[One week later] [Monday - 10:00 a.m.]
Currently we can see the group of friends sitting in the dining room while they quietly talked to each other about all kinds of things.
Doryoku as always was sitting next to Oboro and Mirai in addition to being in front of Aizawa, while he ate Yakitori calmly although with more guilt than the last time since it was becoming almost an addiction.
"Hey Aizawa, did you know that there are two types of syringes that doctors use? The big one and the small one, the small one is the one they use for the injection" said Doryoku with an explanatory tone to Aizawa, who seemed a bit interested in the subject.
"And the big one?" Aizawa asked curiously seeing that Doryoku hadn't continued.
"You swallow it, hahaha!" Oboro said suddenly making everyone start laughing with Mirai and Hizashi being the loudest and Azami and Doryoku laughing lightly.
"Traitor" Aizawa said to Doryoku with an annoyed and rather betrayed expression.
"Sorry, I owed the idiot one" Doryoku said, stopping laughing to apologize as he continued eating.
In the end Oboro did want something in exchange for helping Doryoku so much, something very unorthodox, but it helped Doryoku's pride a bit so he didn't have to refuse.
"Hahahaha, you must have seen your pained emo face hahaha!" Mirai said laughing out loud as she shed some laughing tears and held her stomach.
After Mirai laughed for almost 20 minutes, Hizashi decided to change the subject to leave a bit of Aizawa's decency.
"We got a lot of requests from agencies for the internships, and you were in second place Suzuki!" Hizashi said with a big excited smile as he pointed at Doryoku, who didn't seem to be paying much attention.
"2nd place? But if he was the absolute winner of the festival" Mirai said a little confused by the decision of the heroes.
"That's right, but they also know how difficult it would be to train someone like Suzuki, it's much easier to go for the already trained idiot" said Aizawa in an explanatory tone while pointing at Oboro, who was chewing on a lettuce while pointing at himself with curiosity.
"Meh, quality is better than quantity, Okā-chan always repeats that" said Doryoku without giving much thought as he continued to eat calmly.
"Oops sorry sir, I prefer quality" Mirai said elegantly as she wiped her shoulders with a haughty and mocking look.
"That doesn't work with me miss my dad and I are descendants of the first human with quirk" said Doryoku launching a counterattack with a slight mocking smile.
"Huhuhu, that was critical" said Oboro throwing wood at the fire while Mirai tried to search for a painful answer.
"At least I'm not a mommy's boy!" Mirai said loudly as she pointed at Doryoku with a victorious smile.
'Mirai, you're a daddy's girl, that was very hypocritical' Azami thought with blank eyes but not saying anything so as not to ruin her friend.
"Mommy's boy and a lot of honor" Doryoku said with a look of total pride and completely ending Mirai in the debate.
"How many?" Oboro asked Hizashi who kept track of all the victories.
"10-0, Suzuki remains undefeated" Hizashi said as he pulled out a notebook from his backpack and scored another point as Doryoku smiled proudly.
"No way, this guy has no feelings to hurt!" Mirai said throwing a tantrum after losing so much.
"Well, you always could stop debating Mirai" Azami said in shock and giving a quite reasonable answer.
"Never, I can't be a lawyer if I don't beat this idiot!" Mirai said without giving up and wanting to reestablish her pride.
And just at that moment, the UA loudspeakers emitted a low hiss and then a voice was heard.
"Good afternoon students I hope you enjoy your lunches, the reason for the statement is to call the student Doryoku Suzuki to my office after lunch, thank you for your attention" said a voice through the speakers which was the director Nezu, quite calmly and with his typical adorable tone.
Hearing that, they all turned to see Doryoku with curiosity or talked among themselves to try to figure out what he did.
"He surely murdered someone, didn't you see him at the festival? It was terrifying" said one of the students from class 1-B having a little chill at the memory.
That was the most popular and well-received theory, which Doryoku didn't know if it was a good or bad thing.
