Chapter 67: Apologies and class
The limo pulled away from the curb, and the hospital quickly fell out of sight within the large city streets of Musutafu.
Nezu was still standing on the seat, when he finally broke the silence.
"It is good to see you both doing better."
His voice came out cheerful as usual but felt forced and didn't match his posture. His shoulders sat tense, his paws were locked together hard enough that the fur pulled white at the knuckles and his ears were perked up far more than they normally were.
He opened his mouth to continue speaking then stopped and the cheerful attitude slowly faded away. He stood there looking far more tired than either of them had ever seen him. Then without warning he turned to Cid and bowed his head.
"Cid, I am sorry that this happened to you. You are one of my students and my responsibility, " he said. "It should never have come to this. Not at a training camp. Not under our watch. That is on me, as principal, and on U.A. as an institution." He stayed bowed. "I know an apology does not return what you lost. We will do everything we can to help you recover, and to replace the arm you lost."
Cid looked away from him and his hand came up and rubbed the back of his neck, awkwardly. he was not used to this at all, those in authority he had experience with didn't admit when they were wrong or made a mistake. They normally just shifted the blame or acted like it didn't happen, so this was a weird situation for him.
"It isn't entirely your fault, I—"
"It is our fault." Nezu lifted his head and locked his eyes on Cid. "We are a school. It is our duty to protect our students, no matter how powerful they are, even from their own Quirk if necessary. The fact you were put in that position in the first place is unacceptable. It is an issue I intend to look into and resolve thoroughly."
Cid held his gaze for a few seconds, then looked away. Nezu was not going to take no for an answer. He let out a sigh and shifted the subject instead to something he viewed as more important.
"Have you found anything else on Claire? Or my family?" Nezu sighed and shook his head.
"No, not yet. I have not heard from Nighteye either." He folded his paws in his lap, having calmed down a bit. "I did speak with All Might. His story did not change, even when I poked at the details and tried to get more information. He remembers the event very precisely. He did mention that he may still have the police report somewhere. I asked him to find it if he could, he was of course suspicious of why I was asking for it, but agreed anyway."
Cid nodded slowly, it wasn't much but it was a start and the first real lead they had gotten.
After that the conversation shifted to more mundane topics like how Cid would handle classes, then sessions with recovery girl after and finally Hound Dog which would replace some of his classes that involved physical training.
-Later U.A. dorms-
Aizawa looked over at Cid as the limo stopped in front of the dorms.
"Need help getting inside?"
"We'll be fine," Cid said. "Thanks for the ride, sensei, principal Nezu."
Yui got out of the car first and helped Cid out carefully. She got beside him holding his arm to support him as he shakily climbed the stairs, wincing every step he took due to his ribs. When they finally got to the doors it was quiet, none of the normal shouting, no game or music too loud in the main room. It felt like everyone was already asleep, except all the lights were on and he could see blurry figures sitting on the couches inside.
They pushed the door open and most of their classmates were gathered in the commons room. They were scattered all over the couches and the floor, all of them looked tense from the last few days. A few heads turned when they came through the door they initially started smiling before their faces shifted to shock at the sight of Cid.
The ones who had come to visit him just looked happy he was up and moving now. The rest however just froze, a few gasped at the state he was in, and one person flinched at seeing his condition. But most of them just didn't really know how to react.
So Cid decided to break the awkward atmosphere the best way he knew how. He lifted his good hand and let out the most plain dry greeting he could.
"Yo."
It was jarring enough that a few of them laughed before they could stop themselves. Then Kirishima got up with Sato not far behind to help Yui. She shifted Cid's weight and shook her head.
"Don't I got him. His ribs are still broken so I don't want to shift him around too much."
Ochako perked up at that and quickly walked over.
"Here I can help. I'll just use my quirk on him," she said, and touched his shoulder with all five fingers and he started floating slightly. Yui gripped his arm a little tighter and they made their way easily to the couch. Once he was seated Ochako released her Quirk, returning his gravity to normal.
Everyone sat in silence alternating between looking at Cid or the ground for a few seconds unsure what to say or do with this. Then Cid got tired of all of this awkwardness and broke the tension.
"If you have questions just ask." He leaned into the cushion, annoyed more than anything. "I'm not made of glass, or some fragile cripple now."
A few of them found the floor very interesting.
Bakugo did not. He took it for what it was and asked what he wanted to know. "So how fucked up are you, really, Cyclops? Are you out of commission permanently?"
The room stared at him in shock at how blunt he was being. Cid didn't, this was Bakugo and it helped break everyone out of their funk.
"Guess that nickname fits better now then it did in our first week of school." He laughed lightly before wincing and stopping abruptly. "My arm is obviously gone so there is no getting that back. My eye is pretty messed up too, along with my Quirk being unusable at the moment."
