Chapter Text
Despite the chill in the air, an icy tingling signaling the ending of autumn and beginning of winter, Shouto and Midoriya had left the warmth of their dorm for an early morning run. They’d taken to running together on the weekends and on any other days they could scrounge up some free time. Midoriya always seemed to be busy lately, between work studies, homework, and quirk training, Shouto found it difficult to get a moment alone with him.
A stiff breeze bit at his cheeks as he jogged beside him, doing his best to keep up with the rapid pace Midoriya set. He did enjoy spending time with him like this, even if he could do without the running. But knowing Midoriya enjoyed running it made him want to try to like it. It might not be his favorite way to stay fit, but if it meant he could spend the morning with his best friend, he could tolerate it.
Rounding a corner, Yuuei’s gates came back into view, and he pushed himself forward, his leg muscles protesting. Still panting, he sent a glance over to Midoriya, who shot him a quick grin, gently nudging him with his shoulder. “You made it!” he joked.
“Thank goodness,” Shouto said, returning the smile as their pace slowed as they jogged through campus, and they came to a stop in front of their dorm building, much to Shouto’s relief. His lungs feeling fit to burst, he collapsed on a bench, legs like jelly. “I don’t understand how you have so much energy,” he asked. “How are you not tired? We ran nearly four miles.”
“That’s not so bad,” he insisted as he began his cool-down stretches. “I’ve started running so much more since I’ve started focusing on using my legs with my quirk, so four miles doesn’t seem like that much anymore. Besides, I couldn’t stop thinking about that new villain I’d heard about in Musutafu!”
Shouto shook his head, furiously draining his water bottle. It was so like Midoriya to be so distracted analyzing heroes and villains he forgot about everything else. He listened as he rambled, barely out of breath despite their long workout.
“So, you see, this new villain isn’t physically very powerful, but his quirk disorients people enough that he’s able to evade being captured. From what I’ve gathered, he erases pieces of people’s memories,” he explained as he stretched one arm, then the other, displaying impressively toned muscles. Shouto covertly watched him from the corner of his eye. Oblivious to the subtle admiration, Midoriya continued his rant as he stretched his calves.
“For example, if he were to take the Yuuei entrance exam, he’d probably fail, since he’d be going against robots and his combat ability is so low. But if he were to compete in the sports festival, he’d have a decent shot. I’m just not sure how his quirk works if spread out over multiple people,” he wondered, dropping into a lunge. “It’s possible that the overall effect would be weakened or have a shorter time span. He’s been spotted in a few neighboring towns. Who knows, we might even have a chance to fight him.”
“You’ve sure done a lot of research,” Shouto commented, interrupting his monologue.
“Oh, I just think it would be good to be prepared.” Midoriya’s eyes lit up at Shouto’s interest as he lunged forward with the other leg. His smile spread across his whole face, making the skin around his eyes crinkle. “You never know what you might encounter as a hero. Police and hero agencies have been trying to figure out his quirk is activated, but the problem is, none of the people hit with his quirk remember anything, so they’re completely dependent on bystanders for information, which unfortunately calls into question the accuracy of the reports,” he lamented, flopping down on the bench beside Shouto. “People have been theorizing that it’s a blood-based quirk, and there have been comparisons online of him to Stain, but personally I don’t think that’s likely.”
“Why do you say that?” Shouto asked. He wasn’t terribly interested in this topic, but he wanted an excuse to keep listening to Midoriya.
Flustered with Shouto’s full attention suddenly being turned on him, Midoriya blushed, his cheeks flushing a deep crimson hue. “Well,” he continued briefly glancing away from Shouto, “many of the victims have only minor scrapes or bruises, not enough to draw enough blood to activate a quirk. And also, blood-based quirks are incredibly rare! It seems more likely that his quirk is voice activated like Shinsou’s brainwashing or based on physically touching someone. . .”
Descending into indecipherable mutterings, Midoriya continued to theorize about the villain’s quirk. Lost in his own little world, he forgot his earlier embarrassment, growing more animated as he spoke. What he didn’t notice was how Shouto watched him, staring as the breeze tousled his hair, tossing curls in his eyes as he mumbled. All the while, his fingers moved through the air as if to take invisible notes, oblivious of his surroundings.
Cute.
