Chapter 39: Learning to be himself
As they were walking home from school, Izuku could tell Himiko was excited. When asked, she said it was about her internship offer, but refused to explain why. Whatever it was, it made Izuku happy. After the revelation with Nagant, and her foul mood from being woken up early, he was happy to see her in a much better mood now.
Finally, they made it back to their apartment, the three of them sitting down in the living room with Inko.
"Mom! I have great news!" Himiko finally announced.
Inko smiled at her daughter's antics. "What is it Himi?"
"I got an internship with Ryukyu!" She finally announced proudly, holding up the offer. "I already submitted the paperwork and everything!"
"T-that's amazing!" Izuku said.
"Isn't she a top ten hero?" Inko asked, looking on the verge of crying.
"Yep!" Himiko announced proudly. "And she even has a transformation quirk too!"
Inko couldn't help but begin crying. "Y-you've come so far! I'm so proud of you."
Once Inko calmed down she turned to the other two in the room. "And what about you two?"
"I didn't get a lot of offers, but I think I'm going with Gunhead!" Ochako proudly announced.
That surprised Izuku. "Isn't he focused on combat?"
Ochako nodded. "Yeah! But after the USJ and the Sports Festival, I realized that even though I want to be a rescue hero, I still need to learn how to fight properly! After all, what if another situation like USJ comes up? I don't want to be too focused on rescuing people, only to end up being someone who also needs saving."
There was a pause at that. Ochako remembered what happened to Thirteen, whose inexperience in a fight was obvious. She never wanted something like that to happen to her. "Besides, Gunhead has a dojo! So at worst I will be able to learn some self-defense. It's not like this means I'm going to give up on my dreams of helping people!"
Izuku nodded. "That makes sense. Just like Himi is trying out different types of heroics."
"Yep!"
"What about you Izu? Did you get a lot of offers?" Inko asked her son.
Izuku sighed. "I-I did, but it's complicated."
He could feel everyone's surprise, but Himiko spoke first. "What's so complicated that it's confusing you of all people?"
"It's just that - a lot of people are treating my quirk like normal super strength. When it's not!" Izuku looked at Himiko pointedly. "It's not like Ryo's super regeneration, where it's always on, even if he's not paying attention."
"So these heroes wouldn't be a good fit?" Ochako asked.
Izuku turned towards her and nodded. "If I want to get better with my quirk, I would need someone with a storage quirk, like Fat Gum."
Or someone who knew the truth about One For All. Izuku mentally added.
Himiko snorted. "For being so smart, you're being a real dummy about this."
Izuku looked hurt. "What do you mean?"
Himiko pointed to herself. "Last year, Mr. Brave." She then pointed to Ochako. "Gunhead."
Ochako's face lit up in revelation, as she looked at Izuku. "Yeah! Why does it matter if your quirk doesn't fit perfectly? You're the one who is always coming up with new ways to use our quirks!"
Izuku was stunned. "I-I guess I wasn't thinking about it that way." He looked down at his hand. "I guess, I was just hoping to find someone who could help me control it better."
"But you've come so far in a few months!" Ochako encouraged him. "It's only been three months since you broke three of your limbs to save me, and now look at what you did at the sports festival! You managed to get so far with only two broken fingers!"
Izuku blushed at that. "A-and I actually could have avoided those." He admitted.
Ochako nodded. "Exactly! So who cares if you can't find someone to help you with that, you can learn about something else instead! And knowing you, you'll still find a way to improve your quirk while you're there!"
"You know, it would be hypocritical of you to encourage us to try different things, only for you to focus on your quirk." Himiko pointed out.
Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "I-I guess I never really thought of it that way."
"And that's why you're being a real dummy!"
Izuku sighed, conceding the point. He smiled at the others in the room. "Thanks. I think I just needed to get out of my head?"
"And that's why I'm the best big sister!" Himiko beamed proudly. "And Uraraka is your best friend."
Ochako nervously smiled and began nodding furiously in agreement.
"And you said you have until Friday to figure it out? I'm sure you'll pick the perfect internship by then." Inko chimed in.
Izuku smiled at his mom and nodded. "Yeah!"
At the Bakugo household, Katsuki sat down at his desk in a huff. He had already finished his school work for the day and was now staring in annoyance at the stack of books that Aizawa had given him. He had already finished reading up on the Meta-Liberation Army. They were a bunch of pathetic lowlifes who were spouting Darwinist bullshit, banding together to overthrow Japan. They were then defeated by the very people they claimed to be superior to.
The concept of a hero was a vague one back then, and Katsuki had never heard of the people who stood out in the history books he was forced to read. He would have to look them up later. They sounded cool and strong.
He looked at the next book in the stack as if it personally offended him. A red book, with the title Meta-Liberation War printed along its spine. It was the manifesto of the Meta-Liberation Army, penned by their leader inside his jail cell. One last act before he committed suicide. It showed how truly pathetic they were. He wasn't even willing to stand up for his convictions and face the consequences.
Why would Aizawa want him to learn about the words of someone so pathetic? It was all going to be nonsense and rhetorical bullshit.
Picking up the book, Katsuki opened it and began reading the opening line.
'It is the right of the strong to use their quirks freely. It is only because of those who are weaker that the strong are forced to suppress their quirks in public.'
His vision turning red, Katsuki threw the book away from him, subconsciously using an explosion to propel it into the wall, where it landed with a satisfying crack. Breathing heavily, Katsuki turned to look at the book that was now laying on the floor, its spine broken by his throw.
Something tells him that reading the rest of the book isn't going to get any easier.
As Izuku and his friends were settling in for lunch, they found themselves interrupted as Emily stormed up to their table.
"Izuku, it's done!" The second-year student practically yells in excitement as she slams a metallic briefcase on the lunch table, nearly spilling everyone's food.
"I-is this what I think it is?" Izuku's face lit up as he looked up at Emily.
"Yep!"
Emily flipped the case to its side, opening it to reveal two devices that look almost like watches. She took one out and shoved it into Izuku's hands. "Put this on!"
The device was surprisingly heavy for its size, weighing about a kilogram. After flipping it over in his hand to examine it, Izuku rolled up his sleeve and put the device over his wrist. "Now what?"
"Now, keep your hand flat and press the middle button!"
Looking down, Izuku pressed the button, and everyone at the table watched as several strips of black material sprung out of the device, wrapping around his hand and forearm like bandages. Izuku gave the material some test pokes and flexed his hand. It felt like wearing a mitten, but he was still able to ball his hand into a fist easily.
"Now, this is just a prototype! We need to see how much feedback it can absorb, and then adjust it from there!"
"How can you tell that?" Izuku asked.
Emily grabbed his arm and pressed two of the buttons, and a small holographic screen popped up, displaying the number 100 in a flashing green color.
"You can track how much the material gets damaged by your attacks with this. Ideally, you can find an output where you don't damage the integrity of the material, but you may want to go all out with some full powered swings to see what happens."
"And are you going to be the one to explain my broken arms to Himi and mom?" Izuku asked her.
Ochako couldn't help but burst out laughing as Emily looked like she absolutely did not want to do that. "M-maybe you should start with only using a little bit more power and work your way up."
"So how do I turn this off?"
"Just push the middle button again!"
Izuku did as instructed, and the screen disappeared as the material retracted into the device, returning to its basic form. It felt a little odd to have so much weight on his wrist, but it was light enough that he could get used to it.
"Thanks! I'll have to give this a try this afternoon!" Izuku said, smiling at Emily.
"Oh yeah, all of our costume upgrades came in!" Ochako added. "I can't wait to see how mine looks now!"
Izuku smiled at Ochako. "I can't wait to see it either!"
After lunch, all of the students, except one, returned to the classroom to retrieve their costume cases. While Katsuki had to remain in the classroom with Midnight, since he still hadn't chosen a hero name that Midnight approved of, everyone else was given a free period. It allowed them to practice their quirks, trying out new moves and techniques they thought of during the Sports Festival.
And for the students who put in change requests for their costumes during the first week, this gave them a chance to finally try their upgrades out as well.
After putting on the rest of his costume, Izuku retrieved his helmet from the case. Putting it on, he brought up the diagnostics, showing everything was working perfectly. He smiled as raised the visor. With everything that happened at the USJ, he was glad to have it back. Not that he was planning on being dropped into a lake again anytime soon, but he could never be too prepared.
