Tear Jerker / Return of the Shield Deku

• Before Izuku returns from Melromarc, we are shown Inko crying over his disappearance, not knowing the cause of his disappearance or even if he is alive.
• While still a good person willing to help anyone in need, Izuku’s time in Melromarc has been shown to have made him far more cynical.
• The story implies that ''something'' happened during the Three Heroes Church’s coup that Izuku feels tremendous guilt over well into the present day.
• Izuku compares Filo bonding with Raph-Chan to giving a depressed teenager a puppy, which has unfortunate implications.
• Despite having more than enough evidence in his favor, Izuku is still accused of rape and has his reputation in Melromarc ruined.
• Itsuki mentions having known someone whose life was ruined after he was false accused of a crime by someone from an influential family.
• Chapter 5 reveals that something happened involving Melty that caused Filo to close herself off, and that she has only recently started opening back up again.
• When Filo, who has yet to unlock her human transformation, gets left in the stables for the night, she becomes very distressed and is outright crying by the time Izuku returns, because she thought she had somehow angered Izuku and Raphtalia and was being abandoned for it.
• When Fitoria is watching Filo panic in the stables, she hears the younger Filolial begging for Izuku and Raphtalia to come back and promising to be a good girl.
• Bakugo saved from the Sludge Villain even without Izuku but left with severe and possibly permanent lung damage. Despite the irony that his bullying indirectly led to this (Izuku was transported to Melromarc when seeking refuge from him), and deserving any punishment after his conduct in the Battle Trials, you may think he didn't deserve to be left with a condition he may have to deal with for the rest of his life. Even worse as it further gnaws at his inferiority complex, and his own drive may cause him to further ruin his own health - and there's an especially bad Aizawa in this universe who validates his mindset.
• Hana Shimura, alive and an UA teacher in this universe, is revealed to have survived because one of her relatives had the spirit to amputate her arm quickly before Decay, affecting her after Tenko had touched her hand in a panic as his Quirk manifested, could spread to the rest of her body. Unfortunately it didn't prevent the rest of the Shimura family from dying, nor Tenko from eventually becoming Tomura Shigaraki.
• Filo mistakes Izuku’s discomfort at being her father as him not liking her, and has to be reassured by Raphtalia that this isn’t the case.
• The village of Mirso tricks Ren into killing the dragon Gaelion, who wasn’t even a threat, so they could steal his treasure hoard. To make matters worse, Gaelion’s spirit is forced to watch helplessly as his adopted daughter is forcibly enslaved for being a Demi-Human. The resulting rage causes Gaelion’s corpse to turn into a zombie and inflict a plague upon the village.
• Izuku watches helplessly as Filo is swallowed by the Zombie Dragon. While Filo ends up unharmed, Izuku truly believed she had died for a short time.
• In a different turn of events from the original Shield Hero, Ren has gone mad and is now imprisoned in a special cell. He appears to have distorted feelings for Wyndia, considering her like a personal possession, and there are hints he may be responsible for the death of someone dear to Izuku and his family.
• While not outright stated as of Chapter 9, there are several hints that Melty has died in this continuity, like dialogue about Filo having been depressed, and a now redeemed Motoyasu raising Filolians and talking about presenting them to Filo - at which point both him and Izuku turn their gazes to a cherry tree with some spider lilies at its base.
• Fohl Fayon is also dead.

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