Chapter 12: His motivation
"Izu! I am going to need your help!" Himeko said as she entered the house. "I actually received internship offers and need your help going through them!"
"That's great Himi!" she heard him call back from his room. "Bring them in here."
Himiko walked into Izuku's room and dropped her tablet onto his desk. "So it looks like my stunt at the sports festival paid off. I actually got 98 offers!" she beamed proudly.
Izuku picked up the tablet and started scrolling through the offers. "It looks like a lot of these are underground heroes, which makes sense. Since your focus is on stealth and information gathering they would help you out a lot. Oh! This one is a detective agency led by a hero. Unfortunately it doesn't look like anybody with a blood based quirk sent you an offer."
"Yeah, unfortunately Kan-sensei is no longer active and there aren't exactly a lot of heroes with blood-based quirks. A detective agency sounds super boring though, not enough action." She paused, thinking. "Are there any other offers that aren't underground?"
"I saw a couple. Thinking of trying out something more public?" Izuku's face bunched up in concentration as he went through the list. "Mr. Brave actually might be a good match for you."
"Mr. Brave? Who is that?" Himiko looked over her brother's shoulder to see the offer.
"He is lower ranking, in the top 200, but his quirk involves him turning his hair into swords and other weapons."
"So he can help with my knife techniques?" Himiko asked excitedly.
"Yep! And maybe he can give you some tips on image - it sucks but people have a stronger reaction to a villain that is all cut up then one that is covered in bruises from being pummeled or, in Endeavor's case, burned."
"Right, so he sounds perfect for me!" Himiko hugged her brother. "Now I just need to fill out the form and turn it in tomorrow."
When Himiko left Izuku returned to looking at the schedule and milestones All Might had prepared for him. "This is too slow. All Might threatened to push me hard, but this isn't any worse than what Kan-sensei was putting us through. Based on the last two weeks, if I keep up the current pace I won't meet these milestone goals. Now if I wake up a half hour earlier and adjust my morning run accordingly… and remove all but one of the skip days during the week..."
Two weeks later…
Izuku felt slower and heavier this morning as he was on his morning jog, trying to keep pace with All Might riding on a bicycle. His revisions to the schedule worked out well at first! For a week! But then he began to fall behind. He thought that it was just the effects of the training kicking in, if he was able to push through he would bounce back and settle into the new routine. But every day it was getting harder to keep up with the pace he set for himself.
He was so focused on trying to not fall behind All Might that he missed a root growing into the path, until his foot caught it and he found the ground rapidly rushing up to meet him. He was face down, stunned from the wind getting knocked out of him as his sluggish brain tried to process what happened. Slowly, he managed to get his hands underneath him and attempted to push himself up.
Why is it this hard?
All Might pulled up next to him, a look of concern on his face. "Young Midoriya, what is wrong?"
"I'm ok. Just a little tired."
"This is not just a little tired, what is going on?"
Izuku managed to get himself into a sitting position, before responding. "I modified the schedule you gave me."
"Why would you do that? The schedule was designed to have you ready for the exam!"
Izuku looked guilty, unable to look his mentor in the face. "After trying for two weeks, I didn't feel like I was making enough progress. I saw room for improvement on the schedule, so I just made them?"
He felt All Might's hand on his head. "It appears I continue to underestimate you. But your adjustments are clearly unhealthy if you are in this condition."
Izuku felt himself tearing up. "I-I just don't want to disappoint you."
All Might gave him a gentle smile. "Don't worry young Midoriya, at this point I am starting to wonder if it is possible for you to disappoint me. Harming yourself beyond the point of recovery would be a reason to be disappointed though."
Izuku looked up to him and took strength from his smile, forcing himself to a standing position. "I am ready to keep going."
All Might shook his head. "No, we are done for today. We are going to return to your house and retrieve your revised schedule, and then you are going to rest for today. My plan may have been too conservative, but your plan is clearly far too ambitious. Fortunately, I know someone who can solve this problem!"
Two days later…
The peaceful silence of Sunday morning was broken with a knock on the apartment's door. With Izuku changing in his room and Himiko having already left for the morning, Inko called out that she would get it. When she opened the door she saw two familiar faces standing there. "Oh, Mr. Yagi! And Principle Nezu, it's been a while."
"Indeed, Mrs. Midoriya. You will have to forgive me for not keeping in touch, but once everything was settled with young Himiko, I had to turn my attention elsewhere. A school doesn't run itself, you know! But it seems our paths are destined to keep crossing."
Inko invited the two people in and directed them to the couch. "Would you two like some tea?"
"Yes please!" Nezu responded politely.
Inko stepped into the kitchen to prepare the tea, before returning to the living room and setting a kettle and four cups down before taking a seat herself. "So how did my son's training become important enough that you got involved?"
"It's not every day you find someone who has attracted the attention of All Might himself. And then I learned that he also intends to enroll in UA as his top choice in hero school." Nezu poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip. "My, this is an excellent choice in tea!"
He sets the cup down and continues. "When this came to my attention, as well as word about your son's recent troubles, I decided it was worth paying a visit to reacquaint myself."
Inko bowed her head. "I am sorry my son is giving you so much trouble."
"It is no trouble at all, Mrs. Midoriya, quite the opposite in fact! Your son has shown a surprising amount of dedication to his training. It appears that Mr. Yagi here had underestimated him."
Inko had a sad look on her face. "He always has to work harder than the other children to make up for his quirklessness." Inko looked behind her to make sure Izuku was still in his room, and then steeled herself for the next question. "Nezu, please be honest with me here. My son - is all this going to help him? I know he is pursuing his dream, but will all of this be enough to get him into UA?"
"While there has been no recorded instance of a quirkless student in UA's hero course, that is simply because nobody has tried. If your son can pass the written and practical portions of the exam, then he will have a spot at my school."
Inko began to feel relief at that. "And you think this training will help my son pass the exam?"
"Of course! If your son was a lost cause I would not be here." Nezu sipped the tea.
Inko began crying at their reassurance. "Thank you for letting me know."
"To be quite honest, Japan could use more heroes with a fraction of the enthusiasm that your son displays." Nezu continued. "In recent years many people who claim to be heroes have proven to be anything but. It would be downright irresponsible of me if I didn't encourage someone with your son's potential."
It was at that moment that Izuku finally joined them in the living room. "P-Principle Nezu! I heard that A- Mr. Yagi was going to bring someone with him today, but I wasn't expecting it to be you!"
"Indeed, it is I! UA's principal!"
Inko looked between the three, and took the cue to leave. "I believe I have taken up enough of your time." She bowed to All Might and Nezu. "Thank you for taking care of my son." She cleaned up her tea cup, gathered her purse and then left the apartment, leaving Izuku alone with All Might and Nezu.
"Now then, we can talk freely. As lovely as your family is, I must respect All Might's wishes and keep the knowledge of One For All a secret."
Izuku seemed surprised by that. "You know about One For All?"
"Yes, young Midoriya. Nezu and Recovery Girl are two of the people who know the truth about my injury, as well as about One For All itself."
"We actually assisted him in the unpleasant matter five years ago that left him in his current state. I was also the one who suggested that he begin teaching at UA for two reasons - one, to begin preparing Japan for his eventual retirement, and two, to find someone whom he felt was worthy of being his successor." Nezu refilled his tea and took another drink. "I will say, I was quite surprised when, one day several weeks ago, he rushed into my office and told me that he had already found his successor. I didn't know what to expect, but when he told me that it was you, everything suddenly made sense."