Shouto couldn’t bring himself to be bothered by Midoriya’s sudden absorption in the topic, though. He enjoyed watching Midoriya get so animated about something. So often when Midoriya got off on a tangent, he would break off mid-rant, embarrassed. He couldn’t count the number of times Midoriya had snapped his mouth shut in the middle of a sentence, or trailed off, as if he thought no one would care if he just stopped talking.
It made Shouto feel oddly warm inside that Midoriya felt comfortable with him to ramble on about something he was interested in. And he loved listening to him. Loved watching him light up as he talked, knowing it was a rare privilege to see him like that without him shutting down or apologizing for talking too much.
The show of trust Midoriya offered by sharing one of his obsessions with him was something he treasured, knowing all too well that trust didn’t come easily.
Even if this particular obsession happened to be something so dull as the exact specifics of the quirk of a low-level villain targeting nearby cities, it felt nice knowing he trusted him enough to let his guard down. Shouto wasn’t used to being that person to someone.
Midoriya, too caught up in his story, leaning forward as he talked with bright eyes flashing, failed to notice how closely Shouto was watching him. Shouto knew he should probably look away; if he wasn’t careful Midoriya would catch him staring, but he couldn’t bring himself to avert his gaze. Midoriya was smiling widely and motioning with his hands to illustrate each point. The sun danced off his green curls, making them look even more vibrant than normal.
Midoriya pulled out his phone, ready to pull up a chart illustrating sightings of the villain and local police force response times (he’d already shown Shouto articles with pictures of the villain and testimonials from the first two victims), when he noticed the time. Startled, he jumped up. “I didn’t realize so much time had passed! I was supposed to be training with—I’m sorry for talking your ear off but—I’ve really got to go!” he shouted over his shoulder as he hurried away.
Shouto wondered how on earth Midoriya could still be so energetic as he watched him dash off. No matter how tired he was, Midoriya was always smiling. Even though Shouto didn’t understand how Midoriya constantly kept up his cheerful demeanor, he admired it.
* * *
Later that day, Izuku dragged himself back to the dorm building. He’d been training nonstop lately. When he wasn’t at his work study, he either worked out on his own or trained with All Might like he had been today.
Kacchan joined him again. He found it helpful to have someone else’s input in training One for All, but he’d wished that he were working with Todoroki instead. It would be nice to work more with Todoroki and figure out how to best understand and control his quirk with him. Izuku’s mind returned to how patiently Todoroki had listened to him today, and the way he almost just barely smiled when he thought no one was looking at him. Todoroki would be a wonderful partner to strategize with.
Not that he wasn’t grateful for Kacchan’s help! But he felt bad that he had to run off and make excuses about what he was doing again, and Todoroki could bring another new perspective, not to mention they always worked so well together.
Also, whenever he spent time with Todoroki, he felt so happy and warm inside—
Izuku shook his head. Todoroki was his friend. It was normal to feel happy spending time with your friends. Though, he had to admit to himself that he never felt quite the same about spending time with any of his other classmates. Even the ones he was especially close to, like Uraraka, Iida, or Tsuyu.
Uraraka had even confronted him about it, declaring that he liked Todoroki, and no amount of protesting had changed her mind. Todoroki was his friend, and Izuku never wanted to do anything to hurt their friendship or make things weird between them.
Uraraka had promised to be quiet about it but couldn’t seem to resist pushing them together any chance she got, whether it was arranging things so they sat next to each other at dinner or making sure he and Todoroki were on the same team if they played a game.
When Izuku entered the dorm, he noticed Uraraka and Todoroki playing chess together, with Iida attempting—and failing—to teach Uraraka how the pieces were supposed to move.
“Uraraka, the pawn only moves diagonally when capturing another piece!” Iida waved his arms for emphasis.
“But there’s a horse just sitting there—” Uraraka protested, indignantly.
“It is a knight and it is your piece. You can’t capture your own pieces!”
Undisturbed by Iida’s exasperation, Todoroki looked on, his eyes landing on Izuku. “You’re back,” he stated.
“Oh, Deku! How was training?” Uraraka smiled at him and took her rook and hopped it diagonally over one of her pawns and Todoroki’s bishops.
