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Their Hero Academia – Chapter 55: Friends Helping Friends

Presenting the next chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia!

Due to scheduling things, this is being simultaneously posted here and AO3!

This chapter and earlier ones can be found here

“So who should we do for our project?”

Kenta looked up from his math textbook and the notes spread out on his desk.  He, Takuma, and Kimiko were all studying in his room.  It was the least cluttered and busy of their three rooms, without Kimiko’s plushies and martial arts equipment or the eye-searing and garish decorations that filled Takuma’s.  Other than Shoji’s, it was probably the most boring room in the dormitory. At least he had stuff in his, mostly a few posters and some family photos. Pretty basic, but it was his.

“I asked what we should do for our project,” Takuma said.  He was sitting on the floor, a book on his lap and a notepad next to him.

“What project?” Kenta asked.

“Our Hero History project?” Takuma prompted.  “From Skyline’s class today?  A presentation on a Pro Hero who made a significant contribution to society, either through good actions or bad behavior?”

“Oh, right,” he replied. “That.”

His pink-skinned friend held his gaze for a minute.  “You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

Kenta let out a sigh. “Yeah, sorry, nothing.”

Kimiko, sitting on his bed, gave him a look.  He couldn’t see her eyes or expression, of course, but he could practically feel the concern radiating off her. There was a slight denting on the collar of her shirt, which told him she was tilting her head.  One sleeve came up.  Was she maybe pointing?   “You okay, Kenta?” she asked.  “You’ve been kind of spacey ever since you got back last night.”

He frowned.  “You guys have your sessions with Hound Dog yet?”  

“During English today,” Kimiko said.  She tensed. “You did notice I was gone, didn’t you?”

Kenta swallowed hard. “I didn’t.  Sorry, Kimmie.”   He felt bad about that.  Kimiko tried so hard to make sure she was noticed, and he hadn’t even realized she was gone.   Sure, he’d kind of been sleepwalking through the day, but he didn’t feel like that was any kind of excuse.

“Kenta!” she yelled, arms flailing, “how could you just miss me like that!  I oughta….”

She trailed off.   Kenta guessed he must have looked distressed enough to prevent a full on rant and swat.   There was some small blessing in that.  Kimiko wasn’t that tall, but she was fit and packed a lot of power behind her smacks.   He was surprised Takuma didn’t have brain damage from all the times she’d gone upside his head.

Though she never did seem to smack him as hard she did him.

She arms dropped to her lap. “It was fine.  I really didn’t see much of anything.  Just one of those things when me and Doctor Izumi got closer to the hospital.  I made us invisible and Mister Aoyama zapped the hell out of it.  Thing sure was ugly though.  But I got cleared right away.”

“Me too,” Takuma said. “During Science.  Tsukuyomi did pretty much all the lifting and just tore the one we were fighting apart.  Scary, kinda gross.  But I wasn’t in any danger.”

Keta wondered if wasn’t noticing how his voice was shaking with that. But his best friend’s lighter nature returned almost immediately.  “Please tell me you noticed,” Takuma continued.  “Because I sit right next to you.”

Kenta squirmed uncomfortably.  

“Bro.” Takuma gave him an incredulous look.

“Seriously, Kenta, what’s going on?” Kimiko asked.  “This isn’t like you.  You’re usually the one keeping us focused.”

Well, how was he supposed to answer that?  That he’d used his Quirk on what he’d thought had been a living thing?  That he couldn’t get the taste of its freakish (false?) flesh out of his mouth?  That he’d been scared he was going to die?   That if he had a better or more impressive Quirk, he wouldn’t have nearly died?

How about the fact that he’d been planning on asking Kimiko out before everything turned to shit? He’d gone from riding a victory high after helping to beat that gunk villain to being scared out of his mind just days later.

Suneater and Nejire-Chan said he’d saved their lives.

So why didn’t he feel like a Hero?

“It’s nothing,” he said, trying to change the subject.  “So, you said we’ve got a report?”

Unfortunately, his attempts at diversion did not work and just got both of them staring at him intently.   “”It’s not nothing,” Takuma said, crossing his arms.  The frown looked badly out of place on his pink face.  “You’ve been out of it all day.”

Kenta looked away.  “I really don’t…”

“Bro,” Takuma said again.  “I’m your best friend.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry, Kimmie, but it’s true.  You’re a real close second, though.  But Kenta, we’re your friends.  We’ve been through some shit together.  That time we tried to hide a kitten in your room.  The cookie fiasco.  Mrs. Tendo’s math class.”

Left unspoken was the death of his mother, but Kenta knew it was there all the same.  Takuma, Kimiko, Akaya, they’d all been there, as much as five year olds could, when his mom had been killed.  And the friendships there had stayed ever since.  

“Talk to us,” Takuma said, softly.

Kimiko moved over to his side of the room.  “Aw, Kenta,” she began. Some inner warning system told him to flinch, which was wise, because the next thing he knew, she was hitting him, smacking him across the arms and shoulders with her hands.  “If you don’t tell us what’s wrong, I’m going to beat the stuffing out of you!  We’re your friends! If there’s something wrong with you, we wanna know about it!  Why don’t you talk to us?!”

“Kimmie!  You’re gonna leave bruises!”  Takuma grabbed her arm before she could hit him again, and pulled her slightly away.  

Kenta rubbed his arm where she’d been smacking him.  “No, she’s right.  You’re… both right.  I shouldn’t…”

He looked down.  The floor was more comfortable than having to look two of the people who mattered most to him in the eyes.  “I nearly died, guys.”  He heard gasps from both of them.  Kimiko didn’t even protest that she was “not a guy.”  

Kenta sucked in a breath. “That Nomu knocked out Suneater and then Nejire-Chan. She hit her head.  I was pretty sure she was dead, until I saw her breathing.  But it kept coming. I thought for sure it was going to kill her, then me.  Or some combination of that.  So I… I took a bite out of it.”

He shook his head.  “I was pretty sure it was alive.  Or as alive as something like that could be. Not a robot.  But I still did it.  Because I thought it was the only way to get out of there alive. And then I tried to hightail it out of there with Nejire-Chan.  But it kept following us, even with half its calve missing.  If Deku hadn’t shown up… she’d be dead, I’d be dead, and then it probably would have gone back and finished off Suneater.”

He was aware, suddenly, that he was sobbing. Kenta held his head in his hands.  “We’d all be dead and Dad…   Dad’d be all alone…  Maybe if I was stronger or had a better Quirk or…”

Arms wrapped around him, Takuma’s wiry ones and Kimiko’s fit ones.  A group hug.  “Oh, Kenta,” Kimiko said.  “We had no idea.”

“Dude,” Takuma added, “you can’t just keep this stuff to yourself.  We’re your friends.  We’re the ones you’re supposed to tell this stuff to.

“And besides,” he went on, causing Kenta to look up, “do you know how much time we’ve invested in your social media presence?  All of that’d be wasted if you got killed.”  He had on his “good idea grin,” the one he always did when he was trying to convince someone to go along with his ideas and trying to push the charm. It rarely ever worked.

This time, though, Kenta found himself laughing.  Slowly at first, but then faster, louder, until he was laughing as hard as he’d been sobbing, and the tears of pain he’d cried turned to tears of joy.  When Kimiko and Takuma released him, he wiped his eyes.  “Oh, man,” he said, feeling lighter for the first time since Saturday morning, “I needed that.  Thanks, both of you.”

“Anytime, Bro,” Takuma said.

“What’re friends for?” Kimiko asked.   “But if you ever pull anything like that again…”   She raised an arm, menacingly.

“’Make Kimiko go whacko, you get the smacko,’” Kenta repeated from memory.

“Damn right you will,” she said firmly.  

“The three of us,” Takuma said, “we’re together to the end.  No matter what.”

He could still hear the Nomu’s roar.  Still smell its fetid breath.  Still taste its putrid flesh in his mouth.  Still feel the fear threatening to drive his heart from his chest.

But now, it all felt just a little more distant.  And maybe, just maybe, he was a little more determined to tell Kimiko how he felt. After nearly dying, there were way worse things than maybe being a little embarrassed.

Worst she’d probably do was smack him.

***

“Thanks, both of you, for coming,” Kana Tetsutetsu said, walking up the stairs to the fourth floor of the Class 1-B dormitory.  She let out a weary sigh. “I’ve tried talking to him, but he practically hid from everyone at lunch and he holed up in his room immediately after class.”

“Anything for ‘Ro,” Mika said.  “He’s been ignoring me too, for what it’s worth.  I was about to send him some steamy pics when you called.  See if that worked.”  

She had a really great bikini for it too.  Combined with her rocking bod, it was guaranteed to get some kind of response out of anyone female-attracted. She should still probably send some of those to Shinji.  He was on a social media lockdown as part of his punishment for flying to the rescue across Japan (And how romantic was that?), but texts should still count…

“Maybe you should try sending Haimawari some, Kana,” she said.  “Guys like those things.  Keeps the fire in the relationship.”

“We’ve texted and watched some movies together,” Kana said, sounding annoyed.  “He’s a nice guy—and he is cute—but we’re definitely not at that stage yet.  And Mika…”

“Yes?”

“Stop hitting on him or I’ll break your legs.”

Mika like out a frightened eep.  “Yes, ma’am,” she said.

“Should you not tell your Homeroom Teacher?” Akaya asked, trying to drag the subject back to the actual reason they were there.  It wasn’t Mika’s fault so many things lead to sexual or relationshipal thoughts!  “The welfare of students is his job.  Or perhaps your mother?  She is a close family friend.”

Kana shook her head, setting her orange-red ponytail swaying.  “Getting Fujii-sensei or Mom involved is just asking for trouble. Plus it might end up on the record, even with Mom.  The line between family friend and teacher gets a little weird.  Plus Mom’d tell his parents and Shiro already feels like he’s here hanging on by a thread.  Who knows what would happen if he thought it was getting worse.”

Mika was definitely glad her mom wasn’t a UA teacher.  She needed freedom to pursue her various interests, like boys.  And girls.  And other individuals to which she was attracted.  Having that much scrutiny around all the time during your teenage years couldn’t be good for you.

“Understandable,” Akaya said.  “But if Shiro is so deeply troubled, I would prefer he get the help he needs, regardless of what it may mean for his career.  Still… perhaps we can convince him to seek the help himself.”

“Thanks,” Kana said, opening the stairwell door.  “Fukidashi says he’s “undergoing character development,” but that’s pretty par for the course for her nonsense.”  Even Mika would admit that Anime sometimes didn’t make a lot of sense.

“Think it has something to do with his Internship?” Mika asked.  

Shiro had interned with Red Riot.  Considering Shiro was hung up on Kirishima-Bakugo, that had to have been awkward.  Wasn’t he supposed to have done some kind of dramatic confession before they started those?  If it had gone well, he’d probably have bragged about it to everyone who would listen, so she could only assume she’d turned him down, but still…

“I asked Shoji what happened,” Akaya said.  “But he said it was not his place to discuss it.”

“Of course he did,” Mike said, rolling her eyes.  “He makes minding his own business a Sports Festival level event.”  Understandable, but not helpful in this particular situation.

Two of the four doors were open, one on either side nearest the stairwell.  In one of them, a very attractive guy who looked like a humanoid bat was strumming on what looked like a heavily modified guitar with his long fingers.  His fur was white, save for a mane of wild blond hair.  She could just imagine him folding his wing-arms around her and…

A tug on her arm brought her back to reality.  “Help friends now, carnal pursuits later,” Akaya cautioned her.    

“I’ll introduce you to Koumori later, if this pans out, okay?” Kana said, giving her the same look other people did when they were fighting the urge to roll their eyes.

If he was interested in music though, maybe she could pass up a hot guy this one time, introduce him to Chihio?  Her best friend was nearly flat as a board, so she needed a different hook to get a guy… Chi did have good legs and a great ass (She noticed these things, even if she’d never hit on her best friend), so throw in a mutual interest…

From the doorway of the other open room, a large young man—He had to be nearly three meters tall!—poked his head out.  “Everything okay, Tetsutetsu?” he asked.  

“I don’t know yet, Fukui,” Kana told him.  “Have you seen Shiro today?  Outside of class, I mean.”

The big guy shook his head. “I think I saw him go down and get some food, but that’s it.  He was doing that sneaky ninja creep thing he does.”

Kana just sighed and pinched her nose again.  “Of course, he did.  Thank you, Fukui.”

“Yes, thank you,” Akaya added.  She gave him a little wave.  “Hello, Fukui.”

The big guy smiled and returned the wave.  “Hi, Koda. Still planning on joining us in the garden this weekend?”

“If time and weather permit.”

Mika looked between the two. She knew they were friends, but were they friends or “friends”?  None of her usual radar was going off, so probably just the former.  And also not relevant to the task at hand!  If she didn’t get any action on this trip, nobody did!

***

Shiro’s room was at the end of the hall, on the left.  Kana knocked on it.  “Shiro! Open up!”  

Silence greeted her.   She knocked again.  “Shiro, this is me as your friend, not as your classmate or Class Rep.  Open up. Please.”

A muffled sound came from within.  It sounded a bit like “Go away.”

Kana threw her hands up in the air.  “Argh. He’s power sulking, I just know it. He was doing this before the Internships too.”

Yeah, that definitely suggested whatever had happened with Kirishima-Bakugo hadn’t gone well.  Poor Shiro.  There was a sweet guy under all that ego.  He’d definitely treated her like a princess when they’d been dating.

Kana turned to Akaya. “Okay, your turn.  We’ll try reasonableness.”  

“Shiro,” Akaya said, with that soft voice of hers, like wind through reeds, “Shiro, please.  We are worried about you.  Whatever happened, allow us to share your burdens.”

This too, was met by silence.

Akaya placed a hand on the door.  “Shiro. Please.  I am asking you not to hide from us.”

Silence again greeted them, until the soft sound of footsteps on carpet followed.  The door opened slightly and Mika peered around Akaya’s bulk to a get a look at him.   She would be the first to admit that she was frequently surprised, whether it was by unexpected hotness or Kirishia-Bakugo showing up out of nowhere to yell at her.  But what she saw with Shiro took her breath away.

