izuku and Mina on it, they reported that Mineta had volunteered to switch with her if she wanted, so she could be next to her boyfriend. It was a surprisingly kind gesture that she reported that she'd think about – Kind as it was, she didn't feel too good about the idea of leaving Uraraka in a corridor alone with him as her only neighbour.
She'd have to check to see if there were any ulterior motives before making that decision. Still, it was hard not to appreciate the offer.
A look at the time revealed just how long she'd been away from the hospital. Flipping the standby button on the side of the phone, she shovelled it into her pocket and began to make her way back.
Actually getting back didn't take too long. She always stayed nearby, within a fifteen-minute radius of the place at most times. When she started to head back, she had been within the ten-minute distance. She managed to get there in about seven.
Thanks entirely to her eye-catching appearance, the workers there all recognized her the second that she walked in the front door. Some of them had spoken to her and learned why it was that she was staying in the building at all. As she walked in the front door, several of them caught her eye. They all had the biggest smiles on their faces as they watched her make her way back to Izuku's room, though she thought nothing of it. Many of them had mentioned that they found her adoration and dedication to Izuku to be adorable, so she just assumed that's what they were smiling about.
When she actually opened the door though, she saw what their grins were about.
"Oh, hey. There you are."
For a split second, Mina had thought that Izuku had woken up and was in one of his half lucid states. Those only ever lasted a few moments though, and his voice was always shaky and out of it. He sounded like he was high on some sort of drug, and he wasn't able to move much.
As it was right now though, he was sat up, and had previously been looking out the window before she had opened the door. Once it had opened, he'd turned to face her, that wide, adorable, innocent smile etched all over his lips. His eyes had their colour back, that wonderful green shade. His face was still scattered with plasters and patches, but he was awake, and he was okay.
And he was smiling.
She didn't even hesitate. Within a second, she was already over at his side, pulling him into the single tightest hug that she'd ever given anyone in her entire life. The tears were already running down her cheeks, and she didn't even care if he saw. "I-Izuku!!"
He let out a small laugh, and hugged her back, though he did make a small grunting noise. "Haha… Ow… Mina, my bones were - I'm – I'm still in pain here."
"S-sorry, sorry." She let go of him, though she didn't move away from him in the slightest. She grabbed hold of his hands, interlocking their fingers. A few deep breaths were needed for her to regain her composure. Her lips were curling themselves up into a smile, despite the tears running from her black eyes. "I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't know you'd woken up!"
"Not your fault." The green haired boy smiled back at her. "The nurses said that I woke up literally five minutes after you'd left the building. No way to get back in contact with you. I… I think it might have been for the best." He chuckled lightly to himself. "You might have knocked me right back out."
The girl couldn't help but let out a laugh – The first real, genuine laugh, not a chuckle, but laugh, in a full week. She was so giddy that right now, pretty much anything would have made her laugh.
"H-How're you feeling?" She asked, looking at the bandages along his arms and face.
Izuku considered for a moment, rolling his eyes up to the roof as he thought, before back to her. "To be honest, considering everything, I'm actually feeling pretty good. I've still got some pain in my bones like I said. Nurses told me about my arms… I got off lucky, apparently. If I'm totally honest…. I don't even remember how bad my arms got… How about you?"
"You – You just got out of a medically Quirk induced coma! Worry about yourself for once!"
"Haha, right, right… Sorry. Habitual, I guess." A small blush swept over his face, though his smile never dropped, and his eyes never left Mina's. "I uh…. How long have I been asleep?"
"It's, uh…. It's been five days."
That was the only point that Izuku's smile dropped for a moment. Five entire days? How bad had his injuries even been?
"Well, you were off and on for a lot of it. You have five minutes of being awake here and there. Recovery Girl's Quirk kept you pretty exhausted though. You've been given pretty regular doses of it."
"Yeah, I remember her just healing my finger once left me needing a nap." He chuckled. That made sense. "Still… Five whole days… What – What's going on? Where's Kacchan? What happened to All Might? Where's everyone else?"
Mina went over everything that Izuku had missed out over the last few days, from Bakugou being reportedly safe and sound by both Kirishima and Uraraka, even if he hadn't been admitted back into Yuuei yet – Apparently the school board wanted to speak to Izuku first before that happened. When Izuku questioned how Bakugou had signed the card if he wasn't at Yuuei, she told him that Kirishima had apparently volunteered to go get his signature. She then told him about All Might, about his fight with All For One ended in a victory for the Heroes, but at the loss of his ability to user what was left of One For All. Izuku was visibly distraught at the news.
"You couldn't've done anything to stop it, Izu… It's… It's just how your Quirk works."
He didn't smile at that. It was true, and Mina wasn't wrong at all… But it didn't make hearing it any easier.