Among Iida’s protests that the knight is the only piece that can move over the top of the other chess pieces, Izuku answered that it had been productive. He glanced at the board. Though Izuku was by no mean an expert at the game, it was clear to him that Todoroki was winning. Izuku loved the look of total concentration Todoroki had when considering his moves, and the way he would carefully consider and reconsider every play. He was precise and controlled, just as he was with his hero work, but never lacking in passion, committing himself fully whether on or off the board.
Uraraka, in contrast, hilariously had no concept of the rules or moves of chess. Izuku was pretty sure that she made things up on the spot at times just to mess with Iida.
It sure made it entertaining to watch.
“You know, Deku,” she said, plunking her bishop down, “You should play the winner! We’ll probably finish the game by the time you get out of the shower!” Todoroki captured her bishop, and she shoved her rook to the opposite end of the board. “King me!” She declared, smirking as she watched a pained Iida do his best to resist from correcting her again.
“Did you just volunteer me to play a round of chess with Izuku,” Todoroki asked her as he captured the rook she’d just moved.
“I could still win!”
“I captured eight of your pieces in a row.”
“Todoroki, don’t feel like you have to play another game if you don’t want to,” Izuku protested, waving his hands out in front of himself. He could feel that his cheeks were flushed and fought the urge to cover his face with his hands. Honestly, Uraraka was so obvious about setting them up sometimes. At least Todoroki didn’t seem to notice.
“I don’t mind playing another game. At least you follow the rules.” Todoroki stated, and Izuku stifled a laugh.
“Hey, I’m creative!” Uraraka declared as Iida buried his face in his hands.
“You literally tried to float your king away and claimed it was a new way of castling,” Todoroki reminded her.
“If you’re sure that’s fine, I’d love to play a game of chess with you!” Izuku shot a look at Uraraka, who was smiling smugly at him.
“For your information,” she said, turning back to Todoroki, “I am a joy to play with. I make the game interesting! Otherwise, all the horses or whatever would just be moving in straight lines or something.” She waved her had dismissively at the board.
“They are knights and the never move in straight lines. They—why do I still bother?” No one had an answer to Iida’s question.
“I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to play with people who don’t shout Uno after every time they capture a piece,” Todoroki deadpanned.
Izuku burst out laughing. “I guess someone has to save you from that.”
“You’d be my hero.”
“Oh—well—I guess I’d better go shower so we can play a round next!” Dashing off to shower quickly as possible, Izuku felt his face turning a deep shade of crimson, grateful that he’d already left the room. It was silly to get so flustered over a simple sentence, wasn’t it?
After showering, he changed into clean clothes and made his way back down to the common room. Uraraka had apparently lost in the time he’d been gone and was now lounging on one of the couches. She grinned at him as he walked in the room, raising her eyebrows and darting a glance to over where Todoroki was setting up the board for another game. Izuku sat down at the table across from him and they began their game.
It was nice playing chess with Todoroki. He was so calm and content when he played, it was soothing just to be around him. While Izuku was by no means an expert chess player, he could for the most part keep up with Todoroki, and predictably found the challenge interesting.
“It’s interesting what you can learn from someone by watching them play. Are they a cautious person? Are they willing to take risks? What are they willing to sacrifice to get their goals? It’s fascinating to be able to get such a glimpse of someone’s personality just through watching how they act during one game. Though I suppose that with less experienced players it’s less telling because they aren’t used to how the pieces move or—”
Mortified, Izuku snapped his mouth shut. He’d been speaking aloud. A blush crept over his face at the awkwardness of spilling his thoughts in front of Todoroki again. At least he hadn’t started to analyze Todoroki to his face. That would have been hard to recover from.
“I don’t know, I think you still learn something about novice chess players.” He flicked his eyes over to where Uraraka sat. “For example, Uraraka wants chaos, and she plays like it.”
“Hey!” She whipped her head back around to glare at him.
Something about the way that Todoroki said everything with a straight face made it even funnier. Izuku laughed, head tipping forward as he giggled, eyes dancing. “You may have a point there,” he agreed, grinning.
A light smile played around Todoroki’s mouth. “I don’t care if she doesn’t understand how the game works. You can never convince me she doesn’t know the difference between chess and Monopoly.”
Izuku’s entire chest warmed when Todoroki directed his almost-smile in his direction. That was it. He was just going to dye his whole face red. It’d save time in the long run. Izuku let his gaze drop to the board, finding it easier to regain his composure when not looking directly at Todoroki.
