Canary

Chapter 41: Little Secrets Can Have Big Values

8 days since the return

It was the first day of a new term, and this was not where Midoriya expected to be at this point... he had just started getting used to it all – and now it had all changed again.

It had now been, according to his calculations, around twenty-four days since he received this injury of his. He had finally come to the conclusion that he wasn't going to be a hero after all; that he'd make it through UA and come out the other side with the knowledge to become... maybe a police officer or something. But now? Well, things had changed.

Now Canary really was a hero in training – and what meant oh so much more to him, was that he earnt that title, not through the powerful Quirk he'd become famous for, no, it was for his own skills – Quirkless. Mr Aizawa said that he could be a hero without a Quirk.

And with this knowledge under his belt, that bubble of euphoria returned quickly to his self – rising up in his chest; it was almost enough to make him burst.

He had a hero licence – he had a hero licence – he had a hero licence!

The only negative thing to come out of the provisional licencing exam was Siren's injury. It didn't seem to faze her much though. When she came back from the vets, late that evening with Mr Aizawa, a little bandage wrapped around her wing – those beady eyes radiated a fury that could not be held within such a tiny body, a look that villains should learn to fear.

Midoriya thought it was funny – Mina said it would haunt her nightmares.

Oh, yeah, and another thing – poor Todoroki didn't manage to earn his licence. Then again, he was fighting with another student in the exam, so he kind of had it coming. But the mistakes he made were what resulted in Midoriya ultimately getting his hero licence – so he wasn't complaining too much...

And Kacchan didn't get his licence either...

Midoriya wasn't quite sure how to feel about that.

But people had noticed the sudden change in him; he could tell. Even the most unlikeliest of people had seen it.

"You're... different now, Canary."

Midoriya blinked at Eri. She stared back, tilting her head to one side, her green pen hovering a few inches from the paper that she'd been doodling Siren on, who posed dutifully before her.

The two were sitting in the common room of Heights Alliance. It was lunch time, and no one else was around. There was no way Midoriya was eating food in the lunch hall until he had his cheek fixed, at the very least. Often, Shinso ate with him, and he hadn't been comfortable enough to let anyone else, despite Jiro's... insistence – Uraraka too, but she was a little less pushy about it. It kind of bugged Midoriya – can't she just... let him try and sort this out himself? Figure it all out in his own time? Maybe he was over thinking it all – she had stopped asking if they could all eat with him now; stopped being so clingy. He had to comprehend that... well, he had, in her point of view, died. Of course, she's keen to be around him now that he's back – he came back from the dead. She wasn't the only one though. Mina was just as insistent, and even people Midoriya didn't know so well, like Kaminari and Kirishima (although, Kirishima seemed really nice and knew when to back off, so that wasn't that much of an issue) were acting a little clingy. Shinso seemed to get it though. Consequently, Midoriya felt the most comfortable around him.

It all just... made him pretty angry – frustrated over what had happened. There were so many emotions going on at once that he wasn't really sure how to deal with it. He was happy that he was back and he had a provisional hero licence and a real shot at a future he could look forward to! But... it wasn't what he could have had. His voice... tantalisingly close – just out of reach. He couldn't wait for the week to be over, and he could finally get that surgery done. Removing the hole and fixing up this... phantom tongue thing would really help with his speech therapy. At least, he hoped it would. And that was all he could do – hope.