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The rain is cold as it hits against him. Soaking itself into his skin and plastering itself against the sides of his face as he walks. The walls of U.A. growing further and further away as he trudges through the abandoned streets. His heart feels so... heavy, yet painfully empty. If it weren't for the slight sting of raindrops, Toshinori would've assumed he'd gone numb.
Yet his footsteps stutter to a halt as he swallows a growing lump in the back of his throat. Despite how cold his body is, his eyes burn hot. Tears threatening to spill and mingle with the water streaking down hollowed cheeks. So he turns his head back around one last time, to the place he'd grown to call his home in the past year. Where his successor -- his boy, waited.
But he wasn't. No one was waiting for him behind those walls. There was no family to go to. There were no friends that needed him. And certainly not his boy.
Could he even call Midoriya that anymore? His boy? He didn't need him. The day had been similar in that it had been cold and pouring rain. Toshinori felt everything he'd tried so desperately build come crumbling down around him like a castle made of glass as Izuku took to the air. Heart and will to live withering like spark on the wind.
What use was he anymore? Nothing but a hindrance to those around him. Someone to be protected, where once he had shined so brightly. To be someone admired. But now he was a husk of his former self. Weak and frail. He couldn't even stop his own pupil from going down the same destructive path as he had.
By the time he reaches Hercules, his vision is blurred and his chest feels tight. Sleep... might do him good. So he unlocks the door and slips inside. A few clicks and all the doors are locked, and metallic covers come down to shield all the windows; leaving the inside pitch black. The only noise to be heard the soft tap, tap, tap of rain against metal.
There is a deathly cold chill that runs down his spine as he tries to remember to breathe. But all that he manages to get out is a choked sob, quickly followed by another. And then another. Until his shoulders are shaking violently as he pulls his arms against his chest and presses back hard against the leather seat.
Do you know what I love most about this? Any rise in crime moving forward will be due to you concealing your fading strength. And now you won't be able to save anyone. You've been relegated to the sidelines. Doomed to watch society fall apart as villains flourish because of your own arrogance; powerless for the rest of your days. So tell me, how does that feel, hero?
You're nothing now. You're finished.
And how right the Devil had been. Everything he'd said had come true. And that is what stings the most. Sasaki's voice rings loudly in his mind -- louder than it ever had before. How much time did he have left on this world, he wondered? Before his vision came true, before...
Maybe he should just end it now. Rob All for One the pleasure of killing him. But then... doing it now would seem cowardly. The easy way out. He squeezes his eyes shut, bottom lip trembling. It's not like he would be missed, at this point. Maybe All Might would.
But no one would miss Toshinori Yagi.