As he was walking out towards the staging area, he heard, rather than saw, someone running towards him.
"Midoriya, thank you so much, this is great!"
Even though he couldn't see anything, Izuku felt Toru slam into him and hug him. A moment later, Toru untangled herself from him and stepped back.
"Look at my new costume! Isn't it wonderful!"
"Um, I don't see anything?"
"Exactly!" Toru exclaimed. "But watch this!"
A moment later, he saw a collar appear in front of him, quickly followed by the rest of a blue bodysuit with pink accents, as well as the gloves and boots that had previously been Toru's entire costume.
"It is exactly what I wanted! The collar acts as a toggle, so if I press a button on it, I go into stealth mode and my entire costume turns completely invisible! But when I want people to see me, I just press the button again and everyone gets to see my lovely costume!" Toru twirled around showing it off.
"That's great!" Izuku smiled at his invisible classmate.
"They also sent an analysis document on my quirk! It made my head spin, but apparently, I have a whole bunch of new moves I can work on!"
"She gave it to me to look over," Momo said as she was walking up alongside Ochako. "It looks like it will be good practice for me."
"Yeah! And now that they know how to make the fabric, they said they can make me pouches, belts, and other accessories once I grow my hair back out!" Toru was busy dancing around and waving her hands in the air to emphasize how excited she was by the prospects.
"That's great! I'm glad they were able to help out."
"This costume feels much more practical as well," Momo said as she was now examining her bodysuit, holding out an arm and generating a staff through the material. "Plus, now I am completely unrestricted in using my creation while wearing it."
"You just have to be careful, you can't go just recreating it if you have any accidents like you could your old costume," Kyoka said as she walked up.
This caused Momo to blush furiously. "M-maybe not! But this material is supposed to be more durable than common fabric, and I won't have to destroy it to create large objects!"
Izuku found himself blushing at the idea of Momo tearing her costume to shreds and quickly turned towards Ochako. "Are you feeling better about your costume now?"
Ochako nodded furiously. "Yes! It's less embarrassing!" She also did a little twirl to show it off. While it still showed off her figure, her new bodysuit was much looser, instead of the skintight outfit of her original bodysuit.
"It's still tight enough that I won't lose any mobility, and the new materials are both more durable and fireproof, so it wins all around!"
Izuku winced at the last part. "Please don't fight Bakugo to test it out."
Ochako looked disappointed at that. "Aww, but I need a rematch after the sports festival!"
As the students were walking toward the field, Momo fell in line and walked alongside Izuku.
"Midoriya, I have a question?"
"What is it?"
"In your match against Iida, you were able to keep continuous energy in your legs, correct?"
Izuku nodded. "Yeah. with Iida's Recipro Burst, I wasn't going to have time to use my quirk like I am used to doing, so I had to take a chance and try something new."
"I saw you stop right before his Recipro Burst cut out. Does that mean you can only do that for a limited amount of time, or was that part of your plan?"
Izuku stopped, his thumb going to his mouth as he thought about the match. "Actually, I could have held that for longer. I wasn't feeling the strain that normally occurs when I overexert myself. I stopped to take advantage of his time limit."
Momo looked at him. "Maybe you should see what your limits are today?"
Izuku smiled and looked at her. "You're right! That'd be good to know before I have to use it again."
They continued to Training Ground Beta, hearing the sounds of some of their classmates already beginning to practice with their quirks. Toru waves to the others before pressing a button on her collar, disappearing completely, while Momo and Kyoka headed off in another direction, leaving Izuku alone with Ochako. He turned to his friend.
"So what are you going to work on?"
Ochako looked at Izuku and grinned. "I want to try this out today." She held up a grapple gun - another item that Izuku had suggested, and one she ordered to go with her new costume.
Izuku smiled. "I hope that works as well as I think it will!"
Ochako nodded. "Me too!"
Izuku watched as Ochako used her quirk on herself and took off, using the gun to launch herself towards the rooftops, before he left the entryway himself. He wandered around for a few minutes until he found what he was looking for - an empty alleyway between two apartment buildings.
While he wanted to test out his gauntlets, he couldn't help but think about what Momo said. He wondered if he could hold energy in his legs long enough to scale the building. Activating his gauntlets, he began pushing energy into his legs, feeling the brief surge in power as his body adjusted to the energy. Smiling, he looked at the wall and jumped towards it.
As he slammed into the wall, he was extremely thankful that his hands were covered in shock-absorbing material. He had misjudged his jump and launched himself into the wall faster than he should have, the gloves being the only thing saving his arms from the impact. He felt himself slide down the wall, landing on the ground with a dull thud.
"Deku, are you ok!" He heard Ochako dropping out of the sky, landing near him.
"Y-yeah." Izuku sat up and rubbed his arm. "I think I was trying to do too much at once."
Ochako giggled. "That's just like you."
Izuku looked up at the wall, thinking again. "I wonder, if I can hold energy in my legs, can I hold it in my arms too."
"I'm sure you can!" Ochako said, encouraging him.
Izuku looked at her and nodded. "Well, one way to find out!"
Returning to the middle of the alleyway, Izuku began concentrating, pushing energy out to his entire body. He felt the surge of power fill his entire body, wrapping him in a tingling warmth as he began to glow a light green.
"P-pretty." He heard Ochako say.
Izuku looked down at the gauntlets and brought up the status indicator.
100%
At least I didn't damage the gloves at all. He thought in relief.
Izuku stood there for a count of ten, making sure he could hold the energy for that long. He then began looking at the wall, carefully planning his route before he began jumping.
This time, he was prepared for how fast he was moving, and with the power of One For All protecting him, he was able to absorb the shock of landing on the wall, giving him the moment he needed to adjust himself and kick off, moving higher and higher up the sides of the buildings until he cleared both of them, landing on the roof.
Not feeling any feedback yet, Izuku stood there, trying to practice holding One For All throughout his entire body for as long as possible.
"That was amazing!"
As Izuku watched, Ochako was floating onto the roof of the building, before she released her quirk and landed next to him. "You were so fast!"
Izuku couldn't help but smile. "Thanks!"
After what felt like a long enough time, Izuku dropped the energy, feeling it dissipate. He flexed and poked his muscles experimentally, but didn't feel any of the pain that accompanied overusing his quirk. Turning to Ochako, he was grinning in excitement. "So, do you want to race across the rooftops?"
Ochako gave him a determined look. "You're on!"
After everyone had settled in after school, Izuku rushed off to his room, grabbing the tablet with internship offers before returning to the living room. Sitting on the couch, he opened it up and began scrolling. There was an offer he remembered receiving that would be perfect, in light of his new special move.
"Found it!" Izuku pulled up the offer. "Majestic, rank 14 hero!"
"I'm a fan of his!" Ochako announced excitedly. "He's so cool, using his magic rings to help heroes zoom around!"
Izuku smiled at his friend's enthusiasm. "Yeah! He uses his speed and mobility to fight bad guys, rather than take them head on!"
Ochako nodded. "Yeah! Someday I hope I can use Zero Gravity like that! Just remove my teammates' gravity and send them flying through the battlefield!"
"Well, I don't think I can do that, but I think I could learn a lot from him! Once I get a better handle on my new move, I'll be able to move quickly around a battlefield. It would give me more options than relying on one big smash attack to finish things off."
As Izuku was talking, Himiko reached over and grabbed the tablet from him, causing him to protest. But she was more interested in looking at the offer.
"Oh, this is the same hero Emmy is interning with." She couldn't help but grin at Izuku. "That means I get a whole week free from you two!"
Ochako's eyes went wide as the implications set in. "What?!"
Chapter 40: Time with 1-A
"Izu~"
"Ku~"
"Kun~"
Izuku was so distracted talking to his friends that he didn't notice Himiko was running right at him until it was too late, and she announced herself just as she was about to slam into him. She wrapped her arms around him in a tackle-hug as her momentum carried both of them to the floor.
"H-hi Himi," Izuku said awkwardly.
"You're slacking, that's the second time this week!" Himiko said with a predatory grin on her face.
"You're so ruthless," Izuku complained.
"And how am I supposed to feel if a villain catches you slacking?" Himiko asked innocently. "I just want to make sure my little brother's ready!"
Despite her teasing, Himiko untangled herself from him and pushed herself up to a standing position. She flashed a toothy grin at Izuku's friends before she started walking off toward her classroom.
