--

Bzzzzzzzzzzz

...

The machine hummed with effort.

The sound loudens and softens as if moving about... searching for something.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

A discrepancy was detected, the more serious the discrepancy, the more elongated the sound would be.

Through the screen, revealed something revolting...

"Oh dear..."

Recovery girl said with pity.

"Poor boy, what have they done to you?"

The screen displays a monotone blue image, similar to an x-ray.

It outlines complicated shapes of the body, but a prominent feature stands out. Several red articles contrasted with the blue outlines of a heart, revealing itself as foreign to the body.

This month, she mostly received such victims, tortured to death. It was a jarring sight to see the pain written all over the corpse face.

What a dreadful quirk.

Just one, the size of a pea, managed to cause such a reaction.

Yet, exactly like a disease, no one knows who is the killer...

Or who will be the victim.

Heroes? Utterly helpless.

Everyone awaits an excruciating death. For that one harmless-looking crystal to glitter dangerously in their hearts.

Yet this boy has .

Recovery girl stared at the screen, slowly absorbing the severity of the situation.

She was definitely relieved to see the missing child return, but no news was out of the bird teen's return.

"How could no one know of this?"

Judging from his friends' reaction, they didn't seem to know the state that he was in.

Realising that, she took a step towards the exit of her door. The whole class waiting outside.

She stopped.

It'll be better for him to tell them himself, there must be a reason why he didn't do so in the first place.

Her mind wanders if Tokoyami even knew about his condition at all.

It doesn't matter. This stubborn boy is definitely the type who sacrifices himself for others.

She recalled the time when she was healing Shoji, Tokoyami got so shaken up when Shoji got injured that he literally couldn't control his emotions.

She'd seen him around, usually keeping his distance from others.

It all made sense now. He was afraid of hurting others. Physically... and now, mentally.

But now... She wasn't even sure if he would wake up...

at all.

This was her first live victim with the villain's quirk after all.

She took another look at the screen, staring at the red articles.

Removing it?

Dangerous.

Since the villain's quirk was still unknown, doing so was way too risky. It might be a trap.

Is he a trap?

She pushed that thought away. The best thing she could do now was to examine the crystals without altering it.

Luckily, she had a few types of equipment that does just that.

She had to focus now. One screw up, and there's no telling what might happen.

Whirrrrrrrrrrrr...

Ssssssss...

Whirrrrrrrrrrrr...

Beep Beep...

Whirrrrrrrrrrrr...

(The repeated sounds shows Recovery girl repeating steps to ensure the discovery of the unidentified object and Tokoyami's safe recovery.)

She felt a breeze and noticed her window was open.

She went over and closed it.

Returning to the boy, she heaved a sigh.

"I know you're there."

Something shifted in the corner of the room.

There was a period of silence, until a soft voice spoke up.

"Sorry, Recovery Girl."

It was Toru Hagakure.

Recovery Girl wondered awhile, thinking if Toru had found out the severity of Tokoyami's situation.

She thanked herself for not thinking out loud.

She thought of telling her to leave, but based on what Toru had done, the other students were probably restless. They would probably bust in the room when the door opened.

"What are those red things?"

Toru said, pointing at the screen.

Well, Recovery Girl couldn't see her hand, so she assumed she meant the screen.

"That's what I've been trying to find out."

"Is Tokoyami going to be OK?"

"There's no telling."

She had a problem, although she could try to scan through Tokoyami's body, she couldn't really scan the crystals without losing many important details.

Having Hagakure here, she quickly analysed how to utilize her quirk since she was already there.

She remembered that her super move was bending light in her body to blind others who are nearby.

She could bend light...

"Toru, come here."

She heard some shifting, an entity coming closer to her.

She unbuttoned Tokoyami's shirt and revealed his defined chest.

"Place your hand on his chest."

--

It was felt a little embarrassing and inappropriate, but she did as she was told.

Tokoyami's chest muscles made his skin felt firm and sturdy. A faint irregular heartbeat was felt.

It felt like a clock, as her classmates told her.

Tic tic tic...

"What am I supposed to do now?"

"You have the ability to bend light right?"

Toru nodded initially, forgetting that Recovery Girl can't see her. She acknowledged verbally.

"Can you try to bend the light through the cells of his body?"

Toru had been training to improve her quirk ever since she created her super move.

She was ever so tired of doing nothing. Even in the training camp, she didn't improve much.

She did have the ability to bend light outside of her body now, a unique feat she found out.

However, such a complex and specific task she had never done before, but it was finally her time to shine. (no pun intended)

Recovery Girl readied her equipment, pulling over a large machine of some sort and adjusting something that looks like a lens.

She rubbed her hand back and forth repeatedly and placed her hand back on Tokoyami.

Something strange happened in Recovery Girl's eyes.

The air was sparkling, reflecting bits of light momentarily as if there was glitter in the air. It was a beautiful sight to watch.

It didn't settle down like how glitter did, it was dispersed throughout the room.

"My new ability."

Suddenly, she made a gesture and the air shifted... Literally.