"It did?" Izuku couldn't keep the shock out of his voice.
"Yes, you seem to have quite a talented mind, and you also go to extreme lengths to help people out - going so far as to prioritize other people's safety over your own, in fact. While that last part is something we will have to work on, it is the first part that is most important. With proper training and refinement you have all the makings of a great hero."
"Except for my quirklessness." Izuku said glumly, the conversation he had inadvertently listened in on going through his head.
"That is a major factor, yes." Nezu admitted. "But not the only one. Another factor is simply your age - you are young enough that you are still in middle school. Were you a student at UA already, you would have easily been one of my top recommendations as All Might's successor. Fortunately for us, fate had decided to intervene, and allowed the two of you to meet on other terms."
Izuku swallowed the lump in his throat, and asked in a shaky voice. "So why are you here, besides to tell me all of this?"
"All Might told me you collapsed during your training two days ago. You have been breaking his training regime and pushing yourself harder than he was expecting you to."
"Yes. His training was going easy on me - Kan-sensei pushed Himiko and I that hard with his own training, and I felt like I wasn't improving fast enough. Because I am quirkless, I am already starting further behind, and I need to catch up."
"Ah. I see! Your logic is sound, but it suffers from one obvious flaw. You are acting as if you will continue to be quirkless. In which case your logic would be correct - you would be in the same position as someone with a mental quirk, or a specialist quirk like your sister has, instead of someone with a combat-capable emitter or enhancement quirk. However, that isn't the case, is it?"
Izuku looked at Nezu, realization dawning on his face. "But that will change once All Might transfers One For All to me?"
"Exactly! I can understand it is hard to change your way of thinking, after all you've spent your entire life up to this point quirkless, with all of the challenges that come with that. However, you have witnessed All Might's strength first hand. Even if you are only able to wield a fraction of that power at the beginning, your physical abilities will be well beyond those of what you are currently capable of."
"Y-you're right."
"Now then, I have come up with a revised training schedule for you. While All Might was too lenient, you were too harsh on yourself. I have reconciled those differences. However, I must warn you against deviating from this schedule - to do so is at your own peril."
"W-what do you mean?" Even though Nezu didn't change his tone, Izuku felt the threat behind those words.
"If you push the human body too hard, it will break. If you break yourself, Midoriya, do you think you will be a proper successor to All Might?"
Izuku's eyes flicked over to All Might, his skeletal form a reminder of the battles he had fought, and swallowed the lump in his throat. "That sounds like a threat."
"It is no threat, I am merely stating facts. I wish to respect All Might's choice of successor, but if you injure yourself to the point where you cannot be a proper bearer of One For All, I would advise him to choose one of the other candidates instead. However, if you follow our revised schedule, then there will be no issue."
Izuku nodded. "I understand." He takes a deep breath. "So what does this revised schedule look like?"
All Might pulled a bundle of papers out of the briefcase and handed it to Izuku, and they began going over it. As they were reviewing Izuku felt part of him trying to push back, feeling like he could push himself further than the schedule, but he remembered Nezu's words, and his mom's concerns about him. It was about finding balance.
Once All Might finished going over the revised schedule with Izuku, Nezu spoke again. "Now then, onto the more pleasant reason I am here. As I mentioned earlier, All Might, and from what I hear around school, your sister, both praise your intellect and quick thinking. I believe All Might mentioned you keep quirk analysis notebooks? Since I am accompanying you on training today, I would love to pass the time by reviewing them."
Izuku's eyes lit up at that, and he dashed off to his room. All Might couldn't help but laugh at the sudden change in attitude - from the somber, serious tone he was just displaying, to his more enthusiastic self. Just as quickly as he left, Izuku returned with a stack of 13 notebooks. "I-I'm not sure how fast you can read, so I brought them all? Although the early ones aren't as good as the newer ones."
"Nonsense! It will be an excellent gauge of your progress!"
As the day's training went on, Izuku couldn't help but keep coming back to his mom's comment earlier today.
He always has to work harder than the other children to make up for his quirklessness.
Deep down, Izuku knew exactly what his current motivation was. His entire life he was defined by his quirklessness. And he has spent his entire fighting against that.
I see the flaw in your logic, you are acting as if you will continue to be quirkless.
That's right. At the end of his training, he will receive One For All, and then he will have one of the strongest quirks to exist! Where will he be then?
The answer came to him, as other memories weaved their way into his thoughts.
Bakugo bullying kids for having 'useless' quirks, while he got endless praise for his explosion quirk.
Himiko knocking on his door late at night, crying from a nightmare that woke her up. 'Izu, can I sleep in here?' Afraid of being alone, she crawls into his bed, asking him for reassurance. 'You and Mama Inko won't leave me because of my quirk, right?'
His doctor telling a four year old child he should just give up on his dream when he was diagnosed with being quirkless.
Realization hit Izuku like a bolt of lightning. His eyes widened and he dropped the tires he was carrying as he spun to face his mentor. "All Might! I figured out the answer to your question!"
All Might was momentarily startled by the outburst, but quickly recovered and smiled at him. "And what question is that, young Midoriya?"
"I overheard you talking to my mom today." Izuku admitted. "Everything we talked about today - it all just came together and made me realize what drives me. And what kind of hero I want to be."
A look of fierce determination filled Izuku's face. "The Symbol of Peace may make most people feel safe and comfortable, and keep criminals hiding in the shadows. But there is still so much injustice in Japan - so many people who don't feel that safety. There are quirkless kids who are being told they are worthless. They are treated worse than their peers due to something out of their control. That isn't right."
Both All Might and Nezu looked at each other, sharing a knowing look. He is speaking from experience.
"I want to make people feel safe and secure - like you do. But more than that, I want people to feel ok with being who they are - that they don't need to be defined by what their quirk is, or their lack of quirk." His face fell again. "It's kind of ironic, really, given my own situation."
"Young Midoriya - " All Might was left speechless. He put a hand on Izuku's head. "You should not feel bad about accepting help to enact your vision."
"Indeed, there is also strength in realizing your own inadequacies, and seeking out the help to overcome those obstacles. Remember, All Might himself accepted One For All to enact his vision of becoming the Symbol of Peace. It is only right that you take that strength and use it to fulfill your own vision."
"So it's really ok for that to be my motivation?" Izuku asked, not even trying to stop the tears from flowing down his face.
All Might laughed. "Indeed, in fact I would say it is very noble of you! We do have to work on your crying though. It's not very heroic to be a sobbing mess every time you get emotional!"
Nezu gave Izuku a cryptic look. "I had my suspicions about this. You were right All Might - young Midoriya is the perfect successor for you."
Hearing the encouragement from All Might and Nezu, Izuku threw himself into his training for the rest of the day with newfound determination.
Once they were preparing to part ways, Nezu returned the bag full of notebooks to Izuku. "I have to agree with All Might, you are very smart - and what is even more impressive is that you have not had any training so far!"
Izuku rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "It was just a hobby, since I thought I was going to have to fight smarter to overcome my lack of a quirk."
"If I were you, I would continue this 'hobby.' With all due respect to All Might, the thought of you fleshing out your analysis skills, along with wielding One For All, is absolutely thrilling."
Izuku nodded along dumbly, not sure how to process the praise.
"And if you feel that your current training regime gives you too much free time, I will gladly provide you with the quirk analysis materials that UA's support students use in their courses."
"All right class, it's time to choose your hero names!" Midnight said from the front of the class. "Do we have any volunteers?"
