Version A, Too | Boku No Hero Academia Reader Insert

XVI: The End of the Horizon

It was an unusually quiet week.

Though I supposed "unusually quiet" was better than "unfamiliar," I still found myself out-of-touch with the new schedule and environment.

For one, the new virtual lessons, despite them being as enriching as in-person classes, were lacking an element of depth.

I couldn't pay attention as well as I used to, to say the least.

My eyes often drifted from the screen, coming to rest on a particular spot of my desk -- a small patch of scratches from when I had angrily scribbled out some wrong answer on a homework assignment -- and unfocusing, leaving me in a daze. I found myself replaying certain parts of videos because I had completely tuned the lesson out in my stupor, white noise buzzing in my brain in the place of valuable education.

Was it because I was just out of it? Didn't get enough sleep during the night, or didn't have a good breakfast?

Or perhaps it was because I was preoccupied with other things. Maybe I didn't want to see them for the time being. I didn't want to see Aizawa, or any of the other teachers. I didn't want to hear them, I didn't want to listen to the righteousness that was seemingly present in their tones. It was a big generalization, from what I was aware, to mirror my trauma onto those uninvolved, but I couldn't help it.

Despite the apologies and the heart-to-hearts, it would take more time to recollect myself and be able to properly face the brilliant world again. I convinced myself that after enough time, after enough effort, I would be okay again -- I would be normal again. I could resume the undertaking of my position in the world and have the capacity to deal with any obstacles I would be faced with.

Once faced with day, I would spread my arms and feel warmth soak into my skin as I turned to the Sun. My eyelids would flutter shut and I would melt into the sky -- perfect, pure, comfortable, familiar. Just as my previous life had been.

Just as everything had been in my previous life.

So yes. I would just need more time to recover.

And I would recover.

All for the sake of presenting myself as a functioning gear in the clockwork of society.

__

It was an hour after lunch, and I had Hero Training to do.

Opening my laptop, I took a deep breath, knowing that this class was taught by All Might, and that it wasn't in my best interest to see him again, physically or not. After our last encounter, I don't think I could've gotten the image of his face in that moment out of my head even if I really wanted to.

And believe me, I really wanted to.

But school called, and I couldn't abandon my studies because of something as trivial as a mere "visual memory association." Hero work was important. This was to be expected. Sometimes we needed to push through hardships to reach an important end goal.

So I anxiously awaited a potential face-to-face with the blonde hero while logging into my account and preparing to open the assignment. I swallowed the saliva pooling in my mouth and cautiously clicked the button to my classwork, peering at my computer screen through squinted eyes, silently hoping that his image wouldn't pop up.

And fortunately, it didn't.

A video of Principal Nezu showed on the device instead, to which I breathed a sigh of relief at. Pressing a button to play the clip, I leaned back into my chair and folded my hands on my stomach, attempting to calm down from the adrenaline rush the initial scare had given me.