Hizashi’s Grief
So, in canon, we don’t get to see Hizashi grieving much. Obviously, the meta reason is that Hizashi is a side character, so his emotions aren’t going to be as focused on as a main character's.
However, there’s an in-story reason for this too. And that's that Hizashi has had to hide his grief to keep Aizawa together.
I already spoke about this in-depth in another post, so I won’t dwell here, but, from Hizashi’s perspective, Oboro's death is his fault. He not only failed to stop Grady but powered him up as well. Losing his friend was bad enough, but that it might also be his fault must weigh on him.
He was instictively reaching for his friend’s item, when Aizawa spoke. Aizawa doesn’t know Oboro’s gone.
Then it hits him as well; Oboro is gone.
When Hizashi discovers Oboro is dead, he is so devastated that he can’t even speak. And as he reaches for Oboro’s speaker, he’s literally trembling with grief.
But he still can’t say anything, He can barely move. He’s in shock. Oboro is gone and Hizashi is about to break, but then--
However, Laser-eyes starts talking about how Aizawa handled everything on his own and should be proud of that fact. This is sorta sweet, especially considering their past, however, he completely misses the fact that THEIR FRIEND DIED. Aizawa doesn't care that he was able to fight alone, he cares that Oboro is gone. Laser-eyes means well—something Hizashi can see—but he knows that’s not what Aizawa needs right now.
So, Hizashi immediately locks his feelings away and puts on a fake smile for years to come. From that moment on, his pain is sealed, and everything he does becomes for Aizawa.
Hizashi stands with Aizawa while the latter sobs in the rain, he sits nearby when Aizawa is training like hell--
(Even when Aizawa isn’t looking he forces himself to smile as much as he can.)
--and all the while Hizashi tries to fill both his role and Oboro's for Aizawa.
In a way, Hizashi is like a parent who’s lost their spouse but has a kid to take care of.
As a parent, when someone you love dies, you don’t have the luxury of falling apart or grieving. You have to keep it together for your kid and move on no matter how much your own heart is broken.
It was the same for Hizashi; Aizawa was devastated and broken by Oboro’s loss. And—unable to cope with it—shut himself down emotionally. Seeing this, Hizashi had to keep himself together so he could take care of Aizawa, or he’d lose another friend.
However, we do start to see Hizashi’s grief poke out when they first discover that Oboro’s corpse was turned into a Nomu.
Aizawa is agitated and even snaps at Mic. Mic, just as worked up, shuts him down instantly.
His feelings are in turmoil and turning into anger. He’s just barely keeping himself together. However, Aizawa needs Hizashi to help him somehow.
Aizawa reaches out to Hizashi in a small way, trying to find an understanding of what’s going on. The moment is small, but it's important as this is one of the few times Aizawa reaches out to Mic, or to anybody. And Mic offers the best he can; denial and the hope that they’re wrong.
It’s not much, and you can tell he knows it, but with his own emotions, as they are, it’s all he can give.
When they arrive, Aizawa is so deep in his emotions that Hizashi has to reach out to calm him.
However, you can tell right away that Hizashi is emotional, as well as he’s literally shaking.
Then they meet Kurogiri. I found it interesting to note that when facing Kurogiri Mic keeps a lid on his emotions and sticks to a strong denial, till he can’t even more. He doesn’t want to believe that this villain was his friend. But when Kurogiri speaks, he can’t deny it.
And once that denial is broken, Hizashi has no idea what to do. Just like he did years ago, he falls silent unable to speak. So what does he do?
He turns to Aizawa and does what he’s done for years; support him. Hizashi sits by Aizawa the whole time silently—just like when they were teens. He only speaks twice after his denial is broken; once to defend Aizawa--
--and then to call Oboro’s name, which even then seems to be more for Aizawa’s sake than his.
Then—despite going through the same hell as Eraser—his first thought is to notice that Aizawa is crying and ask if he’s okay.
(Off topic, but if you saw this panel with out the text and out of context, would you think that these two just went through emotional hell?)
Mic gets to express his grief ONCE in the manga, and that’s in blazing fury at the doctor who turned Oboro into a nomu. Even then, he’s not thinking about his grief, he’s thinking about Aizawa’s.
Because that’s how he’s gotten through everything for fifteen years; by focusing on Aizawa’s pain and locking his away.
But Mic is clearly suffering and obviously wants to talk, but every time he tries, he’s shut down. We've seen him try to reach out twice to Aizawa, once to talk about Oboro and once after Midnight's death when he wants comfort.
However, the sad fact is that Mic’s pain is too close to Aizawa's own, who deals with his feelings by shutting them down and ignoring them. But by doing so, Aizawa's shutting down Mic's as well and makes it so Mic can't reach out to him. This isn’t on purpose, it’s just something I don’t think Aizawa considers.
(Pretty much sums up how reaching out works for Hizashi)
I really do love Mic and wished he got more attention. He’s such a good friend, especially to Aizawa, but he deserves to have his own grief explored. Sadly, I don’t think that’s going to happen as Mic is a side character, and unless his emotional struggles further the story, they probably shouldn’t be focused on.And those are my thought. Feel free to share yours!
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