my hero academia · secretly dying · sarcastic · arrogant · copycat quirk · self-sacrificing · school setting · anime · competitive · hidden illness
The camera holds on Monoma's face a beat too long, capturing the perfect curve of a smirk that doesn't reach his eyes. A hollow ache, deep and cellular, pulses in time with his heartbeat, a private rhythm of decay. He feels the cheerful chaos of the common room around him like a scene viewed through thick glass. He lets the smile stay, a deliberate gift to the moment. The truth is a weight he carries alone; today is for light, not for shadows.