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comicgeekscomicgeek · 6 years ago

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Their Hero Academia: Chapters 9-12

Chapters 0-8 can be found here

As always, these initial posts are raw and unedited, warts, typos, and all, beyond basic editing while writing. I’ll have a new link in a couple days when it goes up on AO3 and FF.net

Their Hero Academia –Chapter Nine: Toshi Midoriya and the Taste of Victory

One minute, Toshi was discussing workout tips with Kimiko Ojiro and Daisuke Shoji, trying to take his mind off Katsumi and Izumi. He was rooting for Katsumi, he truly was. People deserved to be happy and if there was one thing he was sure of, it was that Izumi did make her happy. But he wasn’t sure how Izumi felt about Katsumi, beyond considering her a friend. As far as he could remember, he hadn’t ever recalled Izumi expressing romantic interest in anyone, male or female. He didn’t want to see Katsumi hurt. But only by getting her feelings out in the open could she move forward.

The next minute, there was a terrifying booming noise that shook the whole building and silenced all chatter in the common room, save for a terrified, high-pitched scream. The lights flickered, but quickly came back on.

“Geeze, Aoyama,” Mika Mineta said, “give our eardrums a rest.”

“Excuse me for having a healthy sense of self-preservation!” Takiyo Aoyama snapped back. “It would be a tragedy the world over were this face to get damaged.” Toshi sighed. The two of them were probably never going to get along.

“What was that?” Tensei Iida asked. “It sounded like something struck the fifth floor!”

“Something did!” Katsumi called out, coming back inside with Izumi hot on her feels. “Some kind of missile or something! We’re under attack!”

“We do not know that for certain, Katsumi,” Izumi corrected her. “It could be… All right, I do not know what else it might be.”

“Wait, the fifth floor?” Ojiro squealed. “My stuff!”

“Okay,” Toshi said, trying to get everyone’s attention. Sometimes, wrangling his friends was like herding cats. He had a pretty good understanding of what to do in disaster situations thanks to his parents, especially his mom. Dad may have been the Number One Hero and Symbol of Peace, but his mom was one of the best Rescue Heroes in the country. “Here’s what we do. Feels like the building’s still standing, but let’s get everybody outside just in case.”

He went on. “Haimawari?”

“Y—yes, Midoriya?” Isamu Haimawari asked.

“I’m sure the teachers are already aware and on their way, but you’re the fastest on land. Go find one of them.”

“You can count on me!”

Good. Haimawari was starting to sound more confident in himself.

Toshi frowned. It was a risk, but he didn’t like the idea of just waiting around when there was a potential threat on hand either. “I’m going to check upstairs and see what’s going on.”

“Not alone,” Katsumi said. “I’d never hear the end of it if I let you get your fool ass killed.”

“Me too,” Asuka Tokoyami said. “If we have to evac, Frog Shadow can protect us.”

Toshi held up his hands. “Okay, okay. That’s enough. Let’s go!”

Rushing headlong into danger, getting his friends involved… Yeah, he was his father’s son.

***

Toshi took the stairs quickly, Katsumi and Asuka hot on his heels. With the building potentially damaged, the elevator didn’t seem like the safest option. At least the smoke alarms didn’t seem to be going off. That was a good sign.

They quickly emerged on fifth floor to find that the East wall had been smashed in, exposing the floor to the elements. It looked like it had mercifully missed Izumi and Ojiro’s rooms. But there, sitting in the middle of the floor, was a red-haired girl wearing a U.A. uniform. She looked like she was about their age and she looked like she’d been crying.

“What. The. Hell.” Katsumi said.

“Hey,” Toshi called out, softly. “Are you okay?”

The girl’s head snapped up, as though noticing them for the first time. She started scrambling away from them. “No… no… stay back! I might hurt you!” Her body started glowing with a strange, orange-red light. “I… I can’t control my Quirk!”

Asuka summoned Frog-Shadow, putting it between them and the girl. A good instinct under most circumstances, but something told Toshi it wasn’t the right call here. He stepped around the glowing familiar and approached the girl.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’m Toshinori Midoriya. That’s Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo and Asuka Tokoyami. What’s your name?”

She backed a little further away, but she kept eye contact with him. “Haya Tanaka. I’m in Class 1-C.”

“Hope you know what you’re doing, Toshi,” Katsumi whispered.

Toshi didn’t answer her, but pressed on. “Okay, nice to meet you, Tanaka. What’s your Quirk?”

“C…Comet. I light on fire and then I fly around real fast. I was… I was on my way to class when my Quirk activated all on its own. I started flying and I couldn’t control where I was going and… and I guess… I hit… your dorm… Oh… oh no… did I… Did I hurt anyone?”

Crap. He was losing her. Toshi quickly shook his head. “You didn’t hurt anybody. We were all downstairs. Just knocked a big hole in the wall. We were thinking of putting a window in anyway.”

That got a little laugh out of her and a groan from Katsumi and Asuka. But her glow was starting to fade. “Oh, thank goodness…”

Toshi gave her a little smile. “See, it’s not so bad, Tanaka. Pretty sure we’ve all lost control at some point or another. Katsumi here used to blow stuff up all the time when we were growing up.”

Katsumi gave him a swat on the back of the head. “Really?”

“Hey, I’m just saying…” Toshi said. Tanaka’s glow had completely faded now. He offered her a hand up. “You feeling better?”

She took it. “Yeah. I think I am. Thanks.”

“Are we done revealing personal information now?”

Toshi nearly jumped through the roof. “Mister Aizawa! How long have you been behind us?!”

The homeroom teacher kept his gaze focused on Tanaka, his eyes red and his hair floating about his head. Clearly, it had been his Quirk that had really damped Tanaka’s powers and not anything he’d done.

“Long enough,” Aizawa said. “Running headlong into danger, trying to reach everyone… if I had any doubt you were a Midoriya, it’s gone now.”

“Uh… thanks?”

“I’m not sure it was a compliment.”

“That’s pretty cold, Mister Aizawa,” Asuka said.

“So is life. You three, get out of here. I’ll get Tanaka down.”

Well… at least he’d tried.

A strange expression crossed Katsumi’s face. “…Izzy!” And she took off down the stairs.

Toshi exchanged a look with Asuka. It was already shaping up to be an interesting day.

***

There’s quite a crowd outside by the time they made their way down the stairs, not just their classmates, but students from the nearby Class 1-B and 1-C dorms as well. A few of them, Toshi recognized, many he didn’t. There were teachers and staff too: Sato’s dad, Vice-Principal Midnight, the 1-B homeroom teacher Super Ball, the 1-C homeroom teacher Battle Fist, and more, along with Doctor Izumi (though to Toshi, she’d always just be Aunt Eri).

“Only the third day of school, and Class 1-A is already causing trouble?” a blonde kid from 1-B asked. “Why am I not surprised?”

A red-haired girl with metal lower arms smacked him upside the head with a surprisingly satisfying clang. “Oh, shut it, Monoma.”

“OW! Jeeze, Tetsutesu, easy on my head.”

“Both of you, knock it off,” the rubber-faced (and rubber-bodied) Super Ball snapped.

“I expect better of you, Kana,” Battle Fist said.

“Aaaw, Moooom,” the red-haired girl (apparently Kana Tetsutetsu—he thought he recognized her now, one of Katsumi’s friends) wailed.

Tanaka was handed off to Aunt Eri, and Aizawa went along as well. Toshi hoped she was all right. It definitely didn’t seem like it was her fault, but that was a hell of a loss of control. Sure, Izumi had lost control yesterday, but that was a totally different kind of thing.

Weird, though, hadn’t Grandpa Might said something about a “Quirk misfire” during 1-B’s Battle Trials…? It was probably just some kind of freaky coincidence.

