Chapter Six

Confrontation and Comfort

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Bakugou Katsuki felt caught between dreading this conversation and wanting it over already. After nearly five minutes, Eraserhead still hadn't said a word. Why won't he spit it out? Bakugou, you're a bully, and you're expelled. Rip the band-aid off. Stop peeling it away slowly.

"Kirishima," Eraserhead broke the silence. "You're making too much noise. Go back to your dorm. I'm not talking to Bakugou for your amusement. Leave."

Katsuki turned to see Shitty Hair emerge from behind a tree. How had he not seen that red-head dye job following them?

"Sorry, Aizawa-sensei. Bro, I'll see you back at the dorms!" Shitty Hair called out before running back. Off in the distance, Spark Plug was in the background along with Duct Tape.

"Get lost on the way, so I don't have to see your faces!" Katsuki cried out. He sniffled, commanding his eyes to dry the fuck up.

Eraserhead gestured to a nearby bench. Taking the hint, Katsuki sat down, spreading his legs apart so he could at least be comfortable. His teacher sat on the other end. The two of them faced forward, looking at each other peripherally.

"You seem to respond to kindness and closeness with defensiveness. Your classmates were concerned for your well being, for your academic career, but you just told them off. Why did you do that?" his teacher asked. He seemed tired, lacking the authoritative venom he had used on Mineta earlier or Kirishima just now.

"I…" Katsuki hadn't expected this question. Why weren't they talking about the video? "I don't want them worrying about me." He shocked himself with his honesty. "I need to be strong, to be the best. I can't have people worrying about me, dragging me down, holding me back."

Eraserhead considered that. "How long have you felt that way, felt the need to be the best? How long have you been pushing people away because of it?"

Katsuki thought back to the celebration his parents threw when the doctors revealed his Quirk. They invited the entire block and all of his school mates. It was a trend, he learned later, like a gender reveal party for soon-to-be parents.

Everyone had such high hopes for him. When an adult asked him what he was going to do with such a fantastic Quirk, the answer was obvious. "I want to be a hero, like All Might!"

His mother interjected. "You'll be even better than All Might!" She turned to this stranger and announced, "My son is the best, and he has the best Quirk for heroics anyone has ever seen!"

At that moment, Katsuki felt like the earth beneath him was rising, holding him up on a pillar. He was better than anyone.

"You're so amazing, Kacchan!" his friend, Izuku, had said. Yeah, Katsuki recalled, that was back before I called him Deku.

The adoration in Izuku's eyes, though, felt like there was a gap between them. Looking around, all the other kids looked the same. The pillar under his feet rose higher and higher, and suddenly it felt like he was stuck up there, unable to get down. If little Katsuki ever got down from his pillar, what would happen to all those expectant faces, to his mother's boast, to Izuku's admiration?

Failure wasn't an option, and he couldn't ask for help. He could only look down on everyone from his vantage. Katsuki couldn't ask someone at the base of the pillar for assistance. You don't ask someone below you to help you climb higher.

It's lonely at the top.

"It's always been this way," Katsuki answered Eraserhead's question, preferring not to dig all this old news up for anyone to see. What was next? Was his teacher going to ask him about his mom?

"Today was the second time I saw your mother hit you," Eraserhead said flatly.

Shit.

"The first time was not long ago, back when I asked her to let you move into the dorms. This time, it was another version of her with another version of you. I know this is personal, but I need to ask. Are you being hit often? Is it worse when strangers aren't around?" Eraserhead asked.

Katsuki flinched. "Leave my mom out of this," he growled.

Yes, she hit him. Often. Whenever Katsuki would fall down and make a mistake, be too ordinary or fuck up in a way that chipped way at the rising pedestal she'd put him on, she'd hit him and send him scrambling back up to the top of his pillar. It was for his benefit, all for him. It was what Katsuki needed, motivation to help him stay above everyone else.

He didn't need his teacher to twist his mother's actions into something they weren't. When the man didn't talk, Katsuki added more. "It's only when I fuck up, okay? It's not like I didn't deserve it. The old hag just," he paused, wondering what else to say. "She's just trying to help. I hate it, but I know it's not what you think it is."