He looked like he hadn’t slept in a couple of days, with deep, dark bags hanging under his eyes.  He was slouching.  He hadn’t changed out of his uniform, other than to shuck the jacket, so it was it was wrinkled.  He’d allowed his hair to become unkempt.

That was when she realized just how serious this was.

“Holy crap,” Mika said, softly.

“I’m fine, Akaya,” he said, not looking her in the eyes.  “Just tired.”

“Kana was worried about you,” Akaya said.  “And I see now that she was right to be so.  You are very much not yourself.”

“I’ll be fine,” Shiro insisted.  It looked very much like he’d been crying.  And like he hadn’t even been doing his skin care regime!  “If you’ll excuse me, Akaya, it’s nice of you to check on me.  But I’m in the middle of something.”

Mika could just see into Shiro’s room.  The vaguely French décor, the expansive hair care set up, it looked just like the last time she had been in his room (It had been entirely platonic, despite how she kept dropping things and had to keep bending over to pick them up.), except for the suitcases on the floor.  It was entirely possible, given his depressive state, that he had never unpacked. It would have been unlike his usual collected self, but possible under current circumstances.  Except for the fact that most of his dresser drawers appeared to be open.  And empty.

“What,” she said, “the actual fuck?!”

She quickly became aware that she must have been rather loud, because Akaya, Kana, and Shiro were all staring at her.   Even the other boys on the floor had come out of their rooms to see.  Fortunately for her, she didn’t care.

She pushed past Akaya and shoved Shiro into his room, roughly.  “I’ve got this.”

The door slammed shut behind her.

***

Mika gave Shiro another shove further into the room, and then one more, to knock him onto the bed. She pointed at him and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.  Trembling with rage, she forced herself to be able to speak.

“What.  The Hell. Is wrong with you?” she demanded, going back to pointing.   “Are you giving up?  Quitting?  Since when the hell do you do that?!”

She realized he was staring at her, eyes wide, a frighten expression on his face, shaking like a leaf.   “Hey, no, no,” Mika said quickly, joining him on the bed.  She put her arms around him.  Under most circumstances, she’d have pulled his head to her bosom, but it didn’t seem like it would work here.  “I’m not mad. Okay, yes, I am mad at you. Because you got me all worried. But why are you leaving?”

“Because I don’t belong here.”

“The hell you don’t.”

Shiro gestured to his desk, where some of his things were still out.  A deck of playing cards, a set of lock picks, even a twirling baton. A small pair of hand weights sat on the floor, and DVDs of Heroes in action in hand-lettered cases occupied a significant section of the bookshelf.

“Did you know there’s a running bet among some of the other courses as to whether or not I even have a Quick?  Do you know how hard I have to work, just to keep up with people with real powers?  Just because I can move like Eraserhead or copy Gunhead’s moves doesn’t mean I’ve got any of their strength unless I work at it.  All the time.  So I’ve worked for years to be able to keep up.”

He closed his eyes. “And when I was out in the field… when that monster attacked… my Quirk and body betrayed me.  It might have been a robot, but cloaked in dead skin, all I could see was how profoundly wrong it was.  Not like Ojiro or Fukidashi, they’re just blind spots.  But just pure, unadulterated, unnaturalness.  And I knew, in that moment, no matter what I did… there was nothing I could have done that would have even slowed it down for a moment.”

His eyes snapped open, tears trailing down his cheeks.  “I froze! Shoji had to carry me out of there, like a child!  I could have run, I could have done anything, but instead, I was exactly what they always used to say I was… a useless kid with a useless, fake Quirk, deluding himself about being a Hero!”

Mika blinked slowly, processing everything Shiro had just unloaded on her.  She knew he had plenty of crisises of confidence.  She remembered comforting him after he’d lost at the Sports Festival.  She remembered the many times where he’d wondered if he was good enough.

But she had never seen him as broken as he was right now.  Self-doubt was one thing, he had wanted to be talked out of those bouts.  She wasn’t sure he did right now.

“So I might as well pack my things.  Maybe they can give my spot to a Gen Ed kid like Kocho.  Somebody who’ll do something with it.  It’s not too late to take up a career as a street performer.”

Mika frowned.  Kana would have had some words of encouragement. Akaya would have had something deep and thoughtful to add to the conversation.  Even Kirishima-Bakugo would have known what to say here, though her answer probably would have been “Suck up and get over it.”  Unfortunately, Mika was none of those people, so she was going to have to improvise.

“Okay,” she said, “first, I’m going to need the names of whoever’s organizing these bets.  Because I need to adjust the hoof to ass ratio around here something fierce.”

He gave her an incredulous look.  “That’s your takeaway from this?”

“Look, I don’t have a lot of tools here, Shiro.  So ass kicking on your behalf seems like a good start.”

“You’re impossible, you know that?” he said.  “But even if you beat them all up, it doesn’t change anything.”

She gave him a small poke in the chest with her finger.  “Listen to me, Shiro.  You’re going to stay here, and you’re going to be a big damn Hero.  And do you know why?”

He gave a little laugh. “Because you’ll adjust my ass to hoof ratio?”

“No,” she said. “Well, yes, if this moping thing keeps up.  But that’s not why.  It’s because you’re a spiteful little bastard who never let anybody tell him what he can and can’t do.  And if you think you can’t cut it… then do it to spite yourself.”

This got another laugh, one that was quickly replaced by a frown. “You realize that made no sense? And it still doesn’t change anything.”

“Got you to forget your problems for a minute, didn’t I?” Mika asked.   “You change your mind yet?”

“No.”

Her eyes widened.  “What?”

Shiro shook his head. “As… refreshing as this chat’s been, I’m still the guy who froze up when he should have acted.”  

She was rapidly running out of ideas here.  “How’s your class going to get by without you?”

“Kana is the Representative. She’ll do a fine job, even without me. She might not have quite the same competitive spirit I do, but she’s got enough of one to ensure they won’t fall behind.”

“The term’s not over and you won’t be able to transfer anywhere, even to a non-Hero school, without a complete transcript.”

He opened and closed his mouth.  “…Dammit.”

“Stay at least that long?” she asked.  “Please?”

“For the sake of my academics, yes.”

“Great!  That gives me a few weeks to work with!”

He just shook his head. “You’re really not giving up on me, are you?”

“Of course not,” she told him, leaning over to give him a little peck on the cheek.  

She really didn’t know how to solve this.  This was every problem Shiro had had turned up to eleven.  Being rejected on top of having his perceived weaknesses brought to the forefront…  There really wasn’t a good way to get past that.  At least, not that she could see right now.  Maybe Akaya or Kana or Anime could think of something.

But she could be there. And she’d bought herself a little time.

***

“Hey, ah, can we come in?”

The voice at the door snapped Katsumi’s attention out of her math homework.  Or rather, her attempts at her homework.  She wasn’t exactly having an easy time focusing on the numbers and formulae.  The more she tried to concentrate, the more it all ran away from her and sent her spiraling down dark paths.  

At least Izzy and Toshi were giving her space.  They’d both assured her they were here for her if she needed them, but knew to let her process it all in her own way.  Though Izzy was extremely insistent that she unburden herself somehow, to someone. Still unable to say no to Izzy, she’d said she would.  Which meant she’d have to deal with this sooner or later.  Because while she was many things, she wasn’t a liar.  

“Kirishima-Bakugo?” a second voice, this one male,  joined the first.  “You going to give us an answer?”

“Katsumi.”

That last one definitely got her attention.  She turned and saw Sero and Kaminari standing in her doorway.  She gave them a glare and both squawked.  Sero actually took an awkward step backwards, losing his balance and falling on his ass.  Kaminari let out an equally terrified squeak, her Extension Cords standing upright and sending off sparks.  “Kaminari, we definitely aren’t close enough to be to be using my first name,”

“We used to be,” Kaminari said as she helped Sero back to his feet.

“Yeah,” Sero said. “Bakusquad Generation Two!  What happened to that?”

Her glare must be getting weak.  They were still there and still talking.  “Because you two got dumb as fuck.”  

They weren’t wrong. They’d been friends, once, when they were children and when they were pre-teens.  But then Sero got obsessed with internet fame and Kaminari had started listening to Mineta more and more, where Katsumi remained one hundred percent focused on her goal of being a Hero.  So they’d drifted apart.  Kaminari, she saw more often still, since she was also friends with Izzy, but it was never quite the same.

They weren’t friends, but they were still…  Something. She wasn’t sure what the word was. Classmates, at least.  Family friends, sure.  And she’d put them ahead of Horse-Girl or the Glowstick on the list of people she tolerated, so there was that.

“Right,” Sero said, unfazed by her barb.  “And you got terrifying beyond all reason.  You know, the usual.”

“So can we come in or not?” Kaminari asked.

“Is there any answer I can give that would make you go away?”

They exchanged a look. “Nope,” Sero said.

“Nope,” Kaminari added.

“Nope!” both said at once.

“No,” Katsumi said, because some things had to be tried, no matter how futile they were.  She wasn’t surprised when they ignored her and came in anyway.

“Dig the posters,” Kaminari said, looking at the posters for the heavy metal bands on her walls.  “Scream Girls?  Great sound. You’ve got good taste.”

“I’ve heard about them,” Sero said.  “Loud, angry-sounding lesbians in leather costumes.  I can total see why you dig them, Kirishima-Bakugo.”

Katsumi gave him a look that would peel paint.  He panicked appropriately, flailing his hands in an apologetic gesture.  “N..not that there’s anything wrong with that!  Kind of loud for me, though.  I gotta go with the Nyan-Band myself.  Their stuff’s catchy!”

This time, both Katsumi and Kaminari gave him a look.  “You’re an idiot,” Kaminari said.

“Dumbass,” Katsumi said.

There was a brief pause as Katsumi exchanged a look with Kaminari.  It said “in this moment, I respect that you are not Sero.”

“So seriously, what are you two doing here?” she demanded.  “Other than lowering the average IQ in the room?”

“Look, it’s like you said, we’re not really friends anymore,” Sero said.  “Not close, anyway.  But all our families are still friends.  We were worried about you and your dad.”

“Yeah,” Kaminari said. She frowned, which Katsumi admitted looked out of place on her features.  She was a dumbass, but Kaminari was usually cheerful.  “Um, I just… remember when Dad was hurt.  Back in the day.  And how messed up it all was even back then.  So now…”

Back when Papa had been hurt.  And Uncle Tetsutetsu had been hurt.  And Sato had lost his mother.  Lots of people had been hurt on that one.  Kaminari’s dad had been stabbed.  A lot.  When they hadn’t been sure if they were going to lose Papa…

At least in the here and now, they had a guarantee that Dad was going to be all right.  Him living wasn’t a question.  But how well he’d take to, well, pretty much anything, was still up in the air.  She’d talked to both her parents today.  Lots of physical therapy for Dad, so he could at least be fitted for a normal prosthetic eventually, even if he couldn’t use his Quirk with it.  Papa was also trying to get him to talk to a real therapist… it wasn’t going well.

Of course, she wasn’t exactly looking forward to her own sessions with Hound Dog either.  Because she was pretty sure she wasn’t getting away with just one.  The school therapist probably had a thing about people suppressing their uncomfortable emotions and channeling them for violence.  Some stupid rule about not using “unhealthy coping mechanisms.”

“He’s… he’s healing,” Katsumi said, hoping they didn’t notice the hesitancy in her voice.  The last thing she needed was for either of them to stop being afraid of her.  “Still a way’s away from being discharged though.”

“Eeesh,” Sero said. “Rough.  Mom said Dad’s going home tomorrow.  Gotta take it easy for a while though.”

“Dad went home to day,” Kaminari said.  “He actually got off pretty easy.”

Katsumi clenched a fist and gritted her teeth.  She wasn’t going to snap at them.  She wasn’t going to yell.  She wasn’t going to protest the unfairness of it all.  It was all part of the risks of being a Hero.  But damn, she wanted to.

“Still,” Sero said, “good to hear about your dad.  When we heard what had happened to him…”

“Got pretty scared,” Kaminari said.  “Somebody like him can get hurt like that…  Somebody we know and who took care of us as kids…”

Yeah.  A big name Hero like Dad getting hurt, that was shocking. Brought them down to normal suddenly, deleted the myth of invincibility.   But she’d learned that lesson early.

Didn’t make it hurt any less right now.  Or make her worry go away.

“So…,” Kaminari went on, as an awkwardness hung in the air.  She gestured vaguely with her Cords, hands stuffed into the pockets of her pants. “We just wanted to say we’re here if you need us.”

“Just wanna talk, or whatever,” Sero said.  He held up a finger.  “Or even if you just want to yell at us.  That always seems to make you happy.”

A free pass at that?   A grin slowly spread over Katsumi’s face.  “I just might have to take you up on that,” she said.  “…But not when you’re expecting it.”

“So what you’re saying is we’ve got a free shot at annoying you now?” Sero asked.  “Because I could totally film that.  Simmering kettle, I’ll call it…”

Katsumi just rolled her eyes.  “Under no circumstances.”

“Yeah, okay,” Kaminari said, tugging on Sero’s arm to get him moving toward the door.  “Let’s get out of here before you get us both killed. But we meant it, Kirishima-Bakugo. You need us, talk to us.”

Maybe she would. Maybe she would.

