Chapter 24: Aftermath of the USJ
The students of class 1-A were led to the cafeteria, which has been divided into multiple makeshift sections. Taking in the scene, Izuku saw that Recovery Girl had taken over one corner of the cafeteria, turning it into a makeshift office to tend to the class. Right now she looked like she was examining Mashirao's broken arm. And then off in the far corner of the cafeteria, he saw Hanta was sitting down next to Ectoplasm and giving a statement to a pair of police officers.
Finally, there was a space with a number of tables covered in food and drink, which is where most of his classmates were settling in. Izuku saw that Tenya was already sitting at one of these tables, waving them over. Ochako and Tsuyu immediately began to head towards him, but Izuku decided not to join his friends yet. He turned to Himiko.
"Are you going to be ok?"
She glared back at him. "Shouldn't I be asking you that question?"
Izuku could only laugh nervously. "Y-yeah, probably."
"I'm better now that you are safe." She admitted. "We will talk later though - I uh, I should probably get going." She motioned towards the trio of third year students that were dressed in their hero costumes, slowly walking around.
Izuku watched as Himiko paired off with one of the third years and joined them in slowly patrolling the cafeteria before turning back to his own classmates, sitting in small groups at the tables. Seeing the expressions on some of their faces, he decided to check up on them. Other than his and Katsuki's encounter with the sludge villain last year, he wasn't sure if anyone else in the class had ever experienced actually being in a villain attack before, let alone one where they were the ones being attacked.
He had managed to check in with about half his classmates before Momo came up to him, her arm and shoulder wrapped in bandages.
"Midoriya, it's your turn to see Recovery Girl."
Izuku just shook his head. "I want to make sure everyone else is ok first."
That seemed to bother Momo. "Did you forget that we agreed to split duties?"
"N-no."
"Then I fail to see what the problem is. Checking on our classmates' welfare shouldn't fall on your shoulders alone."
Izuku sighed and glanced over to where his sister was, half-expecting her to be glaring at him. This feels like exactly the kind of setup she would arrange, given her opinions of his sacrificial nature. Fortunately for him, she seemed to be preoccupied talking to one of the third years, and that Momo had come to this conclusion on her own.
"No, you're right." Izuku conceded. "I'm sorry."
Momo just shook her head. "No need to apologize. You go get checked out, I'll check on the rest of the class."
Having relented, Izuku watched as Momo sat down next to Mina, Eijrio, and Katsuki and began talking to them before he walked over to Recovery Girl, sitting down nervously in a chair.
"So what did you do this time?" She asked.
Izuku sheepishly offered his hand. "I may have had to use full strength as part of my escape plan?"
Looking down at his hand, she sighed. "As troubling as it is, it appears you've learned enough control to minimize the damage. And it looks like you had someone splint it as well? I was expecting much worse from you."
Recovery Girl removed the splints and examined his fingers, making sure they would set properly before she used her quirk on Izuku. She then began wrapping his fingers in fresh bandages.
"It's really sad that I don't have to explain the next steps to you. Can you please try and stay out of trouble for more than 24 hours this time?"
Trying to suppress the wave of exhaustion from her quirk, Izuku managed a nervous smile. "I'll try!"
After a quick checkup to determine that nothing else was wrong, Recovery Girl finally dismissed him. Izuku managed to make it to the table where his friends were sitting before collapsing in a chair. Seeing his friend's exhaustion, Tenya helpfully pushed a drink and tray of snacks in front of him so that he could eat and regain some of his energy.
As Izuku began eating, Tenya spoke up. "I am glad I was able to make it to the teachers in time. I was worried I wouldn't be fast enough."
Izuku paused to offer him a reassuring smile. "No, it would have been a lot worse if you didn't escape."
"Yeah Iida, you were a hero today!"
"Those villains were scary, kero."
"Thank you! I must admit, it was difficult to leave. My initial instinct was to stay and fight."
"Well, that's why we're here, right?" Ochako chimed in. "If we knew what we were supposed to do all the time, we would already be working as heroes!"
"Indeed! You are right, Uraraka. Thank you."
The group descended into idle chatter, reassuring each other after the day's events. One by one, everyone in the class was seen by Recovery Girl, and taken to meet the police to give a statement about the day's events.
After a while, once all of the students were attended to, the class saw Principal Nezu enter the cafeteria, flanked by Present Mic, Vlad King, and Hound Dog. Once he had the student's attention, Vlad lifted Nezu up, where he began to sit on the teacher's shoulder.
"Good afternoon students! I wish I could address you under better circumstances, but unfortunately fate is not so kind."
Nezu paused for a moment, before continuing. "We have informed your parents of what has happened, and are preparing an assembly for all of the hero course students, which your parents will be allowed to view and participate in. But before then, I wished to speak to you directly."
"As strange as this may sound to you, I would like to congratulate all of you. Your first villain encounter is always going to leave a lasting impression on you, and by all accounts, your performance today was exemplary. To start, I am pleased to announce that I have been informed by Recovery Girl that all of you will be making full recoveries, for which I am thankful. In addition, we have heard promising news from the hospital - both Eraser Head and Thirteen are in stable condition, and are expected to recover."
"Now why am I congratulating you? It is because you all are trying to become heroes, of course! As future heroes, you will be expected to face villains on a regular basis. And you will be forced to do so in less than ideal circumstances. We seek to simulate these circumstances over the course of three years to test you and help you all become the best heroes you can be. And today, your actions have shown that you are all worthy of being heroes - and that you have bright futures ahead of you."
"However, that doesn't change the fact this happened before you were fully prepared for it. While Recovery Girl will vouch for your physical health, we also wish to stress the importance of your mental health. Therefore we are requiring everyone to schedule an appointment with Hound Dog, our resident therapist. Or, if you have a personal therapist, you may schedule a session with them and submit a note to exempt yourselves. If, after your session, you feel better about today's events you may stop, but there will be no shame if you require additional sessions to work through everything you had to deal with today. Another important lesson is that, whatever you imagined when you decided to join the hero course, the heroic profession is stressful and dangerous, and you must take care of yourself, both physically and mentally."
Izuku thought about it for a moment. He has seen Himiko's therapist several times in the wake of his mom finding out about Katsuki's bullying, and he seems to recall that they also specialize in therapy for heroes, because of course Nezu would suggest someone like that. He'd have to talk to his mom about setting up an appointment.
"Now then, before I depart, I would also like to let you all know that my door is always open. If you have questions or concerns that do not get addressed today, feel free to come by my office and I will gladly talk to you in private."
With those words, Nezu and the other teachers departed to prepare for the second, more public assembly. Class 1-A was given a few more minutes to finish their snacks and collect themselves before they were escorted to the main auditorium. When they arrived, they saw that the other five hero classes were already seated. As the students found their seats, Izuku watched as Himiko and the other upperclassmen continued past them to sit with their own classes.
Once everyone was seated, the students didn't have to wait long before they saw Nezu and the teachers enter the auditorium. The teachers arranged themselves on stage, while Nezu stepped up to the podium. Once they had all settled in, he began his speech.