“All right, all of you,” Vice-Principal Midnight said. She was dressed far more conservatively than she had been in more active Pro-Hero days, but her suit was still low cut enough and tight enough to raise the pulse rate of anyone interested in women. She was still fit and looked younger than her years. And… he was staring. Of course, so were a lot of other people. But that didn’t really make it right. Toshi forced himself to pay attention.

“Everyone get to class,” Midnight said. “I’m sure you’ve all got busy days ahead of you. We’ll have the dorm repaired before the end of the day.”

She unclipped her riding crop from her belt, giving it a slap against her open palm. “You heard me! Don’t make me have to… discipline you.”

Toshi saw Mineta raise a hand. “Can I volunteer?” the horned girl asked.

Some things never changed.

***

Classes keep them busy, though Toshi’s still distracted by Tanaka and the events of the morning. He’s lost control in a moment of panic, sure. More than once, he’s been stunned enough that when he jumped, it’s with zero gravity and he nearly went flying. But he also always recovered just as quickly. But to lose control like that? And then there was whatever happened to Training Ground Beta that they still hadn’t completely fixed.

But they’d tell them if something more was going on, right?

At lunch, Toshi saw Katsumi hustle Izumi away for a conversation. Probably the same one that had been interrupted this morning. Maybe now they’d get the chance to talk that the events of the morning had denied them. He really hoped for the best.

Lunch was spent in the company of Asuka, Shota, and Haimawari. As usual, Shota had Hero news to share, spotlighting a battle between the Villain Fullmetal and an up and coming hero called Wreck-It. Dressed in red and black, Fullmetal had metallic arms and legs that he could reshape into various weapons, while Wreck-It was a behemoth of a man with incredible strength, but whose true power lie in his ability to cause matter to shatter through rapid-fire punches. It was a hard fought battle, but eventually, Wreck-It did bring the Villain down. Shota declared it the most awesome thing ever, as he likely would whatever he would share tomorrow. Toshi was polite enough not to point out the inconsistency.

And finally, the afternoon brought them to their Heroics Class. This time, Grandpa Might had them working through a variation on Capture the Flag. They’d been taken to one of the mock cityscapes and had to make it through a horde of robot villains to retrieve a flag, but they also had to make it back to the exit before time ran out.

With Haimawari and Izumi having to sit a few Heroics classes out, that left them with fourteen. So they were split into two teams of four and two teams of three. Toshi was teamed with Akaya Koda, Daisuke Shoji, and Chihiro Kaminari. It was, in his opinion, a bit of an uneven mix of Quirks. But you worked with what you had available and none of them would be here if they weren’t already. He also knew that Chihiro wasn’t half was dumb as she acted around Mineta.

On the plus side, their costumes were finally in. Toshi’s consisted of yellow boots, blue leggings, a red tunic, and yellow armguards. Across his chest he wore a circle with cut outs at ten, two, four, and eight, split by crossed lines, the symbol for the center of gravity, in gold. Any resemblance to Grandpa Might’s Silver Age costume was… purely coincidental, of course.

Grandpa Might’s voice rang out over the loudspeaker. “REMEMBER! YOU ONLY HAVE TWENTY MINUTES TO FIND THE FLAG AND MAKE IT BACK TO THE EXIT! GO OUT THERE AND GIVE IT YOUR BEST!”

With that, the buzzer sounded, signaling the start of their test.

“Do you have a plan, Midoriya?” Koda asked. Her own costume was fairly simple, a blue bodysuit, white boots and trucks, and a white leaf pattern swirled over the chest. Around her waist was a belt with pouches that held various seeds.

He nodded. “Shoji and I have more mobility than you and Chihiro. We’ll take high, you take low, and work our way to the other side. Call out if you see anything or need help.”

“Good enough,” Shoji agreed. His costume was rather simple, a black bodysuit, black boots, and a black mask that stopped just short of his eyes and white hair. His Extendo-Arms remained bare. Only a white fist symbol, large and taking up most of his chest, broke up the black.

“Got it,” Chihiro said, tossing off a small salute with one of her Cords. She wore yellow pants with a black stripe up the side and black boots, along with a white shirt, and yellow jacket with black trim. A black insignia shaped like an electrical outlet adorned her chest.

Symbols were in lately, in hero-design.

The course of action decided, they moved, Koda and Chihiro taking off on foot, while Toshi reduced his gravity down to near zero and took a mighty leap, landing on top of the closest building. Shoji followed closely behind, the powerful hands of his Extendo-Arms digging into the side of the building and letting him hall himself up like a muscular spider.

From on top of the building, he could see more of the battlefield. “There,” he told Shoji. “See the big one, over there? I’m betting that’s where the flag is. Only one way to get there, boxed in by the other buildings, perfect chokepoint.”

“And that’s the direction the robots are coming from,” Shoji said, pointing with one of his regular arms.

“Okay, that too.”

With their Quirks, him bounding and Shoji extending his arms, it was easy for them to move to rooftop to rooftop, out of the way of the streets. So it’s no wonder Koda and Chihiro ran into the robots (just One-Pointers for this exercise) before they did.

Koda acted first, reaching into her belt and throwing a handful of seeds at the nearest robot. As she did, she activated her Quirk, a soft green glow forming around her hand. “Grow quickly,” she said, “that I might enlist your aid.” The seeds sprouted quickly, growing into vines that wrapped their way around the robot, working their way into its joints and stopping it completely.

Chihiro struck out with her Extension Cords, jabbing both of them into a robot’s neck and unleashing a charge of electricity. The robot sparked, stumbled, and fell over. “Hope that wasn’t too much of a… shock!” she said, then laughed at her own joke. She quickly retracted her Cords, already attacking the next robot.

“C’mon!” Toshi said to Shoji. “Let’s help!” He jumped off the building, aiming for one of the other robots. He concentrated, raising his gravity up to four times normal. “GRAVITY… SMASH!”

He landed on the robot with a powerful crash, crushing it like an aluminum can.

But he wasn’t prepared for the second robot, which struck out at him with a large metal fist. The blow rocked him backwards, hurting some (thank goodness he was tougher when his gravity was up), but his movements in response were slow, clumsy, slowed down by the heavy gravity he’d inflicted on himself. It took him a moment to clear his head enough to bring his gravity back to normal to dodge.

Fortunately, Shoji had his back. He’d dropped down from above and gripped the robot in his Extendo-Arms, two each gripping one of its arms. With a grunt, he tore the robot’s arms from its body, letting Chihiro sneak in and hit it with a powerful electric charge.

“Watch your back, Midoriya,” Shoji told him.

“Yeah,” Chihiro added. “You get your face punched in, Mika might stop hitting on you.”

Toshi had to laugh. “Promises, promises!”

***

Twelve minutes later, they had the flag. But with three minutes to go on the clock, they were far from the exit, blocked by too many robots.

“Away with you, metal beasts!” Koda called out, rapidly growing more vines. She had her large form in front of Chihiro, who was leaning against a wall, staring off into space. She’d used too much electricity too quickly and shorted out her own brain. She’d be out of it for a good hour or so. Too long to be helpful in getting out.

Shoji smashed through another robot with his arms, as Toshi did the same by increasing his gravity when he threw a punch. They could keep smashing, but there were too many robots for them to make it. Toshi was further hampered by having to hang onto the flag.

Unless…

“Shoji!” he shouted. “Think you throw me to the exit if I go near weightless?”

The six-armed boy’s eyed widened. “Of course I can… But if I miss, or if you don’t stop in time… you’re in for a big crash.”

“Won’t know unless we try,” Toshi said. “Besides… we’re only got two minutes. Do it!”

“Your funeral,” Shoji said. But he grabbed Toshi with one of his arms, cranking it bank, then flinging it forward like a trebuchet. With his gravity down to near zero, Toshi went flying through the air like a missile.

He had to focus, keep track of where he was… Slowly, he increased his gravity so that he began to arc downward to the exit. Too fast! Too fast! He couldn’t slow down in time, so all he could do was increase his gravity enough to protect himself…

He went sailing through the exit, crashing into the ground with a mighty thud.

