Most of her life was in boxes now, and Mina honestly wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about the fact. Excited? Nervous? Terrified, or happy? Her room had never looked so barren, and just about everything essential was in boxes now. Most of the walls now no longer had any posters or photos on them. There wasn't anything colourful or… Really Mina, left in the room anymore.
It was her room, and it was always going to be her room – No matter how much Mara insisted that he was going to claim it when she left – Yet it felt so alien to her now.
She wanted to leave. She had fought to leave, and because of Izuku, she was now able to leave.
But she couldn't help but feel sad about it.
Which was normal, she supposed. Anyone who was leaving home for the first time was bound to feel at least a bit upset. This was where she had grown up after all, and had spent a lot of her life. This room was her own space in this house. This house where her family was.
Feeling this way was impossible to avoid.
"This is the last box, Mina." On the balcony outside her room, Izuku had been assisting her in moving everything out, and packing it all into the moving trucks Yuuei had sent. "Are you coming?"
She'd just taken a moment to look back on her room, to take one final glance before she left and returned whenever she got the chance to. This certainly wasn't going to be the last time that she ever saw this place again. Not by a long shot. She was certain that she was going to visit all the time. Get chances to spend the night in her own bed again. Torment, and be tormented by her siblings. Deal with the messes that her parents got themselves into.
She wasn't leaving forever…
But still.
"Mina?" Izuku poked his head through the door, and noticed her. It took him a couple of seconds, but he seemed to realize what she was doing. He immediately took a step back and took a sharp intake through his clenched teeth. "O-Oh. Sorry. I… Do you need a moment?"
Izuku was going to be at Yuuei, and he was the reason that she was even getting to leave this place. She should be happier about it. To not be, after Izuku had spoken so fiercely for her, and done what he had done for her… To not be happy, to not be exited, it felt wrong, almost. Like she was just being so incredibly selfish that she didn't even have the words to describe it.
The pair of them had spent the night here, and while falling asleep, Mina hadn't felt any of this feeling of apprehension, or emotional murkiness. Come morning though, she was in a different mood. A different frame of mind. A… She didn't know.
She just…. Needed a minute. "Yeah, Izu. I'll be down in a bit."
Her boyfriend gave her a soft smile, and left, making his way down the stairs with the final box full of stuff. If there was one thing that Izuku was, it was understanding, and Mina couldn't help but be grateful to him and everything that he did for her, all the time. She probably owed him more than she ever owed anyone in her life. He was a good guy, and nothing was ever going to convince her otherwise. She loved the guy, after all.
Now she was going to get to live in the same building as him. She should be happy. Nothing but happy and excited.
A small sigh escaped her lips though. She wasn't. Well, she was happy about it. But she wasn't. And that made her feel bad. But excited. She didn't know. At this point, she wasn't even making any sense anymore, and didn't know what she felt.
Was feeling a pang of sadness here selfish? Or was she just really overthinking things?
"Yo, Pinky, we're all set." Micha's voice.
The pink girl blinked a couple of times. "I – I thought I told Izuku that I needed a bit."
"He said you needed a minute. It's been exactly sixty seconds."
Mina sighed, and couldn't stop a small smile making it's way onto her face. "You know, I'm not sure if I'm gonna miss that or not."
"You'll miss me and my bullshit every second of every day and you know it."
He wasn't wrong. Micha's antics and jokes always brought nothing but a smile to her face, and humor to her day. The pair of them drove one another up the walls in the best ways possible, and she was going to miss this quick-witted bastard of a brother she had.
Her quick-witted trickster with a heart of gold bastard of a brother. The best friend that she'd had for the majority of her life.
"I… I don't think I ever said thanks, for helping me and Izu, I mean." Mina's tone became sincerer. This wasn't really a subject that they should be joking about, after all. "Yesterday, with the whole' pushing our parents to let us go to Yuuei' thing."
"I didn't exactly do anything." Micha responded, shovelling his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. "He's the one who literally begged Mom and Dad to trust him."
"I know, but still. I think you helped push them over the edge on it."