"Greetings students, and greetings to all of the parents who are watching remotely. For those who don't know me, I am Nezu, the Principal of UA High School. Today, at approximately 12:40 PM, the students of class 1-A had arrived at the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, one of our off-site facilities that is used to teach our students about being a rescue hero. However, shortly after they had arrived, tragedy struck. A group of villains, who have identified themselves as the League of Villains, had their own plans. Their stated goal was simple - they wished to kill All Might."
He paused momentarily while everyone was processing this information, waiting for the uproar to die down before he continued.
"Of course, they failed. All Might has had many attempts on his life over his 40 years of service, and today's attempt was no different. However, the fact that villains were willing to target him while he was in his role as teacher is most concerning."
"At UA, we pride ourselves on providing the highest quality education for our students, training them to become the best future heroes they can be. And this year we had sought to continue providing that quality of education by hiring All Might, Japan's beloved #1 hero, to our faculty as a teacher. We did so knowing that it would attract attention, but we made the decision to bring him onboard anyways, and even now, despite today's unfortunate events, I stand by my decision. All Might is an invaluable asset to our teaching staff, and his willingness to share his wisdom with the next generation of heroes is a unique and special opportunity for your children."
"Now I know this is merely a small comfort, knowing that your children were not the intended targets in all of this. After all, what is to stop them from being caught up in another attempt on All Might. And this is where I wish to assure you all that, even though our students were not the intended targets, we are treating them as if they were."
"We already have many security measures in place. Some of these are publicly known, such as our security gates which prevent entry if you do not possess the right identification, and there are many other security measures we will not discuss over an open line, to prevent their details from becoming public. Unfortunately, despite these measures, the League of Villains was able to circumvent them due to having someone with a teleportation quirk among their ranks. As any of the professional heroes on the line could attest, preparing to handle teleportation quirks is always a tricky situation at best. However, by revealing to us that there is someone with a teleportation quirk among their ranks, they have given us the opportunity to plan for that and update our security accordingly."
"Once again, I am not at liberty to discuss the details over an open line, but Higari Maijima and the rest of our support department are already brainstorming ideas to account for teleportation quirks. In addition, we will be reaching out to several hero agencies and support companies in the coming days for assistance. Furthermore, over seventy villains were also arrested today after the attack, and we will be working with local authorities to ensure justice is done, as well as to develop a clearer picture of what transpired before the attack."
"Rest assured, we are taking this threat against our faculty and students very seriously. We will not allow a repeat of today's events to happen in our school's facilities."
"Now then, if any parents have questions, we will open the line to answer them."
Izuku spent the next half hour only partially listening as Nezu fielded questions both from his classmates and from the parents, but he found himself distracted. All Might was not among the teachers present. To ease his troubled mind, he found himself mentally preparing a list of questions to ask his mentor, hoping to get some additional insight about today's events.
Inside of an empty bar, a black portal appeared and two figures stepped through.
"Damn those NPCs, pulling out special attacks like that." Tomura Shigaraki complained as he tried to flex his bandaged hand.
"Please try not to irritate the stitches, young master." Kurogiri replied as he walked behind the bar. "While the doctor we have is highly skilled, your hand still requires time to heal naturally."
Annoyed, Shigaraki pressed his bandaged hand down upon the soft cushion of a stool, until all of his fingers were touching the fabric. As he hoped, the chair immediately began to crumble into dust as his quirk activated.
"At least that mini-boss didn't deal permanent damage." Shigaraki mused. "But I won't underestimate him again."
A moment later a screen lit up behind the bar, and the voice of his sensei came through.
"Today was an unfortunate setback, but ultimately it does not interfere with our plans."
"All I saw was failure!" Shigaraki spit out.
"Calm yourself. Remember, there are lessons to be found even in failure. As long as you continue to learn, I will provide you with the resources to keep trying again, until you succeed."
Shigaraki sat down with a huff, and began scratching his neck. "I see. What you are saying is that even though we lost our fighter, I still gained experience points from the encounter."
"Precisely. And when the time comes, I will have additional Nomu prepared for you."
"Yes, we will need more next time." Shigaraki turned to the screen. "Our mistake this time was thinking we only had All Might to worry about, so we didn't go in with a full party. Instead we just brought those hirelings along, thinking they would be sufficient crowd control."
"See, you are learning. Take some time to recover and think about your next course of action, and then we will speak again."
The screen went blank again, and Kurogiri offered Shigaraki a drink and a plate with a sandwich on it. Shigaraki wasn't interested however, as he focused on his bandaged hand.
"There is also that mid-boss that revealed himself. I still owe him for what he did."
After giving his public speech and dismissing the students for the day, Nezu and the majority of the teachers reconvened in his office. While waiting for the teachers to file in, Nezu prepared tea, pouring himself a cup and setting out a kettle and additional cups for his teachers. Once the last teacher had arrived, Nezu pressed a hidden button underneath his deck, sealing the door and activating the anti-surveillance countermeasures he had built into his office.
"I am glad you could all join us." Nezu addressed the assembled staff.
"So, how bad was the attack today really?" Snipe asked, straight to the point.
"In terms of injuries, minimal. While both Aizawa and Kurose have suffered major injuries, they are both in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery. In addition, none of the students suffered injuries beyond the capabilities of Recovery Girl. Plus, thanks to the swift thinking of our students, All Might was able to keep his current condition a secret from both the villains and the students who were on site."
Nezu paused to sip some tea. "However, it has created a PR problem, and It has exposed significant weakness in our defenses, I am afraid. First, the PR problem. The villains themselves provided us with a convenient excuse in that they were making an attempt on All Might's life. But that still doesn't change the fact that today, twenty children under our care were attacked by villains. It calls our competence into question, and I am sure the HPSC would love nothing more but take advantage of this situation to remove some of our autonomy."
That caused an uncomfortable silence in the room.
"The second problem is it exposes an inherent weakness in our security systems. To speak honestly, our security was thoroughly compromised. They were able to teleport two different individuals into the USJ without triggering any of our early warning sensors, who then proceeded to use their quirks to not only disable all sensors within the facility, but then also suppress all communications into and out of the facility."
"That is extremely concerning." Kan said.
Nezu drank some more tea. "Fortunately, I think I have a plan to turn this to our advantage. However, before I discuss that there is one final concern raised by today's attack. I have reason to suspect this so-called League of Villains has a spy within the school itself."
That caused uncomfortable murmurs among the teachers.
"I am assuming you have proof of this?"
"Nothing definitive, no. However, there are several pieces of evidence. First there was the incident yesterday with the reporters. After collecting testimony from the students we can safely say that our gate was destroyed by the man who has identified himself as Tomura Shigaraki. Except, even with the chaos caused by the reporters there is no indication of a man matching his rather unique appearance inside the school itself yesterday. Even without his rather morbid costume of mummified hands, he has a unique appearance that I am sure would have been noticed."