Eraserhead turned to lock eyes with his student. It was unnerving. "Did you tell Midoriya to jump off the school roof?"

Katsuki's breath caught in his throat. Lie! He had to lie. It was the only way to save himself. Lie, and say it was just something the other Bakugou did, a thing he said in high school, maybe a year or two from now.

"Yes," he admitted. Fucking idiot, he told himself. There's no reward for telling the truth! "I did. It was just like the video."

Eraserhead's eyes narrowed. "Including the part where you told him to wish for a Quirk in his next life?"

It wasn't the question Katsuki had expected. "Yes, including that part."

His teacher thought long and hard while staring him down. "When did this all happen? Where were you both when you told him to commit suicide?"

At that moment, the pillar Katsuki had stood on his whole life felt like it was crumbling. Something inside of him was eroding under his teacher's gaze. "It was in middle school, maybe a month before we graduated."

That was about a year ago, back when Deku was at the base of the column, and Katsuki was at the top. Now everything was turned upside down.

"I see," was all his teacher said.

Katsuki braced himself, waiting for the hammer to fall on his head. Finally, they arrived at the moment he dreaded before walking out here. Bakugou Katsuki was about to get expelled.

Maybe there was another hero-school that would take him. It wouldn't be as good as U.A., but possibly, it would be good enough. Fuck! Good enough. The words felt like tar on his tongue.

"This is going on your record," Eraserhead said. "I'm also going to do two more things you won't like."

Katsuki was ready. "Hit me with it already. Just do it."

His teacher let out a long sigh. "I'm making you see the school counselor once a week until further notice. Also, I'm signing you up to volunteer on weekends."

Katsuki blinked. What? "I'm not getting expelled?"

Eraserhead smirked. "No, kid. You're not. What you need is a correction, not a punishment. You're a teen. Teens are cruel, horrible people. Trust me; I used to be one. What you need is a way not to become a cruel, horrible adult. If I don't treat you carefully, you'll fail as a hero and become a villain."

Katsuki roared back, "I won't fail! I'll be a hero, not some loser villain!"

Eraserhead's eyes shot daggers into Katsuki's. "You already failed by many measures. Heroes exist to help others, not themselves. A hero will always pull people away from the roof's edge, not tell them to head towards it."

Bakugou bit down, grinding his teeth until they hurt. Fuck! He was right!

"That's why, every Sunday until I say otherwise, you will volunteer at the suicide ward in our local hospital. It'll take a lot of paperwork on my part, and I'll have to take you there myself, but this is something that you need to do." The words rang out like a death sentence in Katsuki's ears.

Suicide ward? "Why? Why there?"

Eraserhead had never looked more menacing than at that moment. "You won't learn if I send you to a graveyard with a list of names and flowers. You need to see what suicide does to survivors. You need to see first-hand the medicine you prescribed."

This punishment was too much. The pillar Katsuki relied on was no longer beneath his feet. He was falling. "Please, I…"

"Or, I could expel you, right now. You can pick," Eraserhead said flatly. "Either be a hero or retreat. Which will it be, Bakugou?"

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Izuku felt mounting pressure when his classmates and idol surrounded him. People who want to comfort you, Izuku observed, have expectations that you're ready to receive that comfort. What troubled him, though, was that he wasn't sure that he'd have made that observation on his own.

Mei had not left his side despite completing her work minutes ago. Out of everyone here, Izuku knew that she wouldn't try to say something to make things awkward. She'd try to distract him with something creative, perhaps an idea for another invention for them to collaborate into existence.

Wait, how did he know that about her? Oh, of course, the memories of the other Izuku.

Even now, Izuku could feel the other version of himself bleeding into his mind. It whispered to him, though the loudest was just before during the viewing. It felt like everyone else had finished watching, but he was still stuck with those memories playing themselves out inside his head. Would the voice get louder, more explicit in its demands and advice, as they watched more? Izuku feared that he already knew the answer.

For Toshinori's part, he knew that Aizawa insisted that Toshinori avoid the topic of the other Midoriya's desire to commit suicide. However, his fellow teacher was busy with young Bakugou. Still, this was far too personal a topic to bring up in front of young Midoriya's classmates. Subtlety was not his strong suit, but overcoming weakness was a struggle that a hero like him dealt with every day.