"I guess." Micha shrugged, his expression neutral more than anything, like he wasn't convinced of his own importance in the way that things had gone. When all of his jokey ways were stripped from him, he was actually capable of being rather humble. His hand ran through his messy blond hair, scratching at his scalp as he continued to talk. "Still, there is a guy downstairs who, in the short time he's dated you, is not only willing to put his life on the line for you, but go that far just so you can keep going to whatever school you like, including dropping out of the top Hero school in the country just so he'll get to spend time with you outside of classes."
When put that bluntly, it made Mina blush gently. "I… I guess…" When she stopped to think about it, she and Izuku had only been dating for a short while. Barely even half a semester. Just a few months.
And yet, here they were, and they were as close as they were, in such a comparatively short space of time. She'd often heard that only husbands and wives would ever be willing to go that far for one another. Mina never really believed in the idea that people had to know each other for a certain amount of time before they could care about one another so much. She and Izuku were proof of that.
Still, when she stepped back to look at it…
"…You two are so going to get married."
Instantly, her gently blush exploded into a full lilac shade all over her face. On pure reflex, her eyes widened, and she turned to look at her brother, unsure if she was going to push him out of her room, or if she wanted to throw a fist at him, or anything else. "H-Huh – "
"I demand front row seats to everything. " Micha paused, smirking. "Except the bedding ceremony. You two can enjoy that on your own."
"Good to know you're not a voyeur at least…" Exasperation and embarrassment mixed in with Mina's weak, sarcastic, waverly response. Her lips were uneven, unsure if they were trying to smile in amusement, or frown in fluster. It was rare that she felt that way, and yet her brother was so quick and readily able to make her feel both.
He knew exactly what buttons to hit and when. He was clever like that.
"…Yeah. Definitely not gonna miss that part..."
"Give it three weeks and you'll be phoning me up every day for someone who can dish it out as well as they can take it." Her brother offered her an Ashido smirk before he stood upright. "C'mon. Time we got you to Yuuei. Midoriya's waiting for you."
Mina felt herself smile. Somehow, things felt better, and less depressing than they had a few moments ago. Maybe she had just needed a short while to laugh before finally saying goodbye.
One final scan of the room, and then she nodded.
"Right."
"There's... Gonna be a lot that we're gonna have to talk about when we get there, huh?"
Izuku looked towards Mina, an eyebrow raised up, before he came to fully understand her meaning. Once he did, his eyebrow lowered, and both symmetrically burrowed into his brow. With everything going on surrounding just making sure that Mina could keep on attending Yuuei, he hadn't really spared much thought as to what was going to happen once they got there.
He looked out a window, watching as the passing traffic went by. Some in the same direction as them, others in the complete opposite way. Buildings went past, all in a blur, so he couldn't really focus on any one thing. Both had made a beeline straight for the back seats, so they wouldn't be overheard, but honestly, Izuku didn't really know what to say.
In their talks, updating him, catching him up to speed with what had happened while he was the League of Villains' prisoner, Mina had confessed to telling all but admitting Izuku's Quirk wasn't his own, but someone else's, transferred to him. Thankfully, they didn't know it was All Might's, but still... It was going to create questions.
A lot of questions.
Mina sighed, and felt herself sink into her seat. Her chin tucked into her chest, and her hands flopped to her sides. "It's my fault. I'm sorry."
"It... It's nothing that we can't fix." Izuku said softly, though he was dealing with his own worries and doubts about the situation himself.
One For All was supposed to be a secret. That was what All Might had told him, to protect him from people who wanted to steal the powerful Quirk. There was bound to be so many people out there who wanted a Quirk with such destructive power as One For All for themselves, and whatever means that they had to go to in order to achieve such power, those who wanted it wouldn't have a limit to how low they would stoop.
They were lucky, all things considered, that it was just 1A that had learned the truth. There wouldn't be anyone in their class that would want to steal his Quirk for themselves, would there?
Even if there was, it wouldn't transfer without him wanting it to – Something he would never do. Not until the inevitable time to choose his own successor came.
Didn't mean that he had any idea how everything was going to work out now that his secret was out. All his life, he'd been bullied, ridiculed, and had all of his dreams dragged into the dirt because of his inherent lack of a Quirk. At Yuuei, he'd found acceptance, friends, and people who didn't care about any of that.
