Luz had seemed broken down in the memory, and Midoriya hadn't known whether or not a rescue had been attempted. Midoriya quirks a brief smile. It's not really a true one. Just an upturn of one side of his mouth is what he can manage, to show her that he's glad to see Luz is talking about learning from the experience instead of trying to shove it down (and failing to).

He presses his lips together and looks down. Her feelings are so similar to his own that he feels seen without wanting to be at all. He and Luz share the same hate, the same fear. In the Sleeper Farm, he saw people hurt, including people he knew. He was already someone who jumped in to save people. The Zealot cultists stood in direct opposition to who he was at his core. They made his friends bleed, and Midoriya wasn't powerful enough to prevent that.

His eyes are dry, dark, and hollow.

"Me too. I hate it too. I don't... I don't want it to happen again. It's not that easy to smile afterward, isn't it, like everything's alright." Some people can. Everyone's different. But he could only lie with his smile. "But... helping each other, it's like we can pick each other up. It's strong. You're strong."

He remembers he has hot chocolate and takes a sip. It does more than just warm him.

"Is that what happened last month too?" he asks gently.