Nezu paused a moment before continuing. "The second piece of information came from Shigaraki today. The way he was talking and acting, it was as if he was expecting All Might to be at the facility yesterday. And he was supposed to be - if he hadn't worn himself down earlier in the day. These two facts, when put together, indicate that he has some way of gathering information on our school's activities."
"Who would have known All Might's schedule?" Nemuri asked.
"That information would have been available to our hero course students and all of the teachers."
"So you are claiming someone from among those two groups is feeding him information?"
"Unfortunately. We will review the cameras a second time to confirm that Shigaraki was nowhere to be found on campus grounds. But, from the evidence we have available, it implies that he had someone on the inside that he was working with."
This caused the teachers to all begin talking at once, until Nezu raised a paw to silence them.
"Before anyone can think otherwise, I want to assure all of you that I trust everyone in this room implicitly. I would also add All Might, Aizawa and Kurose to the list. They would all be here if they weren't indisposed."
"So you think it is a student?"
"Unfortunately, yes. While we try to vet our students prior to the entrance exams, that doesn't change the fact that they are still children and could fall under outside influence."
This caused an uneasy murmur among the teachers, with Yamada speaking up. "I hate to even consider this, but what about the listener from my class, Midoriya? You have to admit a shapeshifting quirk would be ideal for a spy."
This earned him a shout of protest and a glare from Kan, which prompted Yamada to press his case. "I know she is your protege, but I've seen her file! The report on her background showed a lot of irregularities!"
Nezu jumped in, silencing the two teachers before their argument could escalate. "The irregularities displayed by her file would normally never have earned her admittance to this school, you are correct. However, I personally authorized the exemption. There are mitigating circumstances in Miss Midoriya's history, back from when she was known as Miss Toga. Details that Kan is also aware of, seeing as he was the hero responsible for handling her situation during the missing month. However, those police records have been sealed due to her status as a minor. Just be aware of the fact that both of us have reason to trust her completely, and she is in fact enrolled in this school precisely because she wishes to push back against the numerous negative stereotypes associated with her quirk."
Snipe stood up to speak. "This sounds like exactly what the villains want to happen - for us to stop trusting each other, and to stop trusting our students. I, for one, am going to continue trusting my students."
"Snipe is correct." Nezu offered. "Given the circumstances, your concerns are quite valid Yamada. But the important thing to remember right now is that the majority of our students are still trustworthy. There is also the concern that if we suddenly change our behavior towards certain students, that may cause our spy to panic and escape. It is best to act as if we do not suspect a spy for now, until we are in a better position to act against them."
Nezu gave the teachers a moment to think it over before they all agreed with his assessment. Yamada even went a step further and apologized to Kan for doubting his student. Once the teachers began settling down again, Nezu opened his desk and retrieved a manilla folder.
"Now then, as I mentioned earlier. I have a plan to keep the HPSC at bay and strengthen our position in light of this attack. As some of you know, we have been in discussion with other hero schools to increase cooperation between schools, but we have never been in a position to execute our plans - until now. I think it is time to finally enact the two main portions of these plans. I am seeking to create, in essence, a mutual defense network with the other schools. The two primary pieces of this being a high-speed rail system connecting the schools, and a communications network of our own, similar to, but independent of the HPSC's Hero Network."
"I'm not seeing the benefit of this." Snipe said. "And that's saying something."
Nezu merely opened the folder and looked at the assembled teachers. "In the wake of this attack, other villainous groups may decide to start going after students directly. After all, while they are still children under our care is when they are most vulnerable. In essence, this would allow hero schools to support each other if copycat attacks happen."
"And you think you could get the HPSC to sign off on this?"
"Oh, the HPSC would never allow such a plan to go through. They prefer us to be divided and isolated, because that makes it much easier to manipulate us, and it forces us to remain dependent on them. Due to All Might's involvement, I am going to be speaking to the Japanese government directly, and once I get government officials on our side, the HPSC will have no choice in the matter."
That elicited a laugh from several teachers. "Now I get it."
"In terms of upgrades for our own defenses, I believe Maijima has already devised several ideas on how to strengthen our own early warning and alarm systems."
Nezu offered the floor to Maijima, who began to lay out several hastily drawn sketches on the desk in front of him, and the meeting continued as they discussed additional countermeasures and upgraded systems.
After the assembly, Izuku and his friends packed their bags and departed for the day. As they were walking out of the school they were intercepted by Himiko and, much to their surprise, one of her other classmates - Daichi Oda. When he saw that Tsuyu was still with them, another second year - Reiko Jun - walked over to join the group as well.
Izuku looked around in confusion. "Where is Atsuko today?"
"She's got other plans tonight." Himiko responded, pointing behind Izuku.
Izuku turned around and saw Atsuko and another student he didn't recognize stopping Mina and Eijiro, talking to them for a few moments before the four of them began walking out together. Looking further, he noticed many other second and third years either waiting, or talking with his classmates.
"Is this-"
Himiko just nodded. "We know the threat is most likely over and that everyone is safe. But we're heroes in training! We can't just stand by after something like that, so a bunch of us got together and organized escorts home."
Izuku looked at his friends, who began smiling.
"We appreciate it."
"It makes me feel better, kero."
"Well, should we get going?" Daichi asked. "I'm sure all of our parents would be happy to have us home."
After leaving the school gates, the first people to split off were Tsuyu and Jun, who said their goodbyes before heading towards a different train station. The remaining five students continued together until they reached the common station that they all use, where Tenya and Daichi broke off to catch the train together. Meanwhile, Ochako, Izuku, and Himiko lingered at the entrance of the station, standing in awkward silence after their companions left.
Normally, Ochako didn't mind going back to her apartment, eating a simple meal, and doing homework by herself, but after today's attack that didn't sound appealing at all. She was too busy mentally going over her budget, trying to work out how badly her food budget would be affected if she wanted to pick up a hot meal and mochi on her way home to see Himiko and Izuku having a silent conversation.
Eventually, Izuku spoke up, breaking her concentration. "U-Uraraka, the other day you said you live alone right?"
"Yeah." Ochako frowned at that, not happy to be reminded of that fact right now.
"W-would, err, do you want to come over to our place for dinner? After everything that happened today, I-err, we'd understand if you want some company right now."
Ochako's head snapped up to look at Izuku, the blush on her cheeks spreading as she raised her hands defensively. "No that's not necessary! I wouldn't want to impose!"
"Don't be silly" Himiko joined in. "Mom already cooks for three, which means she is basically cooking for four, giving us leftovers after every meal. You wouldn't be imposing at all!"
From the way Himiko was looking at her, Ochako was fairly certain that she wasn't going to take no for an answer. Besides, the promise of a warm meal and company for a few more hours certainly sounded appealing right now. It took her a moment to realize the only thing getting in the way was her own stubbornness.
"I- if you're sure, I think I would like that." Ochako admitted.
"S-sounds good. And if you want we can s-study together while we wait." Izuku felt a blush rising to his own cheeks. He wasn't expecting her to actually accept his offer!
"That sounds great!" Ochako responded a little too quickly.