Partial of light could be seen refracting over and over again, following Toru's hand movements as if she was drawing midair.

Recovery Girl realised after some time. It was her skin cells. Her body cells.

The way she rubbed her hand caused billions of skin cells to be dispersed into the air.

It seems that Toru's skin cells don't really die, else she would become visible after dead skin cells cover her entire body.

These skin cells are alive, probably allowing her to still be able to control them.

It was an interesting quirk indeed.

By placing her hand on Tokoyami's body, she coated his chest with the same substance. Being microscopic, they were able to enter his cells, though only a few made it through.

Recovery girl return to her work, focusing the lens on his chest.

As her lens zoomed in to microscopic levels, she managed to see tiny mirrors that directed the light to inside Tokoyami's body. It was an interesting sight to see.

"Try to direct the light to the red objects you saw on the screen."

"On it."

The tiny mirrors adjusted itself multiple times, fidgeting ever so slightly yet the light that was being directed was changing drastically.

The butterfly effect had a huge impact.

Toru never tried to change the orientation of her skin cells in microscopic levels. This was a challenging task for her indeed.

But she was willing to go all out if it means she could help...

She could finally save a friend...

--

Countless attempts later, Recovery Girl finally spotted a heart cell. She sighed with relief and thanked Toru for her effort.

Toru changed the orientation of the last skin cell that was reflecting the light to look around the heart.

Millions of heart cells were all they could find initially, until...

The screen turned black.

"Huh?"

Recovery girl said in confusion.

Maybe something is blocking the lens...

"Dear, could you turn the vision a little to the left?"

She did as she was told, however, now the screen showed half black, half heart cell.

Usually, if something was blocking the screen, the edges would be a blur as it is out of focus, yet the edges were perfectly crisp.

It was as if she was looking at a horizon, a separation between two different medium.

Looking at the diagram with the red articles, she confirmed that this was one of the crystals. One of several.

"That is dense."

She willed the machine to zoom in, trying to find the crystal's simpler molecules.

As she was at the boundary, she could compare her zoom with the heart cells.

Whirrrrrrrrrr...

The cells got bigger, zooming until individual cells could be made out...

Bacteria...

Nucleus...

Chromosomes...

DNA...

Virus...

It was still going. How dense is this material!

Molecules...

Atoms...

Protons...

Electrons...

Recovery Girl sat heavily on her chair... Absolute horror was written on her face...

On the screen, one side displayed quarks of a proton, the other, a pitch-black object.

The screen was visibly shaking now, as Toru's control of her cells were limited. It was still an incredibly impressive feat to remain stable on such a subatomic level.

Shocked by Recovery Girl's reactions, Toru released the control of her cells, causing the screen to be distorted.

"W... What happened?"

She didn't respond...

Such a dense material... This would undoubtedly form a black hole.

It's possibly even infinitely dense...

...

She felt like puking. This object was... monumentally dangerous. Such an object won't just kill the boy,

.

No, not yet. If that was it, we wouldn't be existing right now. The villain might be vulnerable to their own quirk as well.

But...

What about the boy?

She looked at him... Tokoyami looked even smaller and weaker compared to the large bed he was laying on.

His face looked peaceful, but recovery girl knew that wouldn't last very long.

Something caught her attention... Something seemed... different.

Are those... bruise marks?

--

Midoriya pounded his hand on the wall, his head leaning on the wall.

He was grief-stricken by the state that his friend was in.

I was one of the first to know about it... Why didn't I do anything for him?

He was close to tears, his mind running through all the other outcomes he could've made.

"I could've done something... anything! Anything would've placed Tokoyami in a better position than now."

The class took notice of Midoriya's grief.

"Yet I mostly did nothing..."

"No, you couldn't have done anything."

Momo was the first to speak.

"Tokoyami didn't want to tell us about his condition... He didn't want us to suffer more."

"What are you talking about?"

Hanta Sero said from the back.

"I had a talk with him earlier this morning. He told me he didn't want his selfishness to hurt others."

The class listened intently.

"I think that's why he didn't want to reveal to us about his kidnappings, and his condition."

"Even though he was the one who was suffering, he still placed us first."

Mina said with tears in her eyes.

"He placed us first from the beginning."

Shoji added.

"He kept his distance from us as he was afraid he would hurt us."

Everyone remembered the training camp accident where Dark Shadow went berserk.

Sobs and cries echoed the hallway.

--

He never had a family, until now...

--

Recovery Girl walked closer, inspecting her findings.

Concealed by Tokoyami's red choker, it was hard to spot, but there was definitely a mark with a darker tone.

I'm pretty sure I checked here before... Why did I only notice it now?

Both Toru and recovery girl flinched at the sound.

"Why is the machine making that sound?"

"It's... something serious."

Toru had already gotten the message.

Something about that warning sound sounded ominously like a dead heartbeat.

They both looked at the screen, looking for answers.

The screen was blank for reasons she did not know...

She printed the results out instead.

A small slip sprouted from a side compartment.