With a sigh, Izuku pushed himself up and began dusting himself off. Himiko was right, he shouldn't have let her catch him off guard like that. After all of the training the two of them had done together, he had gotten good at catching her when she tried to sneak up on him. But after the sports festival, he had a lot on his mind, and he was starting to realize how much it was affecting him.
Minoru broke him out of his thoughts by speaking up. "Man Midoriya, I'm jealous. I wish I had girls jumping all over me at school like that! And you just treat it as a normal thing!"
Izuku gave his classmate an incredulous look. "You realize that is my sister, right?"
"But I heard that she was adopted! There are plenty of stories where adopted sibl- ack!"
Minoru was unable to finish his comment as Tsuyu smacked him in the face with her tongue, before she quickly walked down the hallway, taking off after Himiko. Everyone watched her leave until she turned the corner and disappeared from view.
Just as quickly as she left, Tsuyu appeared again, walking back to her classmates with her usual neutral expression. But nobody was paying attention to her. Instead, the class saw Himiko coming back down the hallway, her hands behind her back as she was casually skipping toward them.
When Izuku saw the look on her face, he swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. She wasn't wearing her predatory grin. No, this was a sweet, innocent smile. One that made her look innocent until you looked into her eyes. Then you learned the truth.
That wasn't good news for Minoru.
"Deku, your sister is scaring me," Ochako said.
"Is Mineta going to die?" Asked Ashido.
"Whatever happens, he deserves it!" Hakagure yelled.
Tsuyu saw Iida glaring at her. "I know what I did, kero."
Himiko skipped over to where Minoru was and leaned over to reach eye level with him. As she watched his eyes, she saw where he was looking, and she couldn't help but giggle. She wasn't even trying and he was leaving himself wide open!
"So, I hear you're jealous that I give my brother so much attention?"
"I mean yeah, who wouldn't want a hottie all ov- eek!"
Minoru screamed as Himiko suddenly had a knife inches away from his face.
"Maybe it's because Izuku is an absolute ball of sunshine, and treats women as people and not objects." She slowly lowered her hand, keeping the knife inches away from his body as it hovered over his school uniform. Somehow, she was managing to keep an innocent smile on her face the entire time.
"H-how do you even have that? Are those even allowed in school!?"
Himiko never broke eye contact. "Of course, it's allowed! I have them registered and everything! You never know when a sweet, innocent girl like myself might run into trouble."
Himiko giggled again, and Minoru somehow looked even more terrified.
"I just want girls to like me!" Minoru wailed. "How is it fair that Midoriya has all of these girls around him all the time? Why does he have to hog them all?"
Himiko dropped the act and looked like she was done with Minoru. "Three words. He. Respects. Us."
Minoru yelped as Himiko's left hand suddenly appeared, holding a second knife near his face.
"You see, us girls like it when we are treated like people. Not like-like- objects." The disgust in Himiko's voice when she said that was palpable.
Minoru looked at his classmates and saw almost all of the girls nodding their heads in agreement with Himiko. Images from the first day of class suddenly came to mind, where he was ogling the girls in all of their wonderfully revealing costumes. Meanwhile, Izuku was giving them suggestions to make them feel more comfortable.
And then yesterday, all of the girls were thanking him, and hugging him! Meanwhile, he didn't do anything but lament his loss at the costume changes.
"And a word of advice. You have a teensy weakness to any female villain you encounter."
Himiko stood up straight and slid the knives back into their holsters. She knew she finally had his attention when he wasn't watching her hands even as she stored her knives on her thighs.
She managed to put on a sweet tone again, which somehow felt even more threatening than before. "If I wasn't such a nice girl, think about what could have happened. It would be such an embarrassing end for a hero."
Himiko giggled and gave a thumbs up to the girls in class 1-A, with Tsuyu returning it. "Class is going to be starting soon, we don't want to be late!" she called out, before skipping back off down the hallway.
Minoru slid down the wall he was pressed against in tears, before looking at the girls.
"Am I really that bad?"
He flinched at the collective "yes" that came from all of the girls, and several of the boys in his class.
While he knew how smart he was, right now he didn't know what to do with that information.
As Izuku and his friends sat down for lunch, they were joined by Shinso.
"Hey! You were pretty impressive during the sports festival." Izuku greeted him.
Shinso smiled. "Turns out that Aizawa's training was actually helpful. I'm going to be unstoppable by the end of the semester."
Izuku brightened hearing this. "I'm glad! Hopefully, it will be enough to get you transferred into one of our classes!"
"Well, it's looking good so far," Shinso said, as he fished out a tablet from his bag and dropped it on the table. "I actually got about 20 internship offers, which is almost unheard of. Aizawa-sensei told me that there were supposed to be a lot more, but since I'm a general course student I could only accept offers from heroes who are certified with teaching licenses."
"That's amazing!" Ochako said. "That's still a lot of offers since you aren't even a hero student!"
"Indeed! I must admit though, I am surprised that they are allowing a general studies student to go on an internship." Tenya added, albeit with much less enthusiasm than usual.
"Well, that's why they need teaching certification," Shinso explained. "It's going to be much more Hero 101 for me than for the rest of you. Or, in other words, another week of hell-training similar to what Aizawa-sensei is putting me through."
"You don't seem too upset, kero."
"Why would I be?" Shinso gave Tsuyu a look. "I need this to catch up to you all."
Izuku couldn't help but smile. Shinso still sounded too much like he used to, but the purple-haired student seemed happy with his improvements so far.
"I'm glad."
"Well, don't expect thanks yet. I still have a few more months of training to go, so I may decide to give up." Shinso was smiling as if he was joking.
"Somehow, I doubt that," Tenya responded.
That caused Shinso to laugh. "Of course, I'm not going to."
"So, who are you going to intern under?" Ochako asked, curious.
Shinso gave a ghost of a smile. "I'm going to go with Mrs. Joke."
"The laughing hero?" Izuku asked.
"I need to provoke a reaction out of my opponents if I want to use my quirk, after all."
"Oh yeah! You never told us how you use your quirk!"
"Now that you don't need to keep it a secret for the sports festival, I must admit I am curious as well."
Shinso gave everyone a toothy grin. "It's a verbal response. If I say something and you respond to me, then I can activate my quirk. It doesn't have to be a question, so if I can annoy them with a joke, that would work just as well."
"No wonder you didn't want to tell anyone how your quirk worked, kero."
"Yeah!" Izuku said. "That makes so much sense now why you want to keep it a secret."
As Izuku was reaching for his notebook, Shinso smirked and activated his quirk. "Put your notebook away."
Izuku's face suddenly went blank and immediately shoved his notebook into his bag, to the laughter of the rest of the table.
"Sorry, I'm not in the mood to answer questions today."
Izuku frowned. "You could have just asked nicely!"
"But then I wouldn't get to show off my quirk," Shinso said smugly. "And now you know how it works."
Izuku looked at his friends, but nobody was coming to his defense. Sighing, he conceded. "Fine, you win."
As they were changing into their hero costumes, Izuku couldn't help but look at Tenya. It has been over a week since his brother had been attacked by the Hero Killer, and he has been in a somber mood ever since. Everyone had hoped that he would improve with time, but he still hasn't shown any signs of improvement.
Izuku couldn't help but feel bad. He had been so caught up with everything going on with Himiko and himself, that he didn't have a chance to help his friend out. Even though Tenya was a rather rigid person, his heart was in the right place. If Izuku could find a way to help him feel better, he wanted to do it.
So when it came time to choose partners for today's training, Izuku shot his hand up.
"I'm going to partner with Iida."
"Midoriya, while I appreciate your enthusiasm, you don't have to-"
"I'm partnering with Ochako, kero," Tsuyu announced next, and the two turned to see Ochako nodding vigorously.
Izuku gave the girls a look of silent thanks before he turned to Tenya. "Sorry, looks like my usual partner's taken."
"I guess so." Tenya adjusted his glasses. "Very well then. I was hoping to practice mobility training if that is ok with you?"
Izuku nodded. "Sure! Uraraka and I did some races yesterday, but it showed me that I'm going to need a lot of practice."
"Indeed, your new move has greatly increased your speed!"
Izuku laughed nervously. "You're still going to win on the open parts of the course. It's just a question of if I can make up for it when we start moving through the buildings."
