Three months into his third year.
Rei peeked into the study room after a gentle knock.
Natsu was sitting cross-legged on the floor, head tilted, muttering practice quiz answers under his breath. His brow was furrowed.
"I brought you some snacks," she said, walking in with a soft smile.
Natsu glanced up and blinked, surprised. "Awesome!"
She gently placed the cup on the desk and laid a hand on his head.
"I'm proud of you," she said simply.
Natsu froze for a beat, then looked away, face pink. "…Yeah, well. I haven't passed yet."
"But you're trying," she whispered. "And that matters more."
Fuyumi had already helped him prepare some notes and create study guides. Natsu's brain was short-circuiting from all the information. It was hard to sit still and study. Thankfully, he brought some weights he could train with while studying.
Even Endeavor, after coming home late one evening, paused at the door when he saw him studying.
He said nothing. Just narrowed his eyes, then walked past with a grunt.
Despite his best efforts. Natsu was still Natsu. He was too restless, studying was boring and tiring and he couldn't go after villains anymore. Not only did he promise Shoto, but he was involved in too many incidents and he was watched too closely by his family. So he decided the best thing would be to just study.
For now, he was stuck in class. He really tried. At least he tried to try.
He paid attention, asked questions, even stayed behind after class to review notes with the teacher who had encouraged him.
He had some free time so he decided to go to the library. He sat down and got to work. His friends arrived a little later.
"Who are you," Shou whispered, "and what have you done with our friend?"
Natsu tossed a pencil at his face. "Shut up… "
"Alright, alright. I just came by to check on you and. Good luck." Shou threw some snacks at him and left. But he came back and peeked in. "Let me know if you need help, okay?"
Natsu smirked. "Will do. Thanks!"
"Quiet in the library please."
-
Cardio every morning. Strength training every evening. Quirk training sprinkled in throughout. That's how Natsu's daily training went. This was his favorite part of the day.
Natsu had pushed his routine to its limits, and then made it harder and harder. He moved like clockwork now: Wake. Run. School. Study. Train. Sleep. Repeat. The only time he would use it for fun was on the weekends. He made sure to spend time with his friends and family.
His day started like any. He slipped on his hooded shirt over his weighted vest and began running. Shoto was kind enough to give some equipment he borrowed from Endeavor.
This morning, though, he felt an itch for something different. A change of scenery.
So instead of looping around his usual backstreets and park trails, Natsu took off toward the coastline, feet pounding along the sidewalk as the pale blue morning stretched over Musutafu.
By 6:00 AM, the sea breeze hit him in the face. The Sun rising over the horizon.
Every breath burned. Every limb ached, but he kept up with the pace.
He took a deep breath of salt and wind, huffing and sweating as he reached Takoba Municipal Beach Park.
The place was peaceful at first glance. The tide whispered gently against the sand. The horizon glowed with the slow rise of the sun. Natsu slowed down to a jog, then a walk.
And then, he scowled.
"Ugh. Seriously?"
Plastic bottles. Bags. Old rusted appliances. He counted at least three broken microwaves. Someone had dumped actual mattresses here. There were even fridges?
His feet crunched over glass and junk. He wanted to sit down for a minute, maybe stretch—but there was nowhere to sit that didn't look like a trash heap. It was disgusting.
With an annoyed sigh, he bent down and started picking up a few plastic wrappers near the shoreline. He wanted to start clearing up some space.
Then—footsteps. Fast, heavy ones. Sand kicking up behind.
A short, round-faced boy came jogging up, face red, drenched in sweat, panting so hard it sounded painful.
His messy, dark green hair curled wildly in every direction, sticking to his forehead and bouncing with every step. Despite his exhaustion, his eyes were focused.
"Wait—! Please—don't move that!" the boy gasped, holding out a hand.
Natsu straightened, blinking. "Huh?"
The green-haired boy pointed to the bag Natsu had just grabbed. "I'm using it. For training. I'm cleaning the whole beach."
Natsu furrowed his brow. "You're training… by cleaning up garbage?"