As much as Uraraka’s unsolicited interference had the tendency to turn Izuku into an awkward, blushing mess, he was, at the same time, reluctantly grateful. It was nice to spend time with Todoroki like this.
Not that he’d ever tell her that.
* * *
By Yuuei standards, or at the very least, Izuku’s, the day started out a very ordinary Tuesday. Of course, most people’s Tuesdays don’t consist of chasing purse snatchers through the streets, but as a hero work study student at the Endeavor Hero Agency, that’s just what Izuku found himself doing, alongside Todoroki and Kacchan. They had been dealing with mostly petty criminals that week, no actual villains having made themselves known.
As much as the three students would have appreciated the experience dealing with more hardened criminals, each had to admit that they were relieved to have a break from fighting any serious threats. Izuku wouldn’t mind not being targeted by a major villain organization for a long, long time. There was a difference between patrolling along known routes with experienced heroes and sidekicks and being attacked while at the mall or out grocery shopping alone.
He could stand to go without the latter for a good long while.
He happily chatted with Todoroki as they walked to the train station, having changed out of their hero costumes and back into civilian clothing at the agency. Kacchan didn’t seem as annoyed by Izuku’s chattering as sometimes, and occasionally even allowed himself to be included in the conversation, though he grumbled when they tried to talk to him too much.
Despite the fact that Kacchan’s personality had mellowed out a bit since they’d first begun at Yuuei, he hadn’t changed so much as to not be irritated by Izuku. But Izuku no longer found himself as intimidated by him, bolstered by his new-found confidence and friends. It was easier to be around this newer version of Kacchan. It almost reminded him of when they were kids and actually friends. Shaking his head, he smiled to himself, and turned his attention back to their conversation.
They were in the midst of an animated discussion about last week's training exercise. They'd been on different teams, so Izuku enjoyed comparing their different experiences. As he talked, Todoroki’s eyes followed him, tracking the movements of his hands as he described some of the moves he and Yaoyorozu had executed when fighting Tsuyu and Kaminari.
Todoroki interrupted him by placing a hand on his arm, his expression serious. “Midoriya,” his voice was hushed. “Look, over on the platform by the woman with the pink hair. Does something seem . . . off to you?”
At that, Izuku cautiously directed his gaze to where Todoroki had indicated, careful not to turn his full attention on the person. An unassuming man stood next to a woman with neon pink hair swirled on top of her head. He shivered, a strange feeling washing over him. The man wasn’t doing anything too strange, but Todoroki was right. Something did seem off. The way he looked around or jumped if any of the other commuters got too close set off alarm bells in Izuku’s head. He had the collar of his coat pulled up high over his face, as if he was trying to hide from someone. And something about him seemed strangely familiar.
“You’re right, something’s wrong,” he whispered. “He’s acting suspiciously. Be careful,” he warned, glancing at his friends, “don’t let him get too close.” Todoroki nodded, setting down the case containing his hero costume, and shifting into a stance ready for fighting.
“Whatever! I know how to do my job!” Kacchan hissed, and likewise tossed down his bags, albeit with more force than necessary. “You don’t have to be telling be what to do all the time,” he argued.
“I know that, I was just agreeing with Todoroki that something suspicious is going on,” Izuku mumbled. He’d only been confirming his friend’s suspicions, Kacchan didn’t need to take offence at everything he said. “Careful, don’t draw attention to us. He might panic, and there are too many civilians around.”
The man already appeared on edge. His eyes shifted, scanning the crowds, paranoia evident in the way he carried himself, the jumpiness at anyone who came within an arm’s reach of him. Izuku carefully turned his head, keeping him in the periphery of his vision. No need to give him any reason to panic any more than he was already.
However, the problem with paranoid people is they tend to make rash decisions.
Several of the people waiting for the train had noted the man, staring and whispering. They were mostly tired-eyed commuters returning home from work for the day. None of whom were trained heroes, none who had experience dealing with a situation like this.
The myriad of eyes settling on the man made him twitch, and Izuku cringed, wishing he could shoo everyone away to somewhere safe without startling the man into acting rashly. Izuku knew he would have to act sooner or later. He could see the stranger working himself up. With no other heroes around, he would soon have no choice but to act. But not yet. He needed to wait. There were too many people around. If he acted too soon, if he moved while there were still civilians in between him and the suspect, people could get hurt.