He saw the sunlight reflecting off of Tenya's glasses as he adjusted them out of habit. "Thank you for pointing that out, that means I will strive to improve my movement over the uneven parts of the course as well!"
As the students broke up to go to the different training stations, the two walked over to the starting area for mobility training, and Izuku picked up a remote. Pushing a button, he brought up a hologram of the training ground and turned to Tenya.
"What difficulty do you want to start at?"
"Seven."
Izuku nodded and chose an option. The two saw a blue line denoting the course appear in the hologram, and they began studying it. Izuku made note of all the terrain along the way. Due to several embarrassing mishaps with Ochako yesterday, he knew he had to work on his split-second decision-making. If he had time to plan his jumps he could easily cross an area, but Tenya wasn't going to give him that time. And neither would a villain.
"I believe I am ready." Tenya finally announced.
Izuku gave him a determined look and nodded, and the two walked to the starting line. "Ready whenever you are."
The three looked at each other one last time before they got into their starting positions.
"Three. Two. One. Go!"
Tenya took off, easily gaining the lead. Izuku tried to keep up as best he could until he reached the buildings. Wrapping himself in Full Cowling, as he had taken to calling his new move, he took a running leap towards the nearest building. As he landed on the wall he made a micro-adjustment before kicking off of it with the power of One For All behind his legs, the ground underneath him flying by as he began to close the gap with his friend.
As they entered a dead-end alleyway, the course moved upwards. Izuku saw Tenya using his thrusters to enhance his jumps, allowing him to parkour up the side of a building with ease. With a fierce smile, Izuku allowed himself a moment to analyze the alleyway, before he began jumping up the wall himself, catching up with Tenya as he flew onto the rooftops.
He heard his friend call out something, but Izuku didn't have time to fire back. The next part of the course required him to run across several rooftops, and he needed to focus to maintain as much of his lead as he could. As he expected, his advantage was short-lived as he heard the telltale sounds of Tenya's engines as his friend flew past him, racing across the rooftops and leaping across buildings with ease.
The two continued along the course, trading the lead back and forth until they came to the final stretch. While Izuku had somehow managed to achieve a sizable lead, he wasn't expecting his friend's competitiveness, and desire to avoid a repeat of what happened at the Sports Festival.
"Recipro Burst!"
Tenya activated his special move, and closed the gap in seconds, flying past Izuku and crossing the finish line before his engines sputtered out.
Despite that, Izuku crossed the finish line only a few seconds later, panting heavily.
"That… was… quite the challenge you gave me, Midoriya," Tenya told him between breaths.
"You… too." Izuku took a deep breath. "I wasn't expecting you to use your Recipro Burst."
"I do not want to be left behind," Tenya admitted. "Just as you are pushing the boundaries of what you can do, I too must learn to push past my limits."
The two walked back to the remote that controlled the course and used it to bring up their times. Izuku was happy to see he had beat his old record by a whole twenty seconds, while Iida had shaved a mere 3 seconds off of his record.
"Hmph. For Recipro Burst to save so little time, clearly I am not working hard enough." Tenya pounded his hand with his fist. "I must train even harder!"
Izuku laughed nervously at that. "You don't want to push yourself too hard though, or you'll hurt yourself!"
"You are right, of course! But there is still room to improve!"
"Why don't we go sit down and talk about it?" Izuku asked. "Since we need some time for your engines to cool down anyways."
Tenya looked down at his legs, his engines currently spewing a thick black smoke. "I suppose you are right. It wouldn't do well to train when my legs are in this condition."
Tenya walked over to a bench and sat down, where he began massaging his calves to loosen the muscles. Meanwhile, Izuku went over to the cooler and pulled out a pair of water bottles. As he was walking back to the bench, Izuku tossed a bottle of water to Tenya, who easily caught it. Finally, he sat down on the bench next to his friend.
Izuku sat in silence as he took a long drink from the water bottle. Observing his friend, he still saw a hidden tension eating away at him, one that he felt helpless to address. Feeling a knot in his stomach, Izuku didn't even realize he was apologizing until it was too late.
"I'm sorry that I've been a bad friend."
"E-excuse me?" Tenya asked in surprise, obviously not expecting that.
Izuku gave Tenya a sad look. "Ever since the sports festival, you haven't been yourself. I know what happened with your brother was rough, and we were trying to give you space, but -"
"Midoriya, why are you apologizing?"
Izuku looked down at the ground. "Before I came to UA, I didn't really have any friends."
"What about the second years?"
Izuku shook his head. "Those are Himi's friends, not mine. Even Song - while we spend a lot of time analyzing quirks together, at the end of the day, she is Himi's friend first. The truth is, I consider you, Uraraka, and Tsuyu my first real friends."
"I'm honored you think that, but I still don't understand what you mean."
Izuku took a deep breath. "Well, you're upset, and I don't know how to help you. Because that's what friends are for, right? When we see one of our friends is down, we want to help them. And I've been so caught up in my own stuff, I haven't been there for you this past week. So, I wanted to apologize. And if there's anything that I can do to help, I'll gladly do it!"
Tenya didn't know how to respond, so he looked away. "I appreciate the effort, but I don't think there is anything you can do to help."
"Is it really that bad?"
Tenya took a deep breath. "It's my older brother. He - They haven't made it official yet, but the Hero Killer damaged his spine. Even with the best medical quirks available, they can't fully repair the damage. If someone found him earlier, then maybe he would have had a chance. But he lost the use of his legs."
Tenya looked at Izuku, and for the first time, Izuku saw the pain in his eyes. "Ingenium is going to have to retire, because what good is a hero who can't walk?"
Izuku stood up and walked over to Tenya, before wrapping him in a hug. "I'm sorry."
"M-Midoriya, this is highly inappropriate!"
Izuku pulled back, a sheepish look on his face. "But it helped, didn't it?"
Tenya looked like he was about to argue but then closed his mouth. "Indeed, it did."
"You've looked up to him your entire life, haven't you?" Izuku asked. He remembered what it felt like on the rooftop all those months ago when he found out All Might wasn't as invincible as he appeared to be.
"Yes," Tenya admitted. "He was always inspiring me to be a hero, even more than our father. Ever since you told me that first day about Aizawa's teaching methods, I have been asking myself how Tensei would act. He hasn't steered me wrong yet."
"And now you're feeling lost?"
Tenya nodded. "Tensei wants me to become the next Ingenium. To take up the mantle and carry on as the leader of Team Idaten once I graduate."
"Is that what you want?"
Tenya looked at Izuku in momentary surprise. The question had caught him off guard.
"I don't know."
Izuku had a faraway look on his face, as he recalled his conversations with All Might. "Have you talked to your brother about that?"
"...No," Tenya admitted.
"Why not?"
"I don't want to disappoint him."
Now Izuku was getting a familiar feeling. He recalled his conversations with All Might about the mantle of the Symbol of Peace. He tried to recall his feelings from back then.
"Maybe you should. Maybe the answer would surprise you."
There was a long silence as Tenya thought about it, the pair finishing their water bottles.
"Thank you, Midoriya. I believe I shall visit the hospital after school." Tenya looked at his friend, and for the first time in a week gave him a genuine smile.
"I'm glad." Izuku smiled back.
Tenya stood up and stretched, testing his engines to see if they had recovered from his Recipro Burst before turning to Izuku.
"Well then, are you ready for the next round?"
Izuku nodded his head. "Yeah!"
Chapter 41: Pushing her limits
After Ochako left for the evening, Izuku went to his room to retrieve his analysis notebook for Class 2. While he originally had a single notebook for all of UA, thanks to his lessons with Nezu he has expanded to four notebooks and counting - one for each of the hero classes at UA, and a fourth to cover all of the other students.
Once he retrieved the notebook, he made his way to Himiko's room and sat down on her bed.
"You ready to learn more about quirks?" Izuku asked with a wry smile on his face.
Himiko groaned as she spun around in her chair, dramatically leaning back in her chair. "Really? Can't I just learn as I go?"
Izuku's face became serious. "Himi, do you remember the problem I have with my quirk?"
Himiko crossed her arms. "That you keep hurting yourself? How can I forget!"
"And do you remember why that happens? Because I was quirkless and given a quirk, my body and mind haven't developed any limiters for my quirk. The good news is that means I can use it at a much greater output than if I was born with it, but if I do that, it hurts."