The boy nodded rapidly between gasps, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "Y-yeah! I-it's to build endurance and upper body strength. And, you know… civic responsibility…"
Natsu paused. He didn't get it.
But—he heard "training," and that was enough. 'I suppose cleaning garbage is a way to train. How unique.'
He shrugged and dropped the trash bag. "Alright. Go wild."
The boy gave a sheepish smile. "Thanks! I'm—uh, I'm Izuku Midoriya, by the way."
"Yakuto Todoroki." He stretched his arms overhead, then pointed a finger over his shoulder. "I'm running coast loops."
Midoriya looked stunned for a moment before he nodded enthusiastically. "Good luck with your training!"
"You too."
And just like that, Natsu turned and ran off down the beach—kicking up sand as the sun began to crest the sea.
Behind him, Izuku hauled a rusted tire over to a broken fridge, muttering under his breath.
Natsu looked back one more time and smirked. 'Izuku huh…'
—-
The sun had barely climbed above the horizon when All Might descended lightly onto the cracked pavement at the edge of Takoba Beach.
He stood tall and golden in the morning light, the salt-heavy wind ruffling the ends of his hair.
Red hair?
That kid.
A slow grin spread across All Might's face as he watched the boy run off.
Still training hard, huh?
He turned and spotted Izuku about thirty feet away, struggling to drag a broken vending machine up a slope of trash. The boy was dripping with sweat, muttering something to himself between each breath.
All Might strode over. "Midoriya-Boy."
Izuku nearly dropped the vending machine. "A-All Might?!"
He scrambled to stand straight, panting. "Good morning, sir!"
All Might smiled and nodded toward the distance. "That boy who just left. Do you know him?"
"He said his name was Yakuto Todoroki. Hey, All Might. Isn't Todoroki also Endeavor's name? Do you think they are related? He had the same hair too."
All Might mused. He already had a suspicion that the boy was related to Endeavor, now it was confirmed. He didn't reply to Izuki. He just laughed. "Are you friends by any chance?"
Izuku blinked. "Oh! Uh, no, not really. He showed up a few minutes ago. I thought he was going to clean some of the trash, but I asked him not to—since I was using it for training—and he just said okay and left."
He scratched the back of his head. "Kind of selfish of me, I guess, but I wanted to clean all of it myself… It's part of my regimen."
All Might chuckled, deep and warm.
"No shame in wanting to give your all. But that boy…" he looked off toward the horizon where Natsu had vanished. "I've met him before as well."
"You have?" Izuku asked, wide-eyed.
"Briefly. He chased me down after I stopped a villain a while back," All Might said with amusement in his voice. "Demanded a fight, even. Didn't care I was leaving—just wanted to test his strength. It was one of the strangest encounters I have had. Hard to forget someone like him."
Izuku gawked. "What?! Seriously?! He challenged you to a fight??"
All Might nodded. "He's got spirit. Strong quirk too. But what caught my eye today was the way he's training."
"His training?" Izuku asked.
He glanced down at the beach, his smile sharpening with approval.
"Weighted gear hidden under his clothes. But, even with it, his breathing is steady and focused. I can tell just from his run that he does this regularly. I've seen a lot of individuals with flashy quirks tend to skip their basics and just focus on their quirks. Not him."
Izuku looked off toward where Natsu had disappeared again, thoughtful.
All Might folded his arms, watching the waves. "He also goes to the same school as you. The last time I saw him, he was wearing the same uniform as you. I know he's planning to apply to U.A."
Izuku went quiet. Something about the idea inspired a flicker of determination in his chest. 'Someone All Might is impressed by.'
"Looks like you will have a powerful competitor, young Midoriya," All Might said with a grin.
Izuku clenched his fists, face glowing with resolve.
"Then I'll work even harder!"
All Might laughed and gave him a thumbs up. "That's the spirit. Now let's continue!"
"Yes."
All Might didn't mention that the main reason the kid wanted to go to U.A was to fight him. He had a strange premonition that things were going to be really chaotic soon.