The victory bell chimed.

“Team One wins,” an electronic voice announced.

“DID YOU SEE THAT? DID YOU SEE WHAT MY GRANDSON DID? I MEAN… AH… GOOD JOB, EVERYONE! AND I HOPE EVERYONE WATCHING LEARNED SOMETHING FROM THAT!”

Well, even if his grandfather was embarrassingly proud… the taste of victory was pretty dang sweet.

Their Hero Academia – Chapter Ten: Isamu Haimawari Sits This One Out

Isamu Haimawari was feeling pretty good. Sure, he’d gotten injured yesterday (not a conversation he was relishing having with his parents and really, one he was hoping he could put off as long as possible), but he’d actually done all right in the Heroics lesson up until then. And more importantly, he’d made up with Izumi Todoroki, who’d been laboring under the impression that he might blame her or hate her. Since he wasn’t about to do either of those things, forgiving her had been easy and seemed to put her at ease.

Was it a little forward to take her hand? Maybe. But it looked like she needed it and, well, his dad always said that small acts of kindness matter just as much as the big heroics. It was what made him and his convenience store such a fixture in the neighborhood. People knew that if you needed help, you could talk to Koichi Haimawari and he’d do what he could. Even if he wasn’t the Crawler anymore.

He looked up just in time to see Kirishima-Bakugo bolting out the door. She looked… scared? That was weird. He didn’t think she had any mood other than angry. His friends may have claimed she had a softer side and he trusted them, but he hadn’t seen any sign of it yet. Still…

“Ah… I think your friend’s unhappy about something,” he told Izumi. “Kirishima-Bakugo.”

Izumi frowned. “Katsumi is frequently unhappy. She usually finds a way to take it out on something. …Or someone.”

“She fan out of here pretty fast,” Isamu said. “I’d say she bolted.”

Her eyes went a bit wide at that. “That is… not good,” she said after a moment. She pushed back from the table and stood. “Thank you, Isamu, but I should really check on her before…”

Isamu just nodded. He’d seen enough of the explosive blonde to understand at least some of what could follow “before.”

“Sure thing,” he said. He wondered if he should wish her good luck, but decided against it. It would probably have been rude. Either way, she headed for the door and after Kirishima-Bakugo.

It was a shame though that he’d been benched from Heroics Class for the next few days. Even after being hurt, he was actually looking forward to it. He’d done pretty good yesterday, he thought. Sure, he’d been a little scared the whole time, but he’d actually done his part in taking down some of the robots. And he already had some ideas on how he could do better. Plus, eventually, they’d get to the point where they’d be taking on human opponents and he’d do better there.

Well… he’d just have to take the few days to recuperate and go from there.

And then the building shook like a bomb had gone off, knocking Isamu from his chair and landing on the floor. He really had to work on that grace under pressure thing. Were they under attack? Did a gas main explode? Had Kirishima-Bakugo lost it and done something truly explosive?

All right, he didn’t really think the last one was true.

Probably.

***

“Haimawari?”

“Y—yes, Midoriya?” he asked.

“I’m sure the teachers are already aware and on their way, but you’re the fastest on land. Go find one of them.”

He gave Midoriya a thumbs’ up. “You can count on me!”

Outside, he dropped into a three-point stance and took off, racing along the sidewalk towards the main school building. There’d have to be someone there. Mister Aizawa was always there before any of them were. Given that he always had a sleeping bag with him, Isamu wondered whether or not he actually ever left.

He banked left and right, dodging around students from the other classes who had come to gawk at the giant hole in their dorm. There, up ahead, he could already see some of the staff running towards the building too. He skidded to a stop, and stumbled, nearly falling, managing to right himself at the last second.

And nearly planted his face in someone’s cleavage!

He backed away quickly and fell on his butt again. He looked up and his eyes went wide. “V—V—Vice-Principal Midnight!” Oh, he was in so much trouble…! “I’m… I’m so…”

The Vice-Principal reared back her head and laughed, before fixing him with a mischievous stare. “Oh, you are a bold one, kid! I love it!”

What… what was happening?

He recognized the others with her, Sugarman from the cafeteria (and Sato’s father), the 1-B homeroom teacher, the Bouncing Hero: Super Ball, and the 1-C homeroom teacher, the Furious Fighting Hero: Battle Fist.

“Relax, kid,” Battle Fist said. “You’ve from 1-A, right?”

“R—right,” he said. “Midoriya… he sent me to get help, while he went upstairs to check out whatever hit us…”

“Kenta…!” he heard Sugarman say, and all four of them were off like a shot.

“You still want to help, kid?” Super Ball asked him. When he nodded, the Hero went on, “Go to the Medical Building and get Doctor Izumi, okay?”

“Got it,” Isamu said. And he was off again.

***

Even if he didn’t get to participate in the Heroics exercise, at least he got to wear his costume. Isamua’s had thick solved red boots that joined protective padding around his knees, blue pants with red stripping on the edges, a blue padded tunic with red snaps and red shoulder pads, red gloves that came halfway up his forearms, and red protective pads on his elbows. He topped that off with a red bandanna that covered the lower half of his face, and big crimson goggles to protect his eyes. Maybe not as flashy as some of his classmates, but he liked it. And with his Quirk, the padding was absolutely necessary, like the protective gear used by professional cyclists or skateboarders.

It definitely did its job of making him feel more heroic. Considering his heroic career so far seemed to be nothing but one embarrassing moment after another, he needed all the help he could get in that regard.

When Midoriya’s group won the exercise, he let out a cheer. His friend had gotten a little battered by his victory, but he’d given it his all and pulled it off. Midoriya had a confidence Isamu could only wish he had, second-guessing everything he did.

The next group up was Takuma Sero, Kenta Sato, Takiyo Aoyama, and Kimiko Ojiro. Not really the most balanced group, he thought, lacking for the most part in mobility and limited in firepower. He wished them luck. If nothing else, at least they looked good in their costumes.

Sero’s costume was a bit plain. Black boots and a black body suit, with a white stripe that started on the inside of the legs and went up the torso and down the outside of the arms, before ending in white stripes at the elbow, leaving his forearms bare so he could use his Acid Tape. He finished it off with a helmet with a clear visor.

Sato was brightly dressed in red and yellow. A red bodysuit, yellow gloves, trunks, and boots, faceless cowl that left his hair exposed, and a downward pointing yellow wedge on his chest, with a white tooth insignia in the middle. Isamu had been told insignias were in right now for Hero designs, but hadn’t been able to come up with anything he liked.

Aoyama was, of course, sparkling, even indoors. His leggings and sleeveless tunic were a dark blue, leaving his arms bare save for the reflective bands that took up his entire forearm. Tall white boots, along with a white, high collared cape, and a reflective belt completed the outfit. The belt and armbands were Support items, designed to help him focus his power.

And finally Ojiro. For someone invisible, she was dressed incredibly flashily. High hot pink boots, practically neon green leggings and a tunic, with a hot pink leotard over that, along with hot pink gloves that went three-fourths of the way up her arms. She finished it out with silvery-goggles of unspecified purpose and a small utility belt. Isamu guessed that when you were invisible, you wanted to stand out.

For now though, he was sitting in the stands with the rest of the group watching. Just for today, fortunately. He still felt a bit worn out from how Doctor Izumi had rewound him, but she had assured him he would be fine by the next day. He sat with Izumi Todoroki, Shota Shinso, and Asuka Tokoyami, what he’d started thinking of as his friends. He didn’t have a lot of those, having been thought of as the weird, awkward guy during middle school. Though if he was honest with himself, he was probably still the weird, awkward guy. But at least almost everyone here was a little weird.