The realization dawned on Himiko. "Since my body doesn't know the limits on the quirks I borrow, I could hurt myself too?"
Izuku smiled, nodding at his sister. "Exactly! I think, for your friends at least, you have subconsciously been picking up their limits. You've spent so much time training with Emily and Atsuko that when you use their quirks, you subconsciously try and replicate what they do, and don't push yourself beyond that."
"But I could do more than them?" Himiko sounded excited by the idea.
"That's my theory. I want you to try it, but you're going to need to be careful. Otherwise, Recovery Girl is going to be giving the responsible Midoriya an earful for hurting herself." Izuku smirked at his sister.
Himiko began blushing as she looked away. "That does sound good to know - for an emergency!"
"Plus, if we figure out what you are capable of," Izuku continued. "You will know how much you need to hold back if you try using an opponent's quirk while in the middle of a fight."
"Aww, you do care." Despite her sarcastic tone, Himiko gave Izuku a warm smile.
Izuku smiled back. "Of course I do. Unless you want me to threaten you for hurting yourself?"
Himiko let out an incredulous laugh. "Fiiiiine. You win."
Getting up from her desk, Himiko moved over to the bed and sat down next to him, before leaning on his shoulder to get a better view of his notebook.
Izuku meanwhile, opened the notebook and flipped the pages to Atsuko's entry. "I think that if you want to try pushing yourself, Atsuko's the best choice. You have been training together with her the longest, and if you overload her quirk it's the least likely to cause collateral damage."
"So you want me to… what?"
"The two biggest limiters on Atsuko's quirk are speed and volume. While she is getting better at both, she has told us that she gets a headache if she pushes herself."
Izuku flipped to a blank page and pulled out a pencil. "Now then, I have a couple of ideas that you can try with her the next time you're in class…"
The next day, when classes were dismissed for lunch, Izuku and Tenya didn't join their friends. Instead, they planned to head to the support labs. But first, they needed to meet up with someone. Izuku had a promise to keep, after all.
"Izuku!" Emily shouted as she waved him down before she came running down the hall to intercept him. "It's about time I met the support genius of class one!"
"If you are willing to call her that." Tenya declared, acting offended.
"What do you have against her? It's not like you lost at the sports festival."
"It was humiliating!" Tenya practically shouted. "She could have asked nicely, but instead she duped me to act as a walking advertisement for her!"
"Wait, you actually would have gone through with it?" Emily asked.
Tenya adjusted his glasses. "While it is true that I may have refused at first, Midoriya raised some good points afterward. It is obvious that Hatsume never cared about advancing past the top 16, and instead simply wanted to use it as a platform to show off her designs. Knowing this, I would have gladly helped her. I had no reason to not support my fellow student, after all."
Izuku couldn't help but smile as he listened to his friend. While he knew the sports festival was a bit of a sore spot for him, it felt like Tenya was broadening his horizons. While his worldview remains rigid, he is at least becoming more willing to learn more about a situation before passing harsh judgment.
The group continued their conversation as they walked toward the support lab. As they approached, they were interrupted by the sound of an explosion, and as they watched they saw someone come flying out of the lab, landing in an undignified heap in front of them.
"Owww!" The familiar voice of Mei Hatsume said as she sat up, rubbing the back of her head.
"What an entrance!"
"Huh?" Mei turned to look at the group. "Oh! You're that guy from the sports festival!"
Izuku laughed nervously. "Is that all you remember? We were on the same team after all."
Mei's face seemed to light up in recognition. "Oh yeah! Teamwork guy! It was great working with you."
Mei looked around the group and saw Tenya. "And my helper! You did great helping me advertise my babies!"
Tenya sputtered indignantly at that. "Of all the! I have a name!"
Emily laughed. "I didn't realize she was going to be like this!"
From her spot on the ground, Mei looked at the American girl. "And who are you?"
"Emily Song, second-year Heroics student, and upcoming quirk analyst!" Emily introduced herself with a flourish.
"Hero student?" Mei sounded excited as she scrambled to her feet. "Are you here to help me test out my babies!?"
Emily made a strangled noise, before regaining her composure. "No! I custom design most of my gear!"
Mei looked confused. "You design your gear? Aren't you a hero student?"
"You are kind of a special case." Izuku pointed out.
"My parents are the head researchers at Windrise Industries," Emily said proudly. "And they've taught me all I know about support gear! Even though my quirk is strong enough for me to become a hero, I'm not going to let all of their training go to waste!"
That caught Mei's attention. "Windrise Industries? One of the fastest growing support companies in Japan after they partnered with several major companies from I-Island?"
"The same!" Emily declared proudly. "Where do you think my parents worked before we moved here?"
Mei's eyes widened as she looked over the second year. Reaching out, she grabbed Emily's arm and pulled her into the lab, seemingly ignoring the thick smoke still pouring out of the door.
"Let's step into my office!"
"H-hey!" Emily said indignantly. "Shouldn't you at least deal with the smoke first?"
Mei took one look around the lab and shrugged. "You get used to it." She looked at Izuku and motioned to a wall with her head. "Can you hit the button over there to turn on the vents?"
"S-sure."
Izuku walked over to a large red button labeled 'Emergency Vents' and pressed it. A whirring sound began to emanate from the ceiling as several fans began pulling smoke out of the lab.
Meanwhile, Mei dragged Emily over to a large pile of devices.
"So, Miss Windrise, what are you looking for? I'm just getting started on my babies."
Emily coughed to clear the smoke out of her lungs. "How about you don't try and kill me with smoke for starters!"
Mei lit up and dove into the pile, before removing a mask, holding it up triumphantly. "I have just the thing!"
Mei rushed over and tried to put the mask on, but Emily was able to grab her arm in time.
"Hey! Personal space!"
"But how else can I show off my babies?" Mei asked, fighting to free herself.
Tenya joined in, taking pity on Emily and pulling the mask away from Mei before stepping back. "As much as it pains me, I must agree with Song! You should not put mysterious equipment on someone without their consent!"
"But it's a mask to force oxygen into your lungs! It's perfect after you've been exposed to a gas or particle-based quirk and need to flush out your system!"
Emily looked at the mask in horror. "Keep that thing away from me!"
Mei looked disappointed as Tenya thankfully returned the mask to the pile. Meanwhile, Emily finally managed to separate herself from Mei and escape.
"What is wrong with you? You didn't even bother checking what my quirk was!"
Mei seemed unfazed. "We're in the controlled environment of the design studio. You would have been fine. Besides, what're a few mistakes if it leads to progress?"
"You're not wrong." Emily conceded. "But you still need to tell people what you're trying to test first! What if you shoved that onto someone with a fire-breathing quirk? Depending on how their quirk works they could be spewing fire uncontrollably and it would have been your fault!"
"That sounds amazing!" Mei's eyes lit up. "I wonder if someone here has a fire-breathing quirk? We could repurpose it to fill their lungs with accelerants and increase the potency of their quirk!"
Tenya saw Emily's face and knew what was coming next. While he normally didn't care what the upper-classmen did, he was here on a mission and wasn't going to allow her to stop him. So rather than let them continue their conversation, he interrupted them.
"As interesting as this conversation is, I believe we are here for a reason!"
Her previous thought forgotten, Mei was immediately in front of Tenya. "So what is it that you want? Upgrades? New equipment? Volunteering to be a test subject?"
Tenya seemed to grow flustered by her directness. "I-I need my costume modified!"
"What do you need?" Mei grabbed the case that Tenya had set down and made her way over to her workbench before opening it up.
"It's my leg armor. I would like you to add a cooling system to my boots and lower legs, so that I may use my engines for longer before they overheat!"
Mei pulled out the boots and began examining them. "That's child's play! You sure you don't want anything else? Spiked soles, arm engines, a jetpack?"
"N-no, that will be quite enough!" Tenya practically shouted.
Mei placed the armor back in the case before turning to the other two. "What about you two?"
Izuku just rubbed the back of his head. "I'm good for now. I mostly wanted to introduce you to Emily here. She has been wanting to meet you since the sports festival."
"Ah yes, Miss Windrise! What did you want?" Mei was once again in Emily's personal space, causing the upperclassman to blush.
"I want a pair of those electromagnetic boots you used during your demonstration!"
"Oh," Mei sounded almost disappointed. "Is that all?"