Unlike the other two, Himiko appeared to be enjoying the scene altogether too much. "Sounds good! I'll call mom and let her know, I'll meet you two at the platform!" She responded cheerily as she pulled out her phone and ran off ahead, leaving Izuku alone with Ochako.
"W-well, we should get going, our train is this way."
"Y-yeah, lead the way!"
As they began walking, Ochako mentally went over her budget again. "Actually, if it's not too much to ask, I'd like to stop somewhere as well."
Chapter 25: A quiet evening
After spending twenty minutes in Midoriya's apartment, Ochako was certain that she was injured. That somehow Izuku's plan didn't work, and Eijiro wasn't able to hold off the Nomu long enough. She was confident she was actually lying unconscious on the floor of the USJ, and everything that was happening was all inside her head.
It started when the group first arrived at Midoriya's apartment. After opening the door and stepping inside, Izuku was immediately ambushed by a green-haired, middle-aged woman who had tears running down her face, pulling him into a deep hug.
"Oh Izu! When your school called I was so worried!"
Izuku responded by hugging back. "It's ok mom. We are all ok! We even beat the villains!"
"What about you? Did you get hurt at all?"
Izuku laughed nervously. "I, um broke a few fingers? But none of the villains hurt me!"
"What? What did you do?!"
Izuku freed himself enough to show his mom his bandaged fingers. "There were some villains trying to attack us so I sort of came up with a plan that involved using my quirk at full strength? It actually worked and we trapped them!"
"Oh Izu…" That led to more tears as the woman held onto Izuku while he tried to reassure her everything was ok.
That seemed to do the trick as she calmed down a few moments later, unwrapping herself from Izuku. Seemingly just noticing Ochako for the first time, she lunged at her. Ochako let out a startled squeak as she felt herself pulled into a hug.
"And you must be the girl that Himi mentioned on the phone. I'm so sorry you had to go through that today!"
"I-It's ok. I actually didn't get hurt by the villains! Your son actually got hurt a lot worse than me."
Despite her reassurances, Ochako found herself returning the hug. It wasn't as good as her dad's hugs, of course, but it still felt pretty good. And besides, he was hours away by train and Mrs. Midoriya was right here. After a few moments the woman broke her embrace.
"Oh! Where are my manners? I am Inko Midoriya, Izu and Himi's mother."
"I'm Ochako Uraraka, nice to meet you."
"Oh!" Examining her face, Inko seemed to remember something. "You are that nice girl from Izu's acceptance letter! The one who tried giving some of her points to him for his exam."
Ochako felt herself blushing. "Y-you saw that?"
"Of course, what did you think, we weren't going to watch his acceptance letter with him?" Himiko asked as she stepped inside.
"I-I thought that was gonna be private!" Ochako whined.
"If it makes you feel better, I think we're the only ones who know about it." Izuku offered.
"No, it doesn't." Ochako grumbled.
Once Inko finished hugging Himiko, she took the bag of treats that the three students bought and went to deposit them in the kitchen, finally giving them space to take off their shoes and enter the apartment.
Moving into the living room and setting her bag down, Ochako fished her cell phone out, looking at the other two. "Do you mind if I call my parents?"
"Not at all!" Izuku replied quickly. "They probably want to know you're ok."
Ochako nodded and started dialing while Izuku grabbed Himiko and pulled her away to the kitchen to give a little privacy.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the line Ochako heard her mom pick up immediately. "Oh thank goodness 'Chako! Didja make it home safe?"
"Hi mom! Actually, I'm at a friend's house. Remember the green-haired boy I've told you about, Deku?"
"Oh, him! Of course I do!"
"Yeah! He and his sister invited me over for dinner!"
"I'm glad! We were worried about you."
Ochako smiled fondly. "Don't worry, I'm a hero in training! If any more villains showed up I'd just have to take care of them!"
"That's our gal! But still, I'm glad you're not alone tonight."
"Me too." Ochako admitted.
"How are ya feelin now? We heard your principal's speech, but do ya believe him?"
"Yeah. I mean, it's not like we asked to get attacked. And the teachers arrived as quickly as they could!"
"So ya think the school is really going to work ta keep everyone safe?"
Ochako nodded, even though her mom couldn't see her. "Yeah! Everyone here is really nice, and the teachers really care about us. They're not going to let something like today disrupt school for long, and I'm not going to let some villains stop me from becoming a hero!"
She can just imagine her mom smiling at her. "That's ma daughter! We support ya all the way, we just worry, ya know? It's hard knowing you're living by yourself and we're so far away."
"Don't worry about me, I've got this!"
"It certainly sounds like ya do! Oh, one last thing - can I talk to Mrs. Midoriya? I'd like ta at least thank the woman who is taking care of my daughter tonight."
That seemed to catch Ochacko off guard. "S-Sure. Let me give her the phone."
Ochako walked into the kitchen where Inko was preparing tea, and offered her phone to her. "My mom would like to talk to you."
"Oh, gladly!" Inko offered her a soft smile as she took the phone, before walking off to her bedroom to have a private conversation with Mrs. Uraraka.
Returning to the living room, Ochako saw Izuku and Himiko had returned, and were having a quiet discussion. Seeing Ochako, Himiko got a predatory look on her face that made Ochako shudder. Turning to her brother, she spoke up as she asked the next question.
"So, do you want to give her a tour of the apartment or should I?"
Izuku just looked nervously at his sister. "I can show her around. But she's seeing your room as well!"
That caused a laugh out of Himiko. "I have nothing to hide!"
Taking the lead, Izuku began showing her the rest of their apartment. It was sizable, having three bedrooms, but fairly modest. When she saw the All Might-themed nameplate on Izuku's door, she had to admit she was curious.
When he finally opened the door and showed her inside, Ochako gasped. When Izuku said he was a fan of All Might's earlier in that day, he was clearly underselling it. The room felt less like a bedroom, and more like a shrine to All Might. She had to shove down her jealousy over just how much stuff he managed to cram into the room.
"You realize I need pictures before I leave?"
"Wait, why?" Izuku asked nervously.
Ochako found herself grinning as she turned to him. "Tsuyu needs to see this."
"N-no, I don't think she needs to!"
"Of course we can get pictures before you leave." Himiko cut Izuku off, grinning.
Himiko's room, by comparison, felt oddly normal. Ochako was honestly not sure what to expect, but she was greeted with a surprisingly ordinary bedroom - there were some movie posters on the wall, most of which she didn't recognize, and next to her bed was a table with a colorful assortment of stuffed animals carefully arranged on it, with several more spread across her crimson bedsheets.
Ochako wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed by this revelation.
After the tour, the trio returned to the living room, where they attempted to arrange themselves to do homework. Izuku pulled a chair up on one side of the coffee table while Himiko and Ochako arranged themselves on opposite sides of the couch, and they began pulling out their school books, hoping to temporarily distract themselves with their schoolwork.
