It's technically true time!

Life: (n) A genetically transmitted, terminal disease that has a 0% survival rate.

The proceeding seventeen hours could really only be described with one term: torture. It seemed that the Principal had taken a personal liking to him, for every single waking hour was spent with the Principal, for better or for worse. At first, he had thought that the man-creature was on to him, but for every time he ventured into Allen's blind spots, he revealed his own as if it was an equivalent exchange.

Either a) the Principal was naive (highly doubtful),

b) he thought that Allen was actually, well, Allen

or

c) he had another agenda.

Deku was mostly supporting c, but recent events had led him to believe equally in both b and c. The man was such a perfect actor that it was hard to tell in all honesty. From what he had shown, the man-creature was equal parts a wise old sage, and a happy-go-lucky prankster at the same time. But some part of him truly believed that he was actually all that, and not just a supremely talented actor.

It wasn't all instinct and feeling either. Whenever teachers stumbled upon the duo in the hallways, or when he was dragging Allen to the doors of the conference room, only to be shut outside with the promise of having tea with him later, the teachers never seemed surprised. Pitying and sympathetic, certainly, but there wasn't a speck of doubt or disbelief to indicate that this wasn't regular behavior.

(Privately, in the most inner confines of his mind, he wondered why they wouldn't save him from this little predicament. That was their job, wasn't it?! They were supposed to be selfless and giving and altruistic and helpful- So why... Why did they not save him! If he saw tea one more time, he was certain that he'd fall even deeper down the cliff of insanity. If he had to listen to the Principal talk one more time-)

But that was just his thoughts in the end. 'Allen' was a serious young man, who, despite the hour-long lectures disguised as conversation, respected his elders. So Deku would grudgingly serve tea, and give the grown-creature-man piggybacks all he wanted. It wasn't all that bad in the end, he supposed. It served as a gateway for all of the teachers in the school to get to know Allen. In the best way possible.

If the Principal was, in fact, sticking to Allen like glue because of ulterior motives, it would backfire. Because all the teachers would see was their tactician, their strategist, their omniscient-god-like-being, treating the new exchange student like a jungle gym. Like he wasn't a threat. Like he wasn't anything other than a good kid who wanted to make the world better. And if there were no ulterior motives, then that would be even better.

Because if that 1 in a million chance happened, well...

It wouldn't be impossible to seize his chance and finally snuff out those two bast-

'There it is again. A strangely emotional response. It's true that that is one of my goals, but I've never been that worked up about it, in truth. Not after that night. In fact, the concept that I was even irritated by Nezu should be impossible... Am I getting better?'

He grew physically ill at the thought.

No! I don't deserve it. As if a pathetic, self-serving, idiotic, despicable, murderer deserves a second chance! How can I get better, when I'm an atrocious, disgusting, nauseating, vomit-inducing thing. No, it's impossible... Impossible!'

He slapped his cheek in an attempt to refocus, chiefly because he had been deprived of Kurogiri's signature non-alcoholic mental stimulater.

Codenamed 'The Big Bang'.

It suppressed his chronic headaches to a withstandable level, or at least let him think past the white noise of his migraines. But, what he was experiencing now was different. His headaches had never made him feel before. Sure, those thoughts ran and swim throughout his head fairly frequently, (daily- hourly-) but he had never had an emotional response to them before. It was just... background noise at this point.

A fact of life. Of his life. (He hated that term so, so much)

'Think! Think! But most importantly, calm down! ...Okay, first of all, there must be a scientific explanation for this. Perhaps, I am experiencing the mood swings part of depression. No, I had those once, but this feels more artificial from what I remember... If artificial can even be used here. I don't know enough about this thing to conclude anything. Intuition is weird like that, it could actually be a warn- '

He pounded his head once more, hard enough to form a bruise. He was getting off track even more than usual.

'Well, what other diseases affect teenagers around 15 years of age... Puberty?'

"Ha. Ha. Ha. That's not funny at all. Nope. Nada."

In the corner, some faceless and nameless teachers of the support and general section were gossiping quietly.

"Has the boy finally lost it? I feel bad for leaving him alone to face the Principal, but, you know..."

"Yeah... I don't want to become his target instead! Endless amounts of tea and talking... Auhhh!"

"Do you know where... Allen Boowman is? I had the misfortune of meeting the Principal... So I'm an errand boy now. Tch."

The two teachers turned around so quickly you would have thought that they'd get whiplash, only to let out a sigh of relief when they saw who it was exactly. The no-nonsense, always tired teacher was, well, lazier than them. He wouldn't tell on them about their little 'gossipping' because he'd probably be sleeping in his tragically bright yellow sleeping bag. (Yellow did not go with that man's features at all.)

"Oh, it's you, Aizawa-sensei. If you're looking for Bowman, he's right over there. What do you need from him?"

"His quirk."

"...What?"

Unfortunately, the slouching teacher had already left the two teachers behind without answering.

"You're... Allen Boowman, right?"

'What does Eraserhead want with me? Were my actions suspicious just now? This could be bad...'

"Y-yes, sir? Is there anything I can do for you?"

'...A voice crack?! A-Are you kidding me-'

As Aizawa looked at the kid, he couldn't help but feel slightly (very, very slightly) empathetic. He too had come to suffer because of the Principal's quirky habits (he still is). It was pretty clear to see that the poor guy fears teachers in general because of Nezu.

"It's about your quirk, but-"

'What? Did you notice the resemblance between my quirk and the USJ attack? Did you compare my body type? What is it?!'

"It got lost in the mail."

His usually brilliant mind failed to compute just what he had exactly said at that moment. For once, all of the trains of thought that floated around in his brain exploded in a tumultuous crash. The entirety of his brain shut down in a moment of pure surprise and anti-climaticness.

As such, the only comeback that could come out of his mouth was a sad one.

"...Huh?"