Emily felt her face heating up. "What do you mean, is that all? I need to work on my maneuverability and those looked perfect!"
"But where's the challenge? I've already made those. At least let me modify them for you! If you want them stock, I mine as well just sell the designs to a support company so you can pick them out of a catalog. There's no fun in that!"
Emily gave her a flat stare. "I can't believe I have to repeat this to you of all people, but my parents are the head researchers at Windrise. Do I have to spell out the implications of their daughter bringing home a piece of support gear that isn't from her family's personal lab?"
"Oh."
As everyone watched, they could see the dollar signs floating above Mei's head as she realized what Emily was suggesting.
"Well, in that case, are you sure you don't need any more of my designs? You saw my presentation at the sports festival, right? Were there any other babies that caught your eye?"
Izuku wished he had brought a camera to capture this moment. Himiko would have loved seeing Emily get utterly overwhelmed by the enthusiastic first year trying to push her support gear onto her.
"Suko, do you think we could partner up today for training?"
"Don't we always?" Atsuko with a smirk on her face.
"Except when you pair off with your boy!" Himiko grumbled.
"True! So what's the occasion?"
Himiko looked around the locker room. It appears Emily was still trapped in whatever meeting she went to with Izuku, so she could speak freely.
"Izu wants me to experiment with my quirk."
Atsuko gave a mock gasp. "Who are you and what have you done with my Himi?"
Himiko laughed. "Sadly he had a good argument. You know how he keeps breaking his bones because he is effectively a 4-year-old when it comes to controlling his quirk? He's afraid I may have the same issue with my quirk."
Atsuko frowned. "That would be bad," She agreed. "Does he really think it's an issue?"
"That's what I want to find out! And you're gonna help!" Himiko grinned. "At least you've got it easy, you just pass out if you go too far, so I won't break any bones."
"Don't want to go to Recovery Girl?"
Himiko shook her head. "Oh no, I've got an image to maintain as the responsible one!"
Atsuko giggled at that, and Himiko couldn't help but break down and laugh as well.
Once they calmed down, Atsuko continued. "So what does Izuku want you to do?"
"Transform into you, and then try to copy what you are doing, but push myself to make my barriers faster, and make them larger than yours?"
"You know my headaches hurt, right?"
Himiko frowned. "Yeah, you've mentioned that. But headaches are better than leaving massive craters in the training ground? Or whatever Emmy's problem is."
"True. I guess we can try that! I'm not carrying you if you pass out though."
Himiko was sticking her tongue out at her friend when they heard a familiar voice entering the locker room.
"Why would Himi pass out?" Emily asked.
The two watched as Emily came in, looking a little flustered as she set down her costume case and a pair of oversized white boots covered in electronics.
"Better question, what are those?" Himiko asked, trying to divert attention away from herself.
Emily looked at the boots and then looked at Himiko with a smile. "You remember that first-year support girl from the sports festival?"
"The one who gave a ten-minute advertisement that I ignored? Vaguely."
"Well. Since you're always getting on my case about how static my fighting style is, I asked her for some of those boots she used to dodge Izuku's friend for ten minutes!"
"You? Not using your own support equipment? Are you feeling ok?" Himiko asked in mock concern.
"N-no, of course, I'm fine! She just already solved the problem for me! And I was wondering…" Emily turned back to her case, using the act of pulling her costume out to cover the blush creeping up her neck. "Would you help teach me the basics of how you run around so easily? I don't want to go into my internship completely blind!"
"Sorry, can't."
Emily spun back to the pair. "Why not?"
"She's doing research on her quirk with me instead!" Atsuko replied.
Himiko glared at Atsuko. "Traitor!"
Atsuko smirked at Himiko and responded by sticking out her tongue. However, out of the corner of her eye, Himiko caught how Emily's expression changed. She covered it up quickly, but she looked genuinely hurt by the idea of Himiko partnering with Atsuko for quirk research.
It made her feel uncomfortable. For some reason, she didn't like seeing that look on Emily.
"Why her over me?"
"Simple! Have you pushed your quirk before? To the point of something bad happening?"
"Once or twice," Emily grumbled out.
"And what happened when you did?"
"Does it really matter?"
"Yes." Her previous guilt waning, Himiko decided to press her advantage.
She had discovered that she loves digging up embarrassing dirt on the American, if only because she enjoyed seeing Emily losing her composure. It only seemed fair since Emily was often able to embarrass her as well.
"F-fine! I burned my arms and caused a huge explosion! Are you happy!" Emily practically yelled, defiance on her face.
"Was that so hard?" Himiko teased.
"Yes!"
"At least she admits it," Atsuko said.
Himiko pointed at Atsuko. "When Suko pushes herself, she passes out. What do you think is safer, if I were to push one of your quirks?"
Emily looked like she wanted to protest, but simply conceded the point. "Atsuko's, clearly."
"And that is why I'm doing research with her!" Himiko announced triumphantly, crossing her arms.
"Fine! But you owe me! I need details!"
"Come over after school tonight then, I'm not repeating this more than once and Izu's already got dibs."
"Done!"
Himiko took a step back in surprise, before smiling. She would never admit it, but she was a little jealous of Izuku due to Ochako coming over every day. So the thought of Emily coming over for the afternoon made her feel happier than she expected it would.
Even if it was to subject her to more questions about her quirk.
With their argument concluded, the girls finished changing into their costumes and walked to the training grounds, pairing off and splitting up. Himiko walked out with Atsuko to an open area where they could train quirks before they turned toward each other.
Atsuko offered up her arm. "You're not going to drink too much, are you?"
Himiko grinned at her. "Nope, my quirk doesn't consume blood that much faster when I'm using your quirk."
"Good! I don't want to pass out today, that's your job."
Himiko laughed before she grabbed her friend's wrist and bit down, drinking a couple of mouthfuls of blood. Standing back, she activated her quirk, relishing the brief moment of transformation until she looked like an exact copy of her friend.
"So now what are we doing?"
Himiko put a finger to her lip as she recalled Izuku's instructions. "Well, first I'm supposed to have you do your basic quirk strengthening exercise and copy you."
Nodding, Atsuko held out her hands. "You've seen this one. Just try and create as large of a wall as possible until I feel like I reach my limit, then I give my quirk one or two good pushes, stopping before I give myself too much of a headache."
As Himiko watched, Atsuko began creating the barrier until she reached her limit. As she held it there, Himiko found the edges and marked them in the ground with her boot, before her friend gratefully dropped it.
"Ok Himi, let's see you do better."
Himiko smirked at her friend and swapped places with her before she began using her borrowed quirk. She imagined Atsuko looking over her shoulder and felt her quirk activating, the air around her hands stiffening as she began to create the wall. She then began to push out.
She felt the wall expand in front of her and kept building it. So far she had yet to feel any indication of pushing herself too far, so she kept going.
Finally, she felt a sharp pain in the side of her head.
"Ow!" Himiko winced, dropping the quirk as she held her head.
"Himi! Are you ok?"
Himiko quickly recovered and straightened out. "I think I just got the first taste of your quirk."
She rubbed her head, indicating what she felt. "A sharp spike of pain, right here?"
Atsuko watched in concern, looking at where Himiko was pointing before nodding. "That looks about right, sort of like a hot nail?"
"Yeah." Himiko still felt the memory of pain lingering. "Oww."
"So, nothing stopped you then?"
Himiko shook her head. "Nope! I didn't get any sort of warning, just sudden pain."
"I guess your brother is right then? We just instinctively train ourselves to avoid going over our limits?"
Himiko nodded, her face splitting into a grin. "Of course he's right, he's a genius about this sort of stuff!"
"So, are you going to try again?" Atsuko was grinning now as well.
"Let's do it!"
Himiko returned to the starting position and began creating the barrier again.
"-imi! Himi, you're finally awake!"
Himiko tried opening her eyes, but the sunlight hurt. "Ow."
"Well, now you know how I felt after our entrance exam."
Himiko finally recognized the voice as Atsuko's, as she sat up.
That proved to be a mistake, as the sudden movement caused her headache to worsen, threatening to make her pass out again.
"Did you catch who ran me over?" Himiko asked as she rubbed her head, refusing to open her eyes.
"Now you know why I've only pushed my quirk once in my entire life."
Himiko tried opening her eyes, looking around, she saw Atsuko kneeling next to her.