And that is how Ochako found herself in the position she is now. She got as far as reading the first question on her homework before giving up. Instead, she found herself staring at Himiko, the girl who not even five minutes ago proved how scary she could be. But right now, she was sitting on the opposite end of the couch, hugging a stuffed green rabbit to her chest while she was attempting to read her textbook. Ochako was having a hard time trying to reconcile this image with her other experiences with the older Midoriya sibling.
She didn't realize how obvious her staring was until Izuku spoke up. "You can't study either huh?"
Ochako practically jumped out of her seat and felt her blush spreading. "Y-yeah."
Himiko sighed and closed her book, apparently also done trying to pretend. "Movie?"
"As long as you don't get to choose"
Himiko merely stuck her tongue out at Izuku, but relented. Izuku guided Ochako over to their rather mixed collection of movies. After a short discussion, the three settled on watching a fantasy movie. There was an ongoing movie series about a group of young adventurers thrown together by fate, on a quest to defeat a dark sorcerer that was seeking to rule all of the realms. Much to Ochako's surprise, it was apparently one of Izuku and Himiko's favorite series. She had heard about the series in middle school, but never had the chance to watch for herself, so they pulled out the first movie to watch.
The three students rearranged themselves so that they were all on the couch, with Izuku sitting between Ochako and Himiko, who grabbed her stuffed animal and set it back on her lap. Once they had settled in, Izuku hit play to start the movie.
And that was how Ochako spent her afternoon.
Several hours later Inko told them dinner was ready, and the three paused the movie and moved to set the table. While Izuku insisted that she didn't need to help, because she was a guest, Ochako was having none of that - they were already letting her stay for dinner, the least she could do is help setting the table and cleaning up afterwards!
Once everything was ready, Ochako sat down at her seat, already smelling the plate of katsudon that Inko had given her. She carefully took her chopsticks and picked up a piece of food before eating it, her eyes going wide.
"Wow, this is really good Mrs. Midoriya!" Ochako said, savoring the bite she just ate.
Inko smiled at her. "I'm glad you like it."
"Mom's cooking really is the best." Izuku chimed in.
"It really is!" Himiko added. "Lunch Rush is close, but he doesn't have the personal touch." She held up a piece of meat with a dark red sauce before popping it in her own mouth.
"Lunch Rush's food is probably the best I am going to get for most of the semester." Ochako admitted.
"Oh, why's that?" Inko asked.
"Didn't Deku tell you? I actually live on my own. My family lives down in the Mie Prefecture, which means it would take hours to travel here by train every day. So my parents rented an apartment for me here in Mustafu. Since I'm by myself I mostly rely on cheap, simple recipes. Also I try to make large meals so that I have plenty of leftovers to eat throughout the week. Nothing as good as this!"
Inko gave quick glances to both of her children before she gave Ochako a serious look. "Well dear, if that's the case you should join us more often for dinner."
Ochako made an embarrassed squeak at that, while Himiko also paused eating to give her a predatory look. "Y-you don't have to do that Mrs. Midoriya! I'm ok taking care of myself!"
"Nonsense, it wouldn't be any trouble for you to join us regularly!"
"W-what do you mean regularly?" Ochako asked cautiously.
"Well, since you're on your own, I wouldn't see any problem with you coming over every night for dinner."
"D-doesn't that seem a little much?" Ochako felt her blush spreading.
"Of course not!" Inko assured her.
"I don't want to impose though!"
"Oh, it would be fine." Inko dismissed her concerns. "When you're cooking for three, you are basically cooking for four people anyways."
"B-but what about school work and after school activities?"
Himiko shrugged. "We already do homework right when we get home, and Izu is probably the smartest kid in your class. You can't tell me you wouldn't love doing homework with him."
"T-to be fair, I think there are a few people smarter than me in the class." Izuku tried to offer helpfully.
"I doubt it." Ochako found herself agreeing with Himiko, thinking back to Izuku's on the fly planning from earlier.
"I'd understand if you don't want to make the trip on weekends, but if you're not staying late at school I wouldn't mind at all if you came over daily."
It was then, as Ochako saw both Inko and Himiko staring at her, that she realized that Inko Midoriya, like Himiko earlier, wasn't about to take no for an answer. And Izuku, the traitor, was too busy finding his own food far too interesting to come to her aid. All that was left for Ochako was trying to save as much of her pride as she could.
She was self-sufficient after all, dang it! She didn't need the promise of good food and more time with Izuku. It's not like she could save money by only having to make dinner once or twice a week, and then surprise her parents by giving them that money back at the end of the semester.
Shit.
With a resigned sigh Ochako conceded. "I-I will need to talk to my parents. They will probably want to talk to you before I say yes."
It was a desperate play, she already knew how her parents would respond. As much as they taught her to be independent and self-reliant, she also knew that they would be absolutely thrilled by this idea.
That caused Inko to smile at her. "Oh, your mother was lovely on the phone earlier! We can call her after dinner and talk it over!"
Grumbling, Ochako went back to her meal, its taste soothing her wounded pride.
After they left Midoriya's apartment to head to the train station, Ochako turned to Izuku with a smile on her face.
"Thanks for tonight Deku, I think I needed that."
"Yeah, we've had a day, haven't we?"
Ochako nodded vigorously. "I knew going to UA was going to be exciting, but I never realized it would happen so fast!"
Izuku laughed. "To be fair, Himi's first year was nowhere near this exciting. She only encountered villains on her internship!"
"Your mom is really nice, I can see where you get it from. And I was completely wrong about your sister."
Izuku laughed at that and rubbed the back of his neck. "Her heart's in the right place. She just has trouble showing it sometimes?"
"Tsuyu and Iida will never believe it." Ochako grinned.
"I mean, she did promise to try acting as embarrassing as possible around me."
Silence settled between them as they began walking towards the station, until Izuku finally spoke again.
"I'm sorry about my mom. I wasn't expecting her to invite you over like that."
The sheer absurdity of his comment caused Ochako to descend into a fit of laughter.
"W-what's so funny?"
"Just- you!" Ochako managed to get out between laughs. "You are so nice that you're apologizing because your mom is offering me free food!"
Izuku laughed nervously. "Well, you didn't seem all that excited by the idea at the time?"
Ochako finally calmed herself down and shook her head furiously at that. "N-no! It wasn't that at all! It's just - I don't want to take advantage of your family! Since I'm going to start coming over, I need to help out to pay you back!"
Izuku looked relieved. "I'm sure you can help with the chores if that would make you feel better."
"Y-yeah! I can do that!"
They descended back into silence for the rest of the journey to the station. Before leaving Izuku and descending into the station, Ochako gathered all of her courage to turn and hug him. He seemed to stiffen in surprise before wrapping his arms around her. It felt really nice.
I could get used to this.
Quickly shoving the traitorous thought away, Ochako pulled away and turned around quickly to hide her growing blush.
"Well anyways, I don't want to miss my train, see you tomorrow Deku!" Ochako quickly walked away, while Izuku was too busy trying to get his own blush under control to respond.
Himiko was laying on her bed, catching up with her class's group chat about today's events, when she saw a call coming in from Atsuko. She immediately picked up.