He glanced to his side, relieved to see that Todoroki and Kacchan had also taken note of the stranger’s agitated state and shifted their stances, ready to jump into action at a moment’s notice. They all observed as best they could without being obvious, watching the man’s jerky movements and the way he scanned the crowd. The man’s eyes settled on the trio, quite recognizable even out of their Yuuei uniforms. The stranger tensed, eyes widening as his face twisted into a scowl, and he whipped his head from side to side searching for an escape route. Desperate, the stranger surged forward and grabbed the pink haired woman he’d been standing next to, shoving her with all his strength off the train platform, and then took off.
“I’ve got her, you go after him! I’ll call for backup!” Izuku was already moving, green sparks flying as he leapt, reaching out with Black Whip to catch the woman before she hit the ground. After making sure she was unhurt, he notified the authorities of the villain attack, trying to be as efficient as possible. But by the time he got off the phone, the villain, Todoroki, and Kacchan were nowhere to be seen.
Izuku ran off in the general direction that he’d seen them go. Using One for All to jump on top of one of the buildings, he leapt from rooftop to rooftop, keeping his eyes peeled for the criminal. The wind whipped through his hair as he dashed up and around the buildings, green lightning crackling from his skin.
He paused on the roof one of the shops, breathing heavily, scanning the streets for anything that seemed out of place. Now where are you? He chewed his lip as his eyes scanned the horizon. Movement flickered out of the corner of his eye, and he squinted his eyes, spotting what appeared to be a person slinking through the alley.
Crouching low so as not to be noticed, he crept along the roof, keeping an eye on the figure below. Squinting, he could just make out the silhouette of the villain in the shadows of an alleyway. The villain was moving slower now, slinking between the buildings, as he tried to remain undetected. Izuku inched in closer and used Full Cowl to leap down to where the villain hid and caught him with Black Whip, snaking the tendrils of his quirk around the man’s torso and managing to pin down one of his arms as he landed.
The man struggled against Black Whip’s coils, trying to free his other arm. Kicking out, Izuku swept his feet from under him, and he went down. Placing his knee on the man’s back, he pulled out his phone to alert the authorities of his position.
Flailing with his free arm, the man grabbed at Izuku’s ankle, and struggled to twist his head around to look him in the eyes. His irises were strange, a pale gold color with dark lines around the edges, much like the face of a clock, with a menacing quality that made him shiver. Where had he seen him before?
As the man stared him in the eyes, Izuku felt a strange, almost burning sensation of skin-on-skin where the man’s hand met the bare skin of his ankle. The man’s eyes glowed, going from a light ochre color to a vibrant orange. Izuku tried to blink or look away, but the villain’s eyes seared into his.
It burned. It burned it burned it burned—
He felt paralyzed, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t think. The pain was intense, a dreadful throbbing in the back of his skull, relentlessly pounding. His skin burned and Izuku felt his energy drain from his body, leeching out from where the man’s hand met his skin.
Interesting. It must be a secondary effect of his quirk, he theorized, eyelids heavy with a leaden weight dragging them down. His head dipped forward, and Izuku swayed, ground no longer steady underneath his feet.
“Gotcha,” the man wheezed, and Izuku’s legs gave out. He fell, knee’s striking the rough pavement of the alley. Breathing heavily, he lowered his head, the world swirling in front of him. He heard the man drag himself up and scurry away, but he couldn’t stand, couldn’t think. The last of his energy left him, and he slumped over, passing out in the shadowy street, alone.
* * *
Midoriya wasn’t back yet. It wasn’t like him to not answer his phone. Shouto supposed it was possible he’d lost or broken it, but even if he’d managed to break his bones again, he still wouldn’t just disappear without making sure everyone knew where he was or what was going on. He would have found some way to contact them. Even in Hosu, Midoriya had managed to alert people that he was in trouble.
Something was wrong.
Shouto tried to push back his worry as he and Bakugou explained to the police what had happened, and about how they’d found the man limping away a good two miles from the train station. He had been easy to capture when they’d caught up to him and hadn’t been able to put up much of a fight when Shouto froze him and handed him over to the police.
Impatiently, he and Bakugou wrapped things up with the police. They waited at the train station for Midoriya to reappear, while Shouto tried to call him once again. Still no answer. Shouto scanned the crowds, hoping to catch a glimpse of green hair.