"I've got mine!" Emily's hand shot up, and Midnight called her to the front of the class.
"Because my quirk resembles little stars, I decided to go with something appropriate, I am The Shining Light Hero: Polaris!"
"Clashes with your costume, but thematically appropriate for your quirk, I like it!" Midnight approves. "Anyone else?"
Atsuko raised her hand next. "I am ready as well."
Atsuko went up to the front of the class. "I have a name as well." She held up her card. "I am The Protection Hero: Skyshield."
"Simple and to the point. I approve!"
Not to be outdone by her friends, Himiko raises her hand.
"I realize I am leaning into the vampire theme with this, but it feels appropriate." Himiko revealed her card and waited for Midnight's evaluation.
"Oooh, striking, but the word bloody doesn't have a positive connotation."
"What about Kan-Sensei? He is literally the Blood Hero." Himiko retorted.
"Yes, but the difference is his quirk involves him fighting with his actual blood." Midnight's face suddenly lit up in inspiration, and she took her marker, crossing out the word blood and replacing it. "How about that?"
Himiko stared at her board for a moment, and she found a smile growing on her face. "I like it, that will work!" She then showed the rest of her class the board with her hero name on it.
"I am The Crimson Heroine: Carmilla."
Chapter 13: Interning with Mr. Brave
Himiko shouldered her bag and picked up her case, disembarking from the train. Pulling out her phone, she began following its instructions until she arrived at a generic-looking office building. Stepping inside, she was greeted by an unmanned front desk, the wall behind it decorated with a number of hero's logos showing who else shared the building.
"Carmilla! Welcome to my agency! I take it you didn't have any trouble find it?"
Himiko turned and saw Mr. Brave standing by the elevators. "Nope! It wasn't too hard to find. I was kind of expecting more though from the entrance?"
Mr. Brave laughed at that. "If I become more successful, one day! Not all of us can be as successful as All Might! Until then, many of us heroes have to work together and pool our resources. Let's go upstairs and I'll show you around." He gestured to the elevator.
The first stop on the tour was the floor containing the dormitory for the agency. While the heroes themselves have private homes elsewhere, if they were working particularly long hours, or if there is an emergency, one of them occasionally used the rooms here. Normally, he explained, the rooms are saved for students doing internships from across Japan, or for visiting heroes who are coordinating with one of the heroes working out of this building.
"Since you are the first student here, you get the spot closest to the elevator." Mr. Brave mentioned as he handed her a key card in front of one of the rooms. "Go ahead and drop your stuff off before we continue."
Himiko entered the room and looked around. It was small, but functional, with just enough room for a be, a desk, and a small closet for her things. She dropped her bag on her bed and gently set her hero case on the desk before returning to the hallway and the hero waiting outside.
He then led her through the rest of the facilities, showing off all of the basic facilities of a hero agency - from the small support department that they shared, to the meeting areas, to his own private office. He then shows Himiko the shared kitchen, dining, and recreational area she will have access to for the duration of her internship. Finally they returned to the ground floor and he leads her to a door that opens into the shared gym / training facilities of the agency. There she saw a couple of other heroes currently using the space, one working over a punching bag while another was lifting weights.
Their tour concluded, Himiko turned to Mr. Brave. "So, when do we start training?"
He smiled at her enthusiasm. "I was planning on starting right away. Go change into something more appropriate for training and come back down, I want to see what you already know."
Himiko smiled back. "Sounds great!" She rushed back to the elevator and returned to her dorm room, quickly changing into her gym uniform before returning to the gym.
When she returned, Mr. Brave led her over to a locker, and when he opened it she saw a wide variety of practice weapons. "Pick your weapon of choice."
Grinning, Himiko grabbed two particularly nasty looking knives with dulled blades. Mr. Brave grabbed another pair of knives for himself, and the two walked to center of the sparring area. He bowed to Himiko, who returned the bow, and then they slid into their respective combat stances.
The two spent the next hour sparring. While Himiko considered herself pretty good with her knifework, Mr. Brave was on a whole other level. By the time he announced that they were done, Himiko was tired and sore. Even though the knives were dull, being repeatedly hit by them hurt and she was sure she was going to have bruises afterwards. She collapsed on a bench, joined a few moments later by her mentor after Mr. Brave returned the weapons to storage, tossing a water bottle at her which she easily caught before sitting down himself.
"You have the basics down, which is great! I would say you are still lacking in experience, but in this case I would be worried if you actually had more experience." He laughed at his own joke.
Himiko laughed at that. "I've had plenty of practice over the past six months, but I haven't exactly been in a lot of real fights against villains yet."
"I'd say that may change this week, but since you are still a first year student, if we do run into a villain this week I want you to focus more on protecting yourself. I would also remind you about quirk usage laws, but that isn't really a problem for you is it?"
"Nope!" Himiko grinned. "But I can hold my own in a fight."
"While that may be true, you never know how skilled your opponent is. It may be some low life who is used to getting away with stuff just by the mere threat of violence, or you may be facing a hardened criminal with years of experience fighting heroes. Part of being a hero is knowing your limits. It wouldn't do well for you to get severely injured during your first internship, after all!"
"That makes sense."
Mr. Brave stood back up. "In the meantime, I have a few ideas to improve your techniques. If you are ready for round two?"
With a grin Himiko downed the rest of her water and jumped up. "Bring it on!"
Mr. Brave put her through training for another hour, showing her ways to properly defend against attacks with her knives. When he was satisfied with Himiko's progress he sent her off to get ready for her first patrol. After a quick shower and changing into her hero costume, she met back up with him again, ready to begin.
The excitement didn't last however. After walking for a few kilometers, Himiko began to feel a strange nervous energy - like she was expecting something to happen, only to be disappointed when they reached the next street corner without incident.
"This isn't what you were expecting, was it?" Mr. Brave asked her, as if reading her thoughts.
Himiko felt a blush creeping into her face from embarrassment. "No, not at all."
"Patrols may not be the most glamorous thing, but it helps the citizens feel safe." Mr. Brave waved to an old lady who was standing behind a food counter. "And, since you are worried about how people will react to your style of heroism, knowing the citizens actually helps."
That surprised Himiko. "How so?"
"The people here know me and know my quirk. So when they see me leap into action with my hair weapons, they see me as 'their' hero."
"So if people see me as one of them, they'd be more inclined to see me in a positive light, instead of seeing me as scary?"
"Exactly! Even though you have embraced the 'vampire' asthetic, that doesn't mean you have to remain aloof and mysterious to the people you are protecting. Save that for the villains themselves."
"That does sound appealing." Himiko admitted. "How do underground heroes handle it?"
"I wouldn't know, to be honest." Mr. Brave admitted. "The underground heroes try to stay out of the public eye, by the very definition of 'underground hero.' So they work without fame and recognition, but at the same time tend to work at times when there aren't many people on the streets. You mentioned that was your plan right?"
"Yeah. Given my quirk, it actually works out for the best if I go underground." Himiko stopped and held up her hands. "Not that I don't appreciate the advice! I just think the less media attention, the better?"
Mr. Brave just laughed and smiled. "Of course, that makes sense! Still, I hope you learn a thing or two about heroics this week. And if you change your mind and end up deciding to work more publicly, you can consider my advice!"
The next day, in the middle of their patrol Himiko felt a tingling on the back of her neck, like someone was watching her. Looking around she noticed a tall woman staring at her from across the street - she was wearing a baggy jogging outfit, and her eyes were concealed by a large pair of sunglasses, but her pink and navy blue two-tone hair was quite distinctive. And even with the sunglasses, Himiko felt her eyes boring into her. She shuddered and turned to get Mr. Brave's attention.
