Thank you all for sticking by me.

X

Following the direction of the heroes, he and all his classmates were escorted out of the building before being briefly checked over by a medical team to fish out the injured.

Midoriya caught Bakugou getting fussed over by a bunch of medics because of how the skin layers of his neck were nonexistent and Midoriya wondered how much pain he was in. The medics hurriedly rushed Bakugou into a car to be sent to the nurse's office.

Yamamoto patted him on the back, "Bakugou'll be fine. He's a pretty tough guy, isn't he?"

"The toughest," Midoriya sighed.

"How are you holding up?" Yamamoto asked.

Midoriya laughed nervously. "I think I'm still in shock with adrenaline and all that, y'know." He eyed his purple fingers.

"That doesn't mean your body's condition isn't worsening by the second," Todoroki pointed out.

Midoriya debated, "I suppose so."

"Hey!" Yamamoto spoke up, pointing to the side. "There's Tsuna!"

Midoriya turned to the side and saw Tsuna on a gurney being loaded into a car.

Yamamoto said, "I'm gonna see if we can ride with him. You need to get those fingers checked out."

Nodding, Midoriya replied, "I really do. They're probably going to do a headcount so I'll inform Iida about it before we go."

Yamamoto shot him a thumbs up before he went running up to Tsuna. "Sounds good!"

Midoriya jogged up to Iida who was currently conversing with a police officer. "Hey, Iida! I hope I'm not intruding!"

The police officer reassured, "Not at all."

Iida turned to him, relief lighting up his face. "Midoriya! I'm glad to see you're alright. What do you need?"

Midoriya smiled. "Umm, I kind of broke my fingers again, so I'm going to ride with Yamamoto and Tsuna to the nurse's office. I figured you're going to do a headcount so..."

"Thank you for telling us," the police officer replied. "Three people then?"

"Yes."

"May I ask why Sawada was here?" Iida asked.

Midoriya opened his mouth to reply but couldn't find an answer. Why was he here? "I... don't actually know. He came out of nowhere."

"I see," Iida said, crossing his arms.

The police officer hustled, "Go on now. Those fingers look like they need treatment."

"I'll go do that," Midoriya replied before striding to the first aid car and climbing in. The medic who was monitoring Tsuna closed the door after him. The engine started and the car drove off.

"Exciting day, wasn't it?" Yamamoto exclaimed, propping his arms on Tsuna's gurney.

Midoriya blinked before nervously confessing, "I wouldn't call it exciting."

"What he said," Tsuna mumbled.

Yamamoto perked up, poking Tsuna's cheek. "Hey, you're awake!"

"My body isn't in shock anymore," Tsuna grumbled as he swiped away Yamamoto's hand, "so I'm in a bit of pain right now."

"Want some help with that?"

Tsuna nodded.

Midoriya asked, curiosity sparking in his eyes, "You know first aid?"

Yamamoto chuckled, fanning his hand. "No, no. Definitely not. Wish I did though." His necklace and hands gained a blue flame. "Just my quirk. It's basically numbing gel!" He looked to the medic. "Is that alright?"

The medic nodded after a moment of consideration.

Yamamoto resumed coating Tsuna's mangled arm with fire. "I could use it on you," Yamamoto offered once he finished.

Midoriya was going to decline out of politeness, but the pain throbbed and the thought of his quirk notebook flickered in his mind. "Yes, please."

Yamamoto gestured for his hand, and Midoriya gave it.

Reaching out with his own, Yamamoto's flames covered his fingers, and a chilling frost shifted through his skin. The pain eased. "It's almost like an ice pack," Midoriya noted. "If you train your quirk enough, could you potentially nullify all pain? Like an extremely strong numbing gel? Or a strong sedation or a bunch of painkillers? Perhaps you could knock someone out... A quirk like that could be useful as a first responder to a crisis and—" As he ran out of breath, he glanced up to find Yamamoto's eyes curled in amusement. "Ah, sorry, sorry. Rambling. Please ignore me."

"Don't worry about it. It's super cool to see someone so excited about quirks, " Yamamoto heartened, a smile dawning his lips, "You have some great ideas and it'd be really cool if I could knock someone out with my flames and instead of my baseball bat."

Midoriya's eyes widened. He blinked. Baseball bat—

"I need to train more!" Yamamoto decided.

"You train enough as is," Tsuna mumbled. "Don't overdo it."

"Are you thinking of being a rescue hero? Or anything similar to that occupation? Midoriya couldn't help asking.

Yamamoto laughed, shaking his head. "No, no. That'd be awesome but we'll be leaving soon. So unless someone can hero knight us real quick..."