At least Izumi seemed happy enough. He’d only know her a few days, so he couldn’t claim to know her well, but after she’d run after Kirishima-Bakugo that morning, she’d seemed lost and distracted. He wondered if her change in mood had anything to do with whatever Kirishima-Bakugo had spirited her away for at lunch. Midoriya seemed to know something about it, but he wouldn’t say anything about it. If he was a braver person, he would have asked her about it. But it seemed… personal. He didn’t think they were close enough that he could really ask. But she and Kirishima-Bakugo were sitting together and were joined by Midoriya when his group returned, so he supposed it was all right.

His thoughts were interrupted by Mika Mineta leaning over from the row behind him. Her costume consisted of brown chaps, a purple vest over a low cut brown tunic, thick, fringed purple gloves, and a small purple domino mask. A thick purple belt and a lariat finished it off. Leaning over, of course, put her considerable cleavage near his head.

“Looking good in that costume, Haimawari,” she said. “You like mine?”

Various thoughts and impulses went to war in his head. On a purely visceral level, Mineta was extremely attractive. And he had no problem with assertive women; his mother certainly was one. But Mineta was also unsettlingly aggressive and made him feel a bit like a piece of meat.

“It’s… ah… it’s nice, Mineta,” he tried, desperately.

“You know where it would look even better?”

Nope, nope, nope, he wasn’t finishing that thought.

Thankfully, Tokoyami came to his rescue. “Down, girl, *chirp*.” Frog-Shadow materialized and gave Mineta a shove back into her seat. “Thank you, Frog-Shadow.”

“No problem!”

“Thanks, Tokoyami,” he said. He considered, then decided to err on the side of politeness. “And Frog-Shadow.”

The bird-headed girl shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. You’ve just got to firm with her.”

Yeah, being firm with attractive women throwing themselves at him? He wasn’t sure that was going to happen.

Things weren’t going well with the group going through the exercise either. They hadn’t even found the flag before they were overwhelmed by robots. Sero’s Acid Tape was eating through a few of them and Kenta was taking bites out of any that got close, but neither was making a lot of headway. Aoyama and Ojiro weren’t having much luck either. The former’s lasers were effective against the robots, but it looked like he wasn’t managing his power reserves well; his glow was already diminished and his blasts were becoming less and less effective. And in the crowded space, Ojiro’s invisibility wasn’t especially effective either. Nowhere to go meant nowhere to hide.

The buzzer sounded. Time was up and the second team had failed the exercise. Well… at least they hadn’t gotten knocked out? That had to count for something, right? Either way, he’d need to think of what they might have done differently. Since they weren’t participating, he and Izumi had to write up critiques of the other teams.

Frankly, he’d rather have been fighting robots. He had a hard enough time figuring out what he should do, let alone what someone else should do.

***

Classes long done and homework battled as much as his brain could stand, Isamu’s fingers hovered over the call button on his phone, the contact picture of his parents staring back at him. He should have called them yesterday, honestly, but he was afraid of what they might say, what they might think. But how did you even begin to tell your parents that you’d suffered burns over 90% of your body and nearly died, saved only by the fact that the school’s chief doctor had a Quirk that let her rewind you?

His parents understood the cost of heroics. The man who had taught his father, the vigilante called Knuckleduster, was dead, killed in the line of duty. And his father had been badly injured helping people, his leg broken in such a way that even after it healed, he never walked right again, ending his career. His mother had made it through it all unscathed, but had retired in solidarity with his father.

It was one thing to have been injured in the line of duty, in saving people. It was another to have been so badly injured in training. He wasn’t sure how they would take it, or what they would say, or what they would do.

In spite of it all, the one thing he knew that he didn’t want to do was go home. Sure, he’d nearly died. And sure, he’d barely made it in to begin with. But… he had friends here, people who believed in him (not that his parent’s didn’t). He had a chance to be a real Pro-Hero, and he didn’t want to give that up.

He hit dial. If Izumi could stand up to her parents… then he could stand up to his.

It rang once, twice, and then then voice of his mother, Kazuho Haimawari, came on the line. “Isamu! Three days, young man! Three days! What, are you too busy being a Hero already to call?”

Yep, that was his mother all right.

“N—no, Mom, just… had a lot of stuff going on.”

“Stuff?” Oh, crap. Her mom radar was probably already pinging. “What kind of “stuff?’”

In for a penny, in for a pound. “I’d, ah, I’d really only like to tell this once, Mom. Is Dad around?”

“I don’t like that the sound of that,” the former Pop*Step said. “Hang on, I just heard him come in. Let me get him.” There was the sound of the phone being put down and then, “KOICHI!”

There was the sound of rushing in the background, and he could tell his father had used his Quirk to speed into whatever room his mom was in. “I’m the guy who answered your call!” he heard his father say. That was followed by the sound of his mom smacking his dad upside the head.

“No time for your corniness! Isamu’s on the phone!”

“Oh, hey, kiddo! How’s the big hero in family doing?”

“It’s… It’s good, Dad. I’m doing good. But I really do need to tell you what happened…”

He swore he could hear the temperature on the other end of the line drop by several degrees. He must have impressed upon them how serious it was.

“What’s going on, son?” his father prompted.

“I… I got hurt yesterday,” Isamu said after a long moment spent gathering his thoughts. “One of my classmates, she’s got this Quirk where she absorbs heat and makes ice, but she has to let it out. Only, she overused it and collapsed. And I didn’t want her to hit her head or anything, so I raced over and caught her… only she hadn’t let go of all that heat yet. So when she passed out, it kind of all came out at once. As fire. I got burned. Like… all over.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the call, though it was quickly broken by his mother. “What the hell, Isamu?!”

He quickly tried to press on. “I’m—I’m okay, Mom. The school doctor fixed me right up, like I wasn’t even hurt at all. They got me there in time.”

“No, seriously, what the hell? You waited over a day to tell us this? That you almost died?!”

“Pop…” his dad said. “Maybe you could calm down, just a little?” It was clear his dad was worried too, but keeping a better level of control over it.

“Calm down? Calm down?! Our son almost died and you’re telling me to calm down? What is wrong with you?!” From the sounds on the other end of the phone, she was probably smacking him.

“Ow, ow, ow! Hey, stop it!” Yep, definitely smacking him. “I need that arm, Pop!”

“Uh… Mom? Dad?”

The smacking sounds stopped.

“Look, I didn’t tell you right away because I didn’t want to worry you. That’s one’s on me. But I’m okay. Really. Got a couple days excused from Heroics, but I’m okay. Even made nice with the girl who burned me. She was more upset than I was. But if I’m gonna get hurt… at least this was because I was doing the right thing.”

Silence again, then, “He’s got a point, Pop.”

“You’re just saying that because it sounds like something you’d say. You never held any grudges either.”

“You do that enough for both of u---ow!”

“You sure you’re all right, Isamu?” his mom asked.

“I’m fine, Mom,” he insisted. “Looking forward to getting back to Heroics. Plus… I’ve made a bunch of new friends. You’d like them. One of them’s even Deku’s kid.”

“Wait, Deku’s kid?” his father asked. “…Any chance you can get an autograph?”

Isamu squeezed the bridge of his nose, fighting the urge to laugh. “I’ll see what I can do, Dad.”

Their Hero Academia –Chapter Eleven: Izumi Todoroki Tries to Sort it All Out

“I’m in love with you, Izzy. Been in love with you for a long time.”

For a moment, the world seemed to freeze around Izumi Todoroki, as her longtime friend Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo confessed her longtime love for her. There was nothing in anything she had experienced, nothing in anything she had ever done, that could have prepared her for this, told her how to react. She was not good, she knew, with reading people or knowing how most people would react to things. And in that exact moment, she desperately wished that she was.

Katsumi had been her friend for longer than she could remember. She had been her protector, always there when she needed her. And in return, she had been one of the few people Katsumi would always, always listen to. And that was something even Toshi did not have. She truly valued Katsumi’s friendship, in spite of her friend’s sometimes rough edges.