"Young Midoriya, I don't want to take too much of your time, not with so many others wanting your attention," he said. His eyes wandered across the faces of his successor and his classmates. Young Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, and Ashido stood nearby by while Young Hatsume remained near the machine, behind Young Midoriya as though to protect him from any flanking maneuver.

Izuku allowed his eyes to wander across to meet Ochako's. His heart pulled on his spine when he made eye contact with her. As he took in Mina and Momo standing next to her, the pull became insistent. These aren't your emotions, he told himself. The love you're feeling isn't yours. He smiled through the pain. It felt like he was saying goodbye to a family that, days ago, he never knew that he had.

Including Mei in his address, Izuku turned to face them all. "Please excuse me a moment. If you wouldn't mind waiting here a bit longer, I need to have a word with All Might."

Ochako felt her heart leap into her throat as Deku turned away. One lone tear shone in the corner of his eye, catching the light from the auditorium's illumination, and it felt like he was farther away than she had ever seen him. As he walked away with All Might, something about it felt wrong to her.

"Why did that feel ominous?" Mina asked.

Momo shook her head, but not in denial. She was trying to process what she'd witnessed. "I've only seen that look on my father's face whenever he'd leave on a long trip. That's how he always looked at my mother before turning to head to the airport."

Mei caught them off guard by sighing. They had almost forgotten she was still there, seated next to that machine. "Midoriya has a lot to think through, quite literally. His brain is processing too much, completely overloaded with information, and I'm surprised he's not fallen ill while trying to get through each day."

Ochako stepped forward, fearing what she was about to ask, but she had to know. "Hatsume, is something happening to him? Do you know what it is, and how we can help?"

None of them had ever seen the young inventor look sad before. She always carried herself with confidence and spunk. Now, though, she seemed deflated. "Every time he interacts with the memory stone, it reinforces the information that he's already downloaded. The human brain compresses memories to cope with having so many, but he's forcing himself to download and decompress the memory files by reliving them each time we watch what happened."

Mina squinted. "In other words…"

Momo, though, turned pale. "Midoriya is getting overwritten," she realized out loud.

Ochako inhaled with shock. Her hands covered her mouth before she even knew that she wanted to scream. No! Not Deku! Why? Why did he have to face something so unfair? She tried to deny it was happening at all but knew that was a useless thought. "Is there anything we can do? Anything at all?"

Mei stood and stretched. Thinking about the problem seemed to help her cope with it. "The stone has a finite amount of information on it, but it's from an older version of Midoriya. There are years of memories in there. Interestingly, not all of them are just Midoriya's. As far as I can tell, they process into his brain differently than the ones native to his multiversal alternate. The ones we have to worry about are the ones belonging to the other version, the substitute. As those files decompress, Midoriya's brain will naturally compress his existing memories to make room for the new information. He's not being deleted, per se, but it is going to make his ability to remember his own life more difficult."

Mina wasn't having any of this. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're saying that, and someone, please check me if I messed up translating, that watching these videos is overloading Midori's brain? That while we all sit back and just watch, that he's taking it in way worse and that his own life is becoming harder to remember? That's too much. We have to stop."

"Midoriya won't stop, Ashido," echoed a voice from higher up in the stands. Kendo Itsuka descended the stairs from one of the upper exists, followed by Shiozaki Ibara. The class rep for 1-b clarified herself after finishing the last step of her descent. "From what little I know of him, he prioritizes becoming the kind of hero that rescues other people, not just the type that wins fights. He's endangered himself multiple times already, per your own words when describing your class to me. When someone else is in danger, he puts himself on the line before thinking the cost through."

Ochako choked out, "So? What does that have to do with this?"

Itsuka and Ibara both looked at Ochako with more pity in their eyes than she could stand. Maybe her face was puffy with all the emotion she was holding back, but it didn't mean they could look at her like that.

"It means," Itsuka elaborated, "that he's doing this, endangering his sanity, to save all of us. He's seen something in that stone that says we're all in danger, and he wants us warned and prepared. Against what and how I still don't know. What's clear, though, is that he's willing to risk being overwhelmed by whatever is in there if it means even one of us survives what's coming."