[obeymesimp11]

Top & Bottom

In here you'll find who's top and bottom in the ships. ❤️

Top, Bottom:

Toshinori Yagi x Inko Midoriya

Shota Aizawa x Hizashi Yamada

Oboro Shirakumo x Nemuri Kayama

Hanta Sero x Mina Ashido

Fumikage Tokoyami x Tsuyu Asui

Izuku Midoriya x Ochaco Uraraka

Mashirao Ojiro x Toru Hagakure

Denki Kaminari x Kyoka Jiro

Eijiro Kirishima x Katsuki Bakugo

Rikido Sato x Koji Koda

Shoto Todoroki x Momo Yaoyorozu

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu x Itsuka Kendo

Hitoshi Shinso x Neito Monoma

Tamaki Amajiki x Mirio Togata

Nejire Hado x Yuyu Haya

Tenya Iida x Mei Hatsume

Seiji Shishikura x Camie Utsushimi

Toya "Dabi" Todoroki x Keigo Takami

Shinji Nishiya x Yu Takeyama

Tomura Shigaraki x Himiko Toga

Kai Chisaki x Hari Kurono

Top, Bottom:

Kōshi Sugawara x Daichi Sawamura

Yū Nishinoya x Asahi Azumane

Ryūnosuke Tanaka x Kiyoko Shimizu

Chikara Ennoshita x Hitoka Yachi

Shoyo Hinata x Tobio Kageyama

Kei Tsukishima x Tadashi Yamaguchi

Keishin Ukai x Ittetsu Takeda

Kenma Kozume x Tetsurō Kuroo

Yaku Morisuke x Lev Haiba

Toru Oikawa x Hajime Iwaizumi

Issei Matsukawa x Hanamaki Takahiro

Kentarō Kyōtani x Shigeru Yahaba

Takanobu Aone x Kenji Futakuchi

Keiji Akaashi x Kōtarō Bokuto

Satori Tendō x Wakatoshi Ushijima

Kenjirō Shirabu x Eita Semi

Shinsuke Kita x Aran Ojiro

Atsumu Miya x Kiyoomi Sakusa

Rintarō Suna x Osamu Miya

From Top to Bottom:

Barbatos

Diavolo

Mammon

Leviathan

Beelzebub

Belphegor

Satan

Asmodeous

Simeon

Solomon

Lucifer

Rapahel

Thirteen

Mephistopheles

MC

Barbatos, Diavolo, Mammon, Leviathan, Beelzebub are the "Alpha's", Belphegor, Satan, Asmodeous, Simeon, Solomon are the "Beta's", Lucifer, Rapahel, Thriteen, Mephistopheles, MC are the "Omega's". Also, the brothers aren't romantically/sexually involved with each other, so no incest/demoncest!

Top, Bottom:

Giyu Tomioka x Shinobu Kocho

Obanai Iguro x Mitsuri Kanroji

Sanemi Shinazugawa x Kanae Kocho

Kyōjurō Rengoku x Akaza

Tanjiro Kamado x Kanao Tsuyuri

Zenitsu Agatsuma x Nezuko Kamado

Inosuke Hashibira x Aoi Kanzaki

Tengen x wives, from Top to Bottom:

Uzui Tengen

Makio

Hinatsuru

Suma

Top, Bottom:

Manjiro Sano x Takemichi Hanagaki

Chifuyu Matsuno x Keisuke Baji

Takashi Mitsuya x Hakkai Shiba

Haruchiyo Akashi x Kazutora Hanemiya

Nahoya Kawata x Ran Haitani

Rindo Haitani x Souya Kawata

Senju Kawaragi x Hinata Tachibana

Ken Ryuguji x Emma Sano

Shuji Hanma x Tetta Kisaki

Hajime Kokonoi x Seishu Inui

Izana Kurokawa x Kakucho

Top, Bottom:

Albedo x Kaeya Alberich

Eula x Amber

Gorou x Arataki Itto

Barbara Pegg x Noelle

Beidou x Ningguang

Razor x Bennett

Xingqui x Chongyun

Venti x Diluc

Ganyu x Kequing

Hu Tao x Yanfei

Jean x Lisa

Kaedehara Kazuha x Scaramouche

Lumine x Ayaka

Kamisato Ayato x Thoma

Kujou Sara x Sangonomiya Kokomi

Raiden Ei x Yae Miko

Rosaria x Sucrose

Tartaglia x Zhongli

Aether x Xiao

Xinyan x Xiangling

Rosaria x Aloy

Amber x Collei

Scaramouche x Mona

Yelan x Kuki Shinobu

Yelan x Shenhe

Shikanoin Heizou x Kaedehara Kazuha

Cyno x Tighnari

Kamisato Ayaka x Yoimiya

Yunjin x Xinyan

Dehya x Nihya

[italian-pastry]

The Multilingual

The Kirishima-Bakugous

The kids learned from their family members, the only formal teaching any of them received would've been for japanese (as little kids) and English (through school) and even then they spoke some English at home. All of their other languages they learned through Eijirou's side of the family, both his moms and his sisters all having Native Languages that are not Japanese (Yukie = Portuguese and Spanish, Nadie = English) In the list, I won't be including Japanese since it's all the kids native language.

Mieko: English (Mastery) Portuguese (Intermediate) Spanish (Elementary)

Akio: English (Intermediate) Portuguese (Upper Intermediate) Spanish (Intermediate)

Hiroki: English (Advanced) Portuguese (Upper Intermediate) Spanish (Upper Intermediate) Mandarin (Basic) [she's been teaching herself Mandarin on her own time]

Kana (homegirl is literally 3 so she's not the most refined in any language): English (Elementary) Portuguese (Basic) Spanish (Basic)

Tatsuhiro (same as Kana): English (Elementary) Portuguese (Elementary) Spanish (Basic)

The Tetsukendous

Tetsutetsu's mother is Korean/Japanese and his father is Indian (with a hint of Japanese), and his own native language is Korean. He's also not that bad with English himself. Itsuka, of course, is awesome. so their kids grew up speaking a fun little language salad. Once again, Arisu and Akihiko's native language is both Japanese, so it won't be included in the list.

Arisu: Korean (Upper Intermediate) Hindi (Upper Intermediate) English (Elementary)

Akihiko: Korean (Upper Intermediate) Hindi (Elementary) English (Elementary)

The Aoyamas

Of course Aoyama spoke French around the house. I'd be a clown if I hadn't considered that. Neither he nor Mina were especially gifted at English, so the didn't really speak it around the house. HOWEVER they both enjoy English media, so Minako and Yukio probably picked up some of it from watching TV with their parents.

Minako: French (Mastery) English (Elementary)

Yukio: French (Mastery) English (Basic)

The Yaoyarozus

They're just so cool and perfect like that. Momo has probably had them taking various language classes since they were tiny. Momo herself is also fluent in Hindi/Bengali, but she doesn't really speak it around the house aside from pet names and little one off phrases

Satoshi: English (Mastery) Mandarin (Advanced) Latin (Intermediate) Korean (Elementary) Spanish (Intermediate) French (Elementary)

Utano: English (Mastery) Mandarin (Advanced) Hindi (Elementary) Bengali (Basic) Latin (Intermediate) Spanish (Elementary) French (Basic)

The Shinaros

Since Denki is an absolute legend at English, you can bet he busts it out at any chance around his kids. Also, Hanta's native language is Spanish seeing as he was born in Ecuador and he's just that good at Japanese. He's also got a pretty ok grasp on English. Shinsou just has his government mandated English, and he's kind of let it fall a bit on the wayside after he graduated.

Takeo: English (Upper Intermediate) Spanish (Advanced)

Maemi and Masashi: Neither of them can even speak Japanese yet, but they can understand basic words in all previously mentioned languages (like food, diaper, pops, dad, papa) and generally respond to any pet name in any language so long as you say it happy/excited enough.

and a fun little visual I grabbed from @peachyblkdemonslayer to give y'all a general idea of fluency (also shoutout to peachy for inspiring this! Ur a real one bestie <3)

(this originally started as just the KiriBakus but then I remembered I had other kids)

@insomniac-jay @calciumcryptid

[equizona]

FANDOMS / CHARACTERS

OBEY ME!

— Lucifer / Mammon / Leviathan / Satan / Asmodeus / Beelzebub /Belphegor

— Diavolo / Barbatos / Solomon / Simeon / Luke

LEGEND OF ZELDA

— Link / Zelda / Saria / Ruto — OOT

— Link / Zelda / Revali / Sidon / Riju — BOTW

YANDERE SIMULATOR

— Ayano Aishi / Tarou Yamada / Budo Masuta / Kokona Haruka / Info-chan / Umeji Kizuguchi / Hokuto Furukizu / Gaku Hikitsuri / Hayanari Tsumeato / Dairoku Surikizu / Saki Miyuzumi

— Ayato Aishi / Info-kun / Taeko Yamada

— Osana Nanimi / Amai Odayaka / Kizana Sunobu / Oka Ruto / Asu Rito / Osoro Shidesu / Hanako Yamada / Megami Saikou

— Osano Najimi / Amao Odayaka / Kizano Sunobu / Oko Ruto / Aso Rito / Osorō Shidesu / Hanakō Yamada / Megamo Saikou

FIVE NIGHT'S AT FREDDY'S

— William Afton / Micheal Afton / Elizabeth Afton / Evan Afton

— Freddy / Bonnie / Chica / Foxy / Golden Freddy | Toy Freddy / Toy Chica / Toy Bonnie / Marionette / Whithered Bonnie | Nightmare Freddy / Nightmare Bonnie / Nightmare Chica / Nightmare Foxy / Nightmare Fredbear / Nightmare | Fredbear / Spring Bonnie | Circus Baby / Funtime Foxy / Funtime Freddy

CREEPYPASTA / MARBLE HORNETS

— Jeff 'the killer' / Jane 'the killer' / 'Ticci' Toby / 'Bloody painter' Helen / Ben Drowned / 'Eyeless' Jack

— Hoodie / Masky

(— I have not seen Marble Hornets, so they'll be very fanon. Don't worry though, there's none of that cheesecake addiction stuff.)

KIMETSU NO YAIBA

— Rengoku Kyojurou / Tomioka Giyuu / Shinazugawa Sanemi / Uzui Tengen / Iguro Obanai / Tokitoū Muichiroū / Kanroji Mitsuri / Kochou Shinobu

— Sabito / Makomo / Kochou Kanae / Kumeno Masachika

— Kamado Tanjirou / Kamado Nezuko / Agatsuma Zenitsu / Hashibira Inosuke / Tsuyuri Kanao / Kanzaki Aoi / Shinazugawa Genya

— Kokushibou / Douma / Akaza / Rui / Kyogai

JUJUTSU KAISEN

— Itadori Yuūji / Fushiguro Megumi / Kugisaki Nobara / Zen'in Maki / Inumaki Toge / Okkotsu Yuūta / Yoshino Junpei / Todou Aoi

— Gojou Satoru / Getou Suguru / Nanami Kento

ATTACK ON TITAN

— Eren Jeager / Mikasa Ackerman / Armin Arlert / Jean Kirstein / Marco Bott / Connie Springer / Sasha Blouse / Reiner Braun / Annie Leonhart / Bertolt Hoover / Historia Reiss | Krista Lenz / Ymir

— Erwin Smith / Levi Ackerman / Hange Zoë / Mike Zacharias

THE DISASTROUS LIFE OF SAIKI K

— Saiki Kusou / Kaidou Shun / Nendou Riki / Kuboyasu Aren / Toritsuka Reita / Saikou Metori / Hairo Kineshi / Teruhashi Kokomi / Mikoto Aiura / Yumehara Chiyo / Mera Chisato / Saiki Kuusuke

ONE PIECE

— Monkey D. Luffy / Roronoa Zoro / Nami / Usopp / Sanji / Nefertari Vivi / Chopper / Robin / Franky / Brook / Jinbe

— Trafalgar Law / Sachi / Penguin / Eustass Kid / Killer / Portags D. Ace / Marco / Thatch / Izou / Boa Hancock / Dracula Mihawk / Shanks / King / Charlotte Katakuri / Charlotte Cracker / Bartolomeo

— Smoker / O-kiku / Yama-o

+ everyone else in the show.

MY HERO ACADEMIA

— Midoriya Izuku / Bakugou Katsuki / Todoroki Shouto / Kirishima Ejirou / Kaminari Denki / Iida Tenya / Ojiro Mashirao / Aoyama Yuuga / Shouji Mezou / Tokoyami Fumikage / Yaoyorozu Momo / Hagakure Tooru / Uraraka Ochako / Asui Tsuyu / Ashido Mina / Jirou Kyouka

— Shinsou Hitoshi / Monoma Neito / Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu / Kendou Itsuka

— Toogata Mirio / Amajiki Tamaki

— Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead / Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic / Takami Keigo | Hawks / Todoroki Enji | Endeavor

— Shigaraki Tomura / Todoroki Touya | Dabi

— Todoroki Natsou / Todoroki Fuyumi / Todoroki Rei

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

Pairings: Past Aizawa/Mandalay

Word Count: 1,9218 Words

Summary: The Sports Festival, part 1.

Warnings: Food Mention, Death Mention, Caps, Cursing, Teen Pregnancy, Fighting Mention, let me know if I should tag anything else.

Usernames: Existence Is A Prison   Aizawa: feral cat dad, Aoyama: gay salt, Hagakure: ranch flavored jello, Tokoyami: foil-mecha, Shinsou: farmer toshi, Kuroiro: life is a nightmare, Shiozaki: saviour, Tsunotori: schrodinger better run, Honenuki: pure, Monoma: nat20, Yamada: President Megaphone, Bakugou: deku-deck-you

Aizawa, We Agreed No More Cats: Chapter 8

7:00 AM

Existence Is A Prison

gay salt: Tokoyami, I know it's the sports festival and all today, but you didn't need to bring everyone sandos and sports drinks again.

foil-mecha: Thing is, I didn't.

farmer toshi: No, no, because my whole class has sandos and sports drinks on their desks too. And I heard the other Gen Ed classes causing a ruckus over them too. Seems like someone put sando throughout the whole school.

feral cat dad: That would be me. I'm not letting any of you kids go without eating during a major sports event where you'll likely get injured and your bodies need fuel to fight and I won't let you not eat.

feral cat dad: My old Gen Ed teacher, Miss Rin, began this tradition of giving out sandos and water at the gate to students on the day of the Sports Festival. Nezu sanctioned of course, since he refused to allow her to pay for it herself. And now it's carried on through me since she passed on a few years ago.

ranch flavored jello: That's actually really sweet, Dad.

feral cat dad: If you tell anyone it was me who put them out, I'll make you clean the roof level.

ranch flavored jello: We have a roof level?

feral cat dad: You guys didn't know the dorms have roof access?

ranch flavored jello: Well, now we do. Where even are the stairs to it?

feral cat dad: Literally next to my room, I don't know how you haven't found them.

deku deck-you: It's the door next to his room, Toru. Even I found it. You've been here five more days than me.

ranch flavored jello: I THOUGHT THAT WAS A BROOM CLOSET!

feral cat dad: Oh my gods, these kids will be the end of me.