"What's up Carmilla?"
"There was a woman over there watching us."
"Over where?"
"Right…" Himiko turned to point her out, but she was gone. "She was right there!"
"What did she look like?"
"She had two-toned hair and a jogging outfit."
"A jogging outfit? Maybe she is going for a run and she recognized you from the sports festival?"
"Yeah, maybe…" Himiko felt unsure, like there was more to it.
Mr. Brave put a hand on her shoulder. "You still aren't really comfortable in public yet, are you?"
Himiko felt herself blushing. "No." She admits.
"I know it must feel strange to have attention on you, but that comes with being a hero. Even if you go underground, there will always be people who recognize you. Knowing how to handle that is a skill as well."
That didn't feel like a random person though. Himiko just nodded. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to it."
Mr. Brave just laughed. "At least you're learning that now! Next year you can pick an underground hero to intern with, and learn directly from them how to deal with the attention."
The third day of Himiko's internship was when she saw her first real action. Partway through their patrol they heard a commotion, and someone ran up to them. "Mr. Brave! Villains!"
Mr. Brave and Himiko drew their weapons and rushed towards the commotion. A crowd of civilians had appeared around a pair of thugs who were holding a lady hostage. The two quickly evaluated the thugs with a glance - one had long ropey arms that he wrapped around a woman and was lifting her in the air, while his companion, a large man with a shark mouth, was threatening her with a knife.
"Lady, all you had to do was give us your wallet! Now look at the mess you've made!"
"Stop!" Mr Brave pushed through the crowd and faced down the thugs. "Unhand her at once!"
"Oh great, heroes!" Rope-arms said.
"Stay back, or this woman gets it!" Shark-teeth yelled out, moving the knife closer to the woman's face.
Himiko slowly put her knives away and began backing away into the crowd. Mr. Brave looked at her with a confused look on his face.
"I'll create a distraction, just get their attention off of me!" Himiko responded.
Mr. Brave took a moment to process what she was saying, and gave her a nod in understanding. "Be careful!" He whispered back, and then stepped in between Himiko and the thugs.
"Seems your companion is smarter than you are, drop your weapon and back away, and nobody's gonna get hurt."
"You know I can't just let you go, villains!"
"You heroes are all alike, you know that. All you care about is putting villains away. Well you've got a choice to make. Either let us go, or this lady gets hurt."
While Mr. Brave was trading words with the villains, Himiko carefully made her way through the crowd, trying to get as close to shark-teeth as she could. She also felt extremely nervous - while she's used her blanking technique many times before, even in combat situations, those were all practice. This is the first time she's done with real consequences! If she messes this up, the woman who was currently tied up could be hurt - or worse.
There is also the fact that while she told Mr. Brave she was going to make a distraction, she didn't exactly tell him what the distraction would be. She hopes he's not too angry with her after this.
Too late now though. Don't fall into Izu's habits of overthinking things, there is someone who needs me. Himiko shoved all of the thoughts out of her mind and calmed her breathing, and in the next moment she was stepping out of the crowd towards shark-mouth.
Shark-mouth yelled in surprise as Himiko grabbed his arm and pulled it away from the lady, and out of the corner of her eye Himiko saw Mr. Brave charging rope-arms.
Rope-arms yelped in surprise and tried to move the woman to be between him and Mr. Brave, but the pro hero was expecting that. He quickly stepped to the side and drove his hair-sword into the villain's shoulder, causing him to yell in pain, the wound causing him to loosen his grip around the woman. Without hesitation Mr. Brave wrapped an arm around the woman's stomach and pulled her free.
Himiko, meanwhile, had completely underestimated the strength of shark-mouth. It only took a moment for him to recover and once he realized she was there, he drove his arm into Himiko's stomach. With the wind knocked out of her, she fell onto the sidewalk with a thud. With an angry snarl, shark-mouth reversed his grip on his knife and tried to stab her with it, and she was barely able to draw one of her own knives in time to knock it away.
This isn't good, gotta stand up. Himiko lashed out with a kick, forcing shark-mouth back a couple feet, giving her the few precious seconds she needed to stand. She pulled a second knife out from her coat and suddenly felt more confident. She was able to use her speed to get a few cuts on his knife arm, but a wild swing from him sent her hopping backwards - she did not want to get knocked on the ground again.
While she had shark-mouth's attention, Mr. Brave was able to disable rope-arms, a second blow from his hair-sword in his other shoulder enough to make the guy surrender. Quickly slapping quirk-supressing cuffs on the villain, Mr. Brave pulled out another chunk of hair, ready to support his intern.
Shark-mouth growled threateningly at Mr. Brave. "You stay out of this hair freak! First I'm going to finish off this kid here, and then you're next!" He charged Himiko, who barely was able to jump out of the way in time. If he was feeling pain from her cuts he wasn't showing it yet.
Mr. Brave advanced towards him. "What kind of hero would I be if I left you alone with my student?" He swung his hair-sword only to see shark-mouth block it with his knife and step back.
With shark-mouth's attention momentarily focused on Mr. Brave, Himiko had a chance to breathe. It was then that she noticed someone trying to sneak up on him. There was a third thug! "Brave, watch out!"
Ignoring shark-mouth, Himiko dashed in-between Mr. Brave and the third attacker, slamming her knife into the palm of his outstretched hand. He shouted and she felt as if she was hit with a taser through the hilt of her blade, going down. Her opponent didn't fare much better, and it looked like he was also affected by the shock. Guess he can generate an electric shock through his palms, and my knife meant he felt it too!
Himiko managed to recover and drove a knee into his stomach as he was trying to remove the knife in his hand, sending him back to the ground. She got on top of him and pinned his good arm behind his back, careful to make sure she wasn't touching his palm.
With the other two thugs taken care of, Mr. Brave was able to quickly subdue shark-mouth one-on-one, wearing him down enough to get him to surrender before slapping quirk-supressing cuffs on him. With both of his friends secured, taser-hands gave up struggling as well, allowing Himiko to handcuff him before allowing him to stand.
"Good job Carmilla. I would have been in a world of hurt if he was able to touch me." Mr. Brave congratulated her as she guided taser-hands over to his friends.
"Thanks!" Himiko grinned.
"Although, we need to work on your communication skills."
Himiko felt her face heat up in embarrassment. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."
"When you said distraction, I thought you were going to use a smoke bomb or something from your support gear. I wasn't expecting you to attack them directly!"
Himiko tried to shrink into her coat. "Remember the stealth technique I told you I have? I-it seemed like a good use for it."
He frowned at her. "But it could have also ended poorly for you. Or for the lady they had taken hostage."
"I-I know. I was thinking about that before I did it. It still seemed like a good idea at the time."
Mr. Brave sighed and looked at his intern, the ghost of a smile on his face. "At least you seem to acknowledge the consequences if things went wrong. Go check on the civilian while I call this in."
Straightening herself out, Himiko walked over to where the lady who was attacked was sitting on the ground and knelt down next to her, asking if she was ok. The woman said she was ok, if shaken up. According to her, shark-face forced her into an alleyway where the three were trying to shake her down for money. She got scared and tried to run for it, but they were too fast for her, and things escalated from the commotion she caused while trying to escape.
