The dim glow of the desk lamp cast soft shadows over the stacks of open textbooks and scattered notes as Izuku Midoriya sat hunched over his work in the near-empty university library. His fingers absentmindedly tapped against the side of his coffee cup, long since gone cold, but he barely noticed—his eyes were locked onto the dense medical textbook in front of him, absorbing every detail of the human circulatory system.

The soft hum of the air conditioning and the occasional rustle of a turning page were the only sounds that broke the heavy silence, yet Izuku was completely lost in his own world, lips moving slightly as he muttered under his breath, reviewing terms and definitions.

His exhaustion was obvious in the way he blinked a little slower, the way his hand hesitated before jotting down another note—but even as fatigue weighed on him, he pushed through, determination keeping him tethered to his studies long past midnight.