Never, not even if she had been given a lifetime to guess, would she have thought that Katsumi might be in love with her.

Memories came, unbidden. All the times when she had calmed Katsumi down, stilled her from some disastrous path. All the times she and Katsumi had shared their thoughts and secrets, all the times Katsumi had gone out of her way to look out for her. Just the day before, when Katsumi had threatened to fight her parents if they tried to take her away from U.A.

Clearly, Izumi was a blind idiot for not seeing this sooner.

Izumi considered herself to be a straightforward and honest person. Perhaps not quite to the degree that Asuka Tokoyami was, but she was not a liar and she did not avoid difficult situations. She had asked for this, asked Katsumi to tell her what was the matter. And yet, in that moment, all she desperately wished that she could be anywhere else. Because she truly had no idea what to do next.

“Katsumi, I…” she began, realizing she had no idea what she was going to say next.

It was almost a relief when a sound like a rocket split the air. Both of them looked up and watched something streak across the sky towards the dormitory, with a sound like thunder. It looked like a comet, or a missile, and then… It impacted with the fifth floor of the dormitory, shattering the wall with a colossal BOOM! Though she prayed no one was hurt, it if meant she did not have to have this conversation right now…

“What the fuck was that?” Katsumi yelled. “Are we under attack?”

The thought chilled Izumi to the bone, a chill that had nothing to do with her Quirk. If any of her friends had been injured… “We must find out,” she said.

Katsumi frowned, clearly annoyed that her heartfelt confession had been interrupted. But as hot-headed as she could be, Katsumi was not so selfish as to put herself first in a situation like this. “Ngh… no, you’re right, Izzy,” she said. “C’mon!”

***

It was quite possibly one of the worst mornings Izumi had ever had. Her thoughts kept drifting back to Katsumi’s confession and how there had been no time to discuss or process it. Her sympathies lay heavily with Haya Tanaka, the girl from the morning. To have lost control of your Quirk like that… It reminded her too much of how she’d injured Isamu. In both cases, everyone involved had been very lucky.

But she had barely been able to concentrate on her school work. She had made careless mistakes in her classes. FireFox, their flame-powered powered math teacher were a head like a red panda hadn’t noticed, but Hawkeye, the blonde daughter of retired Pro-Hero and former U.A. teacher Snipe, certainly had during her English lesson.

Lunchtime was a merciful relief.

She told Toshi and the others to go on without her and waited outside the classroom for Katsumi. When her friend exited the classroom, she stopped her with a small touch. “Katsumi… may we finish our conversation from this morning?”

Katsumi brightened slightly at that. She’d spent most of the morning rather sullenly in her desk, almost looking like she was trying to hide, something Izumi never thought she’d see. “I’ll… I’ll go get us lunches and bring it back here, okay, Izzy? I know you gotta eat to take your pills.”

Izumu blinked. She’d been so preoccupied she’d actually forgotten about that. Amazing. That was how distracted she’d become. “I… thank you, Katsumi. For remembering.”

It left her waiting for Katsumi again, though. And that meant she was alone again with her thoughts, absently pacing the rows of desks in the classroom. She could run (granted, not for terribly long, but she could when required), avoid the conversation entirely. Or perhaps she could simply freeze herself in a block of ice and wait around in suspended animation for a few centuries (she was fairly certain her Quirk would have prevented that, even without the need to release the heat involved).

Run away… or stay and have a conversation she truly, truly did not wish to have.

All of her options were terrible ones. No matter what she did, she was certain she was going to hurt her dearest friend in all the world.

Katsumi soon returned with two trays of food. “Got a few things I knew you’d like,” she said. “Including cold soba. Because you have no taste.”

Izumi raised an eyebrow at that. “There is nothing wrong with cold soba. My father enjoys it as well.”

“Then you’ve both got no taste,” Katsumi teased.

They are in silence for few minutes, before Izumi finally found the courage to speak. “Katsumi,” she began, “about this morning…”

Katsumi looked up from her food. “I… I shouldn’t have said that, Izzy. I’ve gone and made everything so fu—so weird.”

Izumi shook her head. “You followed your heart. It must have taken considerable courage to tell me that. I’m not sure I would have had the same courage, were our positions reversed.”

“Blame Toshi for that one. He’s the one who figured it out. He’s the one who convinced me to talk to you. For somebody whose entire strategy is “get high up, then fall,” he can be pretty smart sometimes.

“…But don’t tell him I said that.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” Izumi assured her.

They lapsed into silence again, eventually broken by Katsumi. “You’re not in love with me,” she said.

Izumi looked down. Katsumi deserved nothing less than her honesty. She had bared her soul and Izumi could do no less in return. “I am sorry,” she said. “But I am not. I love you as I love my family, as I love Toshi and Shota and Asuka. There is no one I consider to be a better friend. But I am not in love with you.”

Katsumi looked down and Izumi could swear she could see some of the light leave her friend’s eyes, see something inside of her die just a little. “Thanks for being honest with me,” she said. She forced a smile that even Izumi could tell she didn’t really feel. “Is there… anybody you do like? Because I can make them ask you out if they’re too chicken. Been told I’m very convincing.”

That was a question in and of itself. “There is not,” she said after a moment. “I do not know if I have ever experienced romantic attraction. I can appreciate aesthetic attractiveness, such as the way you look when you smile, or Toshi’s muscles when he takes off his shirt…”

“Ick, ick, ick, he’s like my freaking brother, Izzy.”

“But romantic attraction… No. I’ve never felt that.”

“That’s… that’s kinda sad, Izzy.”

Izumi nodded. “I am not sure I agree. Perhaps I am still waiting for the right person, or perhaps there is no right person for me. I do not know. I can only see where life takes me.”

She frowned and looked down. So many serious conversations is so few days. Her parents, Isamu, and now Katsumi. “Katsumi… are we still friends?”

Katsumi locked eyes with her for a moment. “Yeah. We are, Izzy. I think… I think I need some time to work some things out, figure out who I’m gonna be if being in love with you isn’t getting me anywhere. But you’re always gonna be my friend. I love you, even if I ain’t gonna be in love with you. Just gotta figure out what that makes me.”

“Thank you, Katsumi. I really hope you find someone who can make you happy.”

“Me too, Izzy. Me too.”

Izumi rose and indicated that Katsumi should do the same, which she did, albeit with a puzzled look on her face. Izumi pulled her friend into a tight hug, holding it for several long seconds. She was not typically physically demonstrative and she could feel Katsumi jerk in surprise before she returned it.

“You will always be my friend, Katsumi. Never, never forget that.”

***

Izumi always did enjoy the opportunity to see her friends and classmates in action. True, she was envious of the freedom with which they moved and used their Quirks, but there was something about seeing them in action that did send a bit of a thrill through her heart. Still, she regretted that she was being forced to sit this round out and would for the rest of the week as well. She had significantly overextended her Quirk, after all. But it meant that she would fall behind the others. She would have to work that much harder to catch up.

From what she understood, however, her costume should make it somewhat harder for her to overextend herself like that again. After her parents had visited her, her mother had apparently made a call to the Iida Twins mother, Mei Iida, and suggested several potential modifications, which the support equipment designer had passed on to the school after making them into reality in the space of a long night. The combined forces of Momo Yaoyorozu and Mei Iida were apparently very hard to argue with.

Her base costume was split between orange and a pale blue. Her left boot, right leg, left half of her tunic, and right glove were blue, while the right boot, left leg, right half of her tunic, and left glove her orange. Silver bands encircled the cuffs of her boots and gloves, matching the silver belt that contained basic field aid supplies and her own medications. Finally, a silver harness completed the costume. The harness, along with the silver bands, was designed to help offset some of the hear she absorbed, letting her discharge it more harmlessly than letting it out as flame, as well as pulling heat all on its own when she absorbed dangerously high amounts.