She took it, feeling goosebumps creep up her hand as tension rises.

The paper was visibly shaking from Toru's perspective.

She flipped it over...

And dropped the slip.

"What did it say? "

She had no response.

The slip of paper floated up, as if grabbed by something...

Toru opened up the paper, revealing the contents inside.

What was initially Tokoyami's heart...

Was now a red stone...

A heart filled with crystals...

It will kill this boy, experiencing a level of suffering no other human have ever had a taste of.

"What's wrong with Tokoyami?"

An extremely worried voice called out.

"I... I.. I- I'm... sorry."

The door slammed open. Shoji could be seen with multiple arms morphed into ears.

"What did you say?!"

The rest of the class stood behind the dupli-arms teen, surprised by his sudden actions.

The class poured into the room, all eager to meet the bird teen.

Before she got a chance to speak, Midoriya saw the paper Toru was holding...

"This... This is...!!!"

Midoriya's face displayed a mixture of shock and horror.

"HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!"

The class surrounded Midoriya, not understanding the situation.

"What's that?"

Kirishima asked, taking the piece of paper Toru was holding.

The crystallized rock meant nothing to him.

"What's wrong Midoriya?"

Jirou asked.

"It's a villain's quirk, All Might told me about this..." Midoriya said. Kirishima showed the paper to the rest of the class.

" It was kept hidden in the public, the villain's doing were all disguised as heart attacks. "

" Oh, yeah! I was thinking the sudden increase in deaths due to heart attacks was weird"

Sato said. Some nodded with agreement.

"It was all the villain's doing. Anyone could've been the victim."

Recovery Girl continued.

"So that's why the news isn't revealed. Civilians would be panicking knowing that they could be the next victim."

Tsuyu wondered out loud.

Recovery Girl nodded her head.

" Victims were said to experience excruciating pain with death following after, with only one such crystal... "

" Yet, Tokoyami's heart is full of such devilish objects. "

Midoriya concluded, shaken by that fact.

The class' mood changed drastically after hearing that.

" Recovery Girl, there must be a way to save Tokoyami! "

" I tried to find one... and found something I don't think I can even tell you. "

She looked at the class, but the class didn't take no as an answer.

"One wrong move... And the entire solar system is gone."

The class seemed like it couldn't get any quieter... But it did. Even the birds outside seem to stop chirping.

"Those crystals you see... are impossibly dense. I can't even find what it's made out of. I wouldn't be surprised if this crystal could vaporise an entire galaxy."

The entire class burst out, pandemonium and panic rang across the room.

"That's crazy! An entire galaxy from just one crystal?

"What kind of monster... no, god are we fighting here?"

"What can we even do to defend?"

"Don't worry!" Recovery Girl interjected.

"The villain seems to be vulnerable to his own quirk. We still have time, but not for long."

With that, the chaos settled down.

All that's left was...

One by one, the students lay their eyes on the person lying on the bed.

An inevitable fate.

--

Tokoyami was on his death bed.

"There were 19 crystals..."

Shoji suddenly spoke up.

"19 crystals in his body. How is that possible?"

Midoriya eyes slowly widened, tears filling his eyes.

"Midoriya, what's wrong? Why are you crying? "

Ochaco said to Midoriya, worried.

He shook his head, clearing his throat.

"The villain's victims were very limited, leading me to believe that there is a time limit to his quirk... Every few months I believe..."

"Since one of such crystals is already sufficient to kill someone... There's no reason why Tokoyami had 19 of them..."

"Except..."

"All of us... All 19 of us."

Shoji realised.

"Wait, what do you mean all 19 of us?"

Mineta asked, finally not interested in whatever he was doing previously...

"These 19 crystals were probably meant for us. Tokoyami must've found a way to remove them from us and..."

Midoriya explained.

"Oh... Oh no."

Mina squeaks out.

"He saved us."

"Bird boy saved me?"

The sound didn't belong to anyone in the room.

Bakugo was holding the door, outside of the Recovery Girl's office.

He walked inside, still wearing his usual frown.

However, his frown lessened when he saw Tokoyami.

"He is an idiot, a stubborn idiot indeed."

"Just wasting his life away, even though he had potential."

"Purposefully killing himself, like a fool...

Like a hero."

Deeply moved by his sacrifice, Class 1A wept.

They all had felt deep emotions when they thought they lost him. Class 1A was so much different without him. It was incomplete.

Right in front of them, was where the last piece had been hiding.

Not only that, but the way Tokoyami looked in the bed also reminded them of someone who was lonely, abandoned and never have experienced love.

After Shoji's shocking revelation about Dark Shadow's disappearance, the scene looked much more impactful.

He needs love.

He needs to receive love.

One by one, the students went forward to hug Tokoyami.

First was Midoriya.

"You left too early... You... You didn't deserve to go so soon!"

Then Koda.

"Thank... You, brother"

A tiny voice that broke everyone's heart.

Then Tsuyu.

"Heaven welcomes you."

Then Kirishima.

"We are still learning to be a hero, but you had already become one."