8:30 AM

Existence Is A Prison

feral cat dad: God help me being alone with this idiot.

feral cat dad: I'm using this chat for extra commentary because there are things I can't say on live national television commentary so they'll all be said here.

feral cat dad: Oh god, Katsuki, no. Don't slander our name.

feral cat dad: Please.

feral cat dad: GOD DAMMIT

feral cat dad: Obstacle Course? Fuck.

feral cat dad: Most proud of my son managing to evade Todoroki's ice despite never dealing with it before.

feral cat dad: Also, Todoroki, who hurt you as a child? That was purposeful so nobody could catch up!

feral cat dad: Get it, Pikachu.

feral cat dad: I'm proud of my gremlin children.

feral cat dad: I'm not paid enough to make commentary on this obstacle.

feral cat dad: Except for my son. I care about my ground-bound son getting across the pit to Tartarus shit.

feral cat dad: Gods, mines. I remember those landmines. I hate those things. They almost made me temporarily blind during my second year Sports Festival.

feral cat dad: What the FUCK Midoriya!?

8:45 AM

Existence Is A Prison

feral cat dad: Alright you're probably in the break room for the twenty five minute break by now. Katsuki, what's wrong with your arms? You were holding them.

deku deck-you: Just a lot of work. Overworking. I guess it can't be helped, this is why I have so much wrist support in my hero costume, to help keep my hands from feeling cramped from the explosions.

feral cat dad: Come up to the box, I'll shut old parakeet up if he tries to speak.

deku deck-you: Why?

feral cat dad: I have some ibuprofen, come take two, it should help the pain at least.

deku deck-you: Thank you.

9:00 AM

Existence Is A Prison

feral cat dad: Am I allowed to ask why Vlad King is taking care of a small child when he, in fact, doesn't have children?

feral cat dad: Just realized I won't get an answer because you all made it to the next round. I'm so proud but dammit, now I'm curious.

9:20 AM

Existence Is A Prison

feral cat dad: I...What?

feral cad dad; I hate the cavalry battle, that was difficult to keep track of. I don't know how Hizashi does it.

schrodinger better run: Obviously, the answer is very carefully.

feral cat dad: I'm sorry you didn't make it through, Pony. I have candy if you want some.

schrodinger better run: Thank you! I'll stop by and grab it on my way to lunch.

feral cat dad: If you're going to meet back up with your class, text me why there's a child.

schrodinger better run: There's a child?

feral cat dad: smallchildinvladkingsarms.jpg

schrodinger better run: He looks a lot like Tokage.

9:30 AM

Existence Is A Prison

ranch flavored jello: Mr. Aizawa, this is Mina, Toru's busy crying so she asked me to ask you. Mineta and Kaminari are telling us 1a girls that you instructed we wear the cheerleader uniforms for the afternoon. What should we tell them?

feral cat dad: Tell them they have three weeks of detention each to look forward to and don't wear those fucking uniforms.

schrodinger better run: Okay, so apparently the kid's here because Tokage brought him in? I still don't have a full explanation, but his name is Mitsu and he's 2 years old.

feral cat dad: Okay. So Tokage brought her little brother or something?

nat20: I'm not so sure about that. He just called her Mama.

feral cat dad: So Tokage has a son?

nat20: It seems like it.

feral cat dad: Oh, Nezu won't be happy about this. He wanted any young parents to report to him after the opening ceremony and alert him if they had any children so they would stay in the dorms.

nat20: To be fair, it would seem Tokage would be the only one out of all the first year classes, so it might have been too much pressure to fit in. Or she may even just has help enough at home that she didn't feel she needed to tell anyone.

feral cat dad: He'll still be mad. Believe me, he'll at least force her to accept a UA fund card so she doesn't need to work to support the baby.

saviour: We got to talking and, apparently, she gives him to a daycare while she's at school and she picks him up when she leaves school.

feral cat dad: Yup, she'll probably be moved on campus if she's not having her family take care of the baby during the day. Nezu's very adamant that his students have help if they're struggling.

10:45 AM

Existence Is A Prison

feral cat dad: Alright, so Shinsou against Rikamaru Kana from the Support Course. I don't know if this will be easy for him.

nat20: I am offended Kendo thinks so little of me.

feral cat dad: Why?

nat20: She said I'm perverse! And, when I asked her about it after, she said it's because I wear the girls' uniform sometimes. She thinks I'm some pervert trying to invade the girl's bathroom to creep on them.

nat20: I swear I haven't, Mr. Aizawa, I've never even gone into the girls restrooms, I use the men's or the one in Recovery Girl's office. And I change in the men's locker room. Tetsutetsu will tell you, he's guarded me before when I was uncomfortable changing.

feral cat dad: Don't worry, kid, I believe you. Come up to the box, you need a hug. I'll talk to Kendo if you want.

nat20: Please.

10:50 AM

Existence Is A Prison

feral cat dad: Oh my god, he actually did it. I'm so proud, Shinsou.

schrodinger better run: Shinsou fucking yeeted her.

life is a nightmare: Equal opportunity yeeting.

feral cat dad: Next up is Hatsume vs Tokoyami.

nat20: I hope Tokoyami does well next.

11:00 AM

Existence Is A Prison

feral cat dad: Tokoyami, I'm proud of you for being a good sport and helping her up after.

foil-mecha: I'm nothing if not a gentleman. Plus, when she fell down, she sprained her ankle. It's the least I can do to help her to Recovery Girl.

farmer toshi: I'm betting a grocery shop tonight that Ashido's going to win against Midoriya next.

feral cat dad: Be careful kid, you might eat those words.

11:10 AM

Existence Is A Prison

farmer toshi: Fine, I guess I'm getting dinner. And I'm also very happy Toru won against Iida.

feral cat dad: That's if you don't get injured. Remember, there's now two people you know against you.

ranch flavored jello: I still can't believe I won against Iida, honestly.

feral cat dad: Well, Shiozaki is against Shizuka Inei next. A Gen Ed Course student.

nat20: Do you know him, Hitoshi?

farmer toshi: Kind of hard to miss someone when they're that fucking loud all the time.

foil-mecha: Is that son of a bitch harassing Ibara?

nat20: I have lost faith in humanity. How dare a peasant's filthy hands touch our Ibara.

farmer toshi: Yeah, I'd defend my classmate in it being an accident if I didn't know that Shizuka is a blatant misogynists.

feral cat dad: I'll fight him. Disgusting little trash.

life is a nightmare: And HE gets to advance while our Ibara loses? Unacceptable.

feral cat dad: The Min*ta of class 1c.

11:25 AM

Existence Is A Prison

nat20: Thank goodness Kiyomi's advancing. I do feel bad she'll be fighting a misogynist though.

pure: I felt kind of bad about it, I didn't really want to fight our Akari!

nat20: I'm sure Akari understands and also didn't want to fight you either, but you two can't just refuse to fight because you're friends or you'd both be either disqualified or forced to fight by now.

gay salt: No ill will is held on my end, Kiyomi! I think our fight was rather fun!

pure: Okay, as long as you promise you're not mad.

gay salt: I'm not, I'm proud of you, mon amor.

nat20: Any bets on Kaminari here?

farmer toshi: I'll bet on Pikachu winning.

schrodinger better run: I'll bet a grocery trip that Fujioka wins.

life is a nightmare: That would be the furthest a Business Course student would have gotten in the Sports Festival.

schrodinger better run: I'll still bet on him.

feral cat dad: Well, you were wrong, Pony.

schrodinger better run: All as well. I didn't expect Fujioka to have an equip quirk, to be fair.

feral cat dad: Next is Tokage vs Fukumura from General Studies.

saviour: Let's go Tokage!

11:30 AM

Existence Is A Prison

deku deck-you: Is Tokage okay? I heard she passed out.

feral cat dad: She's overworked and malnourished from what Recovery Girl will tell me when I ask and Nezu is speaking with Tokage and asking her what got her to this.

feral cat dad: I

feral cat dad: I don't think I'm at liberty to discuss her tragic backstory with you guys, sadly. But she'll tell you when she moves into the dorms tonight.

11:35 AM

Existence Is A Prison

farmer toshi: Todoroki, aka Mr. Overboard. Poor Sero.

farmer toshi: Oh god, I might need to fight Mr. Daddy Issues.

farmer toshi: Gods help me.

foil-mecha: To be fair, he'd have to get through three brackets to get to you and he'd be fighting you in the three-way fight.

ranch flavored jello: He'd have to get past Katsuki too.

deku deck-you: He won't.

feral cat dad: Alright then, Mr. Overconfident.

Taglist: @everythingisstardust 

[ao3feed-danganronpa]

FANFIC REQUEST

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3sMlYIR

by otaku_elfchild

Want a fanfic of a certain ship/scene/fandom/etc but can’t find one on what you want?

Well here you are! I’m taking request and such, so enter if you please. Inside are rules and regulations about these fanfics so please enjoy!

Words: 301, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, Haikyuu!!, 鬼滅の刃 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Anime), 約束のネバーランド | Yakusoku no Neverland | The Promised Neverland (Manga), 約束のネバーランド | Yakusoku no Neverland | The Promised Neverland (Anime), Hunter X Hunter, 殺戮の天使 | Satsuriku no Tenshi | Angels of Death (Anime), 殺戮の天使 | Satsuriku no Tenshi | Angels of Death (Manga), Assassination Classroom, Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga), Fruits Basket (Anime 2019), Fruits Basket (Anime 2001), ヲタクに恋は難しい | Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii | Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku (Anime), ひとりじめマイヒーロー | Hitorijime My Hero (Anime), Junjou Romantica, Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime), やがて君になる | Yagate Kimi ni Naru | Bloom Into You (Manga), あっちこっち | Acchi Kocchi (Anime), 神々の悪戯 | Kamigami no Asobi, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Original Work

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other

Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki, Todoroki Shouto, Iida Tenya, Uraraka Ochako, Asui Tsuyu, Kaminari Denki, Kirishima Eijirou, Sero Hanta, Shinsou Hitoshi, Mineta Minoru, Ashido Mina, Yaoyorozu Momo, Jirou Kyouka, Hagakure Tooru, Ojiro Mashirao, Shouji Mezou, Tokoyami Fumikage, Dark Shadow (My Hero Academia), Kouda Kouji, Satou Rikidou, Aoyama Yuuga, Monoma Neito, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Kendou Itsuka, Tsunotori Pony, Awase Yousetsu, Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Kayama Nemuri | Midnight, Iida Tensei | Ingenium, Eri (My Hero Academia), Izumi Kouta, Chisaki Kai | Overhaul, Shigaraki Tomura | Shimura Tenko, Dabi | Todoroki Touya, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor, Shuuzenji Chiyo | Recovery Girl, Iguchi Shuuichi | Spinner, Sensei | All For One, Bubaigawara Jin | Twice, Toga Himiko, Sako Atsuhiro | Mr. Compress, Nedzu (My Hero Academia), Sasaki Mirai | Sir Nighteye, Toogata Mirio, Amajiki Tamaki, Hadou Nejire, Awata Kaoruko | Bubble Girl, Utsushimi Camie, Yoarashi Inasa, Takami Keigo | Hawks, Rachel "Ray" Gardner, Isaac "Zack" Foster, Emma (The Promised Neverland), Norman (The Promised Neverland), Ray (The Promised Neverland), Gilda (The Promised Neverland), Don (The Promised Neverland), Phil (The Promised Neverland), Anna (The Promised Neverland), Isabella (The Promised Neverland), Gon Freecs, Killua Zoldyck, Kurapika (Hunter X Hunter), Leorio Paladiknight, Hinata Shouyou, Hinata Natsu, Kageyama Tobio, Tsukishima Kei, Tsukishima Akiteru, Yamaguchi Tadashi, Sawamura Daichi, Sugawara Koushi, Azumane Asahi, Nishinoya Yuu, Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Tanaka Saeko, Ennoshita Chikara, Kinoshita Hisashi, Narita Kazuhito, Ukai Keishin, Ukai Ikkei, Takeda Ittetsu, Bokuto Koutarou, Akaashi Keiji, Kuroo Tetsurou, Kozume Kenma, Haiba Lev, Yaku Morisuke, Sakusa Kiyoomi, Miya Atsumu, Miya Osamu, Ushijima Wakatoshi, Terushima Yuuji, Tendou Satori, Oikawa Tooru, Iwaizumi Hajime, Aone Takanobu, Kamado Tanjirou, Kamado Nezuko, Kamado Family (Kimetsu no Yaiba), Agatsuma Zenitsu, Hashibira Inosuke, Tomioka Giyuu, Kochou Shinobu, Takatsuki Shinobu, Sabito (Kimetsu no Yaiba), Akaguro Chizome | Stain, Hakamata Tsunagu | Best Jeanist, Rengoku Kyoujurou, Kibutsuji Muzan, Honda Tohru, Sohma Kyou, Sohma Yuki, Sohma Shigure, Sohma Hatori, Sohma Akito, Sohma Hatsuharu, Sohma Ayame, Sohma Momiji, Sohma Kagura, Sohma Rin, Sohma Kazuma, Sohma Kureno, Sohma Kisa, Sohma Ritsu, Sohma Hiro, Sohma Kana, Uotani Arisa, Hanajima Saki, Hanajima Megumi, Edward "Eddie" Mason, Daniel "Danny" Dickens, Catherine "Cathy" Ward, Abraham Gray (Satsuriku no Tenshi), Akabane Karma, Shiota Nagisa, Korosensei (Assassination Classroom)

Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto, Kirishima Eijirou/Midoriya Izuku, Kaminari Denki/Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku/Shinsou Hitoshi, Midoriya Izuku/Sero Hanta, Midoriya Izuku/Monoma Neito, Midoriya Izuku/Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Midoriya Izuku/Shouji Mezou, Midoriya Izuku/Tokoyami Fumikage, Aoyama Yuuga/Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku/Ojiro Mashirao, Midoriya Izuku/Satou Rikidou, Kouda Kouji/Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku/Uraraka Ochako, Asui Tsuyu/Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku/Yaoyorozu Momo, Jirou Kyouka/Midoriya Izuku, Hagakure Tooru/Midoriya Izuku, Kendou Itsuka/Midoriya Izuku, Hatsume Mei/Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku/Shindou You, Iida Tenya/Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku/Everyone, Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou, Bakugou Katsuki/Kaminari Denki, Bakugou Katsuki/Uraraka Ochako, Bakugou Katsuki/Todoroki Shouto, Todoroki Shouto/Yaoyorozu Momo, Todoroki Shouto/Yoarashi Inasa, Iida Tenya/Todoroki Shouto, Kaminari Denki/Todoroki Shouto, Kirishima Eijirou/Todoroki Shouto, Kaminari Denki/Kirishima Eijirou, Ashido Mina/Kirishima Eijirou, Asui Tsuyu/Kirishima Eijirou, Kaminari Denki/Shinsou Hitoshi, Kaminari Denki/Sero Hanta, Jirou Kyouka/Kaminari Denki, Midoriya Izuku/Shigaraki Tomura | Shimura Tenko, Dabi/Midoriya Izuku, Asui Tsuyu/Uraraka Ochako, Iida Tenya/Uraraka Ochako, Uraraka Ochako/Yaoyorozu Momo, Ashido Mina/Uraraka Ochako, Jirou Kyouka/Uraraka Ochako, Hagakure Tooru/Uraraka Ochako, Jirou Kyouka/Yaoyorozu Momo, Ashido Mina/Asui Tsuyu, Ashido Mina/Jirou Kyouka, Kendou Itsuka/Yaoyorozu Momo, Kendou Itsuka/Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Kendou Itsuka/Monoma Neito, Kaminari Denki/Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Kirishima Eijirou/Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Monoma Neito/Shinsou Hitoshi, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Dabi/Takami Keigo | Hawks, Toga Himiko/Uraraka Ochako, Dabi/Toga Himiko, Dabi/Shigaraki Tomura | Shimura Tenko, Eri/Izumi Kouta, Hinata Shouyou/Everyone, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shouyou/Kozume Kenma, Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei, Hinata Shouyou/Oikawa Tooru, Hinata Shouyou/Ushijima Wakatoshi, Hinata Shouyou/Kuroo Tetsurou, Hinata Shouyou/Nishinoya Yuu, Hinata Shouyou/Yamaguchi Tadashi, Hinata Shouyou/Sugawara Koushi, Hinata Shouyou/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Hinata Shouyou/Iwaizumi Hajime, Haiba Lev/Hinata Shouyou, Hinata Shouyou/Yaku Morisuke, Bokuto Koutarou/Hinata Shouyou, Akashi Seijuurou/Hinata Shouyou, Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu, Hinata Shouyou/Miya Osamu, Hinata Shouyou/Sakusa Kiyoomi, Hinata Shouyou/Sawamura Daichi, Azumane Asahi/Hinata Shouyou, Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka, Emma/Ray (The Promised Neverland), Emma/Norman (The Promised Neverland), Emma/Norman/Ray (The Promised Neverland), Norman/Ray (The Promised Neverland), Gon Freecs/Killua Zoldyck, Kurapika/Leorio Paladiknight, Kamado Tanjirou/Tomioka Giyuu, Agatsuma Zenitsu/Kamado Tanjirou, Hashibira Inosuke/Kamado Tanjirou, Kamado Tanjirou/Rengoku Kyoujurou, Akabane Karma/Shiota Nagisa, Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyou, Honda Tohru/Sohma Yuki, Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyou/Sohma Yuki, Honda Tohru/Sohma Hatsuharu, Sohma Kureno/Uotani Arisa, Hanajima Saki/Uotani Arisa, Momose Narumi/Nifuji Hirotaka, Koyanagi Hanako/Momose Narumi, Kabakura Tarou/Koyanagi Hanako, Kabakura Tarou/Nifuji Hirotaka, Balder Hringhorni/Kusanagi Yui, Kusanagi Yui/Totsuka Takeru, Hades Aidoneus/Kusanagi Yui, Apollon Agana Belea/Kusanagi Yui, Kusanagi Yui/Loki Laevatein, Thoth Caduceus/Kusanagi Yui, Kusanagi Yui/Totsuka Tsukito, Kusanagi Yui/Dionysus Thyrsos, Isaac "Zack" Foster/Rachel "Ray" Gardner

Additional Tags: request, Angst, Fluff, Smut

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3sMlYIR

[rainbow-filmnerd]

MHA: Kiyomi x Todoroki Relationship Timeline (Part 5)

Here is Part 5 of the full story of my canon x OC ship, Shoto Todoroki and Kiyomi Aida. This will run through how they first met, became friends, and fell in love. I'm only gonna go through Season 1 to Season 5 (at least up to the Endeavor Agency arc), as well as cover the two films. As I am writing this, the third movie isn't out yet, but I will explain what their relationship status is at that point. :3

This is part 1 of 2 of covering "Kiyoto" during Season 5! Here, we'll be going over the Pro Hero and Joint Training arcs. Next part (which will be the final part of the series) will cover Heroes Rising and the Endeavor Agency arc. But for now, let's focus on the first few bumps before... well, I can't say what becomes of the two yet. Just continue reading if you wanna know. ;P

Also, I wrote out what happened during the first four seasons, so check those out if you haven't yet!

Note that this is canon in my BNHA OC storyline, which is just the canon My Hero plot if my OCs were in it. (I didn't want to make a lot of drastic changes like with TMNT 2012 to fit my OCs)

RISE OF ENDEAVOR (PRO HERO ARC)

The day after the Japanese Hero Billboard Chart were announced, Hiroto (another Class 1-B OC who is a Hawks superfan and his cousin) decides to meet with Todoroki and hang out with him at the mall. Hiroto, who has a bit of a crush on Todoroki, notices how he's been close with Kiyomi.

Hiroto asks Todoroki about his friendship with Kiyomi, who admits that he's in love with her and hopes to tell her how much she means to him. Hiroto, knowing that Todoroki's heart belongs to Kiyomi, decides to let his feelings for him go and wishes the best for both Todoroki and Kiyomi if they end up together.

When Todoroki returns to the dorms, Kiyomi tells him about Endeavor's televised fight with High End. Throughout the battle, Kiyomi has stayed close to Todoroki's side, anxiously watching the fight with him.

After seeing Endeavor (barely) standing after his fight with High End, a relieved Todoroki hugs Kiyomi, surprising her.

SPECIAL TRAINING (S5 E1)

Kiyomi joins Iida, Sato, Tokoyami, Mineta, Tsuyu, Aoyama, Kana and Todoroki during the emergency special training with their classmates.

After completing the exercise successfully, Kiyomi slips on Todoroki's ice and falls on to him, accidentally kissing him on the lips. Embarrassed, she runs off before Todoroki could react.

Kiyomi becomes convinced that the accidental kiss could affect their friendship and has distanced herself from Todoroki. This, however, concerns Todoroki and makes him believe that he has done something to make her avoid him.

JOINT TRAINING (up to S5 E12 p1)

Kiyomi is paired up with Iida, Ojiro, Shoji, and Todoroki for the Class A and Class B Joint Training. This makes Kiyomi feel nervous because she hasn't interacted with Todoroki since the special training. Todoroki, however, hopes to take a moment to talk with Kiyomi alone sometime after the training.

During the match, Goku fights Kiyomi 1v1 and constantly taunts her on how she's always relying on Todoroki. This helps Kiyomi push herself to defeat Goku and reminds him that Todoroki is an inspiration to her. Due to the mass destruction of the training area, Kiyomi was unsuccessful of finding the 1-B jail cell before the match ended.

At Recovery Girl's office, Kiyomi worries about Todoroki. Tetsutetsu, who was with her, notices that she cares about him and comments how they would make a great team once they become Pro Heroes.

Kiyomi encourages and tells Todoroki that he is not at fault for what happened in the match, also adding that everyone is learning. Todoroki (and a few others like Iida and Juzo) tell her that she shouldn't be hard on herself for not successfully capturing Goku, which may have changed the outcome of the match.

Kiyomi and Todoroki continue to watch the last two matches with their classmates, and both express concern about Midoriya during the fifth match.

Following the training, while 1-A and 1-B were hanging out together, Todoroki approaches Kiyomi and asks her about their lack of interactions between the special training and the Joint Training. He tells her that he believes that she no longer wants anything to do with him.

Kiyomi reassures that she wasn't sure how to respond in the heat of the moment, but is concerned if Todoroki would think negatively of her. He tells her that his feelings of her as a "good friend" has not changed since and are relieved that they are still in good terms.

Todoroki also tells Kiyomi that he will have to learn more things about his fire from Endeavor and asks her if she'll still support him. However, after he tells her, Todoroki worries about what could happen if Endeavor somehow gets involved in his relationship with Kiyomi.

And... that does it for this half of Season 5! I apologize if this is a little short, but I didn't entirely plan for that to be the case. The next and final part will be focused on their relationship after getting their licenses! Now that we know they both love each other, what will the fate of their relationship be? Will their love be set ablaze? Find out once I go over their relationship during Heroes Rising AND the Endeavor Agency arc!

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Their Hero Academia – Chapter 78: Conversations and Revelations

Presenting the next installment of my on-going, nextgen, MHA fic! Earlier chapters can be found here

Katsumi was absolutely not tired.  And she was definitely not worn out and exhausted from pushing her body and her Quirk all day.  She was definitely not spent from using her explosive Quirk on bigger and bigger objects, infusing the liquid she generated into greater and greater objects.   And she really wasn’t already sick of Windbag and his high and mighty friends from his fancy-pants Hero school.  She absolutely wasn’t going to end up beating the shit out of the muscle girl by the end of things.  

Which, for some reason, Izzy had tried to warn her off of doing.  Izzy was typically very direct and this had been no exception.  She’d been extremely explicit that Katsumi stood a very good chance of getting her ass beat if she tried to fight her.  Of course, Izzy had couched it in slightly politer terms, worrying that she might get hurt and emphasizing the damage to her pride if she lost.  Izzy, of course, had expressed every confidence in her abilities, but still didn’t want her to get hurt.

Even with Izzy’s direction suggestion that she not fight the Shiketsu girl, there was something more going on there.  Katsumi didn’t like that, not at all.  And Izzy hadn’t been more forthcoming beyond that.  

It wasn’t damn frustrating, not at all.

As if she’d ever lose a fight.  Not counting her hard-fought loss against Izzy during the Sports Festival.  Which wasn’t going to happen the next time.  The bigger they were, the harder they were going to fall.

At least her old man seemed happy.  Dad was always happy when he was yelling at people, and he’d gotten to do a lot of that today.  Apparently, he’d even lit into Toshi for being predictable and unimaginative with his Quirk.  Good.  It was about time someone tried pounding some sense into his green-haired head.  The guy was a damn good fighter when he put his mind to it, but there was considerable distance in how he fought with his Quirk and without it.

“Okay people,” she heard Katsuma—Bioshock, she had think of him and Mahoro by their Hero names when they were in teacher mode—call out.  “You’ve all had a long day and tomorrow’s going to be even longer.  You’ll be rising at 0500 and we’re going to be spending the whole day putting you through your paces.”

“And we aren’t going to listen to any whining about you being tired!” Mahoro—Vanish Veil—added.  “So if you’re sluggish, it’ll be your own damn fault!”

Bioshock sighed.  “Thank you for that,” he said.

“You’re welcome.”

“But she is right!  You’ve got twenty minutes before lights out.  Make the most of them, then get a good night’s rest!  Sleep is vital to a growing body!”

“Stop talking like a health class video! Why are you such a dork?!”

Katsumi just shook her head, getting up to head to the barracks.   A voice from behind stopped her.

“Pardon me, but you and I have unfinished business.”

***

She’d been expecting, maybe even anticipating, a confrontation with Tatsuma, the overgrown Shiketsu girl.  So Katsumi hadn’t strictly been paying attention to who the voice had belonged to.  When she spun to face her attacker, her punch went high.  A good blow to the face or throat would disable most people very quickly.  

In fact, if she hadn't been so sure Tatsuma was going to be the one picking a fight, she'd have registered that the voice came from about a foot lower. As things were, her blow sailed right over Monoma’s head.  She’d given him a little credit though.  He only barely flinched.

A smug grin spread across his lips.  “Quite the hair trigger you’ve got there, Kirishima-Bakugo,” he said.  He eyed the extended arm as if to say, “Really?”  She let it fall to her side, then crossed her arms.

“You want something, Monoma?” she asked.  Of all the things she needed today, he was way down on the list.  He’d mostly been leaving her alone lately, but his audible smugness was more than making up for it.  “I’ve probably got enough time to deliver an ass-kicking if that’s what you’re looking for.”

He chuckled at that, gesturing dramatically.  "Oh I'll happily offer you the chance to try," he commented with a smirk, "but I don't think this is the time.  I do want to make time for your gauntlet throwing, though, at some point in the near future.”

“Delayed ass-kicking, got it,” she said.  She cracked her knuckles noisily in a show of intimidation.  This time, to his credit, he didn’t flinch.

He frowned, eyes narrowing as his shoulders relaxed.  “Look…  May I speak plainly?” 

She narrowed her own eyes, setting her mouth in a hard line.  “Get on with it.”

“I was… very broken, after the Sports Festival,” he told her.  There was an earnestness in his eyes that surprised her.  A raw level of emotion she hadn’t expected of him.  “I wanted to succeed so badly, to show you that I was worthy and to show the world that my class was worthy.  But I screwed it all up. I focused too much on showboating and spectacle.  Midoriya and the rest of your class… you had it figured out.”

He looked down.  “I gave as good an accounting of myself as could be expected against Kocho.  It was simply a bad match-up for my skillset.  And I am glad to see the Hero course recognized her abilities.”

Monoma pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes flickering downward and flashing a shade of displeasure before he continued.  “And then there was my failed confession.  I’m not sorry I did that—don’thitme—and I think you may have said some things I needed to hear, although your delivery may need some work.  And then, during my Internship with your father and Uncle Tetsutetsu… I froze up when the Nomu attacked.  My Quirk isn't something I can turn off, and... Everything I was seeing of the creature was just so profoundly wrong that I couldn't take it. I shut down.  I had to be carried away by Shoji, like a child.”

Okay, that one she hadn’t heard about.  Papa definitely hadn’t mentioned it.  Of course, gossip about anyone like that wouldn’t have been manly, so it was not a surprise.  

