The villain's hands were starting to shake as he clutched Chiharu's face. 

"Impossible-" He said, his voice was angry, a little petulant and pretty much exactly how Haru expected him to sound up close. 

The villain looked around frantically, searching for Eraserhead but the hero was lying limp, his face was pointed away from them. Shigaraki threw his hands down to the ground and it immediately started breaking apart. His quirk still worked. 

"What are you doing?!" The villain hissed, trying to shove Chiharu off of him. It didn't work though. No matter where he touched nothing happened. Haru realized that his clothes were pretty much ruined at this point but eh, clothes were clothes. He couldn't let this guy get his hands on any of his classmates. 

"You're looking for All Might, right?" Chiharu asked, readjusting his position. The villain didn't say anything. "Why? Who sent you? Why U.A?" The student asked, determined to get information out of the guy. That's what Izuku said to do. He always said it was important to know the villains quirk and their motive. 

Chiharu shot a look to Izuku who was still battling the thing. 

"Ah, you think subduing me will stop this." The villain said with smiling chapped lips, "But my Nomu, my artificial villain, can't be stopped as easily. He'll take every blow your little friend throws at him and throw it right back!". The statement was punctuated with Izuku being thrown to the ground with a painful thud. The Nomu didn't look phased by the battle at all and just screeched. 

Taking advantage of the distraction, Shigaraki shoved Chiharu to the side so he landed on the ground and stood up. Haru quickly gained focus and shot up, punching Shigaraki square in the jaw. The villain was knocked back a bit but managed to stay standing. 

Out of instinct Shigaraki lunged for the boy. He had a contact based quirk after all. He grabbed Chiharu's left shoulder and right wrist. The fabric crumbled away into dust but Chiharu's skin stayed exactly where it was supposed to be. Finally the villain realized that whatever the kid's quirk was only affected him and not things around it like Eraserhead's did. Shigaraki just naturally assumed it was some sort of quirk neutralizing thing. 

Chiharu ducked under Shigaraki's grasp while the villain was distracted as got behind him. He had to get Shigaraki out of the way. Izuku wouldn't be able to hold out against that Nomu thing much longer at this rate. His best bet was a choke hold, but Hawks hadn't really shown him how to do that. He'd seen Ojiro do one once in class during hero training though, so at least he could try. 

He looped his elbows around Shigaraki's neck and dropped to the ground in a sitting position so the villain couldn't hook his legs to make him loosen his hold. The villain made a sort of surprised noise and gagged a bit. 

Mr. Aizawa, who had been able to turn himself around to watch the battle, could barely believe what he saw. Midoriya and Iwamoto, his two most nervous, scaredy cat students were the ones fighting the Nomu and the leader. He realized after seeing Shigaraki's hands grab at Iwamoto's that he was probably the best person to pit against Shigaraki Tomura. He didn't even have to keep exhausting his quirk to help the boy out because he was already at an advantage. 

Midoryia on the other hand was struggling hard. The Nomu thing was like nothing Aizawa had ever faced before. Someone could be seriously injured or worse if-

His thought was interrupted by the doors to the USJ bursting open. "I am here!" All Might said, his trademark smile on his face. 

Chiharu was so shocked that he let Shigaraki shake him off. The villain was gasping for breath and clutching his neck. Haru honestly felt bad. Chocking wasn't really a thing that could happen to him, at least not in the way he had been choking Shigaraki. Where normal people's necks would be crushed, his would remain unmoved. He didn't know what that pain felt like, what right did he have to cause it? 

With that, the area was enveloped in a dark mist. Shigaraki and Kurogiri, if Chiharu had heard his name correctly, were gone. 

------- ------- ------- ------ ------- ------- ------- ------- 

An hour later Chiharu found himself shivering under an emergency blanket, waiting outside the facility for a bus to take them back to the school. 

The whole class looked shell shocked and a few of them, mainly the group Chiharu had been with, were soaking wet and cold. Haru had also lost a lot of his clothes. His right leg below the knee, his entire left sleeve was gone. His whole jacket was ruined. 

Worst of all he could still feel Shigaraki in his arms, his pulse louder than a bomb under Chiharu's grasp.

"That was fucked up." Mina said, her tone held none of the normal mischief or joy to it. Her statement was merely that, a statement. 

The rest of the class nodded along while keeping their eyes glued to the floor. They didn't want to process this yet. It had made them question a lot about their choice to join the program, to become heroes. Chiharu found himself regretting his decision a little. 

He had come all this way and for what? For Izu to end up in the hospital and for him to have to head home to an empty apartment where there would be no comfort, no hugs, no affection. All because his parents were busy. 

Suddenly he was hit with a wave of resolve. He should tell him parents. Tell them everything. That he was rethinking the hero thing, that he was gay, that he had a job. They deserved to know that much at least. 

"It was." A voice said, startling the students out of their daze. "It was screwed up. And watch your language." Mr. Aizawa, it was Mr. Aizawa speaking to them. "But you're strong. Whatever it is, you can overcome it. Don't beat yourselves up for anything that happened." His eyes zeroed in on Chiharu's trembling hands, "You did well. No matter what happened, you did well. Remember that.". 

It felt like he was saying it just to Chiharu, but the teen didn't trust his ears at the moment. 

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Part 2! I was struggling to get it out today but I didn't want to leave you all on a cliff hanger! 

Honestly the amount of music I need to write for this fic is absurd. Like no project should require so much mood music, yet it does 😅. I feel like I have to consume so much music to get the words out. 

I'm already writing the next chapter so look out for it soon! Stay Tuned!