Heroes, Vigilantes, and Villains

Chapter two

Walking into the school, I realized just how early I was. I left home at the time that I normally would, but when I got to the classroom, not even the teacher was there yet. Normally my time before school was taken up by running around to watch whatever hero fights I could find on the way there, and then there was the problem of being cornered by my classmates before class... But today... when I saw the fights... watching them, seeing them for the first time since... I couldn't take it. I couldn't bear to stand there, watching in awe as everyone else did. It left too much of a bitter taste in my mouth, and too much of a sinking feeling in my gut.

Every punch, every fearless smile was like hitting the nail into the coffin. Every hit whispering the same thing:

I can't be a hero

I guess that reality had finally set in.

The teacher walked in not long after I got there. He glared at me, but only whispered something about me not being worth the oxygen. The other students slowly filed into the classroom, each of them carrying a delicate red flower in their hands. A spider lily. They each smiled at me sweetly, laying the flower down on my desk like they were giving me flowers made of glass. A small bouquet built up on my desk, eighteen red flowers in all.

The only one not to do this was Bakugo. He just sat at his desk, glaring at all of the students around him with a gaze more viscous than before the attack. He stared at the all with a strange gaze, as if he thought that their actions were pathetic.

The boy with the long finger quirk was the one to give me the last flower, the eighteenth one. He smiled cruelly down at me, a smile not fitting an aspiring hero.

Not that I have any authority to decide that.

"You know, you really are helpless, Deku. What? You can't even say a simple thank you?" He asked. He was leaning on the desk hovering over me like a wild animal waiting to pounce. I could feel his body heat from where I was sitting, it made me feel sick.

Too close.

The boy moved when I didn't respond to his taunts. He leaned farther forward, raising his hand and digging his fingers harshly into my hair. The feeling of him touching me... it made me want to puke. "What are you too good to acknowledge the person that set all this up for you?"

Ah, so it was him. I knew that was too docile to be Bakugo's doing. Bakugo has always liked being the one at the center of it, the star of his own show. Practice for the day he becomes a hero, when all eyes will be on him, I suppose. Spider lilies are the flowers of final goodbyes. To give one to someone like this... it was all but telling them to go kill themselves. If this was Bakugo... he'd just outright say it.

He has just said it.

I guess since Bakugo said it yesterday, whatever barrier keeping them from giving suicide baits has broken down.

The boy shoved my head to the side with enough force to strain my neck. He laughed at the way my head hung to the side. "Where's the hopeful hero now?" He asked, his voice almost a growl.

"Maybe he finally gets it," a new voice said. It was Bakugo's other friend that hung around him. "He'll never be a hero. Really, you should've just taken Katsuki's advice yesterday and taken a swan dive off the roof of the building. But hey! There's still time. Do it soon enough and we can even use these flowers at your grave." The boy knocked the lilies from the table. The three of us watched as they messily fell to the floor, decorating the ground with red petals like blood stains. "Oh, wait. That implies that we care enough to go."

The boys laughed together, walking away to their desk. I moved my head slowly back to the front so as to not further hurt my neck. There was nothing in my heart, no sadness, no anger. I just sat there as the class laughed together at my expense, pleased with what they've done today. But I couldn't bring myself to care. I just felt numb.