"You weren't kidding about how bad the headache was going to be."
"Of course not! You didn't feel your body trying to stop you at all?"
Himiko had to force herself to not shake her head. "No - there was nothing like that."
"Well then, I guess your quirk isn't quite as awesome as you thought."
Himiko managed to stick out her tongue. "Says you! My quirk is still awesome!"
"I guess everyone's quirk has its drawbacks," Atsuko said. "Now we know yours."
"Yeah. I'm sure Izu and Emmy are going to have a field day with this." Himiko groaned.
Atsuko stood up and offered out her arm, which Himiko took, using it to help herself stand.
"Let's get you to Recovery Girl unless you want to deal with that headache for the rest of the day."
Himiko gave her a shaky nod, and then let herself be led off the field back towards the school.
Chapter 42: Tugging at the veil
That evening, Izuku received an email from Nezu, asking him to come in early tomorrow. In the excitement of Himiko's quirk awakening, followed by her encounter with Nagant, he didn't have a chance to follow up with the principal about his questions, so he was glad to finally have a chance to sit down and talk.
The next morning, Izuku cut his run short, coming home early before leaving again for UA. As he made his way to school, he saw some students arriving early for club activities, but it was nowhere near the typical crowd he was used to. Once he stored his bag in the classroom, he began heading toward the principal's office.
When he was approaching the door, he saw it swing open.
"Ah, good morning Mr. Midoriya! Judging by the message you sent, I expected you to come by sooner."
Izuku laughed nervously as he walked into the office, sitting down in a chair. "Well, I was planning on it, but Himi's issue seemed more urgent?"
"Ah yes, the encounter your sister had. I'd say your family is developing a rather unfortunate habit of finding trouble."
Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "Himi said it was my fault that she's like this."
"Yes, I can understand why she would draw that conclusion. But enough about her. Let's talk about why you are here."
"The sports festival," Izuku said.
"Yes. For starters, I can understand why you would suggest that Mr. Todoroki should receive therapy."
Nezu stood up and pulled a remote from his desk, walking towards one of the walls in his office. Pressing the remote, Izuku saw a panel sliding away, revealing a television screen. Nezu pushed another button, and Izuku saw his match against Shoto playing. Except the noise was filtered out, and he could hear his conversations with Shoto.
"That is a very nice trick you have, by the way. Confusing your opponent's senses and allowing yourself a brief moment to act freely."
"Y-you caught that?"
"Of course, I know about that. Kan has repeatedly bragged about your sister's ability to render herself practically invisible. Having seen it in action, I was able to notice when you used it against Todoroki. The only question is why haven't you been using the skill to its full effect before now?"
"Well, it's sort of my trump card," Izuku admitted. "I don't want it to be common knowledge. If you were in the crowd or watching on television they probably didn't notice, unless they were paying careful attention to Todoroki's responses."
"I see. A wise assessment. It is best to not reveal all of your advantages when you don't have to. Now for the second matter - why did you let him win? Your assessment at the start of the fight was correct, so why did you goad him into using his fire, instead of simply taking the victory? After all, the purpose of the Festival is to show off."
Izuku felt his face heating up. "It didn't feel right. Before the event, All Might explained to me that the goal of the festival was to win. However, I needed to do so on my terms. To let people see what kind of hero I want to be. And I want to help people. I want to help everyone, even the son of the number two hero."
"And you decided the best way to do that was to force him to use both halves of his quirk?"
Izuku's face was fully red at this point. "I-it made sense at the time. Endeavor has his crusade to surpass All Might, and he dragged Todoroki into it. He." Izuku took a deep breath. "He needed to accept himself for who he is."
Izuku let the words hang heavily in the air before he finished. "I don't know everything about his situation, but when I put the pieces together, I had a good idea of what Todoroki was going through. And while he needs therapy, I thought - maybe I could at least get him to accept himself, if even for a moment, in the heat of battle."
"A noble idea. And do you think you succeeded?"
Izuku didn't speak and instead turned to the screen, watching the match finish playing out. He saw Todoroki brush past Midnight and walk towards where he was on the ground. "It only lasted for a moment, but yes."
"But that didn't last, did it?"
Izuku shook his head, remembering the finals. "No. That's when I realized he needed therapy. If only things were simple enough that a fight was all it took to solve his issues."
"I agree," Nezu said. "And while I have my doubts that we can convince his father to enroll him in therapy, we can make regular visits to Hound Dog a requirement for him. While Hound Dog is focused on the field of heroics and trauma that may occur from that, I believe he can at least begin to help Mr. Todoroki with his issues."
Izuku felt a faint smile forming on his lips. "I'm glad."
"And now for the other issue you wished to speak about." Nezu pushed the button, and the scene changed to the awards ceremony. The stage rose out of the ground, and everyone was looking awkwardly at Katsuki, who was chained there, quirk-suppressing cuffs keeping him from exploding the stage.
"What's the point?" Izuku asked.
"Well. He was the rightful winner. His issue was related to the fact that Mr. Todoroki was holding himself back."
"He has always been like that." Izuku sighed. "He thinks Todoroki was looking down on him because he didn't use his fire. The fact that I was able to force Todoroki to fight at full strength, while he didn't, just made it worse."
"That accurately describes what we heard from Mr. Bakugou as well." Nezu agreed.
"So rather than let him refuse the win you forced the medal on him anyways?"
Nezu sighed. This is where it gets complicated. "Yes. Because we have to make a show of things for the HPSC. They want us to elevate the winner, to give them attention and focus. Even with his behavior, we still had to go through with the ceremony."
"Why?"
Nezu pauses the recording and turns to Izuku. "Do you understand the format of the games, and what they represent?"
Izuku nodded. "The first represents a race to the top of the hero standings. The second teaches us that heroes have to work together to defeat villains - sometimes under less than ideal circumstances. And the third - the third is simply a show for the flashiest quirks."
"Indeed. Because as you are fully aware, flashy quirks mean recognition, and recognition helps with your hero ranking."
"But what about Class 2? The second-place winner had a super-regeneration quirk. That isn't exactly flashy."
"Isn't it?" Nezu asked, pointedly. "To see someone lose an arm, a leg, or even part of their body, only for muscle, bone, and organs to knit themselves back together, the attack rendered worthless? It may not be flashy in the same sense as Mr. Bakugo's, but it would still be visually impressive to a bystander, and leave an impression."
Izuku seemed to be processing the information before he nodded.
"And the goal of the system is one of simple reinforcement. It is supposed to subtly reinforce the idea that flashy quirks are powerful, and that those heroes deserve to have high rankings on the hero billboards. Their personality doesn't matter, as much as results - how much are they seen, how much are they remembered, and how much criminal activity they have stopped."
Izuku immediately thought of Endeavor, the number two hero, and his attitude. "I think I get it. But why do you go along with it?"
"Let me ask you, in all of the years watching the sports festival, have you ever seen another situation such as this?"
Izuku thought about it for a moment, but the answer was obvious. "No."
"Precisely. As much as I would like the situation to be different, we are still dependent on the HPSC. If they want us to go through the routine no matter what, it isn't worth wasting what influence we have on something such as this. Especially since the problem lies with the individual, rather than the system. For anyone else, it would be an honor to be standing on that podium and being declared the winner."
Izuku was silent for a long time as he thought about it.
"Now there are two issues to discuss, but for today, let's stick to your classmates. Now then, why do you think Mr. Bakugo acted this way?"
Izuku looked at Nezu in surprise. He didn't expect the principal to turn this into a lesson.
Quickly recovering, Izuku answered the question. "Bakugo has always been like this. He's not only focused on being the best, but he also has to feel like he has earned it."
"He seems to have a rather specific mindset, yes. We have been keeping an eye on Bakugo's ingrained quirkism, but it seems like he has other issues as well. I must say, someone with a combination of both superiority and inferiority complexes is a rare sight."
Izuku looked down at the table. "His entire life, he has been placed on a pedestal and told that he was destined for greatness, and everyone at our school essentially encouraged that behavior. Coming to UA was the first time anyone has challenged that assumption."
Looking at Nezu, Izuku continued. "Even when it came to how he treated me. The school turned a blind eye towards it, and only when my mom threatened action did they help - by transferring me to another class. He had gotten worse after that."
Izuku frowned. "UA is the first time where he was among equals. People who were just as smart and as strong as him, and who wouldn't put up with his attitude."