“And from there, I just fell apart,” Monoma said.  He wasn’t looking at her now.  Instead, he was looking into the distance.  “I can admit that now.  I was certain I had a weak, worthless Quirk and that I had no place in the Hero course.”

“Now wait just a damn minute,” she snapped, pointing aggressively at him.  “You’re a bastard, but your fancy pants flippy Quirk is still useful.  No reason you couldn’t kick a moderate amount of ass.”

Dammit, she was not feeling sorry for the Copycat Bastard.  But she remembered her own Internship, how useless she’d felt watching that man die right in front of her, while her Quirk, even her muscles, couldn’t do anything…   Aunt Ochaco and Izzy had talked her back from that edge.  She didn’t think about it too often.  Hadn’t had the nightmares in a while.

“I’ve come around to that line of thinking,” Monoma said.  “But I appreciate the vote of confidence.  Especially from you.  But I was ready to quit after the Final Exam.  Just long enough not to leave my class in the lurch.  But Midoriya said some things about success and helping each other that stuck with me.  And we passed.”

He stopped, actually smiling and looking more than a little proud.  She’d give him some credit.  If 1-B’s exam had been anywhere near as challenging as theirs—and Kana assured her it was—then he deserved a little pride.

“And then for reasons I’m still not entirely sure I understand, I ended up speaking with Kaminari and she got me looking at my Quirk in a bit of a different way.  Trying to string my moves together better, weaving a whole song out of them, rather than single shots to be fired and discarded.  So I stayed.”

“Is that why you’ve been making goo-goo eyes at her?”

He sputtered, turning red and avoiding her gaze.  “I thought we were being more discreet than that.”

“Oh, please.  Your dramatic ass wouldn’t know discreet if it bit it,” she told him.  She tapped her wrist, as though checking a watch, giving him a glare.  He got the hint.

“Regardless of mine and Kaminari’s situation,” he said, quickly, as though eager to move away from discussing it, “I want you to know I still want to prove myself against you.  Not for any romantic pursuits anymore or even in some attempt to prove I’m better than you.” 

Monoma shook his head.  “I want to prove I’m your equal.  That I deserve my place here.  You’re one of the fiercest, most skilled fighters in our school.  We’ve had an adversarial relationship since we were big enough for you to put me in a headlock.  You’re the mark I need to challenge myself against.”

Okay.  She definitely hadn’t been expecting that.  But for all she could erupt at a moment’s notice, Katsumi could occasionally control her expressions enough not to show surprise.  She knew she was tough and talented, but hearing him admit it, not in some kind of lovey-dovey star-eyed sort of way, but in actual respect, with none of his usual barbs, well, to say it was a surprise was putting it mildly.  

“So, what do you actually want?” she demanded.  “Get to the point already.”

Monoma looked her straight in the eye, a steely determination there she hadn’t seen before.  “When the camp is over, when we’re back at school, I want to fight a match against you.    A true test against one another. Bring whatever support items you like, and, as the challenged, the right to choose time and place is yours. I'll make the arrangements with our respective homeroom teachers that it will be a sanctioned training exercise. May the better person win."

It was a more respectful challenge than she would have expected out of him, all things considered.  It looked like Monoma had found his spine after all.  And besides, she could go for bouncing him around the ring like a basketball for a few rounds.  “You know what, Monoma?” she said.  “You’re on.”

***

Akaya had the distinct impression that she was being watched.  Not maliciously, she didn’t think.  She certainly didn’t feel like she was threatened, but she was also fairly certain that someone was paying more attention to her than usual.  Over in one corner of the room, she could see Kaminari, Mika, and Anime whispering together in a fashion that seemed almost conspiratorial.  

Her opinion of the matter did not improve when she saw Ojiro go over and join the group.  But even with counting several of the girls among that group as dear friends, she certain, somehow, that they were discussing her. She wasn’t completely unused to being talked about behind her back, the girl with the strange religion and stone-skin, but she would not have expected it of her friends.

“They’re talking about you.”

Akaya looked over to her left, where Chiasa Kamakiri, her vaguely mantis-like friend from 1-B, was standing by her bunk.  Chiasa held up a hand, showing that she was missing two joints from her smallest finger on her left hand. Her Quirk allowed her to split apart her body segments and transform them into tiny duplicates of herself that shared a hive mind.  Very useful for espionage.

Chiasa’s face split into a grin.  “Do you want to know what they’re saying?” she asked, playfully.  

“I do not traffic in gossip,” Akaya said simply, though she was also feeling a little hurt.  Why were her friends talking about her?  She didn’t think they had any ill intent, but…

Chiasa continued as though she hadn’t spoken.  “They’re trying to set you up with Aoyama!”  She giggled with delight, clapping her hands.

Ah, of course.  Their usual romantic pursuits.  She wasn’t surprised, especially now that Ojiro was involved.  The invisible girl was nothing if not committed to the idea of “shipping” people she knew.  It had only become worse since she and Anime had become friends.  Still, she hadn’t thought that Mika particularly liked Aoyama, so why was she…

Wait.

Akaya mentally replayed that sentence again.

“What?”

Chiasa nodded rapidly. “Mineta is leading the pack. Sounds like it might be her idea. They haven’t noticed my mini-me’s yet.”

She was clearly missing something here.  Akaya frowned in confusion.  “I must have heard you wrong.”

“Nope,” Chiasa said. “They’re gonna set you and Aoyama up. They don’t have a plan yet. Fukidashi and Ojiro are fighting over which tropes to use.  Mineta’s encouraging all of it.  Kaminari is telling them they’re all insane.”

None of this made any sense. Aoyama had certainly never displayed any kind of interest in her.  Oh, of course, he did seem far more civil with her than almost any of their other classmates.  And he never had any cross words for her like he did for almost anyone else.  So what if he always made an effort to speak to her? What difference did it make that he always seemed to respect her opinion, even if he didn’t listen to anyone else?  And, of course, he had reacted more violently than everyone else when he’d found out she’d been the target of Quirk discrimination…

But certainly none of that meant he was interested in her!  Not when he was traditionally good looking, prettier than even some of the other girls, and could have easily had his pick of anyone, if he’d just let his guard down around them the way he often did around her…

“Akaya?” Chiasa asked, mouthparts clicking together.  “You okay? You kind of zoned out on me while I was talking.”

She managed a nod. “I’m all right,” she said.  “Just taken by surprise.”  She looked over to a corner of the room that had been partitioned off with a curtain.  Petal Princess had told her that they’d set it up so that she could have a private place to pray, if she so desired, being unsure if she was comfortable praying in front of others.  Akaya appreciated the consideration.   “Though I do need to say my prayers before I turn in.”

It would give her a moment to think, at the very least.

***

As Akaya entered the small, privacy curtained space, she realized that it was already occupied. It was one of the Shiketsu girls, the one whom she had overhead a few times speaking to Tatsuma in a foriegn language that she couldn’t properly identify.  

“Oh,” she said, “my apologies.  I didn’t realize anyone else was here.”  Though it varied from individual to individual, the average person in Japan was not especially religious or deeply spiritual.  And the number of people who were any variety of Christian was smaller still.  

The girl though, seemed as surprised to see Akaya as Akaya was to see her.

"It is no trouble," the girl assured her, her Japanese flawless. "I was finishing up anyway." As she stood up, a necklace with a familiar cross could be seen hanging around the girl's neck.

Well, that was indeed surprising.  She had heard there had been some additional friction between some of the Shiketsu students and her classmates and the others.  Perhaps she could help ease that by finding some common ground with one of them?

“Please forgive my forwardness,” Akaya said.  “But you are Christian?  I rarely encounter anyone who shares a faith with me.”

That seemed to surprise the girl for a moment, before she looked at her necklace as if remembering it was there.

"My parents are practicing Presbyterians," she answered, somewhat shyly. "I would not go so far as to say I am, but there is much about Christianity I admire. It's comforting to know there's an all-powerful being that actually gives a damn about you out there."

“My mother’s family is Catholic,” Akaya explained, “as am I.”  Her father and little brother, Rikido, were not, but it had never been an issue in their family.  Both she and her brother had been allowed to explore faith options and choose for themselves.

“It is reassuring.  It is often a troubling world.  Having somewhere to turn to often helps me to ground myself.”  She offered the other girl a small smile.  “I am Akaya Koda.”

The other girl seemed to think a bit, as if wondering if she should say anything. Her face softened as she appeared to make a decision.  "My name is Seung Park. It is...nice to meet you." She tensed a bit after saying her name.

The same sounded Korean to Akaya’s ears, though she couldn’t say for certain.  Though Park was not Japanese, that much was apparent.  She knew that foreigners didn’t always have easy lives in Japan, but given how flawless her Japanese was, Park had to be at least second generation.  Which did come with its own issues, of course…

“It is nice to meet you as well,” she said.  “How are you finding the camp so far?”

"So far I do not see what can be done here that we can't do elsewhere," Park admitted with a stern frown. "I can only assume the teachers are likely going to make us do something to pit us against each other for some ‘clever’ reason. Why else would Shiketsu be invited, given the asinine rivalries that are encouraged."

“Not an impossibility,” Akaya agreed.  Park, it seemed, was not afraid to be a bit bold in her declarations. Would that she had such confidence. “But I have been told that the Rookies are among some of the best trainers in the country, so I trust in our teachers’ judgements. Perhaps they simply mean to push us all. A little bit of rivalry can be healthy… though there are those among my fellow students who take it to an extreme.”

Shiro, for example, had already declared that the rivalry between Class 1-A and 1-B was in a temporary state of truce, until they had proven U.A. to be better than Shiketsu. She wasn’t certain if that was a sign of maturity on his part or not, but at least he was trying to channel his energies in semi-positive directions.

"I have considerably more faith in Our Lord than I do in "Hero instructors.’" Park stopped, took a deep breath, said something in Korean, and then let it out. "I apologize. I am not as good a Christian as I would like to be."

There was a sore point there, Akaya was certain.  For a Hero student, Park did not seem to have much faith in Heroes themselves.  Or at least, not the ones running the camp, she wasn’t sure.  That seemed to be a bit of a paradox, but she did not wish to deny the truth of whatever experiences Park had lived.

She shook her head and held up her hands in an apologetic gesture.  “No apologies necessary.  Even if I don’t agree, I won’t deny you your feelings.”

Park looked surprised at Akaya's response. Clearly, she was not used to people giving her point of view any kind of credence. "I appreciate that." Her eyes seemed to be looking elsewhere, as if she were looking at a place completely different from where they were. She shook her head, actually forming a small smile. "I do not wish to hold up your talk with God. I hope you don't aggravate him as much as I likely do.”

Akaya offered the girl another smile as she left, before kneeling down to begin her own prayers. She would need much of His grace and guidance to get through this camp.

***

Takiyo tapped a few keys on the control panel built into his sleeping pod, causing the hatch to open with a slight hiss.  Inside, it looked comfortably padded and had a control panel built into the other side of the hatch as well, so that he could open it when needed.  It would be one hundred percent light proof.  It was good of the Rookies to provide it, though he would have expected nothing less.  U.A. had been very good at meeting his unique needs to far.  

His cursed, cursed needs. His damn Quirk that caused him to absorb light constantly, necessitating that he discharge it in regular intervals, that he keep himself covered to minimize absorption, that his dorm room and his room at home be equipped with blackout curtains and more.  It required him to be aware of his state of being every second he was awake.

His damn Quirk that had caused him too…

No.

His Quirk that he was going to use to be a Hero.  To make up for…  what had been done.  No matter the costs to him.  It was suited for it, where unleashing dazzling light, pushing back the darkness, or projecting devastating lasers.  He would make it a Hero’s Quirk.

He had actually exhausted his light-stores under the Rookies’ training today, focusing on both his output and control.  It was rare situation.  Usually, he had to purposefully discharge it by the end of the day, just for the sake of discharging it.  He had started to absorb more light immediately afterwards, but for the moment, he was just barely glowing, a faint sparkle outlining his skin.

“Ahem.”  A voice shook him from his introspection and he looked up to see Monoma standing next to the sleeping pod.

He’d barely spoken two words to Monoma that he could recall, in his entire time at U.A.  The other boy was vain, arrogant, obsessed with his looks, and not especially self-aware.  He was, somehow, friends with Koda, which confused Takiyo greatly. Mineta, he could understand, but he thought Koda was better than that.

“Yes?” Takiyo asked.

“<Can we speak French?>” Monoma asked.  Takiyo had been vaguely aware that the Monoma family had some French ancestry, much like his papa also did.  He himself was only culturally French to some extent, but the language came easily enough.  Monoma cast a significant glance over in the direction of Sero, Sato, and Tsuchikawa.

“Oui,” he replied.  The secrecy was puzzling, he had to admit.  What could be so important that Monoma did not want anyone overhearing?

Monoma nodded. “<Let’s be clear,>” he said, pointing.  “<I don’t like you and you don’t like me.  That’s fine.  But no one deserves what’s headed your way.”>

Takiyo raised an eyebrow at that.  “<Pardon?>” he asked.  A threat to his person?  Was that insufferable Tsuchikawa planning something?  But why would Monoma warn him about that?

“<Mika, Yoarashi, and Fukidashi are planning to set you and Akaya up.  Kaminari knows about it to.  I don’t think she can stop it.>”

They were going to… what?

Monoma went on. “<Mika claims that it’s obvious you two are very sweet on each other, but that neither one of you would be willing to make the first move.  I don’t know if that’s true, but with Mika and Fukidashi teaming up, it’s bound to be a ‘zany scheme.’>”

Koda… who was always kind to him, even when he let his anger and irritation get the better of him. And who forced him to be civil and interact with others, even when he wasn’t doing a particularly good job of it. Koda, who was a sweet, kind girl, who did not deserve the cruelties she had recently endured and seemed to still carry with her.

“<So as someone who has been pulled into many of Mika’s well-meaning, but disastrous schemes, I felt you deserved a warning,>” Monoma added.  But his expression turned hard as steel.  “<But rest assured, should you still chose to pursue a relationship with Akaya… You will treat her properly, or I will break every bone in your body.>”

With that, Monoma turned on his heels to walk to his own bunk, leaving Takiyo standing there, still trying to process what had been said.