'Hell, couldn't he just call me personally instead of doing a whole scene?' Doryoku asked himself as he was overwhelmed by everyone's gaze.
Mirai seemed very satisfied with this, apparently unlike Doryoku she had very good luck.
"Who did you kill friend?" asked Oboro quite curious, falling quickly into social pressure.
"You know what? I killed you, you just didn't realize it" Doryoku said sarcastically and with a nervous tic at Oboro's ridiculousness.
"Wow, you're very good" said Oboro as he touched his own body with impression of playing dumb and only annoying Doryoku more.
'That was good I have to admit' Doryoku thought giving up when he saw that he had fallen for Oboro's trick to annoy him.
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After eating, they each made their way to their respective class and Doryoku walked towards the principal's room with a bit of nervousness.
'I'm almost sure it's a proposal to be a hero, the question is the almost' Doryoku thought trying to remember if he had done something illegal just in case.
And aside from addiction to the Yakitori whose substances he hadn't investigated if they were illicit, Doryoku had nothing to really feel bad about.
After walking through the long empty corridors of the UA, Doryoku arrived in front of Director Nezu's office and knocked on the door a couple of times to get his attention.
"Is it you young Suzuki? You can come in!" Director Nezu said from the other side of the door causing Doryoku to enter the office respectfully.
Director Nezu's office was nothing to exaggerate about, a desk that looked quite sturdy, a few guest chairs around a coffee table, and a few small bookcases.
Another small detail was that the office door did not have a lock and had a small latch on the other side, facilitating the exit of Director Nezu.
As for Director Nezu, he was sitting next to Last laser on the guest chairs while they both quietly sipped tea.
"Good afternoon Director Nezu, I'm sorry for the inconvenience" Doryoku said calmly and bowing apologetically.
"No need young Suzuki, I called you here and I was expecting your visit, you can sit down!" Director Nezu said with his typical adorable attitude as he pointed to a chair next to him.
Doryoku walked to the chair and sat down to which Last Laser greeted him with a slight nod and Doryoku returned the gesture with respect.
Director Nezu calmly drank some of his tea and decided to cut to the chase.
"I imagine you already know why you are here, I propose to join the class of heroes Suzuki-san" Director Nezu said with an adorable smile as Last laser simply drank his tea.
Doryoku didn't look too surprised by this, but he did let out a small sigh of relief that he had done nothing wrong.
"And what do you say?" Director Nezu asked expectantly for Doryoku's answer.
Doryoku thought about it for a moment, almost fleetingly, and then said...
"I'm sorry Director Nezu, but I'll have to pass of your offer" Doryoku said with a small bow of regret while Director Nezu didn't seem too surprised either.
"I see, there is no problem young Suzuki, although you should know that the offer will always be available" Director Nezu said calmly and smiling as always.
Doryoku got up from his chair, made a small bow as a sign of farewell and went to his classroom walking calmly.
"I expected this answer, but I didn't think he would answer so quickly with a no" Last laser said a little surprised as he continued drinking tea.
"I think the same, surely there must be something very important to him behind his answer" Director Nezu said this time a little more serious and thoughtful.
"Well, we tried" Director Nezu said with his typical smile and suddenly changing his attitude while Last laser had a bead of sweat on the back of his neck.
'He's like a little boy' thought Last Laser in shock, still not fully used to Director Nezu's attitude after so long.
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After school and like every afternoon, Doryoku and Nintai ate quietly while talking about their day.
"You should have seen it Dory-chan, I threw an energy ball from the entrance and hit Hiro with it right on the head while he was in the kitchen, maybe I should play baseball" Nintai said with a slight laugh when remembering his great feat today.
'Ugh, that should be illegal' Doryoku thought having a shudder and knowing perfectly well the good aim of his mother when she was upset.
"And what about you Dory-chan, how was your day at the academy?" Nintai asked quite curiously as she calmly ate.
