V 2;; Fight For You
You are a coward. This isn’t news. The fact is, most people are; even if they don’t want to admit it. Everyone likes to think that given the chance they would jump in and play the hero, help someone in need. But we’re all presented with a dozen such chances a day, and simply ignore them.
There are excuses. ‘it’s none of my business’. ‘they can handle it themselves’. ‘i’ll leave it to the police’. ‘someone else will step in’. But what it really is is fear. Fear of what will happen if you do take a stand. Fear of the consequences.
In a fantasy, in a daydream, in a children’s playground game, there are no such consequences. You play the hero, you save the day. Win the respect and admiration of the hapless person in distress. But real life isn’t that simple, and knowing this; lacking that fundamental blind, naive, optimism, freezes you in place. Keeps you from acting.
Her name is Toga Himiko. She has been in your homeroom for three years, but you have hardly spoken to her. Not on purpose, you aren’t avoiding her, necessarily.
But Toga is isolated, she has lunch by herself. People talk as if she isn’t in the room. It hadn’t always been this way. You don’t remember when it started. You try not to pay attention. You pretend not to hear the rumors. You pretend you can’t feel how much it hurts her.
The depth of her sadness scares you, and you are a coward; Iwata Akihiko.
You think more than once about saying something. To them, for tormenting her. Or, to her; a form of encouragement. But you’re afraid to. Afraid that you’ll end up ostracized as well. Afraid they’ll torment you instead. Afraid you’ll drown in that girl’s sorrow.
So you use the excuses. It’s not your business, really, it’s not as if you’re the one doing it. Saying those things, cornering her after class. You’re not a teacher or a policeman or a hero, so it’s not your place to do anything. You would just make things worse. It wouldn’t help anything.
You keep your head down. And she disappears.
Kazuki Mitsuhashi is found sliced up in the girl’s bathroom. She certainly wasn’t the only one to bully Toga Himiko; but she was most definitively the ringleader. It doesn’t take much to piece it together.
And suddenly there’s a whole new rumor, only Toga isn’t around here to hear it. And you, coward that you are, can’t help but feel regret. Because you had felt everything, had known on a level no one else could have how backed into a corner your classmate had been.
But you ignored it. And now a girl was dead, another missing.
Surely, things would have been different if you had simply done something. And that thought haunts you.
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Verse Details;
(note: this can all vary with plotting)
Basically, Akihiko does not try to stand up for Toga, never gets into a fight, and therefore never becomes a target of her affections
After Kazuki’s death and Toga’s disappearance; Akihiko blames himself
Primarily because his quirk provided him with the context of how desperate Toga had been but he still didn’t act
Because of this, Akihiko switches tracks starting in highschool
He’s still not involved with heroics, but does want to become a social worker or possibly a counselor who can help kids like Toga before they reach their boiling point
He enrolls in a regular high school aimed at college prep, and starts studying harder so that he can pursue said career path
He is a second year in high school during the events of the manga
Also spends a lot of his free time helping Toga’s family look for her, until it becomes known she is part of the LoV
Even with this revelation, Akihiko is still dedicated to his new goal of reaching out to those who have been cast out by society
Overall he can be described as more dedicated and diligent than he was in middle school
Even though he’s still not the bravest person he will stick up for anyone who is being picked on.