"…It was… One hell of a send-off… By all accounts. The entire country watched it. I…. I heard even the Americans were shocked…. He says he wants to see you as soon as he hears you wake up."
"…"
There was no way that he would have been able to take the news well. His all-time favourite Hero – His own personal Hero – His tutor… The age of All Might had ended. There was no way he wasn't going to feel at least the slightest bit responsible for that. Trying to say it wasn't his fault, no matter how true…
It wasn't what he needed right now.
"… I uh…" She paused. Was this really the best time? "…Izu, I uh…. I need to say something to you. It's…. It's important."
Her boyfriend looked up to her, pushing All Might out of his head. His attention was squarely on his girlfriend right now, without any sort of competition.
Mina felt her heart rise up into her throat. Suddenly, speaking because difficult. Guilt, anxiety, regret all of it made its way into her head. For a moment, she hesitated, and almost felt herself change her mind. But she shook those ideas out of her head immediately. This wasn't about getting away with something.
This was about owning up. And admitting that she had screwed up.
Without further delay, she bowed her head. He fingers gripped onto Izuku's slightly tighter, but she was careful not to dig into his skin. He'd suffered enough as it was. "Izu… I am so, so, so sorry for what happened back at the forest!"
Izuku blinked at her, for a moment, confused.
"H-Huh? What – What're you apologizing for?" He seriously was confused. Given everything that had happened, he had barely even thought about the forest, or even really considered it since encountering All For One for the first time. In all honesty, he'd forgotten most of it.
"I… I – I hit you." The words felt bitter on her lips. And she felt her heart rip itself in two saying them. They hurt to say, but needed to be said. "I hit you… I hit you and I yelled at you. I got angry…. When you refused to let me just… Give Bakugou a piece of my mind. You didn't do anything wrong and… And I lashed out at you… And that was so freaking wrong of me!..."
A hand raised up, trying to get noticed by Mina's sight, to try to get her attention. Izuku held it up to signal to stop. His memory now jogged, he appreciated this apology, he truly did, but he hadn't even been upset by it. She didn't need to apologize – He'd already forgiven her a long time ago. "I-It's fine, really, Mina, I – "
"No, it's not!..." Her voice had unwittingly raised, and she had looked up to face Izuku.
Tears running down her eyes. Izuku's own widened.
"I… You didn't even do anything… You were just… You were being the… T-The Hero that you really are. And I… I was being selfish… Because I thought that you were going to… To leave me on my own..." Honesty was just tormenting out of her. She was forcing herself through lumps in her throat, and through guilt-wracked sobs. How much all of this had been tearing her apart since, how much it had hurt her, how much she regretted doing all of it, it all became crystal clear to Izuku. There wasn't any doubting her sincerity. "I… Lashed out at you for just being the same person you always have been… I was angry…. Because you wouldn't just…. Stop being a Hero, for five seconds, and let me show Bakugou what I thought of him… It… It… It felt like you had chosen him over me. And I just couldn't even wrap my head around that."
"M-Mina…" The worst part was that Izuku could understand it all. He knew where all of this was coming from. Where it had all originated from.
Everything that she felt, everything that she had done… It all came from someone who couldn't say for sure if the person they loved actually returned their feelings.
Izuku knew that that had been a fundamental difference between him and Mina, and who they were as individuals. Mina was open about these kinds of things. Izuku had been conditioned to keep his mouth shut. To not voice his own feelings too often. Because doing so just always led to more problems than it was worth. It led to mockery. Physical pain. Emotional torment. None of that was Mina's fault…
If she blamed herself for it or not, Izuku honestly didn't know…
She felt weak. She felt powerless… And it was hard not to feel helpless given everything that had happened, and how powerless she'd been to stop him from being taken.
"You were…. Y-You were taken… Right in front of me, and I couldn't do anything! I was…. I was just... I was stuck in a lodge, while you were running around, and fighting for you life… To save people… To protect people… And all I did was think about how it had affected me… When I came to find you, I wasn't thinking about saving Bakugou. I wasn't thinking about helping anyone else… And even then, I couldn't do anything to help you… We… We're supposed to be a team… But I… I let you down… I…"
All the pain, remorse, all of it that she'd been carrying in her chest, it all tumbled out. Mina was always the kind of person who liked to be honest, to be totally open about how she felt. She never tried to hide anything when it came to her emotions. And it all came falling out. The words were short, and they were simple, but every single of them came from the bottom of her heart.
"You never… I'm sorry…. I am so, so sorry… I'm so, so - "
"I love you."
Everything stopped. Went quiet. Mina's sobs and even the dripping of her tears ceased immediately, hanging in her eyes and refusing to leave.
Her heart stopped for a moment, and her breathing hitched and then ceased. A small gasp had escaped when she heard him speaking, but it was quiet, reflexive.
And she looked back towards him.