The third team of the day had taken the field: Sora Iida, Shota Shinso, and Asuka Todoroki. The grouping was a bit unfair, in her opinion. Sora’s Quirk provided high mobility, Shota’s high versatility, and Asuka’s provided both. But Hero work was often unfair, and sometimes there were foes and situations to be faced that could not be handled by a particular Quirk. Adapting even in the face of that was something they would all have to learn.

Sora’s costume harkened back to her father’s and uncle’s (Izumi’s uncle as well, since the elder Tensei Iida was married to her Aunt Fuyumi), having a heavily robotic styling. Silver boots, gloves, helmet, and chest plate contrasted well against the red of the rest of her costume, along with folded silver wings like a jet’s on her back. Izumi knew that Sora’s costume (and that of her brother, Tensei, which looked virtually identical save for being blue where Sora’s was red) incorporated significant support gear that the twins had designed to enhance their Jetpack Quirk.

Asuka’s primarily wore green: light green leggings, a light green tunic with a dark green stipe, white boots and gloves, and a dark green cape. Izumi would not call herself the best judge of aesthetics, but it struck her as a bit plain. Then again, Asuka was noticeable enough on her own, between her bird-head and her Quirk. Perhaps that was enough.

Shota’s costume was a bit of a mishmash of colors. He wore navy blue boots with white stripes, white leggings, a navy blue tunic with white arm bands, and blue gloves. On his chest, he had a series of jagged yellow lines, which Shota had told her was a representation of the sound waves for “Plus Ultra.”

Izumu watched as Sora took off, getting an aerial fix on the flag, while Asuka summoned Frog-Shadow to carry herself and Shota through the streets in great leaps. Robots tried to stop them, but between Frog-Shadow and the immense power of Shota’s voice, they were quickly smashed. With Sora’s flight power, keeping the flag and getting it out was easy.

Until the flying robots arrived. One swatted Sora out of the air easily, sending her crashing to the ground with an impact that made Izumi wince. Even knowing that injuries could be treated easily enough by the U.A. medical staff, it was not fun to watch someone get hurt like that.

Shota let out a low pitched sound, one Izumi could practically feel in her bones, even from the observation stands. It made her feel faintly… unwell. But its effects on the robots were even more incredible. Where the soundwaves impacted with the robots, the robots simply… weren’t anymore, dissolving away into dust.

She was grateful Shota was such a happy, gentle soul. The thought of his power turned towards malicious ends was truly horrifying and that was only the abilities they had discovered so far. He was always trying to hit new high and low pitches, to see what they would do.

Asuka took up the flag, trying to get to the exit on Frog-Shadow. Unfortunately, their efforts weren’t in time. The buzzer sounded with time running out. A failure, but perhaps not as overwhelming of one as the previous group. But she would already see where things could have gone better. Izumi would have to reflect some, but she could likely complete her analysis without much trouble.

“Damn,” Katsumi said. “Almost thought they had that one. Who knew Loud Kid had it in him?”

“He is full of surprises,” Izumi agreed. She was just thankful Katsumi was still speaking to her. Yes, they had agreed they were still friends, but she suspected heartbreak was not something that mended so quickly. She would have to be especially mindful of Katsumi and how she spoke to her and what she asked of her for a while now, before the two of them could find a new normal. Whatever normal was, anyway.

Katsumi went on. “Let’s see… with you and the Newb sitting this one out, that means the last group is gonna be me, the other Jetset, and…”

She stopped, silently mouthing the names or identities she’d assigned to their classmates. “Crap. Mineta.”

Izumi hid a small smile behind her hand. Katsumi truly had no filters and was very free with her reactions. She’d seen it get the explosive girl in trouble many times, but at the same time, she somewhat envied the freedom with which she acted and spoke. “I am sure it will not be so bad,” she said. “I think you have threatened her enough to belay her worst impulses. You have led the horse to the waters of fear and made her drink.”

Katsumi just stared at her before cracking a smile of her own. “Was that a joke, Izzy? Are you doing jokes now?”

“Perhaps it was.”

Katsumi actually laughed at that. “Just when I think I’ve got you figured out.”

***

Later, when classes were over and homework was done, Izumi found herself watching television in the common room with Toshi, Shota, and Asuka. The dormitory had been repaired by the time they’d returned, a testament to how quickly U.A. could get things done. And other than a few things knocked off her bookshelf, nothing in her room had been damaged. Isamu had been invited to join them, but had mentioned that he needed to make a call home. He’d seemed reluctant to be making it, but Izumi understood that. Parents were very complicated even at the best of times.

She hadn’t been paying too much attention to the movie they were watching, some old classic monster movie, but Toshi and Shota liked it, and her friends being happy was enough for her. However, the television suddenly caught her attention as the film stopped and the logo for the local news affiliate appeared on the screen.

“…interrupt your broadcast to bring you this special report from downtown Musutafu,” the newscaster, a furry man who looked slightly uncomfortable in his suit, “where we are receiving reports of several Pro-Heroes engaged in battle with a gigantified Villain. We’re going live to the scene now…”

“Turn it up,” Toshi said. Shota, who had the remote, complied.

The scene shifted to the downtown area, where a giant, fire breathing lizard monster was lashing out at anyone and everything. Giant claws, a massive tail, blazing fire, all of it was being unleashed. Citizens ran from it, screaming, even as it let out a massive roar.

“Any idea who that is?” Asuka asked.

“No Villain I recognize,” Toshi said.

“Me neither,” Shota added.

Fortunately, there were Pro Heroes on the scene already. The veteran Hero Kamui Woods could be seen pulling civilians out of the Villain’s path (he’d experienced a bit of decline in recent years, before rebranding himself as a Rescue Hero), while other Heroes attempted to stop the beast, but none of them were having any effect. Its hide repelled their attacks and none were strong enough to stop it.

“That’s… not far from here,” Asuka said. “Do you think we should be worried?”

The broadcast answered the question for them. “There’s no need to worry… for I AM HERE!”

Out of the sky, a green and white figure (with red shoes) dropped, slamming a powerful fist into the creature’s head.

Toshi lit up. “Dad!”

Deku’s blow snapped the giant lizard’s head back. He hit the ground with a hard impact that cracked the concrete, but he followed up with a hard flick of his fingers, sending a burst of air into the lizard monster’s midsection. It cried out in a screech that sounded more confused and fearful than hurt, its eyes locking on him.

They watched as Deku hesitated, gearing up for another blow, but stopping midway through another punch. Instead, he held a hand up to the lizard. The lizard monster stared for a moment and it looked almost as though clouds were clearing from its eyes. It reached out with its giant hand, brushing the tip of one of its claws against his hand. And then it simply vanished, replaced on the ground by a woman.

A… naked woman. Fortunately, the television camera cut away, as Deku wrapped his cape around her to try and preserve her modesty.

“…just lost control,” the woman who had been the lizard monster seemed to say, before the camera cut away to Deku, reporters mobbing him with questions.

“That was awesome!” Shota declared. “He did the air flick! He did the air flick!”

Toshi grinned. “Okay, that part was pretty awesome. But it was even more awesome how he stopped her without having to really hurt her.”

“How do you think he figured that out?” Izumi asked. She’d seen no signs that it was anything more than a run of the mill giant Villain attack.

Toshi shook his head. “I dunno.”

“That look in her eyes, though,” Asuka said, “it reminds me of the girl from this morning. *chirp*”

Toshi frowned. “You know, I think you’re right…”

“That is troubling,” Izumi said. Toshi and Asuka had filled the rest of the class in on what had happened. To lose control like that… Well, she’d already personally seen what happened when you lost control. People got hurt. Yet she had a feeling her own loss of control was nothing like what these others were experiencing. Hers had been pushing beyond her limits. This… was something else entirely.

What was going on in the world?