The silence in the room was heavy until Nezu continued. "So, while you are willing to recommend therapy for Mr. Todoroki, why haven't you asked for the same for Mr. Bakugo?"
Izuku's face turned red from embarrassment. "I guess he's sort of a blind spot for me? I just accepted it as the way things were."
Izuku held up his hand and wrapped it in One For All's power. "Even by accepting One For All, I feel like some part of me agrees with him about quirkless heroes."
"We have gone over this before."
"I know," Izuku lowered his hand. "As a quirkless hero, I could only do so much to help people, compared to the power I will wield once I fully master One For All. And if I didn't accept this gift, then someone else would have, and they would have their own motivations and goals."
"But just because Mr. Bakugo had a point with regards to quirkless heroes, doesn't mean he is correct about everything," Nezu answered, steering the conversation back to its original topic. "And perhaps with the influence he still holds over you, I should recommend you seek out some additional therapy yourself. I hear your family has a reputable therapist on call."
Izuku's face heated up. "I-I can talk to my mom."
"Excellent. But that still leaves the question of what to do about Mr. Bakugo."
Izuku sighed, before returning to the image on the screen. "Are you worried about him becoming a villain if you expel him?"
"Yes. It is an unfortunate situation where we do not have a simple solution. Fortunately, I believe I know just the person who can help."
Nezu returned to his desk and sat down. As he began typing, the image on the screen changed to an internship offer, and Izuku began reading it. As he was reading, he began to realize Nezu's plan.
"Do you think this will work?"
"For young Bakugo's sake, I hope so. If not, he will be spending the next semester as one of the very students he was looking down on in the General Studies program."
Even though Nezu's expression was unreadable, Izuku could sense the threat behind those words and felt a sense of dread.
Using the remote, Nezu once again hid the screen before turning to Izuku. "Now then, I know there is one more outstanding question, but I believe I have taken up enough of your time. Perhaps, once internships are over, I can sit down with you and your sister and we can continue our discussion about the HPSC?"
Izuku swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and nodded.
"It is rather a heavy topic for a first- and second-year student, but given both of your ambitions, perhaps you should be made aware of the realities of the situation sooner than I would like."
"S-sounds good."
Izuku stood up to leave before Nezu spoke again. "Oh, and one last thing. At Power Loader's recommendation, we will be adding a support student to our quirk analysis class today. He claims that she is rather talented, although she has a rather unique way of thinking. He is hoping that by having her study quirk analysis with a deeper focus than she is receiving in her classes, she will improve her designs."
Izuku didn't even need to guess who he was talking about. "Mei Hatsume."
"Correct." Nezu sounded pleased at Izuku's guess.
"She impressed quite a few people at the Sports Festival, even though her methods were unorthodox."
Izuku was now filled with a completely different sense of dread.
"I-I guess I'll see you in class later today."
Izuku returned to his classroom, deep in thought from his conversation with Nezu. Sitting down at his desk, he began going through the motions to prepare for the day out of habit, while his mind tried to process the information.
Suddenly, he was interrupted by Ochako and Tsuyu coming up to his desk.
"Deku, is everything alright?"
Izuku tensed up for a moment, before looking at the two girls. "Yeah. I've just got a lot on my mind."
It wasn't exactly a lie.
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
Izuku looked down at his desk and frowned. "I'm not sure."
"Is something wrong with Midoriya?" Izuku could hear Tenya as he came up behind his friends, joining them around his desk.
"He's more distracted than usual, kero."
Izuku laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "I-it's nothing, really!"
None of his friends appeared to be believing it as they stared at him.
"Midoriya, I must insist! After our conversation earlier this week, it would be hypocritical of you to bottle your feelings up!"
Izuku looked at his friends and felt warm from their concern. As he looked at them he felt better, like everything will turn out alright. He just has to remember that he has people he can rely on now, beyond his mom and Himiko.
A genuine smile filled his face as he looked at his friends. "Thanks, guys. I just had a pretty heavy conversation this morning, about some personal matters. I just… need some time to process it all."
He felt Ochako's hand on his shoulder. "If there's anything we can do to help, you'll tell us, right?"
Izuku looked at his friends, his smile growing as he nodded. "Yeah! I promise."
That evening, after he had walked Ochako to the train station and returned home, Izuku went to Himiko's room and sat down on her bed.
"It sounds like Nezu wants to meet with both of us."
Himiko spun around in her chair and looked at him in surprise. "Why?"
"Apparently, my questions about the sports festival are related to the HPSC?"
Himiko looked like she ate something sour. "So he wants to drag you into this too?"
Izuku nodded. "Yeah."
While Himiko sat there with a frown on her face, Izuku held out his hand and began pushing the energy of One For All into it.
"Do you remember, after my entrance exam, how I promised I was still the same little brother you spent two years growing up with?"
Himiko felt a knot in her stomach and nodded.
"I never told you, but I felt guilty about accepting a quirk."
The knot was replaced with confusion. "Huh?"
Izuku gave his sister a sheepish smile. "Isn't it ironic that a quirkless kid accepts a quirk to protect those who aren't as lucky? And it's the kind of quirk that people would think of when they think about heroic quirks. And yet I want to use the power to help those with villainous quirks."
Himiko paused for a long time. "I never thought about it that way."
Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "So for the longest time, I felt like a hypocrite and felt guilty about it. But then I began to realize something important."
"What's that?"
"It's a matter of scale. I absolutely could become a quirkless hero, but I'd be limited. Sure, I'd probably do well as an underground hero, but then I'd never get any attention. How many underground heroes have you heard of?"
"Thanks to you, quite a few!" Himiko snarked back.
Izuku gave a nervous laugh. "I guess that's fair. But if I were a quirkless hero competing in the rankings, I doubt I'd be able to break into the top 100 by myself. There are just too many villains where I'd have to call in support. And knowing the media, they'd love to say it was the Bakugos and the Todorokis who saved the day."
Izuku channeled power into his hand again, holding it up. "But now? Now I have a chance of achieving my dream, and being the number one hero!"
"Why are you telling me this?"
Izuku let the power dissipate as he looked at Himiko. "I was just thinking about your quirk. Have you thought about being a hero that lives in the limelight, instead of being underground?"
Himiko looked at Izuku as if he had grown a second head. "Are you serious? Doesn't that defeat the whole point of my quirk?"
"Does it?" Izuku asked seriously.
"What good is a shapeshifting quirk if everyone knows that I can do it?"
"Well…" Izuku started. "What about how powerful your quirk is now that it's awakened?"
Himiko's eyes seemed to lose focus as she was thinking hard about what Izuku just said, before snapping back into focus. "I never thought about it like that!"
Izuku smiled. "Exactly. Being a sneaky underground hero suits you! But you could also spend some time in the spotlight with your ability to copy other heroes' powers."
"Or villains!" Himiko pointed out. "Once I get my new support gear!"
"Or villains." Izuku agreed. "Assuming you can learn to use their powers on the fly."
Himiko giggled. "I'm sure you and Emmy won't stop harassing me until I can copy powers on demand."
"What can I say?"
"Nothing, I know you too well." Himiko stuck out her tongue.
They settled into a comfortable silence before Himiko finally continued. "You've proven over and over again that quirk or not you're still the same person. I was just jealous. I wanted the two of us to take on the world, and show everyone why they shouldn't underestimate us."
"And now?"
"Now my quirk is awesome!" Himiko proudly proclaimed.
"So you're not jealous anymore?"
Himiko shook her head. "Nope!"
Izuku looked relieved. "I guess I was hoping we could still take on the world together? Just well, taking it on in a different way?"
Himiko suddenly had a serious look on her face. "This is about Nezu wanting to talk to us."
Izuku nodded, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah. I guess I just wanted to get that off of my chest first."
Himiko smiled at her brother before she stood up and collapsed on the bed next to him, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.
"I don't think I have a choice in the matter. If I don't watch out for you then you're going to keep hurting yourself, and that would make mom sad."
Izuku turned red from embarrassment and Himiko giggled, before she continued.
"If Nezu wants to help us, I'll take it. I owe him so much - for helping me escape my family, and for giving me this chance." Himiko waved around her room for emphasis. "I would do it alone if I had to. But with the two of us? With our quirks now? The bad guys are screwed!"
Izuku smiled at her. "I was hoping you'd agree."