After hearing her story, Himiko was able to reassure her that everything was going to be ok now, that she was safe. The police and EMS were both on the way to check up on her, and then she will be free to go. Despite feeling like talking to civilians was still one of her weaker points, the woman seemed to relax under her assurances and calm down, patiently waiting for the authorities.
While they were waiting, Himiko felt the sensation of being watched again. Looking around, she once again spotted her. The lady with the navy-and-pink two-tone hair and jogging outfit. Once again, she felt her piercing gaze through those giant sunglasses. She stole a glance back at Mr. Brave to make sure everything was under control, and once again when she looked back the lady was gone.
Himiko couldn't help herself - she ran over to where the lady was previously standing and looked around, but the woman had just disappeared. Confused and disappointed, Himiko returned to Mr. Brave's side.
Thankfully she didn't have much time to think about the strange encounter, because shortly after that police and EMS arrived on scene after that and took over the arrests. Himiko and Mr. Brave gave their statements, and Mr. Brave had EMS check Himiko over, but other than a shallow gash and some scrapes she was fine.
Their job complete, Mr. Brave turned to his intern. "Well, it looks like our patrol is going to get cut short today, Carmilla. And I figured out an appropriate punishment. We are going to go back to the agency and I am going to give you firsthand experience in an aspect of heroics that I know you will absolutely love." He flashed her a cheeky grin as he emphasized that last word. "We need to return to the agency and fill out a report for the police."
Himiko could only groan, knowing she was going to hate this already.
The next morning when Himiko walked into the gym, Mr. Brave tossed her a small cylinder. "After yesterday, it is time to expand your arsenal a bit."
Himiko stared at the cylinder for a moment before she realized what it was. Pressing the button on the base she flicked her wrist, and the baton extended to its full length. "An extendable baton?"
"Yes. It will give you some reach over someone who is also using knives." He then tossed her a practice knife, while picking up two more for himself. "Even if you mix up your fighting, giving up one of your knives for defense will give you a reach advantage."
Himiko examined the baton and swung it a few times before transferring it to her left hand. "So you want me to block with the baton?"
"Exactly!" Mr. Brave gave her a grin as he slid into a combat stance. "Later we can talk about how to properly wield the baton, but for right now I want you to focus primarily on learning to block my attacks with it. However, if you see an opening, feel free to try and attack back with your knife."
Himiko took some practice swings with her left hand, trying to get a feel for the unfamiliar weight, before sliding into her own combat stance. "Ok, I think I'm ready."
After an hour of practice Himiko's left arm felt like it was on fire from the shock of deflecting so many blows.
"That was good Carmilla! You were able to block a lot more of my attacks then I was expecting."
"Thanks!" Himiko beamed from the praise as she began massaging her arm. "I will need to change my practice routine though."
"That is ok, before you leave I can teach you some practice routines to develop different muscle groups."
"I think I still prefer my knives though." Himiko admitted.
"It's not about preference, it's about flexibility. If you have additional tools available, that will give you more options on the field. And more options means a higher chance for success! For example, if you use your stealth move? You could try whacking someone with the baton, knocking them unconscious."
"I guess that makes sense." Himiko extended the baton with a flick of her wrist, trying to decide what she thought of it.
After their final training session, Mr. Brave led Himiko to the entrance of his hero agency, where a man dressed in business casual was waiting for them, a small girl, presumably his daughter, hiding behind him. "Mr. Brave! I'm glad you are able to meet with us on such short notice."
"It's my pleasure! You are lucky though, today is Carmilla's last day before she returns to school."
"M-me?" Himiko was confused.
"Yes. This family found out that you were interning with me thanks to a news article on the attack a few days ago. So they contacted me to arrange a meeting." He was giving her a knowing smile.
"W-why would you want to meet with me?" Himiko asked as she stepped forward, suddenly feeling as nervous as her brother.
"It's about our daughter, really. I am Dr. Andou, I work at a hospital as a trauma surgeon. My quirk is well suited for that kind of work." He held up his hand and it glowed with a warm red light. "If I activate my quirk, I can numb all feelings around where I am touching. As you can imagine, it is very useful for my line of work. My daughter has inherited my quirk - and she can probably do even better than I could. However her quirk also mutated - specifically its activation condition…"
Himiko realized what he was talking about. She knelt down to be at eye level with the little girl. "And what is your name?"
The girl looked up at her dad, who merely nodded, and she stepped around them, still hugging her dad's leg. "I am Kyoko, Kyoko Andou."
As she talked, Himiko saw them. Four little fangs in her mouth. She looked up at the parents. "The activation trigger is someone's blood?"
"Yes, if she drinks someone's blood, she can completely control that person's ability to feel pain."
She looked at Kyoto. "And you wanted to meet me?"
"I saw you at the sports festival. It was the first time I've seen someone like me!"
Like me. Someone with fangs and a blood-based quirk.
Himiko knew she probably should have asked, but she pulled the girl into a hug anyway. She felt the girl stiffen up in surprise, before she hugged back.
Himiko looked back up at the father, who didn't seem to mind the action. "When she saw you on TV and realized what you were doing, she broke down in tears. She has never met anyone else with a blood-based activation quirk before, and we know it is rather uncommon."
When Kyoto pulled away, Himiko looked at her. "Can you smile for me?" Kyoto responded by giving her a wide smile, and she could see her fangs. Himiko smiled back, showing off her own fangs. "You have the cutest little smile! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!"
Himiko stood up and looked at the parents again. "What about her dietary needs? Are they being met?"
The father smiled at Himiko's concern. "Yes. Shortly after her quirk properly manifested, she began to complain about headaches, but we couldn't find a cause. When we took her to the doctor we discovered signs of malnourishment. Once we figured it out, we started giving her a glass of special juice at every meal."
"It's really tasty! And mom and dad say it has stuff I need in it!"
Himiko found herself smiling fondly at the little girl. "Yes. It will help you grow up into a big, strong girl someday. And your quirk sounds like it can help lots of people."
"Yes, daddy says I can be a great doctor, just like he is!"
Himiko felt tears running down her face. "Thank you for coming by today, I'm glad to have met your daughter."
"No, Really we are the ones who should be thanking you. I think she may be your first fan."
Himiko gave the family her autograph and once she was done crying they took several photos of her and Kyoto, before the family left. Twenty minutes later after taking a shower and changing into her hero costume, Himiko was in her room, sending the photos to her mom and group chat, when she heard Mr. Brave knocking on the door. "Ready for your final patrol Carmilla?"
Himiko opened the door, a smile still on her face. "Yep, I'm actually looking forward to it today!"
Chapter 14: Semester's end, summer begins
"For today's exam, you will all be fighting robots!" Kan-sensei announced loudly to his gathered students. "We have grouped you into teams of four, and the goal is to see how you have all improved since your entrance exams!"
He held up a small device and pushed a button, and five teams of four appeared on the holographic screen in front of him "Similar to the entrance exam, you will each be shuttled to a different training ground to fight the same one, two, and three point robots you fought in the entrance exam. There will be three major differences this time!" He held up his index finger. "First, you will be fighting as a team. That means for every robot taken down, your team will score the points. Second, you will not be earning rescue points this time. Instead, you will be scored on your ability to work together with your other classmates, so clear communication and supporting each other. Naturally, helping each other out if someone is in trouble will contribute to this, but we are not explicitly scoring them as a separate category. Finally!" He held up a third finger. "There will be multiple zero-point robots deployed to each arena, and they will be present from the beginning of the test. It is up to you to figure out how to best handle them."