Now that they knew about his origins, was that going to change? Were his high school days now doomed to be just like his middle school ones? Was he now looking at another two and a half years of seclusion, exclusion and weird glances from people?
"If you're gonna say that, at least say it so you can convince yourself." The Acid Quirk user joked gently with the smallest of smiles, which inadvertently made her boyfriend feel both good and lousy about himself at the same time. Her eyes glanced towards his face, before falling back onto the ground. "It's my fault. I'm the one who blurted everything out to Baku... Togo? Is that what her name was? The transforming Villain?" Everything had gone down so fast, Mina struggled to remember some of the names of the Villains. They weren't really names she wanted to commit to memory anyway.
"Yeah." Izuku nodded. "Toga Himiko." A small shiver went up his spine. If there was one name that was going to make him feel cold at the mere mention for a while to come, it was going to be hers.
"Her. I blurted everything out when she disguised herself as Bakugou and said that in front of everyone. I... I wasn't in the best state then." She honestly felt rather embarrassed, thinking back on it now. How she had reacted, and how viciously she had tried to attack BakuToga. How she had lashed out and not been able to control herself, or keep herself calm.
She liked to think that she had learned from that... But the damage was done now. It was far, far too late to make any changes to what had happened now.
Izuku had trusted her. All Might had trusted her. Both of them had put their faith in her, and revealed the secrets behind Izuku's unusual Quirk, and entrusted their secret to her. Izuku would be more forgiving. Of course he would... But All Might?
Neither of them could know. Mina had spilled one of the world's biggest secrets to not only their class, but to the Villains too. Granted, their class didn't know One For All had come from All Might, but the Villains certainly would do. Then again, then again, with All For One leading the Villains, they might have already known anyway.
One For All and everything surrounding it was confusing.
All Might hadn't said anything back at the hospital, or when they met again to speak to her parents... But did he even know? And even if he had, both times, more pressing matters, like just making sure his successor was alive and well, were more important to the Pro Hero.
"...What d'you think All Might'll say?" She finally asked, turning her head to look at him. Her voice was low – It had been low this entire conversation, though she made efforts to make certain that there was no chance she wouldn't be overheard. "I mean… You guys trusted me, and I kind of…"
"I-I'm sure it'll be fine." Izuku's response was quick, and assuring. Like he needed the same reassurances himself. Mina wasn't a mind reader, but with him, she didn't need to be. His expressions of worry were all over his face. "To… To be honest, I imagine he's already heard about it by now… B-But… I guess that means there's a bigger issue to worry about."
Their classmates. Mina nodded gently, and felt her hand suddenly reach and grab hold of Izuku's, tightly, like on instinct. If they all knew, All Might had probably heard about it through them. Maybe one of them had asked about the possibility of transferring Quirks, or just felt the need to inform him of things. Still, it didn't do much to alleviate much of anything for either of them. "…Man, I'm glad you weren't there to see how I chewed everyone out…"
Of all the things she regretted, that had to be a big one. How she had lashed out at all her classmates, how she had said such harsh things to them, how she had virtually dismissed all of them, and called them cowards for not being as emotionally invested as she was. How she had acted wasn't excusable, even in her particular circumstances.
She knew they wouldn't hold it against her. Uraraka, Kirishima, and Yaoyorozu didn't seem to. Somehow, that made her feel worse though. Because really, she deserved to be called out on it, and be shunned for her actions. Even if she had a bigger emotional investment, even if she was one of the ones suffering the most out of this situation, it didn't make what she had said and done okay. It didn't make how she had treated her friends okay.
"I…. I'm sure if you just… I – I don't know…" Izuku hadn't been there. He didn't really know how things had gone down, so he couldn't really say with certainty. Still, he knew his classmates, and he knew how everyone at Yuuei was. "..I-I'm sure if you apologize, they'll forgive you…"
"Yeah… I know, but I still acted like that." She sighed. "It's not exactly my proudest moment." She was still ashamed of how she'd acted. She wasn't going to pretend that she was anything but ashamed at how she'd acted. The only thing she could really do was try to be better in the future.
Izuku didn't say anything else after that, feeling it was better than Mina figure out what it was that she wanted to do about it on her own. Giving her the answers, answers that he himself didn't even have anyway, certainly wasn't going to help her find the closure that she clearly needed.