“We should go look for him,” Shouto insisted, phone to his ear as he listened to it go to voicemail once again.
“Don’t tell me what to do!” Bakugou grumbled, but he had already started walking. “Why are you following me!?”
“If there’s a problem, we should probably stick together.” If there was a problem, if Midoriya was in trouble, Shouto wanted one of the strongest, albeit one of the most annoying, of his fellow classmates to help. If someone was strong enough to harm Midoriya, he would take no chances. And despite Bakugou’s protests, Shouto could tell that he was genuinely worried about where Midoriya might have gone, not that he’d ever admit it.
They hunted for Midoriya, roaming up and down the streets, as the sun dimmed in the sky and streetlights began to flick on. It had been over an hour since they were supposed to have headed back to Yuuei. Nearly the same amount of time had passed since they had seen Midoriya.
He called again. No answer.
The possibility of the League having something to do with this lurked in the back of Shouto’s mind, but he did his best to ignore it. Worrying would solve nothing, so he pushed down the panic threatening to well up inside of him and focused on the task at hand. His energy would be better spent looking for Midoriya.
They combed the streets and alleys. Even Endeavor’s sidekicks assisted with the search. Shouto couldn’t even bring himself to be annoyed at his father’s interference, not that the man himself took the time to help. He’d work with Stain himself if it meant that Midoriya would be safe.
Desperate, they had taken to calling his name, hoping that he wasn’t too injured to respond. Shouto didn’t even let himself think about what they would do if Midoriya wasn’t here.
“Midoriya!” he called, voice ragged.
“Deku! Where are you, you stupid nerd!”
“Is it any wonder he doesn’t respond when you talk to him like that,” Shouto chided.
“Shut up, Icy Hot!” Bakugou glared at him, but despite his angry outburst, Shouto could see the worry in his eyes.
Shouto continued searching, tuning Bakugou out for the most part. Midoriya was fine. Midoriya had to be fine. Shouto trusted that Midoriya could defend himself. He did, he really did, but terrible things happened anyway, and Midoriya would disregard his own safety in an instant if it meant protecting someone else. Unbidden, images of Midoriya, limbs shattered, body broken, but still smiling, flashed through his mind.
He's fine.
The man they’d faced today was just one villain, Shouto reminded himself. Just one villain, and from what they’d seen, a low-level one at that. He didn’t seem to have any real combat skills. He was certainly no match for someone as powerful and strategic as Midoriya. But it didn’t matter how many or what sort of villains Midoriya might face. He would never let someone be hurt if there was something he could do about it, even if it meant sacrificing himself. He was selfless to a dangerous degree, and it scared Shouto.
And, heaven help him, Shouto loved him for it. He loved that Midoriya was determined to save everyone with a smile. He’d even permanently disfigured his hand in an attempt to help Shouto even though he’d never so much as said a kind word to him. And it had worked.
Now, they were friends and Shouto would do anything to help him. While Midoriya might be perfectly able to take care of himself, he needed someone to make sure that he didn’t neglect his own needs. Someone to fight alongside and have his back. Shouto was determined to be there to protect him.
They circled back to the train station, hoping to see Midoriya there, waiting for them. It was empty save for the typical evening passengers and remaining police officer, still interviewing witnesses. One of the officers spotted them and walked over, her mouth pressed in a thin line. “Todoroki and Bakugou, right? You were the ones who brough the villain in.”
Shouto nodded. “That’s us.”
“Is your friend still missing?” she asked.
“Yeah.” Bakugou glared at her.
“I’m sorry. You must be worried about him,” she sympathized, nodding gravely. Shouto wanted to ask why more people weren’t helping look for him if she really was so worried. “Were either of you aware of who it was you caught today?”
“No,” Shouto admitted, a pit of unease growing in his stomach.
“His name is Hashimoto Genji, and he’s wanted in four prefectures. His quirk is memory erasure.”
Shouto felt as if the breath had been knocked out of him. Memory erasure? This was bad. His mind drifted back to the villain Midoriya had told him about the other day. Could they be the same person? They had the same quirk. It seemed too strange an occurrence to be a coincidence.
But if this were true, it made things infinitely worse.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Midoriya would be okay. He had to be.
He had to be.