"Hey 'Suko!" She answered.
"Hi Himi, you sound better."
Himiko sighed. "Yeah, it's been a day."
"How are you holding up?"
"Better now. Tonight helped, although I'm going to need help with the homework tomorrow."
Atsuko laughed on the other end of the line. "I think the teachers will excuse you just this once."
"Hopefully!"
"Besides, Emily and Tomoe will never let you fail."
That caused Himiko to laugh. "Yeah, I still remember Emily threatening to physically drag us to study before finals last semester."
"Exactly! So don't stress about it."
"Thanks." Himiko decided to cut to the chase and deal with the elephant in the room. "I guess the part that terrified me the most was the fact that Izu could have died, and it would have been hours before anyone found out."
"You knew he was going to have to deal with villains sooner or later, though. I mean, we both had internships last year."
Himiko bit her lip. "There's a difference though! It would be one thing for Izu to actively engage villains, it's another thing to be ambushed like they were today, with nobody knowing! And the fact that the villains weren't even actively targeting them? They were simply caught up in some scheme to kill All Might!"
"I think I get it. You'd be fine if he was actively fighting villains for his internship later this semester, but today's situation was different enough to worry you?"
Himiko sighed. She knew she would be upset the first few times he fought villains, but she would never admit that out loud. As much as she wanted to protect him, she eventually had to accept that he deserves to be a hero, probably more than she does, and that means putting himself in danger.
"Yeah. Knowingly facing villains head-on is completely different." She told Atsuko. "Hopefully Nezu was serious about the upgrades so we don't have any more surprises like that!"
"I think so? Did you see the message from Emily that her parents were already in a meeting tonight?"
"No, I was still catching up when you called." Himiko admitted. "You all had a lot to say about the first years you walked home with!"
"Just because the rest of us don't have younger brothers to escort home." Atsuko giggled. "But it's not like you didn't also get bonding time with someone new! Speaking of, how's the future sister-in-law?"
Himiko giggled at that.
"She's cute and super positive. And a little headstrong. I can see why Izu likes her. She's easily flustered though."
"Oh please, not like you haven't tried making things embarrassing for Izuku's friends."
Himiko rolled her eyes. "Maybe I should back off."
Atsuko laughed. "I mean, to be fair, after today I think the first years will be less intimidated by us second and third years. As for myself - Ashido sounds fun! She actually asked to come out for our next movie night."
"She's trusting her fate into the hope that I don't get to choose the movie?"
"Himi! You've already traumatized all of the girls in our class, plus half of 2-A!"
Himiko snickered. "And yet, you all keep letting me pick movies."
"Well yeah, you've become our unofficial rite of passage to movie nights. Once someone has endured watching a horror movie with you they want to share in their suffering."
"Oh please! I'm not that bad!" Himiko responded indignantly.
"Yes, you are, and I swear you have only gotten worse as you lean into your role."
That made Himiko laugh. "You're not wrong. So I have to pick a good one for the first years?"
"No! Well, not for next movie night. Maybe after that if they stick around."
"Deal!"
The two slipped into easy conversation after that. Atsuko always had a good read on Himiko ever since they met, and she was thankful for that. The phone call helped distract her and focus on something that wasn't the events of the day. It wasn't until Himiko heard Izuku return from the train station that she realized how long they had been talking.
"Looks like Izu is back, so I should probably get going. Thanks again 'Suko, you're the best!"
"Anytime Himi. I'm glad you're feeling better."
"See you tomorrow!"
Chapter 26: Friendly sparring
Himiko was sitting at her desk, trying to catch up on her reading, when she heard the familiar thud of an abused tablet being dropped on her desk.
"You didn't get anything done last night, did you?" Emily asked, without the usual tone of judgment in her voice.
Himiko sighed and looked up into her bright blue eyes. "Of course not."
Her friend pulled out a chair and spun it around, sitting down at Himiko's desk. "Luckily for you, it's still mostly review. It could have been much worse."
"That's assuming I remember it from last year." Himiko grumbled. Stupid Emily and her stupid brain.
"Come on, don't put yourself down like that! We've held enough study sessions together, you should know better by now that I'll help." She unlocked her tablet and brought up her notes. "Now let's see what you have so far."
Last year, their first group study session ended in disaster, with the two girls yelling at each other. It ended up where Habiki and Atsuko were both needed to mediate, before the two finally calmed down. After that Himiko was able to sit down and show both Emily and Sakura the study methods that actually helped her retain information. Once she knew how to help Himiko, Emily had been a surprisingly good study partner. She had almost an incessant drive to make sure their circle of friends did the best they could.
While Himiko never was able to break out of the bottom 25% of the scores between the two hero classes, she also wasn't worried about actually failing her exams. She was pretty sure Emily would take that as a personal insult if it ever happened, and she would never hear the end of it.
Emily had managed to help Himiko through about half of their homework before Yamada-sensei entered the room and walked to his desk.
"Good Morning little listeners! Today I have exciting news - the Sports Festival is still on!"
Most of the students in the class began talking simultaneously, trying to express their opinion of the news. Yamada held up his hand to call for silence.
"Now I know what you're all thinking! 'But Mic, what about the attack on the first years yesterday?' It was decided that proceeding as normal was the best way to show that we aren't going to be cowed by lowly villains! After all, we are heroes! We will of course be adding security and additional precautions, but we still plan on having the best event possible!"
That seemed to cause the mood to shift to excitement among the students, and Himiko thought about her situation. She was definitely faster and had been working on her combat skills since last year, but unlike everyone else her quirk was fairly static - one of the drawbacks of having a shapeshifting quirk, it's not like she can perform a more perfect transformation. She just hoped that some of the underground heroes from last year would remember her and give her offers again.
At the end of the homeroom period, Yamada left and Emily came back over to her desk while they were waiting for the next teacher to arrive.
"I hope Izuku is ready, because he owes me."
Himiko snickered. "You are ruthless. You're not giving him a free pass on account of being attacked by villains yesterday?"
"Nope! If anything, the villain attack just meant more opportunities to learn about his classmate's quirks!"
Himiko grinned at Emily. "You're not wrong. I guess that means we're sitting with him and his friends for lunch today. Be sure to ask him about the crazy plan he came up with during the attack."
That caused Emily's face to light up.
After getting her lunch, Himiko met up with Emily and gave her a grin. The two then proceeded to walk over to the table where Izuku and his friends were sitting.
"Izuku! Your notes are mine!" Emily announced as she plopped down next to Izuku, causing the whole table to jump.
"H-hey Emily." Izuku said. "I never actually took notes last night?"
"He actually didn't!" Himiko offered helpfully as she sat down across from Tsuyu and Ochako. She noticed the latter was staring at Emily with more than a little jealousy, and couldn't help but snicker at that. While Himiko hadn't figured out who Emily liked yet, she knew it wasn't Izuku.
"Why are you like this?" Tsuyu turned towards her and asked her.
Himiko felt her blush deepen as she looked at Izuku. "To be honest, I never got to tease Izuku properly in school before, although today is all Emily."