Before Mina could say anything else, her phone suddenly buzzed in her pocket, letting her know of a notification she had just received. She took her hand from Izuku's, and reached into her hoodie, and hit the unlock button on the side. It was from Hagakure, and was a text that was – Filtering out all the emoji's that she used – a question about how long it was going to take for them to arrive. Apparently, their teachers had been around to the dorms to inform them that their classmates were finally going to show up today, and 1A was eager to see the two of them again.
"It's Tooru." Mina held up her phone to show Izuku before he could ask who it was from. "She says everyone's looking forward to us arriving."
Honestly, it did feel kind of good to know that they had been missed. It put a dumb grin on her face that she couldn't quite get rid of. She'd missed her classmates as well, more than she had actually realized, it turned out. She'd hardly spoken to any of them since leaving to rescue Izuku, and only been in sporadic contact with Uraraka and Kirishima. She missed their class. She missed being able to just goof off with friends.
She missed the way that things were before the lodge. Before everything went down.
Would they get the chances for thing to be just like that again? Or would things always be different now?
Both her and Izuku still had to deal with their experiences, and learn from them, and learn how to deal with them. To recover. Still, when she thought about it, it wasn't like her experiences had really affected her day to day life. During the events, certainly… But she hadn't had anything like a panic attack, or seen shadows in the shape of Villains, or anything else like TV and movies had said she should be suffering from. Even the staff at the hospital said there wasn't any certain trauma, but they should take it easy for a while. To let themselves mentally recover as well as physically.
There was that hope though. Maybe they could just go back to how everything had been. Maybe they could just learn from it and move on.
Maybe. If they worked at it.
The truck containing all of Mina and Izuku's things arrived a short while before Izuku and Mina actually had themselves. Mina's mother was the one driving, and she certainly hadn't been happy when another driver had cut her off at one of the traffic lights, so she ended up getting separated from the moving truck. It had then fallen down t Izuku and Mina to guide her there based on observations that they had surrounding the school themselves.
While it had taken a bit longer, eventually they had found the main gate. For a while, no one was actually there, and they had to await a member of staff to actually let them into the grounds proper. Normally, they would not have had to, but because of their separation, they had to, just to be safe.
Yuuei was past the point of taking any chances anymore.
"It took you two long enough to get here."
When the staff member placed on duty came up, both Mina and Izuku blinked. None other than Aizawa had been sent to check that everything was in order.
There wasn't any doubt that it was because he was their homeroom teacher. Every single precaution, no matter how small or minor it seemed, was being taken anymore. Izuku even suspected that the dorms were in place to lower the chances of anyone being able to sneak into the school facilities.
Still, despite the reputation that Aizawa had within their class, Izuku and Mina both couldn't help but feel something that bordered outright joy at the sight of a – reasonably – friendly face for the first time in a long while. "Aizawa-sensei!"
"You know this man?" Mina's father turned his head over his shoulder to look at his daughter, like he was making sure himself that he wasn't about to place her into the care of people they didn't even know.
"Uh huh. He's our homeroom teacher."
Mika blinked. "Aizawa – Wait, your homeroom teacher is the Erasure Hero?!"
"Yeah. I've told you that before, haven't I?"
"This is the first I'm hearing about it!" Micha commented.
"Then you don't listen very well, melt boy."
The homeroom teacher shrugged, clearly not too interested in being recognized by members of the public. Instead, he made a gesture to Izuku to lower his window down, which he did. He then leaned down o her could see his student. "Midoriya. How did the recovery go?"
"I, uh…" Izuku blinked twice. He couldn't tell if the Erasure Hero was interested because he wanted to know if Izuku was going to be virtually useless in classes from now on, or if he was genuinely concerned about his student. Or both. Still, he held up his arm to show the scars. "I uh, th-the doctors said I shouldn't go full power again for a while… But I'm okay otherwise. I just need to get used to using my arms again…"
Aizawa seemed to notice Izuku's mother flinching again at the sight of the scars. He also took a moment to inspect them himself. "Yuuei'll get a full medical report before the end of the day. If you're feeling up to it, we'll put you in classes tomorrow."
