Recovery girl sighed as the door to the infirmary burst open, revealing a disheveled Izuku panting furiously. Shouto, who was sitting beside her after visiting Aizawa, flinched and stood up immediately after spotting the greenette. Within moments, the shorter was hugging him tight, tears soaking his white shirt.

"I w-was s-so sca-scared" Izuku hiccuped and pulled back. He rubbed the tears off using the sleeves of his dark purple hoodie.

Shouto sighed and awkwardly patted Izuku's shoulder "We're alright, Izuku. Everyone's safe now"

The greenette frowned with a small pout before turning to Recovery Girl "How's Ai-Aizawa-san and T-Thirteen-san?"

The petite old woman sighed and patted an empty seat beside her. Izuku sat down and took the glass of water she offered to him, gulping the liquid quick enough to slip into a coughing fit but luckily, Chiyo chided him in time.

"Aizawa and Thirteen are… safe, dearie. The injuries they have sustained are bad. Recovery shouldn't be rushed and I unfortunately couldn't use my quirk due to their… delicate situation"

Izuku let out a loud gasp "W-wait! Your- your quirk uses a person's own energy to speed up the healing process. Even a little energy would help in most cases. A-and you said you c-couldn't use it. Which means t-they-" he paused, looking pale and whispering in horror "their injuries were fatal?"

Shouto and Chiyo exchanged glances before the latter hesitantly nodded. Chiyo rushed to placate Izuku's panic "But I've managed to heal them up! They were administered some IV and once their energy levels spiked, I used my quirk. They are resting right now and will not wake up till morning"

Izuku nodded, still in daze and turned to Shouto. "Shouto-kun, are you alright? Do you want to talk?"

"I'm alright, Izuku. It's just" he paused and glanced at Aizawa's closed curtains "I saw him… "

Izuku nodded and rubbed Shouto's back as the latter shuddered. Seeing someone you view as a parental figure suffer must be traumatizing and Izuku felt it deeply. A few moments later, the dual quirk user frowned.

"There was this guy… he had hands all over his body and face"

"Hands?" Izuku asked with a frown. A quirk mutation?

"No, it's not a mutation" Shouto supplied and Izuku didn't even bother to look embarrassed, lost too deep in thought to realise that he was mumbling "his quirk was totally different"

"What was it?"

"Something like disintegration? I think? I couldn't get a good look at it because we were thrown into different zones"

Izuku looked up sharply "Thrown? How? Did someone have a portal-like quirk?"

Shouto shouldn't be surprised by the greenette's deduction but he was "Um, yeah. The guy looked like a mist with a suit. Then there was this big bird-like creature. The hand guy.. Shi.. Shigaraki I think, kept calling it Nomu"

"A what now?" Izuku tilted his head "No-mu…?"

Shouto furrowed his brow "It's brain was exposed. Also, It was able to go toe to toe with All Might. His punches had little effect on it"

"Shock absorption?"

"That guy said something about it. And it couldn't talk… or act in its own" the youngest Todoroki's frown deepened "now that I think of it, it was following the hand guy's orders"

Izuku gasped "Shock absorption? No verbal capabilities? Follows orders… exposed brain?? What kind of monster did you guys have to fight?!!"

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Lost in thought, Chiyo invited the person in. To their luck, it was Asui Tsuyu, Uraraka Ochako and Iida Tenya.

"Todoroki-ku-" Iida started to greet when his eyes fell on Izuku. "Um.."

"Who's that, Kero?"

Todoroki looked at a seemingly nervous Izuku and then at his classmates "This is Midoriya Izuku. He's my friend"

"Waah! I didn't know you had friends, Todoroki-kun!!" Uraraka chirped and bounced towards Izuku "Hello! I'm Uraraka Ochako. Pleased to meet you!"

Iida and Tsu introduced themselves as well when Todoroki spoke up "What are you doing here?"

"We came to check up on Aizawa-sensei" Iida replied before frowning "Pardon me if it seems rude but how did you get into UA, Midoriya-kun? You don't seem like a student here"

"Ah t-that. You s-see-"

"Please don't crowd the infirmary, dearies" Chiyo saved him in time. Iida immediately bowed in apology while the others sweatdropped.

"Iida, Uraraka, Asui, please don't tell anyone about Izuku. This should remain between us"

"You have my word, Todoroki-kun" Iida bowed yet again.

Tsu nodded and faced Chiyo, "How is Aizawa-sensei, Kero?"

"He's… resting" Shouto mumbled.

"His injuries were bad" Uraraka muttered in defeat "I hope his eyes didn't sustain permanent damage"

Izuku's head shot up but he couldn't just ask them what happened because they'd not reveal about the school's private matters to an outsider. He looked at Todoroki who caught the unspoken request.

"What exactly happened with sensei after we were scattered?"

Asui placed her finger on her chin in thought "Mineta and I were thrown into the flood zone, kero. We somehow managed to escape the villains there. When we reached the central plaza, sensei was already fighting the bird thing, kero. His right elbow looked like it was decayed" she pondered with a frown "Then that bird thing slammed sensei onto the ground repeatedly." she couldn't see Izuku flinch in horror "The hand guy approached and placed his hand on my face, to kill me… but sensei activated his quirk in time"

Uraraka caught Asui's shoulder when the latter shivered. Who could blame her? She had a near death experience.

"A quirk that requires contact," Izuku mumbled.

"After that, All Might showed up and we carried sensei out of the building. I don't know what happened later"

"Thank you, Asui" Todoroki thanked sincerely and the girl did not bother to correct him either.

Iida adjusted his glasses and sighed "Well, we should be going now. Todoroki-kun, you should be heading back as well"

"And don't worry" Uraraka smiled, "your secret is safe with us. Bye Todoroki-kun! Bye Midoriya-kun!"

When the group exited, Izuku sat down on one of the spare beds and started mumbling about the villains. Todoroki eyed him warily before shrugging.

"A quirk that requires contact... Possibly a five point contact.. Disintegration? Decay? Wait... You guys were at the USJ, right? How can a group of villains know where you were? An insider? Stroke of luck? No.. a mole.. but that's impossible.. no.. a quirk? Interference? There's gotta be something! And the bird-like creature.. shock absorption, takes orders and can withstand All Might's punches. Exposed brain? Too complex to be a mutation.. unless it's... Biologically engineered. That makes things worse. Who are they? The group.. the hand guy? A portal guy as well, huh? I need to talk to All Might and Nezu-san"

Shouto stared at the white walls as his friend continued muttering possibilities when something struck him.

"Say, Izuku? How did you get here?"

The greenette looked up and laughed sheepishly "When I heard the news, I couldn't stay so I tried to contact everyone, including you but… I know you guys were.. anyway, Nezu-san was online and he told me that you were safe but I had to check up on you guys. So I started towards UA but Hawks picked me up mid-way-"

"Hawks?"

"- yes, I call him Keigo-nii. Anyway, he left me I'm UA's backyard to avoid media confrontation and flew away. I know the way in because Nezu-san allowed me so I snuck in easily"

Shouto blinked mutely and shook his head "You're crazy. Thanks for… everything"

Izuku beamed with a bright grin before snatching Recovery Girl's notepad and scribbling down the points in his mind. He had finished about a whole page when All Might walked into the infirmary.

"Ah, Young Todoroki! Are you alri- Young Midoriya?!"