"Leaving?" Midoriya echoed. "Wha—"

The car came to a stop and the medic opened the doors and began rolling Tsuna out of the car and into the U.A. building. "I'll be transporting you two to the nurse's office," he informed Midoriya and Tsuna. He turned to Yamamoto. "There's an ongoing investigation. It'd be best if you return to your classroom. All your guardians will be contacted and told to come to pick you up at a later time."

"Okay!" Yamamoto chirped, stepping down out of the ambulance. He ruffled Tsuna's hair. "I'll see you in a bit." Midoriya followed the medic, and once they parted ways with Yamamoto, turning down a different hallway, he looked back to watch him go. Heard his whistling ricochet across the walls and saw the way he walked with a bounce.

Leaving? Are they transferring schools? Moving maybe?

(Blue flames and the peaceful whisper trailing behind.

And fire the color of the sun, ever shining bright, forever mending together the many pieces of somethings.)

Where are you going?

He didn't want to open his eyes. There's light on his face and wind through a window. Flames pulsed by his own, and a body was slowly pushing him off the bed while hogging most of the blanket.

"Takeshi, get off me," Tsuna snapped halfheartedly as the arm slung across his chest shifted.

He didn't.

"Takeshi."

There was hair tickling his collarbone. "Lemme rest a bit."

"Fine," Tsuna said. A pause before, "Okay now get off me."

And then, "What are we going to do about our parents?"

Tsuna opened his eyes, meeting gold ones. "Our parents."

Takeshi propped his head up with his elbows. His legs swung back and forth. "The ones that adopted us when we didn't know where to go. Those parents. We're not just gonna leave without saying goodbye, are we?"

A pang of shame struck through Tsuna's chest, and although Recovery Girl had healed him of all injuries, there was that faint ghost of pain. "No, we can't.

A pause.

"How long have I been sleeping?" Tsuna asked, sitting up and forcing Takeshi to sit up with him. Tsuna glanced outside the window to see the sun falling.

Takeshi yawned. "About four hours. About time to go."

Oh.

"They have to question all of us, so my class is still here," Takeshi explained. "And your healing took lots of energy outta you so that's why you took such a long nap." Takeshi collapsed once more just to snuggle up in Tsuna's side.

Tsuna grumbled, "Takeshi, stop drooling on my clothes."

A knock echoed through the room.

Tsuna pushed Takeshi off the bed, and he hit the floor with a thump. "Come in!"

Opening the door, Midoriya's head peeked out. "Sorry for the intrusion. They finished questioning everyone so I just wanted to check up on you guys."

Tsuna smiled. "We're doing fine."

Takeshi popped up from between the two infirmary beds. "Thanks for checking in! How's Bakugou?"

Midoriya replied, scratching the back of his neck, "I only caught him when he left but he looked well."

Through the open door, Recovery Girl walked in. "Oh, another visitor! Midoriya, how are your fingers?"

Midoriya answered, "They're great! Thank you so much."

Recovery Girl smiled. "That's good to hear. Please take better care of yourself. And what about you Sawada? Any pain?"

"No, no," Tsuna said before yawning. "I'm a bit sore and tired though."

"Well, that is to be expected," Recovery Girl reassured. She looked at Midoriya and Takeshi. "Gentlemen, I need to do one last checkup on Sawada. Do you mind waiting outside?"

Midoriya replied easily, "Not at all!"

Takeshi patted Tsuna on the leg. "I'll get our bags! Think you can walk to the front entrance without tripping?"

Tsuna glared, holding back the urge to throw something. "Shoo already," he huffed.

Takeshi laughed, and Midoriya said goodbye as he closed the door behind them.

Recovery Girl walked over to Tsuna's side, telling him, "Please sit at the edge of the bed and show me your arm. I'll try to be quick."

Tsuna did as he was told. Recovery Girl started to unwrap his bandages. He swore there was a timer waiting to go off at any minute.

Tsuna began, "Excuse me, ma'am."

"Hmm?" Recovery Girl prompted, "What is it, dear?"

"Are you close to and the Principal?" he asked.

She hummed. "Well, I've known them for quite a long time. Sekijiro more so."

"Can you tell them something? And my par—" That wouldn't work. "Can you?"

Recovery Girl asked, "Why not tell them yourself?"

Tsuna spouted out, barely catching his breath, "Takeshi just told me our parents are pulling us out of U.A. immediately. They... they don't think this school is secure or safe enough to look after us properly after what happened today. And I don't think they'll give me a chance to talk to my teachers and say goodbye."

"That's a pity," Recovery Girl murmured, slowing down her movements. "Well, U.A. was lucky to have you two here. It's been a great pleasure. I heard what you did today."

Tsuna straightened, his heart leaping for a second. "W-what I did?"