Himiko looked up to see who she was partnered with. Akira Kin, Amaya Yuki, and Emily Song. She looked at Emily and cracked a smile as they went to group up with their teammates. At the start of the semester the other girl had been insufferable, but Himiko had misjudged her. She was not another Bakugo. After a rocky start they had become friends, despite the many things that she did that annoyed Himiko.
"Since I never faced these robots, you'll have to give me a run down." Emily told the group when the four of them met up.
Kin crossed his arms and lazily leaned to one side. "It's really simple, there's a bunch of robots like we saw at the sports festival, and our job is to blow them up. There's also going to be some really big robots that you haven't seen yet."
"Well, the three of us all have quirks that can take them down." Yuki said. "Midoriya, how did you handle them during the exam?"
Himiko laughed. "For your information, the robots are weak enough that I can in fact stab them!" She pulled her extendable baton out and flicked it open. "During the exam itself I had to use parts of the robots to help me tear them apart, but this should help gum them up this time."
Kin raised an eyebrow. "I'm impressed, I always wondered how you made it through the practical exam given your quirk."
"Hey, be nice!" Emily chided him. "Midoriya may not be able to blow up robots like we can, but obviously this test isn't just about that!"
"Oh I can blow up robots, just not as fast. But that just means I need to take another role while you and Song do the heavy lifting!" Himiko shot him a grin.
"Yeah, we're both super fast, so we can handle any robots that make it through the two of you!" Yuki added in.
"Exactly!" Himiko smiled at her. "That way you two can focus on taking down the maximum number of points, and not have to worry about any robots that get through."
"And what about the big guys?"
"I think we just need to avoid those?" Emily said questioningly. "At maximum power I am sure I can blast through whatever armor they have, but I'm going to wear myself out quickly and then I'd be useless for the guys who give us points."
"I think you're right." Kin reluctantly agreed. "Even throwing rocks at my maximum possible density, I wasn't able to slow the big robot down during the practical exam. If I had something larger to start with I could probably handle it, but I didn't exactly feel the need to test that during the exam."
"So just to be clear, what's the plan?" Yuki asked. "Emily and Kin save their firepower and focus on the small robots, Midoriya and I will cut through anything that gets close, and if the big robots get too close we relocate?"
"Yep!"
"Yeah!"
"Sounds good to me!"
"Ok, Midoriya, are you ok being our eyes? When I'm in liquid form I can't see as well, and we all know your stakeout scores."
"Yep!" Himiko grinned, turning to Kin. "See? It's more than just who can bring down the most robots."
After settling on their plan, Emily extended her hand, palm down - a gesture she had picked up after her internship - and looked at the other three expectantly. With an eye roll Himiko put her hand on top of Emily's, and Kin and Yuki followed suit.
"One, two, three, go team!" Emily shouted, pushing her hand up and everyone following suit raising their hands.
With her little encouragement ritual done, the four found their bus and boarded it, sitting down and hashing out finer details as they were driven to training ground Gamma. The industrial construction will hopefully limit the robot's ability to come at them, since none of the four seem to recall the robots being particularly good with climbing, but the downside is that the overhead infrastructure made it hazardous if they got caught too close to the massive zero-point robots and the collateral damage it could cause. It made Himiko wish she was teamed up with Atsuko, but the teachers probably kept her out of the ground Gamma team for that reason.
Once they arrived, the four disembarked from the bus and popped in their standard-issue earpieces, waiting for the signal to begin.
"Everyone, you have thirty minutes. Good luck to you all! Time starts now!" The voice of their teacher could be heard loud and clear and the group ran into the entrance, looking for targets.
Himiko got slightly ahead of the rest - as per the plan she was their spotter, while Yuki stayed slightly behind Kin and Emily, her legs already dissolved into a pool of water. She paused at an intersection, peeking her head around the corner before waving to her teammates. "There!"
Kin and Emily rounded the corner and prepared their quirks, Emily charging a pair of light arrows while Kin was holding his first handful of coins. It only took a moment before they saw the first pack of robots barreling towards them, and the two unleashed their attacks, quickly demolishing the first wave.
Advancing further into the training grounds, they quickly found the number of robots growing faster than they were expecting. And their behavior was smarter than what they experienced during the practical exam.
"Midoriya, a little help here!" She heard Kin call out and Himiko turned around, seeing Yuki already standing on top of a robot, her arms transformed into water and shoved into its head as she was short-circuiting it. Drawing her knives and leaping in one swift motion, Himiko landed on top of another robot that had gotten close to Kin, slicing at the exposed wires controlling its limbs. Feeling the robot going limp underneath her, Himiko used its sagging body to propel herself to another robot that was getting close to Emily.
While the group was occupied by the dense cluster of robots advancing on them from the main thoroughfare, they missed the robots that had managed to navigate through the more narrow alleyways. Although with their smaller numbers, Himiko and Yuki working together were able to disable or destroy them all, giving their teammates the breathing room to bring down their primary target.
They didn't have time to celebrate, because as the last robots fell they heard it - the rumbling of a massive zero-point robot. Moments later they saw it, emerging into the long open street that they were on, where it slowly turned and began advancing towards them.
"We've gotta go!"
Himiko was looking around, and saw one alleyway in particular where there weren't any robots. "Follow me!" She dashed to the entrance of the alleyway, waiting for everyone to catch up before she continued down the alleyway to find their next objective.
This continued for what felt like hours, even though they knew it was only minutes. They would find a concentration of robots, Emily and Kin would deal with the majority of them, and then Himiko and Yuki would bounce between the remaining ones. And when they either cleared out all of the robots or, more commonly, when they were found by one of the patrolling zero-pointers, Himiko would lead them away to their next encounter.
Their routine was working well, although twenty minutes of continuous fighting had begun to take its toll on the group.
With the zero-point robots still far enough out to not be a concern, Himiko began scouting for where to go next. Picking a direction, she called out for her teammates and began heading down a side alley. She didn't know how she missed it, but when she reached the next crossroads and stepped out she ran right into a pack of robots. "Fall back!" She called, dancing backwards to avoid a robot taking a swing at her, but she wasn't fast enough - some of the more agile 1-pointers got behind her and she was surrounded.
She was quickly hopping around the circle the robots had formed, barely dodging blows as she looked for a way out when she felt another robot hit her in the back, making her lose her balance as she stumbled forward. Before she could recover fully she saw another limb coming in, and she raised her baton to block it but the blow ripped it from her hand, causing her to stumble again.
"Midoriya, down!"
She heard Emily's panicked voice and reacted instantly, letting herself fall to the ground and covering her head. She felt a massive wave of heat pass over her and waited until she heard the metallic thuds that indicated the robots had fallen over before daring to look around. The group of robots that had ambushed her were now merely charred remains on the ground. She stood up and looked at Emily.
"Thanks for the save! That was close!" She called out, the panic on Emily's face fading when she saw Himiko was safe.
"D-don't do that again! You're supposed to be our spotter and close support after all!" She fired back.
Himiko retrieved her weapons and flashed her a predatory smile. "Just gotta keep the enemy off guard."
"I don't think that works on robots!"
Himiko stuck her tongue out at Emily and then carefully looked around. The zero point robot was closer now, its movements loud enough to drown out most other noise, but her team was relying on her to find the next pack of robots. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye, through a series of pipes, and pointed "There's more robots that way!"
As they were walking Himiko felt soreness creeping in from her earlier mistake. She looked at her companions and they were also starting to slow down. It felt like it was taking longer for Emily to charge her arrows, and Kan was having to manipulate density on one object at a time, instead of several objects at once. She didn't know how much longer they had to go, but they were going to be heroes! They had to push through!