"What do you mean?" Ochako asked, confused. "Didn't you two grow up together? Didn't you go to the same schools?"
"Nope! This is the first time we both are going to the same school!" She announced proudly.
"Your mom sent you to different schools when you were growing up?"
"Oh." Himiko finally realized the problem. "I'm actually adopted. I have only been with Izu and mom for a couple of years."
"What? He never told us that!" Ochako exclaimed.
Himiko felt her blush deepen further as she began playing with a loose strand of hair, admiring its shade of green.
"That's just like Izu." She responded warmly. "From the moment I started to live with them, they treated me like I was part of their family. As far as Izu is concerned, I am his sister, even if we have different biological parents."
"Kero."
"I'm sorry, you all just looked so natural together I would never have guessed!"
"And that's why I love them."
Himiko looked over at her brother fondly. For the moment, Izuku appeared to have given up and was trying to eat his lunch, while Tenya was busy trying to scold Emily, despite the fact that she was completely ignoring him. Instead, her face was buried in Izuku's notebook, furiously taking notes on her own tablet.
Turning back to the two girls, Himiko continued. "So this is my only chance to act like his big sister and embarrass him! I had to take it!"
Tsuyu seemed to ponder those words. "While I can't say I would use the same methods, I can see where you're coming from, kero." Tsuyu finally offered. "My siblings are both too young for us to ever attend the same school, so I never had the chance either."
"That's a shame, it's fun!"
"Kero."
"I'll probably ease up though." Himiko admitted. "Especially now you know my secret."
"So, what's up with Deku and Emily?" Ochako asked, doing a very bad job of pretending the scene didn't bother her.
Himiko couldn't help but laugh. She saw that despite Izuku's best efforts, Emily had fully dragged him into analysis mode, and he had taken his notebook back, as the two were speaking rapidly.
"I know Izu told you that they both do quirk analysis. If you can keep up with them when they're like this, you will learn a lot. Actually even if you can't keep up with them, you probably still will learn a lot later, whether you like it or not." Himiko faked a gag.
"Are they often like this?" Tenya had finally given up on trying to scold Emily and turned to Himiko for answers instead.
"Only when they run into a particularly exciting quirk to talk about. Today's special though. They're talking all about your quirks."
"What?" The three first-years all asked in unison.
"You have a quirk enthusiast in your class and you didn't expect him to be excited about sharing a room with 19 future heroes and their quirks?" Himiko deadpanned.
"I-I've heard him a bit, and I've seen him writing in a notebook, but isn't that kind of personal?"
"Is it?"
"The elder Midoriya is correct." To Himiko's surprise, Tenya actually agreed with her. "As professional heroes, we will often seek out help from our support departments to come up with new techniques and equipment to assist in our duties and to improve ourselves! Although this is the first time I have encountered an aspiring hero who does this level of analysis themselves, let alone two of them!"
"Welcome to UA!" Himiko declared. "Where we all seek to go above and beyond."
This seemed to fire up Ochako. "It just means we have to find our own ways to stand out!"
"Indeed!"
"Kero."
Himiko enjoyed watching as the three tried to keep up with Izuku and Emily. Tenya seemed to put in good effort, before he eventually gave up and returned to his meal, while Tsuyu just watched with a finger pressed against her mouth. She couldn't help but smile when she saw that despite struggling with it, poor Ochako was trying her hardest to keep up.
She couldn't help but respect the effort the girl was putting in.
When they returned to their classroom for the afternoon's heroics lesson, they were surprised to see Yamada-sensei standing in the front of class.
"Attention listeners! Due to yesterday's events, we have canceled your regularly scheduled programming. Instead, today will be a simple day of sparring!"
Himiko felt relieved by the news. She could definitely use some quality time stabbing something.
"We have graciously been offered Training Ground Beta for the afternoon, where we will do some intense one-on-one combat! This is the first time I will see many of you in action, so be sure to bring your A-game."
Himiko stood up and looked at Kenji with a questioning look. He understood her gesture and responded with a simple nod, and she responded with a smile - perfect. Joining her classmates, she retrieved her costume and went off to change.
Once all twenty students had gathered at the training ground, Yamada addressed the students again. "All right, who wants to go first?"
Himiko's hand shot up. "I am facing Ryo."
The enthusiasm seemed to catch Yamada off guard. "Ryo, are you ok facing Midoriya?"
"Of course!" Kenji responded confidently.
"Well then, Midoriya vs Ryo it is!"
The two found their starting positions, and Kenji dropped into his combat stance while Himiko drew two of her knives and casually twirled them around before dropping into her own fighting stance. They didn't have to wait long until Yamada called for the match to begin, and they rushed towards each other.
Their fight lasted seconds, until Himiko dodged inside Kenji's swing and drove a knife into his side, which caused Yamada-sensei to cut them off.
"Time out listeners! Isn't this a little extreme?"
Both Kenji and Himiko paused and looked at their teacher with confusion.
"Didn't Kan-sensei explain our arrangement to you?"
"No! He never told me anything about your class's sparring! That's the whole idea! So I teach your class with a fresh new take!"
Himiko and Kenji looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh, and Kenji raised his arm to let Himiko pull the knife out, letting Yamada see the wound mend itself almost instantly. "Ryo and I are actually perfect sparring partners, so Kan-sensei always allowed the two of us to go all out against each other. He is the only person in class I can safely practice my knife fighting with - after all, if I screw up and hit the wrong vein when sparring with any other classmate, we'd have to rush them down to Recovery Girl immediately. Ryo doesn't have that problem!"
"And Midoriya helps me build up my pain tolerance." Kenji picked up the explanation. "While my quirk lets me recover from anything short of massive head trauma, I still feel the pain from any injury I take. It may sound strange, but by letting her practice against me I have learned to fight through a lot more pain than I was able to before I started last year. As a side benefit, while I know I'm going to mostly be facing proper villains, if I ever have to fight common street criminals, knives are the most common weapon they are armed with. Even in the era of quirks, it is still the most popular weapon among people whose quirks aren't useful in a fight."
Himiko nodded furiously.
From where the other students were gathered, Emily stepped forward. "This actually started as my idea! When I saw that Himiko had to hold back against the rest of us, and was starting to fall behind because of it, I proposed that she spent more time against Ryo. Kan-sensei agreed and the two of them have been improving ever since."
Yamada looked shocked as he processed that information. "That sounds shockingly grim! But Sekijiro must have his reasoning to let you two train this way! You may restart! But! If I think you two are getting out of hand, I won't hesitate to stop you!"
The two students walked back to their starting positions, and began again. Himiko twirled her knives and dashed towards her classmate. Himiko knew that in a straight fight, she wasn't going to be able to take down Kenji without resorting to extreme measures. His super-regeneration negated her knives, and his raw strength, a side-effect of him being able to train beyond the limits of an ordinary person, meant that trying to grapple him was also out of the question. But that was never the point of their sparring.