Recovery Girl laughed fondly. "Flew all the way to the USJ facility to start rescuing other students. Impulsive, aren't you?"

Tsuna flushed. "It was impulsive and I'm sorry. I should've alerted my teachers, b-but Iida was already doing that and Takeshi was—I didn't know if he was okay or hurt and I got scared."

She looked at him, the shape of her eyes curling softly as a smile took hold of her face. "You're a wonderful friend to him. And it's okay to be scared. You were scared but your bravery overcame that." She held onto his arm. "You have the makings of a great hero. Try bending and not breaking the rules though. Nedzu loves to gossip, I'll have you know."

Tsuna smiled hesitantly.

"So," Recovery Girl started, putting the bandages aside, "What do you want me to tell them?"

Tsuna took in a breath. "Can you tell he was—is a great teacher. I've… had teachers who… who weren't so great. And for me to learn under him for such a short while but learn so much, it means a lot."

She nodded.

"And the Principal," Tsuna murmured. "Please tell him we're thankful for him. For showing us this opportunity to learn here and meet so many good people and… and—!" He buried his face in his hands.

"I'll tell them," Recovery Girl reassured. "Rest easy, you hear me, young man?"

A warm flower bloomed inside his chest. "And thank you. Thanks to all of you for being the best kind of people."

Recovery Girl only laughed. "You're being silly. It's part of the job!" She spread open her arms.

"Oh, I—" Tsuna sputtered.

Recovery Girl gave him a stern look. "It's quite rude to refuse a hug to an old lady. Now come here."

"Umm—uh... yes, ma'am."

"You said you're leaving," Midoriya said, and it's not a question. He wished it was.

Yamamoto didn't look at him. Just continued sitting on the bench, chin tilted to the ever-dying sky. "Yep," was all he said.

"Do you mean U.A.?"

"That too."

"The country then?"

"Yeah." Yamamoto glanced at him. Then he smiled. What came over his face was a gleam of all-knowing. "I'm glad we got to know you."

"Is it because of today's incident?" Midoriya asked, eyebrows scrunching. "Is that why your parents are pulling you two out?"

Yamamoto hummed. "It's more like"—the sun sank lower and lower and the red sky turned to purple—"we were never supposed to be here in the first place, y'know?"

Midoriya's hands fumbled. "Can we keep in touch?"

Yamamoto closed his eyes. "I hope we can." He slapped him on the shoulder. "Come on. Don't be mopey. It's been a great couple of weeks—months, hasn't it?"

"It has," Midoriya replied.

The building's door opened and Yamamoto called out, "Hey, Tsuna!"

Tsuna walked over to them, and Midoriya was glad Tsuna's arm looked normal and healthy and not... purple like his fingers were. "Sorry for the wait. Are your parents picking you up, Midoriya?"

"My mom's in the car right now. Yamamoto said you guys are moving, and besides checking up on you guys, I also wanted to say goodbye," Midoriya said.

Yamamoto indiscreetly whispered to Tsuna, eyes kept on Midoriya, "He's being pretty sappy."

Midoriya flushed. He coughed, shaking himself off before reaching out his hand to Tsuna. "I hope we meet again."

Tsuna shook his hand, nodding. "Me too."

When Midoriya turned to Yamamoto, the latter lunged to hug him. "To meet again," Yamamoto exclaimed, chuckling. Midoriya's feet left the ground.

Midoriya frozen, shot a glance at Tsuna, who only looked on with amusement lining his body.

And then, surely but hesitant, Midoriya hugged back.

The last time Midoriya said goodbye to a friend (the only time), it wasn't even a proper goodbye. Kacchan was smoke and heat, and sometimes Midoriya could only get so close. Each step Kacchan took ahead, Midoriya stumbled forward. Their friendship was in shreds by the time Midoriya noticed.

To say goodbye (for the second time only) on good terms was true closure. Midoriya's admired a lot of people. All Might, for his strength and bravery to smile when it seemed impossible. Aizawa, for his determination to protect his students. Iida for his leadership. Uraraka for her dedication and kindness.

And for Yamamoto, the calm without the storm.

Something poked Tsuna in the gut. "Gokudera's gonna kill us—well, gonna kill Takeshi," he muttered.

Midoriya's sight clouded with pink smoke and then he was falling and—

Gokudera breathed out smoke. "Shoichi, put it back."

Midoriya raised a trembling hand. "I'm not an object."

"I-I'm trying—wait, I—" Shoichi started.

"Put it back, Shoichi."

"Just let me—"

"PUT IT BACK!"

X

Tsuna: so we gotta go back again

Spanner: why

Yamamoto: our adoptive parents