Out of Place & Out of Sorts

Ch.28 - A fresh mess

Breakfast is quite different these days for Ryuko. Not long ago, the day's first meal felt more like a necessity than anything else, but now it was more like a social gathering.

Eri was chowing down on a bowl of cereal to her right, and Izuku was... doing a lot.

In one hand, he held a spoon; on the other, he was training his new fractional percentage of One-For-All in his left pinky. All while he simultaneously watched a pre-recorded lesson from his missed classes on his phone, earbuds firmly placed in his ears so that others wouldn't have to listen.

This was surprising since UA didn't typically do recordings, but due to Izuku's unique circumstances with Eri, UA made an exception.

The boy had a lot on his plate, both figuratively and literally, since he had barely touched his food. He was also clearly tired. There were bags under his eyes, and his movements were stiff. It was enough to make Ryuko's guilt reemerge.

On paper, Eri was why Izuku missed so many classes, even for a work-study student. But Ryuko knew a big part of that was because of the boy's help with the mark. It was fine at first when they started the meetings, but the boy was gradually showing signs of exhaustion, and today was the worst she'd seen.

In fact, Ryuko had plenty of reason to believe that those 'missed' classes were more because he fell asleep during them than because he couldn't attend them. After all, they planned so he'd miss no more classes.

But, of course, he wasn't telling her, and he kept his problems to himself.

The dragoness couldn't help but feel she was ruining Izuku's future for her own sake. But she didn't know what to do. She couldn't just tell him to stop helping. For one, he'd never agree to that, and two... she didn't want him to not be around.

She loathed admitting it, but his presence honestly made her feel better. Even their short session last night had given her enough peace of mind to get a good night's rest.

She paused her consumption of food. 'Dear god... I'm becoming dependent!'

Thank god... you stopped eating!

Ryuko sighed mentally at the Sass-tile's appearance. 'Shouldn't you be watching TV memories or something?'

Tempest motioned a shrug.

My 'Ryuko has Izuku problems' senses were tingling, so I decided to check in... and immediately regretted it. Ugh, why do you people have to eat like this... At least Izuku is polite enough to only stare at his phone.

The host ignored the culinary diatribe. 'I really doubt you have senses like that.'

It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. I'm the one who has to feel you going rodeo on your blue lewds.