The group climbed up on top of some pipes, and saw the rather large pack of robots that had somehow gathered in a dead end created by the maze of pipes. Looking around, they saw several large pipes overhead. With Himiko and Yuki helping to support them and keep them balanced, Emily and Kin were able to use their attacks to loosen the pipes. Gravity then finished the job for them, causing the damaged pipes to come crashing down, destroying most of the robots. The four of them were able to easily dispose of the remaining robots after that.
Given a temporary reprieve, the team climbed back down the way they came, and took a moment to relax.
"I-I don't know how much more I have left in me." Emily admitted.
"Same." Yuki added, showing the angry red lights on her water tank. "My backup water supply is empty, if I shift into liquid form again and lose any more water it's not going to be pretty."
Kin slowly slid himself to the ground. "This should be over soon anyways, this test was brutal."
Himiko wanted to argue with her teammates but the ache in her muscles told her a different story. "We did our best."
Propping herself against the wall, she forced herself to keep a lookout in case any robots attacked before the time was up. Fortunately they didn't have to wait too long before their earpieces chimed in with an alert. "The villain attacks have been successfully repelled, all students return to the staging area."
Having had a moment to recover, the students all returned to the entrance of ground Gamma and got onto the waiting bus. Once on board the bus driver opened up a bottle of gummies provided by Recovery Girl and passed them out, easing their aches and giving them all a little boost of energy after the exam.
Even with the boost, the usually talkative students ended up spending the return trip in silence. Once back at the staging area, the group got off the bus and rejoined their friends and classmates. Everyone was waiting with nervous anticipation as Kan came out of the building where he was monitoring the tests and walked over to the group.
Kan's serious face then split into a huge smile. "I am pleased to announce that everybody passed! Everyone will be attending the summer camp!"
With sudden energy from the news the students all cheered, celebrating nobody being left behind.
"Izu, are you ready yet?" Izuku hears his sister calling to him from the apartment's entryway. "We need to go meet everyone at the station!"
"Coming Himi!" Bookmarking the page he is on before closing the textbook, he sets it aside and grabs two other notebooks before getting up from the couch to meet his sister.
"You know, it's summer vacation, you already are spending most days on your workout, you can take some time off from studying too!"
"This isn't school work though, this is my hobby!" Izuku defended himself.
Himiko stuck out her tongue like she just ate something foul. "Right, a hobby where you're reading textbooks."
They continue their friendly bickering while Izuku pulls his shoes on and the two leave the apartment, heading to the train station to meet up with Himiko's friends. Between Izuku's workout schedule and UA's surprisingly packed first semester, this was the first chance that Izuku had to meet her new friends.
And that of course, meant an interesting challenge for Izuku. For the time being, he was quirkless, and as far as anyone but himself, All Might, and Principle Nezu were concerned, he would be taking UA's entrance exam quirkless.
'How am I supposed to handle talking to people about UA's entrance exam in the next 9 months?' Izuku asked Nezu as they were winding down from the day. 'After all, Himiko is currently enrolled, and I can't exactly dodge mom, her, or her friends until the exam.'
'Oh, that is quite simple! You just need to tell people the minimum amount of information, and they will fill in the rest themselves! No deception needed!'
Izuku thought about that. 'I think I get it, so if someone asks if I plan on taking the exam, I just tell them yes?'
'Exactly! And people will make their own assumptions, without you having to lie about your real intentions. If that doesn't work, then you can also state facts that support people's biases, encouraging them to make those assumptions.'
Izuku frowned at that, but nodded in understanding. 'I don't like doing this, but it's important enough that I will try.'
Even though he isn't exactly lying to his mom and Himiko, he still felt bad about being evasive. He hoped that one day he could tell them the truth about One For All, but until then he had to be careful. Now that he was having to talk with four more people, he felt his nervousness increasing.
"What's wrong? You were never this nervous with my friends in high school!" Himiko broke him out of his thoughts. Thankfully he wasn't muttering this time.
"This is different, now I'm meeting future pro heroes!"
Himiko rolled her eyes at him. "You realize that you're also trying to become a pro hero, right?"
Izuku gave a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his head. "True, but you will still all be my seniors next year. I need to leave a good impression on them!"
They reached the train station and Himiko began to look around, expecting Sakura to spot them first. Her guess was correct when she spotted Sakura waving to get their attention. Grabbing Izuku's wrist, she gently pulled him along to meet her friends.
Izuku stopped in front of the group when Himiko let go of his wrist, and bowed. "You must be Himi's friends! Hi, I'm Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you!"
"No need to be so formal! I'm Habiki Hideo."
"I'm Tomoe Sakura, nice to meet you."
"And I'm Emily Song! Now hand over your notebooks!"
Izuku made a startled yelp at how direct Emily was, Himiko shot her friend a glare and everyone else seemed to just laugh at the situation.
"Song, you shouldn't be so direct." Sakura chided her.
"I-it's ok." Izuku said after a moment. "It just caught me off guard. I don't really have a lot of people who share my enthusiasm for quirks."
Before Izuku could offer his notebooks to Emily, Himiko grabbed him by the wrist again. "Sorry, not here, let's at least get to the shopping district before we leave you two in your own little world."
Emily whined at that, but Atsuko merely laughed. "She is right, I have seen him once he gets going. It is really impressive."
"Fine!" Emily almost pouted before following the two Midoriyas.
"If he's that much of an enthusiast, I'm surprised you didn't introduce the two of them earlier, honestly." Hideo chimes in once they had started walking.
"It's for my own sanity!" Himiko responds. "If they get going I just know I'm going to get dragged into it. I can only take so much of Izu's hobby at once, let alone getting it from Song too!"
Izuku found himself smiling fondly at his sister as he let himself get pulled along. No matter how much she denied it, he knew she would help him out with his hobby if he asked her for it.
It didn't take long for them to find themselves at the Tatooin Station Shopping District, and Himiko made a beeline to a food court. Scouting out a table, she dragged Izuku over to it before finally letting him go. "Ok, now I'm going to leave you two alone and run away before either of you pull me into this."
"Aww, you're no fun!" Emily responded.
Himiko responded by sticking her tongue out at her. "I have shopping to do for our summer camp anyways! Hopefully by the time I'm done you two will be tolerable again!"
"Rude!" Emily said as she was pulling out a chair to sit down.
Sakura also joined them. "If you two don't mind, I'll stay with the two of you." She had the ghost of a smile on her face. "It will be an interesting conversation at least, and I don't need anything for our camp."
"Well then, see the rest of you later!" Himiko took off back to the shopping district, with Atsuko and Hideo in tow.
Not wasting any time, Emily turned enthusiastically to Izuku. "Ok, now gimme!"
Izuku could only give a nervous smile in response to her enthusiasm. "Here you go. The notes on your class are probably a lot weaker than what you have, since I only get info from Himi, while you're actually in the class."
Emily grabbed the notebook Izuku kept for UA students and flipped to Himiko's entry, her eyes going wide at the information, including a detailed sketch of Himiko herself. "This is amazing!"
Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "I would hope so, considering she's my sister."
She dug her tablet out of her bag and scrolled through her virtual notebook, before finding the entry on Himiko, passing it to him. "My focus is more on support gear to enhance quirks, as opposed to your focus on how to get the most out of someone's quirk."