Izuku nodded. "Yes sir!"
The scruffy adult stood upright again, and then glanced at the three adults. Both Mina's parents were in the front, and Inko was in the middle row, along with Micha and Mika and Mara, both of whom were on one of their elders laps respectively to make room in the car, so Izuku and Mina could sit in the back.
He then pressed his staff ID against one of the scanners on the wall, which then deactivated the Yuuei defense grid, metal seeming to disappear into the ground below.. Pointing towards the new buildings on the campus, he spoke. "You'll spot the truck if you head that way. Got a big 1A on the front. Their luggage is already unloaded and being transported to their rooms."
With a handwave of thanks, Mina's mother followed the instructions that she had been given to an exact letter, quickly locating the truck that had evaded her on the highway. There were two of the drivers, apparently having finished moving all of the things into both Mina and Izuku's rooms, and were pulling up the ramp back into the containment unit itself.
By the time that Mina's mother had parked up, the truck had already left.
"Oh wow, it's huge!" Mina practically pressed her face up against the glass of the car as she observed the enormous building that was to be 1A's home for the next couple of years.
Yuuei didn't spare any expense, on anything at all, it turned out. The building was enormous, maybe five or six floors in total. It could easily host everyone from 1A, plus maybe even everyone from 1B if they wanted to. But this was all for 1A, and no other classes. This was their own space – And they had so much of it, it was probably too much for just one class.
He certainly wasn't complaining though. The place was like a freaking castle.
"Damn." Micha whistled, opening his car door to get out of the car, and putting his hands on his hips as he looked up. "Yuuei really doesn't mess around, does it?"
One by one, everyone got out of the vehicle, all to say goodbye to both Izuku and Mina. Hugs, ranging from awkward and gently to so tight they threatened to cut off the breathing to their lungs. Words and whispers of goodbyes, and gentle words of affection as they all prepared to part.
For a parent, saying goodbye to their child for the first time as they went to live on their own wasn't ever easy. Mina's parents were a lot better about it than Inko was though, wishing their daughter well and hoping that she managed to enjoy her time there, as well as reminding her to stay safe and away from all of the dangers that they were horrified of her running into. Her younger siblings hugged at her legs, before she knelt down to give them real hugs of their own.
Inko was busy smothering her son in hugs and almost drowning him in tears of her own, as was to be expected of a family as emotional as the Midoriya's were. The mere sight of it honestly was enough to make Mina laugh.
"Here."
Shoved immediately into her hands, was the rucksack that Micha had had thrown over his back since the group of them had all left the house. Mina hadn't really questioned it, because he always seemed to carry one whenever he went out of the house, mostly out of habit at this point. She hadn't actually expected it to be thrown at her like this. It was heavy – Surprisingly so for the size of the bag.
"Open it once you get into your room."
"Why, you loaded this thing up with stuff that'd make Mom blush?"
"A bit. Mostly cause I know you'll try to justify not taking it if you open it now. So just wait until we're gone, yeah?"
Mina smiled gently. "If you say so."
The pair of sibling then ended up pulling one another into a quick, but friendly hug. Micha could be awkward about this sort of thing, and he wasn't exactly the best when it came to saying bye, so he kind of just awkwardly shuffled away, backup up into the car the first chance he got.
Shortly, he was followed by the grown-ups. "You be safe, okay Izuku?"
"I will Mom. I promise."
"Make sure you look after Pinky too, right?"
"I – I will."
"Mina, you know how parents are supposed to say, just be yourself and everything will work out fine?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"Try doing the exact opposite of that."
"Love you too, Dad."
"Kick some ass, Mina!"
"Language, Mara."
"Good luck!"
Their exchanges and goodbyes lasted until they were finally out of earshot, and the car had finally exited the Yuuei premises. There was a sudden silence, as both Izuku and Mina felt themselves become lighter and heavier both at the same time, and then looked towards one another.
"So… I guess that's that then, huh?"
"I… I guess so."
Both of them looked towards their new home. "I guess we better let everyone know we're here."
As Mina finished talking, Izuku glanced towards the bottom floor windows. He wasn't sure if to be horrified, or to smile. "I… I think they already know."