“Hey!  Aoyama!”  He turned and saw Sero giving him a wave.  “Didja loose the blond pretty boy contest or something?  Looked pretty serious there!”

Takiyo’s lip pulled back in a snarl.  “SHUT UP!”

***

While the barracks for the kids had been relatively Spartan, the facilities in the main compound of the Rookies’ complex were surprisingly nicely appointed.  Most of them had gone to bed already.  Lady Luminous and Bezoar were in charge of waking the kids up for the next morning’s training session, but they’d all have to be up fairly early. It was late, eleven p.m., long past when Katsuki usually went to bed.  At least he’d been able to slip away earlier and call Eijiro and Tai. It’d been a long time since he hadn’t at least called to say goodnight to his son.  He wasn’t going to allow himself to miss it for a ‘good’ reason. Because he if he missed it for a ‘good’ reason, then it was a short trip to missing it for a bad reason.

And he was never going to be that kind of parent.  His parents had never been truly neglectful—though it had taken a lot of therapy to overcome and course correct his sometimes-toxic relationship with his mother and his enabling father—but they had often been gone.   He’d been left in the care of babysitters or ‘Auntie’ Inko as a child more often than he cared to remember, including one particularly disastrous time when he’d been ten and left in the care of his then-teenage shitty cousin Yu, and later to his own devices, when they’d been gone on some photo shoot or modeling expo.

Katsuki had been in a lot of fights over his life.  But his toughest fight was the one he fought every day to be a better parent than his own had been.  Thank whatever gods existed for Eijro.  It was easier to be the better person when you had someone who believed in you that much.

The damned hobo had already gone to bed, but Katsuma, Mahoro, a Rookie he didn’t recognize, and Fujii were still up in floor’s kitchen.  And damn did it make him feel old to see people he’d known when they were children as fully-fledged adults and Heroes in their own right.  They’d both done good, he admitted, with Katsuma working with Deku for a time and Mahoro training with Camie and even working as one of his Sidekicks for a time.  And sure, he hasn’t that much older than either of them.  He had less than ten on Katsuma and only five on Mahoro…

But even with their own experiences with that bastard, Nine, he’d had a lot more years of hard living than them.  It added up. He certainly felt older than his forty-one years.  Now, more than ever.

“So,” he said as he entered the kitchen, “one of you want to tell me why we’ve got Shiketsu students here? Was the Hobo right?  Are they dropping their problem kids on us?”

The Rookie he didn’t recognize spoke up.  He was a dark-skinned man with his hair in tight cornrows and seemed a bit younger than the rest.  He had a red and yellow uniform, with a key-shaped insignia on his chest. “They’re a little rough around the edges, but they don’t seem like problems to me.”

“You haven’t been doing this as long as the rest of us, Takagi,” Katsuma told him. “And you haven’t seen the complete files.”

Mahoro let out a laugh. “You say problem children like your kid isn’t one, Katsuki.”

Katsuki shot her a glare. Katsumi…  He was proud of his daughter, loved her more than almost anything in the entire world.  She’d gotten some of the best of him.  But she’d also gotten some of his worst too.  Her anger, her reluctance to properly grapple with her feelings or complex emotions.  She might have finally resolved her long-standing hang-ups around Izumi, and she definitely had a better relationship with Toshi than he’d had with Deku, but he still saw some of his school-age self in her.  “You take that back, brat.”   But he also wasn’t going to let anyone else point it out.

“You going to make me?” She gave him a glare of her own, as though challenging him.

“How have you not matured any in twenty-five years?” he shot back.

“Should… should we be stopping this?” Fujii asked, looking vaguely panicked.  The rubber-bodied Hero looked over at Katsuma as though to say ‘please, stop this.’

Katsuma pinched the bridge of his nose.  “Mahoro, please stop antagonizing Katsuki.  If you two wreck the kitchen, it’ll take forever to get it repaired. And Hiyori will pitch a fit if she can’t have her waffles.”

He pushed back from the table and stood up.  “I already had conversations with All Might and Aizawa about this, but you’re not far off, Katsuki.  It’s not a random delegation of students.  We were asked to take them on specifically.”

Katsuki just rolled his eyes.  “Of fucking course.”

“Hey,” Katsuma said. “No need for that kind of language!”

“Yeah, you better listen to him, dammit,” Mahoro said.  “We’ve got a swear jar and everything.”

Katsuki wanted to yell, to pop off a few explosions that would rattle Katsuma into realizing what a mistake he’d made in not telling him this immediately.  But instead, he sucked in a breath and shook his head, grinding his teeth. He didn’t like being blindsided like this, but anger wouldn’t do him any good.  Keeping track of the thirty-three U.A. students was enough of a challenge, even if he hadn’t known some of them since they were in diapers.  (He’d changed so many diapers.  His shitty-haired husband had a bad habit of offering to babysit for their friends without consulting him first.) He didn’t need any surprises, especially not in his first few days on the job.

What could be so bad that Shiketsu was dumping their kids on U.A.?  Sure, the dragon kid was angry, but he’d been worse. And that didn’t explain the rest, especially Windbag’s kid.

“Tell me everything.”

***

Katsuki took a seat at the table, as did Fujii, and Katsuma sat back down.  Takagi remained standing, leaning against the kitchen counter.  He crossed his arms and set his face in a scowl. To their credit, neither Katsuma nor Mahoro flinched.  Mahoro even copied his gesture and expression, the scowl looking only slightly silly on her face.  Takagi, though, definitely flinched at the scowl and impending sense of doom both he and Mahoro were giving off.

Good.  It was good to see that even hobbled as he was, he could still be intimidating.  Still, he felt a little bad.  The guy probably didn’t deserve it.  

“Okay,” Katsuma said, “so where do you want to start?”

“Tatsuma,” Katsuki said. “I can already tell she’s walking around with a hell of a chip on her shoulder.  What’s up?”

“Chie Tatsuma,” Katsuma went on, “daughter of the Dragoon Hero: Ryukyu.  Her Quirk allows her to transform into a humanoid dragon form.  Class Representative, winner of their first year Sports Festival.  Scary strong Quirk.  I’ve looked at her file and her scores in the Shiketsu entrance exam were off the charts.  They had to recalibrate their threshold because she scored so many points everyone else in her testing area was below the cutoff.”

“Kind of reminds me of you, Blasty,” Mahoro said, jabbing him in the side with her elbow.  Katsuki had to admit, she wasn’t wrong.  Not that he’d let her have the satisfaction of knowing that.  

“Okay,” Katsuki said. “She’s powerful, she’s arrogant. I can work with that.  What else?”

Katsuma frowned. “She’s also got a small but building disciplinary record.  She’s extremely dissatisfied with the Hero Rankings and the whole ranking system in general.  Of which she tends to me very vocal about.  Not a lot of respect for most of the top ranked Heroes.”  

Fujii tapped a finger against his chin.  “Didn’t Ryukyu drop in the rankings really quickly?  I remember when I was a kid, just after All Might retired, that she dropped a spot…”

That was putting it mildly. Once a young and rising star, Ryukyu had never been the same after the incident with the Shie Hassaikai.  Round Face had said it was like she’d suffered a crisis of faith, lost a step somewhere.  She’d slipped pretty steadily, year after year, ranking after ranking.  And so people had stopped believing in her.  You hear that kind of bullshit enough, you internalize it, and it just feeds a vicious cycle.

“And, of course, she’s got the kids of a shit ton of high ranked Heroes with her here,” Katsuki growled. “Wonderful.  Let me guess… wants to make a name for herself and redeem her mom, but hates the system that’d make that happen?”

“Got it,” Katsuma said. “Think maybe you can help direct her anger some?”

“I’m the Number Four Hero,” Katsuki snapped.  At least until the next Billboard Chart ranking.  Not something he was looking forward to.  It was only a “leave of absence.”  Best Jeanist had been the same ranking as he was when he’d suffered a nearly career ending injury too.  That had turned out all right for his old mentor, but he wondered if he’d be able to say the same.  He was going to file that under things he wasn’t going to think about.  “She won’t listen to me.”

“Aizawa said he’d talk to her,” Mahoro said.  “Underground Heroes don’t get ranked at all.  Maybe he’ll get through.  And besides, he managed to focus you.”

Katsuki let her have that one.

“Let’s see,” Katsuma went on.  “I assume you’re familiar with Shinji Yoarashi?”

“You really want to ask stupid questions?” he shot back.  “I’ve known Windbag’s kid for ages.  I’m guessing his being here has something to do with his unauthorized rescue mission back during the Nomu mess?”

The kid had likely saved Katsumi’s life, Round Face’s too, with that stunt.  Even if it’d been technically illegal and on extremely dubious grounds, Katsuki couldn’t blame him too much for that.  Sure, he was as annoying and loud as his dad, but his heart had been in the right place.  Sometimes, intent mattered more than the rules.

“Pretty much,” Katsuma said with a nod.  “His teachers want us to focus in on following the rules and proper procedures.”

“Does that include knowing when to break them?”

“No,” Katsuma said.

“Yes,” Mahoro said at the same time.  The two exchanged glances.

“Got it,” Katsuki said.

“Good,” Fujii added. “…Explain it to me?”

Katsuki did not dignify that with a response.

“Okay,” he said, “what about Tsuchikawa?”  He still couldn’t believe Pixie-Bob had a kid.  Apparently, she adopted him after stopping his villainous parent.  Word around the rumor mill, or wherever Pikachu got his nonsense from, was that she was still just as promiscuous and flirtatious as ever, having made the complete transformation into a full on cougar. She was supposed to have a daughter too, he recalled, though the father wasn’t known.  

He shuddered at the memory of the woman at Class 3-A’s graduation, sitting front row, giving him, Deku, IcyHot, and Glasses looks he never wanted to see again.

“Ego and lack of teamwork skills mostly,” Mahoro told him.  She gave him a pointed look.  “Definitely your department.”

“Ooooh, she’s got you pegged,” Fujii said.  The rubber-bodied man grinned for a second, before wilting under Katsuki’s glare.

“How has Aizawa not killed you yet, you glorified gacha prize?”  His former teacher didn’t suffer fools gladly and neither did Katsuki. And yes, while he was relatively young, Fujii did have an impressive career as a Pro-Hero behind him already. Never more than a “friendly neighborhood Hero”, he was nevertheless liked by many and had saved a lot of lives. And very popular with children to boot. Tai had an action figure of him that actually bounced.

He was just damned annoying.

“I’m pretty much indestructible!”

Katsuki growled.  “You want to put that to the test?”

“…No.”

“What about Park?” he asked, rather than get drawn into anything else with his fellow teacher.  “Korean, right?”  Something tugged at his memory and he frowned as he tried to place it.

“Another one with a lot of anger,” Katsuma admitted.  “And even more distrust for Heroes than Tatsuma.  Tatsuma, at least, only disagrees with the ranking of Heroes and the spectator sport part of that.  Park isn’t entirely convinced in the Hero system at all.  Impressive Quirk though… uses bioenergy to enhance her physical attributes.  Short bursts of power or speed.  She’ll make a good Hero if she can get past her issues.”

He looked a little defeated by the prospect of it.  Katsuki remembered what he’d been like on Nobu Island, a lot like Deku had been at the same age.  So full of love for Heroes and faith that they could solve everything.  He’d even admit he’d been like that at one time, before he’d been kidnapped and forced to reckon with his own limitations.  Before he’d seen so much of the seedier side of the world, and the problems that punching something or unleashing an explosion in its face couldn’t solve.

“Any idea what caused it?” Fujii asked.  “Everybody likes Heroes.  It’s kind of Japan’s thing.”

“The Ignition Incident,” Katsuki said, as the memory floated itself up into his mind.  Up until Endeavor’s public confession, it had been the biggest scandal in Hero history.  

“The what now?” Fujii asked. His rubberized features twisted up in confusion.  “I don’t remember any Ignition Incident.”

“Then you either weren’t paying attention or had a crappy Hero History teacher,” Katsuki growled. What the hell were they teaching in schools these days?  That American idiot, Skyline, taught Hero History at U.A.  He’d maybe he’d have to sit in on a few classes to make sure they were getting it right.

“Wait,” Takagi said. His eyes went wide. “I know about that one.  Shit.”

“Anybody going to clue me in here?” Fujii asked, looking furtively from face to face.  “I seriously don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“So this was about twenty years ago,” Katsuma explained.  “Ignition was Suguru Dian, a U.A. grad from the class behind Deku and his friends, with a powerful flame Quirk that basically let him set anything on fire.  He went from Sidekick to full on Pro in almost no time at all.  People called him the second coming of Endeavor.”

Katsuki remembered the guy, having worked with him a few times, both professionally and when they’d been students and the then Class 2-A had done joint training with the new 1-A. Arrogant as all get out, but with the talent to back it up.  Of course, Aizawa and Deku had ended up having to pry him and Katsuki apart…

“So Ignition is half-Chinese and a rising star,” Mahoro said, taking over from her brother.  “And being a rising star like that, the HPSC, in its infinite wisdom, thinks it’s got an “in” to help better police some of the Chinatown communities, especially with the Rising Sons Triad starting to fill the void the Shie Hassaikai left behind.  Unfortunately, he’s got daddy issues, on account of his Chinese dad abusing him and his mom.  Which boils over into some pretty self-hating racist stuff too.”

“Okay,” Fujii said. “I’m getting some ideas here, but Park’s Korean, not Chinese.”

“We’re getting to it,” Katsuma said.  “So Ignition is made a part of an anti-Triad taskforce, and ends up investigating a Triad owned restaurant.  The community there is already pretty involved in self-policing, so there’s a lot of resistance, insults, pretty much all his buttons getting pushed.  But something inside him snaps, total breakdown. He thinks he’s taking down Triad agents, and instead he’s fighting innocent civilians with an extremely dangerous Quirk.”

“People died, man,” Takagi said.  “Dozens more injured, massive property damage, the works.  Public relations nightmare and international scandal.  Global news for months.”

“There was a big show trial,” Katsuma added.  “Ignition was stripped of his license.  As far as I know, he’s still locked away somewhere.  The HPSC made a big show of providing additional sensitivity training for Heroes, better psych screening, community outreach, all the kinds of things that would reassure the public.”