Momo turned beet red. She had been so focused on the fact that she and Midoriya had sex somewhere in these memories that she hadn't thought about the invasion. Midoriya was eroding his identity, and all she was worried about was a classmate seeing her breasts. Somehow that thought made her feel more shame than she'd endure if she stripped in front of everyone.

Momo found some resolve in that shame. "Mei, to repeat what Ochako asked. What do we do? He won't stop. So, what do we do to help?"

Her trademark grin of uncontainable and possibly unethical science returned to Mei's face. "We're going to have to ease him out of those memories and into the real world."

Ibara, fresh to the conversation, jumped in. "Who do you mean by 'we,' and why does your grin make me think your prescription involves something unsavory?"

The gleam in Mei's eyes made the other girls uncomfortable. "I mean everyone that he's had, hmmm, positive relationships with, in the context that world." She allowed that notion to sink in. "As for what that collection of people will do, well, psychology isn't my strong suit, but possibly some form of reenactment therapy would help him cope with the fact that this world and that one are different and help him pull his head out of his doppelganger's ass."

Ochako stammered. "Reenactment? Therapy?"

Mina, however, was blunter. "Did you just suggest that the three of us have sex with Midoriya? Like, he's cute, but I'm not signing up for that, thanks."

Itsuka leaped onto the topic. "You don't just mean the three of them, do you Hatsumei? Yaoyorozu, didn't you warn us that the other Midoriya had had affairs with a large number of women, members of classes 1-A and 1-B included?"

Ibara blushed and stepped back at the thought. Was she among them? Was her other self a fling that Midoriya had taken, then cast aside? Did Midoriya remember that or what she felt like, sounded like, how she tasted? As someone devoted to the idea of virginity until marriage, the thoughts running through her mind appalled her.

Momo nodded. "Yes, we were warned that he had… a significant number of conquests."

Itsuka raised a pointed finger as if marking her words. "We need a list, Yaoyorozu. For the sake of everyone's sanity, not just Midoriya's, we need it. We can discuss Mei's unorthodox suggestion after we know who she's suggesting should carry out her plan." The class rep of 1-b shot the support gear fanatic a sidelong glance. Her expression spoke volumes: don't volunteer other people to do dirty deeds you wouldn't do yourself.

Mei's smirking expression seemed just as loaded with unspoken words, and was a fantastic retort: who said I wouldn't?

Mina could sense the electric tension between the two of them as she looked back and forth. The ice here didn't need to break; it needed to melt. "So, Kendo, what did you two need? Not to be rude, but what made you come back?"

Once prompted, Ibara and Itsuka exchanged glances. Ibara spoke up. "Requesting a list of the other Midoriya's affairs was one of the reasons we came here. The other, though, was to suggest that everyone on that list meet up and discuss things." She turned crimson as she said the word "things" at the end.

Mina pressed onward, unable to stop herself. "Things? What kind of things?"

Ibara blushed a shade of crimson so deep that she almost seemed like a rose hidden away amidst the leaves and thorns of her hair. Itsuka chose that moment to step in. "We don't just need a list of who was intimate with Midoriya. We need to know, in explicit detail, what each of us is going to see when we watch these recordings of our other-selves. We also want to discuss how much, if anything, Izuku's carnal knowledge," she paused, coughing, unable to believe that she said those words.

Finally, Itsuka braced herself and dropped the bomb. "We want to discuss what we can uncover about ourselves, given that none of us have had sex yet. If there are things about ourselves that we can learn, obstacles we can avoid because we learn about them in advance, you know, that kind of thing."

Mina smiled prettily. "Oh, is that all?"

Ochako silently fumed in the background while all of this went on. No one seemed to notice except for Mei, who had enough sense of self-preservation to back away. "Is sex the only thing you all think is important here?! What about Deku?! Are any of you considering what else he's going through?" the brunette roared.

She had had enough. Gesturing to Mei even as she retreated, Ochako singled her out first. "You, considering therapy as an excuse for some experiment. I know you see him as a friend, but admit you can't help it when you see an opportunity for collecting more data."