Himiko darted in again, this time leaving a long gash on his arm - often the attack would be enough to disable someone. She admired her work as the wound closed, and Kenji responded by swinging with his other fist, forcing her to duck. Using her lower profile she darted behind him, wedging a knife into his shoulder blade - another move aiming to disable her opponent. It wasn't long before they descended into a familiar rhythm. Himiko tried to dodge his attacks and land a disabling strike, while Kenji fought through the pain and attempted to punch or grab her. Unfortunately for Himiko, he was good enough that he could regularly catch her with an attack of his own, and whenever he does, it hurts.
Still, it felt good to be sparring with him again, and after yesterday she was enjoying seeing her opponent slowly become coated in his own blood. Indulging herself, she embraced the excitement of seeing her classmate bleeding, a manic grin spreading across her face. She knew Kenji didn't deserve the increased ferocity of her attacks whenever she did this, but she appreciated that he never complained about it. She would have to thank him later.
After a solid ten minutes of Himiko repeatedly attacking Kenji, only to end up face down on the ground before she scrambled back to her feet and launched herself at him again, Yamada finally called time on the match. As the two stood there, Himiko turned away from Kenji and began to control her breathing, calming herself down with practiced ease, before Yamada-sensei walked out to them.
"And how are our listeners feeling?"
"The sparring felt good!" Himiko told him. "I'll probably be sore in the morning though. Ryo was mean, throwing me around like that!"
Kenji scoffed at her teasing, before holding his arm up and wiping away some of the blood, showing that there weren't even scars left behind. "It'll take more than Midoriya's pokes to slow me down." He shot her a huge grin and Himiko responded by sticking out her tongue at him.
"Unorthodox, but I guess the training actually works!" Yamada turned to Himiko. "Just remember to be less enthusiastic with the other listeners in the class!"
This made Himiko laugh. "Kan-sensei said the same thing last year. I promise I'm not that reckless against everyone else."
"That's good enough for me!" Yamada turned to the rest of the class as he spoke. "Remember! All of your fellow listeners are on the same side! I know I told everyone to bring your A-Game, but be sure to save something for the bad guys!"
After her match, Himiko watched from the sidelines as the rest of her class paired off and sparred, with more conclusive results than her own match had. Eventually, Emily was paired off against Hayato Riki.
The tall, lanky boy walked to his starting position, his black irises looking around and analyzing the debris that had already been created from previous fights, while Emily just casually strolled to her own starting position. Despite the difference in their quirks, their attacks were similar enough in function that they would be forced to get creative if they wanted to win.
"Just so you know, I've upgraded my support gauntlet over break!"
"That's fine, I've upgraded my projectiles as well." Hayato casually reached into a pouch on his belt and withdrew a series of metal cubes. "I took your advice and swapped to high-density materials. If it hurts you only have yourself to blame."
"Guess I won't get hit then!"
"If you two are able to banter, then you are ready to fight! Begin!"
Hayato's quirk lets him infuse anything he touches with a magnetic polarity, which he could then manipulate to push or pull those objects directly towards or away from him. Activating his quirk on the cubes he had in his hand, he launched them at Emily.
Emily brought up her right hand and began firing orbs of light at the cubes, hitting them with impressive precision and destroying them. She followed up with several lower-strength blasts in an attempt to catch Hayato, but he was able to dodge out of the way. Not wanting to be a target herself, she also broke out into a run.
Hayato had begun to run around and magnetize choice debris he had picked out earlier, some of it he attached to himself to act as makeshift armor, while other pieces he left behind, hoping to catch Emily unaware. But the majority of the debris he launched at his opponent, hoping to overwhelm her.
Emily, meanwhile, had settled into her own rhythm. She was staying on the move, alternating between firing her orbs of light at her opponent and dodging his attacks in return. When Hayato began to throw larger pieces of debris at her, she had to rely on her support gauntlet for defense - it diffused the orb she generated so that it would cover a much larger area, but it was much weaker than the orbs she could generate with her free hand. Still, it proved to be strong enough to stop most of his attacks.
This continued until Emily missed one of Hayato's cubes. Not only has Hayato been magnetizing debris, but he had also been mixing his metal cubes into the debris. This let him mix up his attacks in the hope that Emily couldn't hit them all. Eventually, his gamble paid off, when one cube slammed into Emily's leg with a sickening thud, causing her to go down. Managing to partially break her fall, she tried to scramble back up and keep moving.
However, Hayato wasn't going to give her any time to recover. As soon as he saw his classmate go down he pressed his advantage. Using his magnetism, he pulled a large cement block towards him, and after a quick adjustment, he launched it at Emily. She raised her arms to try and stop it, but was too slow - everyone saw it slam into her, and the block didn't stop moving until it stopped close to a wall - with only a distressingly narrow gap left between the block and the wall.
Himiko felt her heart hammering in her chest as a weight settled into her stomach.
Present Mic began to speak before Hayato held up his hand to silence him. "Song is a formidable opponent, don't count her out yet."
He pulled out another metal cube and cautiously approached the cement block. This proved to be a fatal mistake as a blinding light began spilling out of the gap where Emily was, before the cement block exploded into a cloud of dust and debris. Hayato was thrown back and pelted with the debris, and his opponent was obscured by the dust.
Himiko was very proud of herself. One of her greatest accomplishments over the past two years was to learn when her quirk was trying to influence her emotions, and separate that out. Sure, she occasionally indulged and let herself get excited by the sight of blood in the heat of combat, but even that felt like proof of her control - she was doing it by choice, not the other way around. It made her feel really good about herself.
Normally, when she sees certain classmates beat up after a fight, she feels a different type of excitement towards them. She couldn't help it - it was a side-effect of her quirk! But the moment always passed quickly, and she was back to her usual self.
As Emily limped out of the dust, Himiko began to feel her heart racing. The American girl was battered and bruised, with blood trailing down one side of her face. But despite all of that, she was proudly smirking, acting as if she was always going to win. Stopping several feet from Hayato, she raised her gauntlet, a bright light already swirling around it.
"D- Do you- Do you want to test if you can pull something fas- fast enough?"
Despite her injuries and heavy breathing, Hayato recognized the threat and frantically looked around. He had some cubes scattered around, but nothing that was large enough to absorb Emily's attacks at close range, and there was nothing he could use in a sneak attack against his opponent, either. With a sigh, he raised his hands. "I yield!"
"Great!" Emily managed to force out, before extinguishing the light and collapsing onto the ground herself.
With her hearing, Tomoe couldn't help but hear Himiko's heart threatening to pound itself out of her chest. She turned to her friend with a curious expression.
"Are you ok?"
Himiko swallowed, her throat suddenly very dry. "Y-yeah. Just worried about Emmy, that attack looked brutal!"
It was a lie, but one Tomoe seemed to accept as she turned her attention back to their wounded friend.
As much as Himiko enjoyed the thrill of seeing her classmates' determination against all odds, she normally recognized the feeling for what it was and it passed quickly. Which is why, as she was staring at Emily, she didn't understand why her heart wouldn't stop racing.