A few grimaced at that, Midoriya despite that was curious.
"Is the damage to your eye permanent? Is your quirk going to be the same with how it's tied to your eye?"
"Don't know yet, I tried using it the other day and my eye started bleeding."
That made him look worriedly at Cid, along with a few others. Seeing how the mood was dropping again he rolled his eye and decided it would be best to get some rest.
"I should really get to sleep, I'm dead tired and still hurt. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
Ochako was up before Yui had to ask. She used her quirk on him, and the two of them got him upstairs and into his room. After getting him there she released her quirk then stood there for a second
"Good Night," she said. "Both of you and I hope you feel better tomorrow, Cid."
She turned and shut the door leaving them alone.
Yui quickly helped him get changed and into some night wear. Then did the same wearing nothing but his oversized shirt. She quickly got into bed and tucked into his side and pulled the covers over them.
"Sweet dreams, Cid."
Cid was already most of the way under. He answered anyway.
"Love you" he mumbled before quickly falling into a deep sleep.
The next morning Cid was in his seat when Aizawa came into the classroom. He walked to the front then stopped and looked over the room taking a head count.
"Before summer ends, you will be taking the provisional hero license exam." He let that sink in. "The pass rate for this exam is lower than half every year. The camp was supposed to put you ahead of that and prepare you, but It was cut short. So we are going to use what time we have left to get you prepared."
"You have about twenty days before the exam. That time is going to be used developing an ultimate move. A technique that is yours, that you can use under pressure, and that can decide a fight or a rescue instead of leaving you reacting to whatever is in front of you. It does not have to be an attack, It does have to be reliable and you can use it under pressure. While you are working on that, look at your costumes, If something is in the way, put in the request and get it changed."
"The exam tests more than just combat. It also tests Judgment, Mobility, Communication skills, and whether you can keep your head when civilians are involved. Fighting is still the part most of you will be graded on first, so that is what we are drilling. Change into your costumes and meet at Gym Gamma. Cementoss will build the terrain, while Ectoplasm will use his clones to assist you individually when needed. Now go get changed and meet me at gym Gamma."
The class burst into activity, already talking over each other while heading for the door
Aizawa waited until Cid was the only one still seated.
"As you already guessed you won't be participating. Recovery Girl wants to see you, do what she says, and come back when she clears you. Then I'll give you work you missed while you were out that you will be making up."
Cid nodded, got up and slowly headed for the door.
When he reached Recovery Girls office and knocked then entered. He was greeted by an unhappy frown and a slight glare that was locked on him.
"You should not be in a classroom today, young man. I bet you can barely sit up with how much pain you are in due to those ribs." She pointed him at one of the beds. "For the next few days I am going to heal what I can before class and after school. It will be brutal on your stamina and is going to leave you drained every time, so you must eat, and you sleep as much as you can. I'm hoping to get rid of most of the damage and get you to the point where we can see how much your quirk has been affected by that eye damage within a week or so."
Cid nodded "Alright, sounds fine with me." She huffed, unimpressed with how casually he was taking this. She got him to lay on the bed then leaned in kissing him on his cheek while activating her quirk.
Warmth spread through his body as he could feel some of the damage healing slowly. Then his vision narrowed and blurred. Then before he knew it he was out.
He woke to the bright white ceiling overhead. His body felt heavy and sluggish but it hurt far less than before. He was out for a few hours going by the clock on the wall. Recovery Girl was sitting at her desk doing paper work when she noticed he was awake.
"You're up, good. You're done for today, go back to class." She held out a small packet of gummies and waited until he took them. "Eat those before you go anywhere. Do not come back here until tomorrow, and do not exert yourself, you need all the stamina you have for the treatments."
He ate the gummies, which were actually pretty good for what he assumed was medicine, before heading to class.
Gym Gamma was already loud and filled with the noise of training when he got there. Cementoss had turned half the floor into walls, pillars, and mountainous terrain. Ectoplasm's clones were paired off with the students. While Aizawa was watching from the ground with his arms crossed, he walked over and stopped next to him watching his class for a second.
"While they are training you will be making up work you missed before the exams before summer even though you passed them. I still want this done properly and after that your time is yours, with the only rule that you have to stay in gym Gamma."
He reached hand into his capture weapon, pulling out a thick stack of papers.
Cid looked at the scarf. Then at the sheets.
'How long has he been keeping those in there?' before accepting them.
"I had Cementoss make you a table and chair over there," he said pointing to it, "go do your work and let me know when you're done."
Cid took the stack and sat where he had been pointed, far enough from the others that he shouldn't be in anyone's way.