No one, though, was safe from the wrath of Uraraka Ochako. "And you!" she moved on to corner Itsuka and Ibara together. "Your idea of a list isn't about checking on Deku! It's for you! What about Deku? We all just watched another version of him carry on with a plan to commit suicide and then get, well, sexually assaulted, or at least seduced by an older woman! Are any of us considering what kind of effect this is having on him, or are we all just here just to make sure the same doesn't happen to us?!"

Mina had a smug look on her face until Ochako's fire refocused onto her. "Ashido, you joke about us being a harem. Well, guess what?! There's more going on here than just sex! It's all fun and games to tease Momo or even me, but what are you going to do if you find out that Deku is in love with you? With Momo? With me? What are you going to do, since it's not even his fault?"

Not even Momo was safe. "And you!" Ochako turned on the taller girl. The brunette's eyes welled with tears. Her cheeks were puffy with amassed emotion.

Momo stood there, ready for whatever came next. "And me?" There wasn't a single ounce of defensiveness in her question.

Ochako's emotions spilled over. Tears flowed down her face. "How did you notice Deku wasn't acting like himself before I did? How come I didn't see it until you pointed it out?"

"Uraraka," Momo was getting closer to crying herself.

"Deku is getting overwritten… he has memories that aren't his. He might be in love with versions of us that he'll never see." Ochako sobbed. Her body heaved, refusing to let her rational mind regain control of her movements. "He needs help, and all we're thinking about is…"

Momo stepped forward, but her reach was tentative. She caught herself between the desire to embrace and comfort versus the restraint of her dignity, of a society where touch was invasive unless invited.

Mina, however, was freer. She stepped forward to hug her friend. Momo, seeing this, closed the last of the distance as well. Ochako, surrounded by comfort and warmth, learned just how good Momo and Mina were at hugs. Though the other three didn't join in, Ochako felt Mei, Ibara, and Itsuka place their hands on her arms as though to transmit apologies and comfort.

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"Young Midoriya," All Might began talking not long after their first breath of the night air. "Please, tell me how you're doing."

"I'll be fine, All Might," his successor said, sounding shy and thankful. "I can't let the first evening of this crack me. There's so much more I'll have to endure before I let it get to me."

Those were peculiar phrases that Midoriya chose, Toshinori observed. "Wearing a smile even when you don't feel it in your heart is a requirement for being a hero, Young Midoriya. It's still important to confide in those you can."

Toshinori had never seen Midoriya cast a sidelong glance. The expression seemed alien on the young man's usually eager and naïve face. "There is something beyond what we're seeing that is bothering me."

All Might waited for the next Symbol to continue.

"The other Izuku is in my head. There's a fragment of him inside, speaking to me from somewhere beyond the memories he's given me." Izuku spoke as though in terrified awe.

All Might stopped walking, turning towards the younger man. "I thought these memories were a gift from older versions of your classmates."

Young Midoriya's smile had too much guile, with too much calculation in his eyes. "It was a ruse, I'm sure. There's no way I would have trusted a package sent to me by myself. A label like that is one I probably would have rejected."

Toshinori internally conceded that he, too, would have been suspicious. "So, this other version of you is someone capable of deception, and of predicting the actions of his counterparts."

There was something painful in Midoriya's smile. "All Might, am I that hard to predict?"

Toshinori noted that Young Midoriya avoided answering his charge against the other Midoriya's deceptiveness. "What is the older Midoriya saying to you?"

The young man's expression became neutral, stern. "He says that I need to prepare, and to do that, I need more power."

None of this was heading in the direction that All Might thought the conversation would go in. He thought he had signed up to check on Midoriya's mental health. "More power? Do you mean more control of One for All?"

Young Midoriya's eye contact disconcerted parts of Toshinori's soul. "That too."

The two continued their walk, and Izuku revealed the kind of power that his counterpart meant. Toshinori found himself caught in currents beyond his control. The things he learned fashioned themselves into secrets the two of them shared, hidden because the other heroes were not prepared to learn.

Later, after the two parted ways, Toshinori realized he never directly asked about the parallel between Young Miroriya and his counterpart's desire to end his life.