"I guess a normal day" Doryoku said thoughtfully without remembering very well how his day was.
"Don't be boring for sure something interesting happened" Nintai said insistently, although Doryoku almost never said that his day was interesting.
Doryoku thought for a moment until he remembered his talk with Director Nezu.
"Ohh yeah, Director Nezu called me at his office earlier today" Doryoku said remembering that little detail all of a sudden and making his mother a little upset.
"Dory-chan you didn't murder anyone did you?" Nintai asked with a bit of nervousness causing Doryoku to have a bead of sweat on the back of his neck.
"Why is everyone saying the same thing? My face is not so scary is it?" Doryoku asked with blank eyes as he pointed at himself.
"Oh Dory-chan, you are as cute as a piece of bread, but you have the same murderous expression of your father" Nintai said as she pressed Doryoku's cheeks lovingly.
Still Doryoku felt a bit hurt dramatically, he should try to look nicer or at least try.
"And what did Director Nezu tell you?" Nintai asked curiously and putting the subject aside.
"It was a proposal to be a hero" Doryoku said as he ate quietly and his mother jumped in her chair in surprise.
"Dory-chan that's great you can be a hero!" Nintai said with an excited and expectant smile but also a bit worried deep down.
"I refused, being a hero is very dangerous and I doubt that it is my thing, although I have to admit that... I learned a lot about myself in this short time" Doryoku said seriously and a little thoughtful while continuing to eat calmly.
Nintai seemed a bit surprised and even relieved by her son's quick response, but she also felt very guilty.
It was easy to know that Doryoku refused so quickly for her and not to worry her unnecessarily, but that was costing her son the chance to find something that would actually make him happy.
Nintai was afraid that her son would have the same fate as his father, even if times changed, although now it is common, but even so...
It was difficult, she would not stop Doryoku at what he chose, but being the one who should push him to that, it was very difficult.
"Okā-chan, are you okay?" Doryoku asked with a bit of concern as he noticed that his mother had a very serious and thoughtful expression.
Nintai snapped out of her thoughts and simply said...
"Don't worry Dory-chan, I was just thinking of something" Nintai said with a comforting smile making Doryoku relax a bit.
Nintai took strength from herself, and with all the courage she managed to muster she said.
"Dory-chan" Nintai said with a bit of difficulty making Doryoku look at her still worried.
"Y-you can be a hero if you want Dory-chan, you don't have to worry so much about me, if you w-want to be a hero you shouldn't worry" Nintai said with a bit of difficulty as she looked down.
Doryoku widened his eyes in shock at her mother's words and said...
"No need Okā-chan, I'm not even sure if I want to be a hero" Doryoku said trying to calm her mother seeing that she was looking quite sad.
"It's not just that Dory-chan, you must find something you like, something that makes only you happy" Nintai said calmly making Doryoku have a thoughtful expression.
"At the festival, you were so full of feelings in your battles and participations, I don't know if it means anything but I want to think, that you could at least try and I could help you" Nintai said in an explanatory tone while Doryoku understood her point.
Doryoku hadn't even pondered the idea of being a hero, that was true, but the time he saved Mirai and saw the happy expression of his father, in addition to all the emotions at the sports festival, they made him doubt a lot.
"I'll think about it Okā-chan" Doryoku said with a comforting tone promising that he will think about this.
"But if you do, promise me something Dory-chan..." said Nintai looking up and shedding several tears of sadness.
"Don't leave me okay? I don't want to and couldn't go through that again" Nintai said quite sadly remembering the day when Doryoku's father died in pain.
Doryoku got up from his chair and hugged his mother tightly while he also shed some tears with her.
"I promise Okā-chan" Doryoku said weakly as his mother returned the hug.
He felt like an idiot, his mother despite all that he suffered and fear wanted him to be happy, and he never even thought about that.
But that was a promise, Doryoku would never leave his mother or make her suffer in any way, even if it meant being the strongest of all or even avoiding fighting if necessary.