The young man shrunk into himself as the guilt began to mount on his shoulders. he couldn't help but feel the need to just suddenly dissappear.
A silence lingered amongst the students as Momo's words brought in a sense of tension that had been beginning to fade.
"Honestly Taro, what are you even doing here? You don't even want to be a hero. Are you really just here so you can baby me?"
She asked and surprised the other half of her classmates who did not know, with Katsuki Bakugou feeling the most enraged by the news.
"What the fuck!! You bastard!! You think this is some game? and that we're to have fun and go home afterwards? What the hell are you even doing here if you're not here to be a hero?!!"
The young blonde shouted after having easily cleared the distance between them and grabbed Taro by the scruff of his hero costume and shook him violently.
It was the worst kind of insult, being a hero meant something to Bakugo. It was his way to redeem himself and become a better person than he is now and was in the past. to become someone worth being forgiven
Hearing that Taro simply joined UA not because he wanted to be a hero but because he just wanted to have fun made the blonde young man feel insulted and disrespected, he saw it as Taro making his dream and his road to redemption out to be a joke.
"What?! its a crime now to want to protect my sister? and get off me"
Taro responded and immediately pushed Bakugo back, enduring the pain on his forearms. He fully understood why Bakugo was angry however he still had to defend himself.
Staggering back a few feet back Bakugo looked at Taro with a new found anger.
"Oh I get it, you think this is a game don't you? You think just because you're blessed with three quirks you get to do whatever you like. You probably led those villains here on purpose, just so you could have fun, right?"
Bakugo accused however his words were not explosive or violent like usual of him, they were measured, projecting an almost calm and simmering anger.
"Don't throw out accusations like that, how was I supposed to know what would happen, it's not like I can see the future!"
"You son of bitch! you could have followed the rules like the rest of us. Mount Lady and Kamui woods were already there, you didn't need to do anything but because of your selfishness we all nearly died!! That's what you wanted right? you came here just so you can selfishly have fun, to hell with everyone else who actually wants to be heroes!"
The young blonde felt an intense urge to swing at Taro and punch him in the face; however , he knew that would only hurt his hand so he decided to wait, a single punch wouldn't hurt Taro anyway.
"Did you not hear me say the part about wanting to protect my sister?"
Once again Taro tried to defend himself however Momo was quick to shut that defense down.
"Except I don't want or need your protection!! I am an adult I don't need you constantly watching me"
"Did you not need my help when you were running away from the villains earlier? or would you rather be dead?"
He was quick to retort to her words, and for a moment Momo found herself unable to answer but that was not for long as she was able to find her words and respond to her brother.
"Ok yes, I was overwhelmed, but what I'm talking about is you joining the hero course because you just wanted to baby me. I can't be a hero with you constantly hovering over my head. If you don't want to be a hero then you don't need to be here, I don't want you to be here!"
She explained, it didn't matter that his timely arrival saved her during her fight with the villains, she's grateful for his help however she was certain she would have found a way. She didn't need her brother to save her all the time.
Everyone stood there in silence, letting Momo's words sink deep into the silence. Some of the students could not help but agree with the fact that if Taro did not want to be a hero then he didn't need to be here.
Taro pressed his lips together wanting to reply but he couldn't find the words to argue with her. He also couldn't help but feel a little bit hurt by Momo's words, the neutral expression he had been keeping threatened to crumble and the silence only made him feel worse.
"OK guys why don't we relax a little bit, we don't need to pile on Taro right now, he did contribute alot."
It was Toru who spoke in defense of Taro, With both Bakugo and Momo shouting at him, she couldn't help but feel bad, it also helped that she knew of Taro's lack of desire to be a hero beforehand like the rest of the girls.
"You're defending him?!"
Toru held her hand up in surrender before responding to Momo's words.
"I'm not defending him and yes this is his fault but we can talk about this when we're calm, right now all of us are tired, right?"
Toru said, doing her best trying to deescalate the situation however the tension didn't seem to go down at all.
"I agree with Toru, Taro's a classmate we shouldn't be ganging up on him like this, plus we can't be distracted or the villains we captured might try and escape"
Uraraka spoke, agreeing with Toru. Despite the incident being Taro's fault, she felt she had no right to be mad at him about not being a hero, when she wanted to be a hero purely for monetary reasons.
"Uraraka and Hagakure are right, let's shelve this conversation for now and focus on what's on hand"
Aizawa, who had been perfectly fine with letting the student continue their squabble, finally spoke. The reason he was fine with letting it continue was because Taro definitely needed a lesson about his recklessness and because he was a little tired right now.
With Aizawa's words, everyone seemed to let the issue go for the moment and an awkward silence rested among them. It wasn't until Kirishima spoke that the silence was broken however his words brought no comfort to no one
"Taro, I thought of you as my friend and someone to look up to, however the fact that this entire thing was your fault and because of that Mina nearly died, I can't forgive you for that."
The red haired young man had spoken with a calm expression on his face as he held onto Mina who was still unconscious and it didn't seem like she would be regaining her consciousness anytime soon.
"I see…"
Was all Taro could muster as a response, those two words came out his mouth as if he was defeated. He couldn't deny the fact that it was his fault and he couldn't stay here any longer. He could tell it wasn't just Kirishima who felt that way.
Taro began to float off the ground and turned towards the exit.
"Well since everything is taken care off, then I guess my presence is unneeded, later!"
"Taro wait–"
Toru tried to stop him, however by the time she got those words out her mouth, he was already gone.
....
A/N: Thoughts?