Izuku's eyes were now focused on the bedsheet, in the gap that was just between them. His hair hid his eyes, so Mina couldn't look into the green orbs directly like she wanted to. His back was slumped, like he'd lost the ability to sit up straight. His hands didn't leave Mina's though. She could feel those gripping on tighter to her, eager not to let them go. Begging almost, for her not to pull away. Like he was terrified of the words he'd just said, and how they would drive her away. Like he was afraid looking at her was going to drive her to run away and to not look back.
He had just said them, right?...
Three simple words. Three simple, short, silly words that somehow had such an impact on a person that Mina sometimes wondered if they were infused with magic with what they did to people. She'd wanted to hear them, from Izuku, for so long… But it had felt unfair to force the matter. That it wasn't right to push him. To make him say something that he wasn't comfortable saying. To try to get him to say something… That he really didn't mean.
It had been the single most crippling source of anxiety in their relationship. Without hearing it… Mina just sometimes wondered if he did care for her. When it came down to it, it was a silly thing to measure the care that someone had. There were a thousand ways to tell. The way they acted around you, the way that they spoke, and how close they wanted to be. Pinning so much value on those three words… It was just dumb, right?...
…When it came from someone as honest as Izuku though?...
"I... I should have said that a while ago, shouldn't I? I could've probably saved us a lot of trouble..." He let out a very small chuckle, thinking back to so many incidents that could have been avoided if he'd just shown her that little bit of reassurance.
That little bit of comfort… That little bit of assurance that he'd been getting constantly… But had never shown her in return.
"Mina.... You can't blame yourself for what happened during the attack. There wasn't anything that you could have done... And what happened.... It was my own fault. I'm the one who ran off. I'm the one who leapt after Kacchan. I'm… What happened to me was my own fault. The last thing that you should be doing is blaming yourself. You're the one who rescued me. You and everyone else…" He paused briefly, remembering back over their conversation. "I… Haven't said it… But, thank you. For saving me."
His fingers gripped tighter onto hers. He owed this girl his life, there wasn't any doubt about it.
If nothing else, he owed her this.
He tilted his head, still not looking up at the pink girl, who was hanging onto every word, with wide eyed intent. He feared if he looked at her now, before he actually told her everything else he needed to, he'd lose his nerve. "I… When I was stuck in that cell.... I had a lot of time to think... To think about things... There were a lot of points I seriously thought that I was gonna die... The only person I had to talk to was Kacchan, which uh…" He chuckled again, lightening the heavy mood a bit. "…Was an interesting experience… And the only thing I could think about was how much I'd miss you....
And how much I haven't even said to you... Told you what you… What you mean to me. What you needed to hear. What you… What I really do feel about you. What I truly, truly do mean…"
A deep breath.
"…So here it is."
Both of his hands grabbed hold of hers, with as much strength that he could muster. It hurt him more than it hurt her to do, but he didn't even give it any heed.
He finally looked up at her, and made direct eye contact with her. Every scrap of honest that he had could be seen in his own eyes. Anyone who looked would be able to see the true, heart-gripping honest emotion in them.
Everything he said from this point on, was the total truth, without exception, and unconditional.
"…Mina, I love you." He felt his heart slam against his chest. He ignored it. "I love you so much it hurts me to even think about it. I adore you. I adore you with everything I have. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life... And I mean that. Better than meeting All Might... Better than getting into Yuuei..."
He could feel tears of his own starting to well up.
"Better than having a Quirk... Because.... I'd rather be give it up and be Quirkless for the rest of my life... Than spend a single day without you."
Mina's eyes just grew larger and larger, with every single passing word.
"…I've never said this to you before because… I was afraid that would make you… Lose interest in me. It was stupid, and it wasn't fair… I'm sorry, Mina. I'm so – "
Before he could even finish his sentence, he was tackled again, into the new biggest hug he'd ever received. Mina's cheeks were already wet with tears, and he could both feel and hear her sobbing into his shoulder, louder and more openly than he'd ever heard anyone cry, and that included himself and his own mother. Only these were of joy. Nothing but joy. Her grip was tight, digging into his skin as the grabbed and clung onto his lower back with one hand, and the back of his shoulder with the other. On top of that, she'd more or less thrown herself on top of him, like all the strength that was in her body had just left and she needed to hold onto him for support.
It hurt, more than anything. With his injuries still in place, it was a painful hug… But Izuku smiled. And he hugged her back the best he could.
Everything about this was long overdue… And he wouldn't be able to get that time back. The time that he wasted just not telling this girl that he loved her.
That was how powerful just three small words could be to someone. He'd said them now... And partly wondered what he'd been so afraid of.
"I'm sorry…" He whispered to her, feeling tears run down his own cheeks, though the smile never left his lips.
He'd just have to make it up to her…. Somehow. For now, he just let her cry, as much as she needed to.