Their Hero Academia –Chapter Twelve: Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo Picks Up the Pieces

So. Izzy didn’t love her. Well, she loved her, but she didn’t love her love her. And that was something Katsumi was just going to have to learn to live with. She supposed it was better, now that it was out in the open, even if it felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest, frozen, set on fire, and the ashes scattered to the four winds. Now that she knew Izzy was an impossibility, she could try and move on.

Right.

So why was that all she could think about? Maybe she should have distanced herself more from Izzy. But that didn’t feel right either. She loved loved Izzy… but she loved her too. She really was one of her best friends in all the world. And Katsumi was well aware she was not the easiest person in the world to like. Izzy, Toshi, Kana Tetsutetsu, she could probably count the number of people she really considered to be her friends on both hands and would have a few fingers left over. She could not afford to lose what few friends she had.

Izzy did not love her and she would just have to make her peace with that.

“Are you all right, Kirishima-Bakugo?” Tensei Iida asked, his features hidden by his helmet. His costume matched that of his sister’s, looking like a robot with silver boots, gloves, chest plate, wings, and helmet, accented with blue where his sister had red.

“You’re, ah, kinda distracted,” Mika Mineta said, actually sounding genuinely concerned, rather than flirtatious.

Well, crap. If Mineta was noticing, then she must have been in a state. “I’m fine,” Katsumi growled. “Start looking for the damn flag already.”

She cracked her knuckles. If nothing else, she did look damn good in her costume. She had thigh-high black boots with bolt laces, black and gold trunks, a black sleeveless and mid-riff baring top, golden armguards, and black fingerless gloves with a palm cut out. An insignia like a cartoon bomb in gold on her top completed the look. Dad would probably flip out when he saw it, but Papa would probably appreciate her embracing her Wo-Manliness.

And then the robots were upon them. “Jetset!” she growled to Iida. “Find the flag! Horse-Face and I will take care of these damn tin cans!”

“Kirishima-Bakugo…” Iida began. “I do not know if I feel right abandoning my teammates…”

“Get going already!”

Iida recoiled from her, activating his Jetpack Quirk to take to the air to begin the search for the flag.

“That’s your big plan?” Mineta asked, dodging out of the way of one of the robots. She gave it a kick with one of her hooves, knocking it down. “Send Iida after it and hope?” She let out a shriek as another robot nearly punched her head off.

“Stop yapping and fight!” Katsumi growled.

She eyed the nearest robot and let a grin creep across her face. Finally, something she could hit. And after the last couple of days she’d been having… she definitely needed it.

She slapped the closest robot, then gave it a hard punch with her other hand, knocking it into the next nearest one. Just in time too, because the explosive charge she’d given the first robot took effect, blowing up its head and taking them both out.

She had to play this smart. Her Quirk worked by means of a liquid she secreted from her hands. It did something on a chemical level to most matter, giving it highly volatile explosive properties. But there was a limit to how much she could produce at a given time. She’d run out during yesterday’s exercise, not something she wanted to experience again.

A purple sphere flew by her head, hitting a robot and obscuring its vision. “Hey! Watch where you’re aiming that!”

“Sorry!” Mineta apologized, headbutting a robot with her horns. “Fired off that one by mistake! Got a little spooked!”

Gaaah! Mineta made her so mad! If she wasn’t flirting with everything that moved, she was being a damn coward. If she just stopped yapping and fought, she might actually be a halfway worthwhile hero!

Katsumi tore through the robots, touching each one long enough to impart explosiveness upon them. They blew up in a hail of shrapnel and smoke. A wicked grin crossed her face. “Damn, that felt good.”

“I am never getting the smell of smoke out of my hair,” Mineta wailed, leaning against a wall. “Did you have to blow so much stuff up?”

“Yes.”

“Teammates!” Iida’s voice cut through the air. “I have the flag!”

Katsumi looked up to see Iida flying through the air, flag in hand. Several flying robots were hot on his heels.

“Get it down here, Jetset! Horse-Face! Start shooting them down!”

“Stop shouting!” Mineta snapped back, even as she peppered the air with sticky purple spheres. “I’ve already got a headache from all the explosions!”

“You’ll have more than a headache if you don’t shut up!”

Why didn’t people just listen to her?

“Jetset! Low flight, keep going to the exit!”

Iida hesitated for a second, but the look in her eyes was enough to scare him into motion.

More robots were coming now. Katsumi took a breath and slapped both hands on the ground. “Horse-Face, you might wanna back up!”

For once, Mineta listened to her, jumping several feet backwards with one easy bound. Katsumi let her power seep into the ground… and then the concrete exploded, showing the robots with flames and rubble.

The destruction was one of the most beautiful things Katsumi had ever seen.

And yet… her thoughts still lingered on Izzy.

“Tensei Iida has made it to the exit!” All Might’s voice rang out over the loudspeaker. “Team Four Wins!”

At least something was going right today.

***

The next morning, the sun rose. Not completely unexpectedly, of course, but if the world had ended, at least she wouldn’t have had to face one where Izzy didn’t share her feelings, a world where she’d bared her soul and found rejection (kind, friendship embracing rejection, but still rejection). She didn’t harbor any ill will towards Izzy. She wasn’t sure that was something she could ever do. And she truly hoped that whatever or whoever Izzy wanted out of life, she found it.

They were only fifteen. There was a lot of time in the world for things to happen, for either of them. But she’d spent too many of the past years nursing an unrequited crush. Now, she had to Woman up and move forward. And the best way to clear her head was exercise. It was too early to tackle the punching bag though, as much as she might have liked to let out her pent up emotions that way.

Most of the rest of the class wouldn’t be up yet. Katsumi had already learned she was one of the earliest risers. The only one up earlier than her was Toshi, which she had already known. He was one of the only people she knew who was dedicated to their health as she was and the only one she’d admit to being able to keep up with her (Not that she’d ever admit it, but it was sometimes the other way around. He was just that good).

Fortunately, he hadn’t left yet. Katsumi found him about to head out to the door on the ground floor. He was wearing shorts and a tank top, as he usually did, and Katsumi was reminded of Izzy’s comments about aesthetic appreciation. Toshi was really fit. His arms and legs were almost as well muscled as hers. He was also practically her brother (Yes, she had an actual brother. But still.).

“You mind if I join you, Toshi?” she asked.

He only seemed slightly surprised by the question. “Didn’t think you were that into running, Katsumi.”

She shrugged. “Need to get moving today or I’m gonna explode.”

He nodded, opting not to ask any follow up questions. He’d sat and talked with them some yesterday during the training exercise and new the basic outline of what had happened. He’d push if he felt it was really important, but he also understood boundaries.

“Sure, then,” he said.

***

They kept up a brisk jog, enough to get their blood moving, making their way past the upperclassmen’s dorms and towards some of the smaller athletic fields. She knew Toshi was actually faster than her, but right now, he was just keeping the pace.

“You’re using your Quirk,” she said.

Toshi blinked. “How’d you know?”

“You’ve got your ‘Quirk’ face on, Toshi. You make this weird look every time you use your Quirk. Have for years.”

“I do?” he asked. “Aw, jeeze…”

She shook her head. “You making yourself lighter to cheat? You know I don’t stand for cheating…”

“No!” he cried, quickly. “Not that! Definitely not that! I’m making myself heavier! I figured out I can make my muscles stronger by working them under heavier gravity. So I’m, like, five percent heavier than usual right now.”

Okay, she had to admit, that was pretty smart. “You come up with that on your own?”

He shook his head. “Wish I had. But Dad suggested it.”

“Saw him on the news last night. You hear from him today?”

Toshi shook his head again. “No. Wish I had. Izumi and Asuka think there’s something weird going on. Love to talk to him about it, but his phone keeps going to voicemail.”

Huh. That was odd. Uncle Deku was usually extremely available, especially for Toshi and his sisters. There must have been something big afoot, but what, she couldn’t even begin to guess.

Whatever thoughts she had were interrupted by someone coming up from behind them. “On your left!”