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"Ochako!" Izuku cried out. The scene he returned to set his heart ablaze.

For one moment, all that mattered were the tears staining her face and the pain in her heart. His body moved before his mind processed his motives.

Ochako's lips trembled when Deku marched boldly into her personal space. His arms took hold of her. Strength enveloped her, protecting her. His muscles were hard, but his eyes were soft.

Mina and Momo stayed where they were, offering support by proximity. The others, though, stepped back. To Ochako, everyone else merely moved into lower or higher orbits while Deku rose like the sun. Somewhere inside her, she had to remind herself that he was the source of her concern as she worried herself to tears.

It was tragic. The man that she shed tears for rushed to brush her tears aside. "I have you," he whispered to her.

Then he kissed her.

It was not the tentative kiss of a teenager, the shy fumbling of a first kiss. It was the casual confidence of a man that had kissed her ten thousand times and looked forward to ten thousand more. Even as Ochako's heart lit on fire from his lips on hers, it broke. Was this kiss meant for her, or another version of her?

"I have you," he whispered as their lips parted. His forehead touched onto hers before he kissed one of her tears from her face.

"Midoriya," Mei cautiously injected herself into the situation without stepping closer. "Do you know where you are?"

"Not now, Mei," he said somewhat dismissively. "My wife needs me."

Ochako stiffened in his arms. He hadn't revealed that before. Worse, he wasn't holding and comforting her. His eyes were on his wife, the woman that owned his heart. "Deku, please, Deku," she urged through her tears.

He backed away from her. The look of realization and apology on his face felt like a dagger in her chest. "Uraraka, I'm sorry, I…"

Before he could retreat, Ochako latched onto his wrist. "Don't apologize, Deku. You couldn't help it. Please…" she sobbed.

Momo took hold of his other wrist while her other hand braced Ochako's back. "Midoriya, we're worried about you. You're not yourself."

Mina, usually the one to bring lighthearted comedy in to reduce tension, was caught off guard. "Midori, do you know where you are? You're at U.A., and you're training to become a hero. You just finished showing us a film of another version of you..."

Izuku shook his head. "I'm sorry. I lost myself there for a moment."

Mei sighed. "I thought this would happen, but not this soon."

Many eyes turned towards her, questioning. "The other Hatsume left lots of notes. She warned that Midoriya would be confused, continuously assaulted by memories that aren't his. He has to protect his identity."

"How is he supposed to do that?" Itsuka asked.

Mei stepped forward. "Calling him Deku helped. We need to find the things that distinguish one version of Midoriya from the other and remind him of who he is. We can't remove the memories, but we can help him process and separate them from how he views himself."

Ibara stepped in. "He's only fifteen, like the rest of us. How much sense of identity do any of us have?"

Ochako's grip on Izuku's wrist was almost as intense as the lock her gaze fixed onto his eyes. "Deku has a clear identity. He's a hero deep inside his heart."

Izuku felt uncomfortable heat rise to his cheeks. "Is, uh, Uraraka, is that what you really th-think of me?"

Ochako smiled, her cheeks wet with tears. His stuttering question was the most Deku-like think he had said all day. "It is."

Momo nodded. "This calls for more tea and cookies. You all want to visit us at 1-A?"

No one was hungry or thirsty, their minds far too cloudy, their brains louder than their stomachs, but everyone agreed that this invitation was a welcome one.

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A Note from the Author

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Well, after a prolonged absence from this work I have returned. I apologize to you all for having such a long break between updates, but my most recent chapter of "My Green Sun Prince Academia" became a monster that I had to break into two chapters! Even then, both halves ran quite long.

To make it up to everyone that reads this fic, I'll be putting up at least two more chapters of "The Reflection in the Viridescent Mirror" before returning to "My Green Sun Prince Academia" and addressing the cliffhanger I left everyone dangling off of there. I'll also reply to comments on the version of my main fic shortly, so if you have a comment or question you want me to answer, you still have time.

Lastly, the Discord server AABHAS and I have built remains sparsely populated. Those of you who join, please be patient as the community needs to grow before it can truly be engaging. It's probably the best place to tap me on the shoulder and ask when the next chapter of anything is coming. discord. gg/25BTet3