Izuku took the tablet and looked at her notes. There was less information about Himiko's quirk, but instead a laundry list of potential support gear. He saw designs for a device that could best be described as a dart gun designed to fire a dart with a hose attached to it, allowing blood to be pumped back into a tank. Next to the design was a list with many questions about how to collect blood without her target noticing. Beyond that he saw sketches and references to listening devices, grappling guns, and a strange note about both reinforcing and adding electric shocks to her collapsible baton for anti-robot duty.
"I see. Song's focus is more on practical applications and enhancement. That makes sense given her starting point - her parents both work in the support industry and she has a strong quirk, even if it's application is narrow. So with that background she would obviously focus on the most common way somebody uses their quirk and build on that. While my focus is on learning how to compensate for my lack of quirk by making note of how heroes use their quirk in any given situation and trying to apply that in a more generalized way, which has expanded into my theorizing how to apply quirks in new and creative ways. I wonder if she has ever considered support devices that emulate other people's quirks…"
A laugh broke him out of his thoughts as he looked at Emily. "I see what your sister means, that must have been one of your mumble sessions! But if you're going to talk you should speak up."
Izuku felt a blush of embarrassment on his face. "S-sorry. I know people don't like it when I think out loud like that, so I try to keep it down."
Emily seemed to brush it off while Sakura spoke up. "Does Himiko adopt any of your ideas herself? Since she is in a similar situation as you where she essentially operates quirkless."
"You managed to keep up with all of that, didn't you?" Izuku rubbed the back of his head as Sakura nodded an affirmative. "She has tried a few of my ideas, mostly from underground heroes. Unfortunately due to their very nature it is harder for me to research them as thoroughly as, say, the top ten heroes or the heroes local to Mustafu."
"That makes sense. I would also be interested in hearing some of your theories. Since I am in a similar situation where I am essentially fighting quirkless. I have some martial arts training and my costume has its tasers, but I still feel I am falling behind my other classmates in the combat department." There was a hint of sadness in her tone.
Izuku lit up and grabbed his UA student notebook back from Emily, flipping to Sakura's entry and pulling out a pencil. "How good are your enhanced senses? More specifically, can you make your skin sensitive enough to detect changes in the air caused by motion? Or hearing - have you ever considered using your hearing, possibly combined with some additional device, for echolocation?"
Emily seemed to catch on immediately, grabbing her tablet back. "You really are smart!" She opened up a catalog of support equipment and began scrolling through.
"I have tried some basic echolocation to move through buildings when the power is out, it's actually quite useful in our infiltration training. But never on something human sized or mobile. In theory I could detect subtle changes in air pressure, but I have not really practiced it because it is very easy to become uncomfortable if I enhance my sense of touch too much. What are you two suggesting?"
"This!" Emily showed her an entry on high volume smoke grenades.
"Exactly!" Izuku found himself smiling. "If you are at a disadvantage against an opponent, a very easy solution would be to blind them. It's a similar idea to how Himi uses misdirection and stealth to overcome any quirk-based advantage her opponent may have. If you train yourself to fight while blind, using your other senses to compensate, you'd be at a significant advantage over them."
Sakura looked at the two and smiled. "I'll have to try that. It would require some adjustments to both my training and my costume, but I can see the benefit of something like that. I've always thought of using my quirk for reconnaissance and information gathering purposes mostly, and not applying it like that."
"I'm not saying you have to try it right away, but it's definitely something to consider! The other option is to talk to your teacher Snipe. Given your quirk, the fact that you have excellent vision naturally would lend itself to adding some sort of ranged weapon to take down villains before they can get close."
With the ice seemingly broken, Izuku and Emily found themselves comparing notes for the next several hours, with Emily and Sakura helping Izuku fill out his own notes on the quirks of their classmates, and then Izuku speculating on new applications for the quirk in question, which fed back to Emily coming up with support gear that would support these theoretical applications of a quirk.
This continued until Himiko, Atsuko and Hideo returned carrying shopping bags.
"Is it safe to come back yet?" Himiko asked.
Izuku laughed. "I think so? Song and Sakura helped me fill out my notes for your class, but we can stop."
"Good!" She set the bags down and plopped down in the chair next to Izuku. "We are just about done shopping for the stuff on Kan-sensei's list, and I'm getting hungry."
Taking turns, the six of them ordered food and returned to the table. When he sat down Izuku handed a second order of katsudon to his sister, who was already digging into a bowl of soup from a different stall. Once everyone had their food and settled back in, the conversation picked back up again.
"So you're planning on attending UA next year too?" Hideo asked.
"Y-yeah. That's the plan!" Izuku looked down at his food and poked at it. "If I can pass the practical part of the exam at least."
"Will they even let you apply? Since you're, you know…" Hideo asked.
Himiko glared at Hideo and looked like she was ready to stab him with her chopsticks while Izuku nervously laughed. "There aren't any rules requiring a quirk to take the test, actually! Given the makeup of most graduating classes at UA, there is a definite bias towards those with strong physical quirks, but it isn't a requirement."
Hideo was holding his hands up defensively in case Himiko actually did decide to attack him. "That makes sense. I always thought having a quirk was a requirement to get in. But I can totally see why they don't want to limit their options - In our combat training Himiko and Sakura have to rely on their support gear to keep up, but whenever the lesson is about infiltration, reconnaissance, or stakeouts they embarrass the rest of us with how good they are."
"You'd better believe it!" Himiko forcefully speared a piece of food on Hideo's plate with her chopstick, and carefully pulled it back to eat it, never breaking eye contact with Hideo.
"The same is true of heroics as a profession." Sakura pointed out. "Where there is an inherent bias towards those with powerful quirks, especially if there is an element of flashiness to them. However it isn't necessarily the only component."
"Exactly!" Izuku jumped in. "Like All Might! Whenever people see him, they feel like everything is going to be ok now that he is there! And his title of Symbol of Peace isn't merely for show, either. His mere presence has cut the crime rate in Japan down dramatically, acting as a deterrent."
"But he also has a super-powerful quirk to back that up, he can literally change the weather with how strong his punches are!" Emily stated.
"True, but look at someone like Kamui Woods. He's rapidly rising through the hero ranks, and his quirk isn't nearly as strong." Sakura countered. "He simply has the ability to rapidly change the shape of his wooden body. While it's true that his body also gives him several advantages over the average person, it also comes with its own unique weakness - he would suffer against a fire-wielding villain more than one of us would."
"And he is popular enough with the civilians of Mustafu." Izuku continues. "The top five heroes all have extremely powerful quirks, but really it comes down to a matter of scale. All Might, at his debut, was able to save a thousand people from a natural disaster. That doesn't discredit the fact that Kamui Woods may only be able to save a bus full of people from a disastrous accident. At the end of the day, they both are saving people."
"So, what kind of hero do you want to be?" Emily asked.
Izuku looked down at his food again. "I want to be the kind of hero that inspires people. One that will tell a quirkless kid he can be a hero if he wants to be."
"Now you all can see where Himiko gets it from." Atsuko said.
"I see, so you both want to fight against quirk discrimination?"
"Yep!" Himiko grinned.
"Yeah!" Izuku looked up and nodded. "It's not right that people suffer from quirk discrimination through an accident of genetics, or are treated as someone who is lesser because they are part of the 20% of the population that doesn't have a quirk. All Might said it best - being a hero isn't just about saving lives, but saving hearts as well!"
"I think that's pretty cool. There's a bunch of heroes out there with quirks of all power levels, but a lot of them never really talk about social issues like that."
"It really is cool!"