She cast a glance over her shoulder. “Kana, if you think I’m letting you pass me, you’ve got another thing coming! Book it, Toshi!”

Katsumi sped up and Toshi did too, even as Kana Tetsutetsu ran up beside them. The red-haired girl gave them a sharp-toothed grin. “Only you could turn a morning jog into a competition, Katsumi.”

Katsumi gave her a fist bump as they kept running. “Only way to get stronger is to keep pushing, Kana. You know that.”

“Maybe I just like hearing you say it.”

Katsumi just laughed. Like her, Kana was a deeply devoted disciple of the Womanly Arts and Ways of Living. She hadn’t had much chance to see her since school had started, so she was glad to have run into her. Katsumi didn’t exactly do “girl time”, but maybe she’d see if Kana had time to talk later.

“You liking school so far, Tetsutetsu?” Toshi asked.

Kana made a face. “It’s mostly good. Super Ball’s a good teacher, at least. But I swear, we’ve only had three days of classes and I’ve already had to clobber Monoma ten times. I’d do worse, if his parents weren’t friends with mine…”

“Yeah, well, mine aren’t,” Katsumi said. Her father in particular had a rather low opinion of the Hero Phantom Thief. “You need me to rough him up any?”

“Katsumi!” Toshi said. “You can’t do that!”

“Relax, Toshi,” she said. “There’s a chance I’m joking.” Which she was. Well, maybe twenty-five percent joking.

“I appreciate the offer,” Kana said. “But I’ll deal.”

The sound of a scream ruined any other chance of conversation.

Toshi pointed. “That came from under the bleachers!”

The three of them exchanged a glance and took off as fast as they could.

***

The source of the scream was readily apparent when they neared the bleachers. There were two students, one male and one female—Katsumi didn’t recognize them, but they looked old enough to be third years—and the woman definitely seemed to be the screamer. The male, a dark-haired young man, was the problem. His Quirk, some kind of blue-green laser blade pulsing from his hands, seemed to refuse to switch off. And it was getting bigger, the blades already several feet long and growing. He couldn’t even lower his hands, lest the blades start slicing up the ground.

“Get back!” he said. “I can’t turn it off!”

“What happened?” Toshi asked.

“We were just walking to class,” the girl, blue-haired and wide-eyed, with small antenna coming from her forehead, explained. Given their location and the worry in her voice, Katsumi recognized a woman in love. They’d probably gone under the bleachers to make out, but that wasn’t really important now. “And then...! We were heading back when Haru’s Quirk activated and he couldn’t shut it off!

“I were going to get help,” she went on, “but he was so scared we didn’t want to leave him…”

“No phones?” Katsumi asked. Who didn’t have a cellphone in this day and age?

My fault,” the girl said. “My Quirk blocks cell signals and it’s always on, so we never carry them.”

Another out of control Quirk, just like yesterday morning. And on the news last night. And Toshi was wondering if whoever had destroyed the training ground the other day was part of it too. This was starting to be a really bad trend.

“I’ll go get help,” Toshi said. “I can cover it in a couple jumps. Katsumi, Tetsutetsu, can you stay with her?”

“Of course,” Kana said.

“Get going already, Toshi!”

Toshi nodded and took a quick leap, carrying himself a considerable distance towards the main campus.

Which left Katsumi and Kana were an emotionally fragile girl and a guy with an out of control Quirk.

“It hurts…” the guy—Haru —cried out, and his laser-blades grew longer.

“Look out!” Katsumi tackled the girl as the laser blade nearly skewered them. Kana activated her own Quirk, converting her arms to metal and throwing them up in front of her body in an X. The laser blade splashed against them and knocked her back, but didn’t cut through them.

“Damn!” Kana cried out, still holding her ground. “That’s a strong Quirk you’ve got, man! I can feel the heat!” She took a single step back and then fell sideways, letting the laser-blade fly past as she rolled away. She came up, returning her arms to normal.

Katsumi looked to the blue-haired girl. “You got a name?”

The girl blinked. Maybe she’d been a bit too abrupt. “Rumi. Rumi Saito.”

“Your boyfriend there, he ever been knocked out?”

“He’s not my…” Saito trailed off under Katsumi’s glare. “Yes. Sometimes. He’s in the Hero course.”

“Katsumi,” Kana said. “Are you thinking…?”

“Those blades of his shut off when it happened?” Katsumi pressed Saito for further details.

She swallowed hard, then nodded. “Yes. They’re supposed to go off if he’s not actively sustaining them.”

Katsumi nodded. The guy was in danger of hurting someone and hurting himself if this kept up, and Toshi still wasn’t back yet with help.

She’d be the first to admit, she wasn’t a great thinker. She favored solutions that were simple and direct. Toshi would probably have tried talking this guy down. But from the look in his eyes and the steadily growing threat of the laser-blades, that wasn’t an option.

“For what it’s worth,” she told him, “I really am sorry about this.”

His blades were still pointing out to the sides, so she had a good shot at this. Katsumi sprinted, closing the distance between herself and Haru quickly. He started to panic, letting out a scream and bringing his hands closer to his body. This caused his laser-blades to lash out and she jumped over them, narrowly missing having her legs sliced to pieces by the energy blades. She heard the sound of the blades meeting Kana’s metal again and knew her friend had stepped in to protect the girl.

Katsumi crossed the remaining distance easily and threw a right cross that spun his head around and knocked his lights out. She heard someone scream. Probably Saito, given that she’d just slugged her boyfriend. He let out a soft grunt and fell backwards, hitting the ground. When he did, his laser-blades went out. Toshi would probably have scolded her for taking such a gamble, but hey, she turned out to be right.

“Katsumi… did you just hit that guy?”

She looked back to see Toshi, along with Vice-Principal Midnight, Doctor Izumi, and Aizawa. Toshi looked surprised, Midnight and Doctor Izumi looked various stages of amused, and Aizawa looked like he was contemplating retirement so that he could be anywhere other than where he was right now. It was an expression Katsumi was already learning he made a lot.

“I suppose that’s one way to handle it,” Midnight said. “You’re very direct, Kirishima-Bakugo.”

She shrugged. “It worked, ma’am.”

Midnight sucked in a breath and her eyes narrowed. She pointed an accusing finger. “Never call me ma’am! I am not old enough to be a ma’am!”

“Nemuri, we’re the same age,” Aizawa said in a deadpan voice.

“Fine, then she can call you ma’am!” Midnight shouted, smacking Aizwa in the chest.

“Ow,” he deadpanned.

Doctor Izumi cleared her throat. “Dad, if you and the Vice-Principal are through, perhaps I could examine Haru?”

“Of course,” Midnight told her. “Your dear old dad just loves to try and cut me down.”

Katsumi frowned and she could see that Toshi was thinking too. “You people ever going to tell us what’s going on?”

Aizawa gave her a blank look. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not stupid, Teach. And neither is Toshi. Between yesterday and today and that news thing with the big lizard…”

“And whatever happened on the Training Ground…” Toshi said.

“This has happened before?” Saito gasped.

“That was Yamaguchi,” Kana said. “We were doing Battle Trials and her Vibration Quirk went out of control... She leveled the whole Training Ground. She still isn’t back from the hospital.”

Midnight and Aizawa shared a look. Katsumi was pretty sure they were debating whether or not to reveal something.

It was Aizawa who spoke first. “You’re both too clever for your own good. But I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything less from either of you. There’s more going on than you know.”

“They deserve to know, Dad,” Doctor Izumi said, looking up from where she was examining Haru.

Midnight sighed. “She’s right. We’ve been putting this off, but the students here deserve to know what’s happening. It’s going to go public soon enough anyway. I can convince Nezu.”

Yeah, whatever was going on, Katsumi knew they weren’t going to like the answer one bit.

#my hero academia #their hero academia #fan fiction #fan fic #My writing

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