Katsuki remembered it all well.  He’d only been solo a year or two at that point, not long after a stint sidekicking under Beast Jeanist.  His late mentor had been appalled by what had happened.  He’d been disgusted too.  Especially by the way the HPSC reacted.  

“It was all smoke,” he snarled.  “They didn’t prohibit it, but they did stop specifically assigned Heroes to “ethnic” neighborhoods. And sure, plenty of Heroes still went in and did their damn jobs.  But it broke a lot of trust.  They left a lot of people to fend for themselves, instead of cleaning up their own act.”

Even Deku had wanted to do more, but he’d been too new still, too hamstrung by the rules and regulations.  He’d done more than any of them though.  Deku was one of the few Heroes pretty much beloved across all communities in Japan.

“Things got better, eventually,” Katsuma said.  “Political winds shifted, Commission members turned over, policies got reversed, and we started working with people better.  But there’s still a lot of people out there who remember or who felt the effects of being abandoned.  The general consensus in a lot of those communities is still not to trust Heroes or have any faith in us being able to get the job done.”

“Well… shit,” Fujii said. “How did I not know about this?”

“Because you’re an idiot?” Katsuki suggested, but his heart wasn’t in the barb.  The man seemed genuinely shocked by the news and even a bit sobered by it.

“That’s really only about half of it,” Katsuma said.  “She was born here, but her parents were immigrants, seeking to escape the anti-Mutant Humanist groups in Korea.  Of course…”

Right, Katsuki thought. That was a whole mess of politics and cultural issues he didn’t even feel remotely qualified to untangle.  But the government tended to lump all members of an ethnic group together, in this case not sparing much distinction between new immigrants and culturally assimilated Zainicihi Koreans.  With crime and politics and all that… it didn’t leave a lot of faith in the supposed chosen protectors.  And when you’d seen the government turn on you once…

“So we’ve got to undo generational trauma,” he groaned.  “Great. They came here, expecting the same protection from heroes Japanese citizens get, and instead they arrive into a hornet's nest due to uncaring bureaucrats desperately trying to save face while not rocking the boat.”

He let out a frustrated noise.  What about the last one?  Shida? The spider-girl.  What’s her damage?”

“Oh, her,” Mahoro laughed. “She just wanted to be with her friends, apparently.  And no one told her why the others were being sent.”

That was…  that was…  pretty par for the course for absurdity, where things in his life were concerned.  Katsuki let out a laugh, long and loud.

“Make it stop!” Fujii wailed.  “He’s scaring me!”

[ao3feed-todoroki]

The Villains, the Heroes, and the Innocents

The Villains, The Heroes, and The Innocents by flowersatwork

when a girl the same age as a first year high school student becomes a villain, what will happen?

shitty summary as always. we love being consistent anyway idk what im doing

Words: 334, Chapters: 2/?, Language: English

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Other

Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Todoroki Shouto, Midoriya Izuku, Kirishima Eijirou, Kaminari Denki, Mineta Minoru, ugh why him, Ojiro Mashirao, Shouji Mezou, Satou Rikidou, Ashido Mina, Hagakure Tooru, Aoyama Yuuga, Koda Koji, Awase Yousetsu, Kaibara Sen, Kamakiri Togaru, Kuroiro Shihai, Kendou Itsuka, Kodai Yui, Komori Kinoko, Shiozaki Ibara, Shishida Juurouta, Shouda Nirengeki, Tsunotori Pony, Tsuburaba Kousei, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Tokage Setsuna, Fukidashi Manga, Honenuki Juuzou, Bondo Kojirou, Monoma Neito, Yanagi Reiko, Rin Hiryuu, Class 1-B, Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Kayama Nemuri | Midnight, Ishiyama Ken | Cementoss, Kan Sekijirou | Vlad King, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Ectoplasm, my oc ofc, Fuyu Kana

Relationships: lmao none - Relationship

Additional Tags: lol im starting a new book, new addiction new family ig, yas bnha got my heart, faints dramatically, lol i have a test on the 13 on december, rip me], also no caps, punctuation went yeet, and i still dunno what grammar is, deal with it ig

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28034937

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Chapter 75: Let’s Get This Show on the Road

Presenting the next installment of my on-going, nextgen, MHA fic! Earlier chapters can be found here

Some are mine, but a decent chunk of the 1-C kids in this chapter were created by tumblr user and number one fic fan on tumblr @uninvited-eon​

“Okay everyone, gather ‘round!”  Itsuka Tetsutetsu called out to her class.  Around the common room, the sixteen students of Class 1-C began to gather, some listlessly, some begrudgingly, but none of them eagerly. Her heart ached for them.  

Whereas Aizawa and Super-Ball’s classes had passed their Final Exam… her class had failed.

She felt a strong measure of guilt over that.  They were only the second group of students she’d shepherded through U.A. and she could not help but feel like she’d failed them somehow.  Had she not trained them well enough?  Had she not stressed the need for teamwork and cooperation, of thinking things through?  They’d all done well in their Heroics Class and two of them had even made it to the Tournament round of the Sports Festival.  And yet, when it had come down to it, victory had slipped from their grasp.  Aizawa and Fujii had both told her she wasn’t to blame, as had her husband, but she still felt the sting of failure.  She’d already vowed to do better by her kids.  She’d already been working on new ideas for the next term.  

“Yes, Sensei?” Yoru Kan, tall, buff, and pale, asked from her spot on one of the couches.  It was strange to think her old teacher had a daughter the same age as Itsuka’s own child, but such was life sometimes.

“I know you’re all upset about not getting to go to the Training Camp with the other classes,” Itsuka said.

Ichigo Minoru, the lion-like Class Representative, growled.  “We should have done better.”

This earned him a glare from the pink-haired Momoko Hohki, who blew a gum-bubble generated by her Quirk, popping it noisily.  “You want to say that again, Fuzzball?” The two had never really gotten along.  Hohki had… issues with authority.

“I’m just saying we could have done better,” Minoru said.  He held up furry hands.  She knew he bore the loss heavily as well, taking it quite personally.  He was brave and selfless, but he had to be wondering if his leadership skills hadn’t been up to snuff.  “That’s all.”

“I think we all know who screwed up,” Kan said gruffly, crossing her arms.  

Ayahiko Akiyama pushed his glasses up, the red frames standing out against skin that was even paler than Kan’s.  “Well, it sure wasn’t me.”   His color-manipulating Quirk had been useful during the exam, unleashing wildly shifting color patterns to disorient some of their foes, but the lack of responsibility was typical too.  She and the other teachers hadn’t been able to get him to step up just yet.  They were giving it time, but he’d either shape up for ship out.

“Like hell it wasn’t,” Reiki Akamatsu snapped, the green quills along her head bristling.  “You and Enoshima both!  Throwing up your damn light shows so we couldn’t see!”

Hitomi Enoshima, whose Kaleidoscope Vision Quirk made looking her in the eyes dangerous, took offense with that.  “I told you to get out of the way!  Not my fault you didn’t listen!”

“Shouting “get out of the way, losers!” doesn’t count as telling people to get out of the way,” Kin Shiji snapped.  The parts of his face that weren’t patches of metallic gold were flush with irritation.

“Can we… can we not fight?” Shika Mizuno asked.  The antlered girl bowed her head and closed her eyes.  She was gentle and soft-spoken, reminding Itsuka very much of her friend and former classmate Komori.  Trying to play peacemaker when the more outspoken members of the class fought was common for her.

Unfortunately, Mizuno’s words did little to quell the arguments brewing.  Sides were taken, insults shouted, and things started getting loud very quickly.  

Employing her Quirk, Itsuka enlarged her hands and brought them together in a singular clap that resonated throughout the room.  It left some of the Class holding their ears, especially the lion-like Minoru and the bear-like Tsukiko Kuma.  But it did its job and silenced them all for a moment.  

“Sorry about that,” she said, reducing the size of her hands back to normal.  “But I could tell that was going to get ugly.  And fighting amongst yourselves is part of why you failed the exam.”  There had been so much arguing, so many strong-willed hot heads in her class determined to do things their own way.  They’d gotten in each other’s way during the exam, hadn’t coordinated properly, and ultimately the faux-Villains had gotten away with their target.  

“You’ve got potential,” she said.  “I believe in you.  But there’s a lot we need to work on.  Which is why, while the other Hero classes are at their Training Camp, we’re going to be having one here at the USJ.  Water Spout, Doc Clock, and I will be putting you through your paces from pretty much sunup to sundown, with a particular focus on teamwork and collaboration.”

She frowned.  “Failing your exam is a big deal.  But it’s one you can come back from, with hard work. I believe in all of you.  Which is why I also arranged for some extra help with your additional training.”

At that, the doors burst open.  “Woooo!  Who’s ready for some training?!”

Itsuka pinched the bridge of her nose.  “Tetsu, I told you to wait outside until I texted you.”

Her husband blushed and smiled sheepishly.  “Sorry, ‘suka.  Got done dropping Kana off and got bored… figured you’d be ready by now.”

It was going to be a long two weeks.

***

Nearly all of Class 1-A and Class 1-B had already assembled by the time Katsumi arrived.  She’d been rather insisted that she and Dad not arrive together.  It was going to be enough of a pain having him as one of her teachers, but she could live with that.  This was a practical matter of asserting her own independence.  And there was some small part of her that wanted to take in everyone’s reactions when they found out about him.  Maybe she ought to get her phone ready.  Depending on how people reacted, she could get a new ringtone out of it.

Izzy gave her a polite nod as she approached.  “It is good to see you, Katsumi,” she said.

“Good to see you too, Iz,” she replied.  Thoughts of her dad’s promise to push all of them hard ran though her mind.  She’d spent years thinking of Izzy as fragile and in need of protection.  Even if the last few months of U.A. had told her otherwise, her first instinct was always going to be to protect her friend.   Even if she and Iz weren’t romantically compatible, she loved her still, as the most important person in her life.  “All set for roughing it?”

Izzy closed her eyes and nodded.  “I believe so,” she said.  “My parents were concerned, of course, but ultimately convinced that I would be in good hands.”

Of course they were. Katsumi nearly rolled her eyes. Izzy’s parents were crazy protective sometimes.  Nearly all the time, actually.  She’d have thought they’d have learned by now.   Best not to think about it, it would just make her angry.

“Any idea where they’re taking us?” she asked instead.  Even without Villains after the Hero classes, U.A. had stopped publicizing the location of its Training Camps years ago.  It was a lot safer that way.  Not that she’d been able to get anything out of Dad.  He’d cited “tradition” as being the reason he couldn’t tell her.  She was also sure getting on her nerves was also one of the reasons.

Izzy shook her head. “I am afraid I have no idea.  We shall just have to see.”

Katsumi just laughed. “Ah, well.  Worth a shot.”

In the meantime, she could see the Class Representatives making the rounds, with Toshi and Tokyami talking to the members of their class, and Kana and Awase talking to theirs. She could see Aizawa too, off to the side and in consultation with 1-B’s teacher, Super-Ball.  She couldn’t hear what was being said, but Aizawa was giving the rubber-bodied Hero a death glare and looking like he wanted to be absolutely anywhere else on the planet.  Super-Ball was talking animatedly and occasionally elbowing Aizawa in the side. Given what she’d heard about Super-Ball, her sympathy was entirely with Aizawa.  

“Five hundred yen says Aizawa wraps his head up to stop him from talking,” she said to Izzy.

Izzy shook her head again. “What is it you would say? “That’s a sucker’s bet?’”

Katsumi laughed again. “You are listening.”  She doubted Izzy had ever seen that small an amount of money in her life anyway.

Around them, most of the class was in its usual friendship groups.  She could see Shinso babbling to Haimawari, who was indulging the hyperactive, purple-haired kid, nodding occasionally at whatever he was going on about. Sero, Sato, and Ojiro were talking as always, probably discussing content for their damned web show. The Iida twins and the new girl with the wings, Kocho, were watching the discussion with something somewhere between amusement, fascination, and confusion.  Mineta was talking to Koda, while Aoyama and Shoji stood a little bit apart from the rest of the class.  One person she did notice was missing though.  It wasn’t until she looked around until she noticed…

“Hey, Iz?” Katsumi asked.

“Yes?”

“Why the hell is Kaminari hanging out with Monoma?”  Izzy was friends with the electric dumbass.  There was a decent chance she’d known what was going on.  

“I cannot say,” Izzy told her.  

“But you know,” she pressed.  

“Chihiro has asked that I not speak of it.”

“…What.”

***

“What?” Chihiro asked, as Monoma slipped the bracelet around her wrist.  It had been made in the kumihimo style, she could tell, yellow with just a little bit of black in it, like her hair.  She wasn’t sure they were at the gift-giving stage of… whatever it was exactly they were doing.   They’d gone out once.  

Which had been nice, she actually had to admit.  Nothing fancy, just a walk and some ice cream, but he’d turned out to be surprisingly good company.  When he wasn’t being a competitive asshole or didn’t have Kirishima-Bakugo around to rile him up, he could actually be a decent guy, and even pretty funny.   He was smarter than her, that much was sure, and ridiculously well-read, but he didn’t lord it over her and listened when she talked, especially about music, he actually asked questions and wanted to know more.  He’d been more encouraging during that walk that he’d been in the entirety of the time she’d known him before.

More vulnerable too. He’d been damn close to quitting before he’d talked to her.  And then there was the way he talked about his classmates and how much potential he saw in all of them…

She was beginning to understand what Mika had seen in the guy.  Granted, Mika’s type was “alive,” but she was actually beginning to see why Koda willingly associated with him.  

They’d talked on the phone and texted more on top of that.  She’d actually found herself looking forward to it.  Chihiro was well aware she was no amazon with pneumatic boobs like Mika or Sora Iida, or even a girly fashionista like Ojiro.  She was relatively plain, her curves barely there. She was fit, but hardly a paragon of physical fitness, and she was never going to be the smartest person on the planet. Even her Quirk wasn’t that impressive without lots of Support Gear.

Having someone actually interested in her, for who she was, when there were so many other better options available was still a surprise.

“It’s a gift,” Monoma said. “I made it myself.”   He smiled, sheepishly.  “I watch a lot of tutorials on Viewtube, so I can pick up other skills. You never know when it might come in handy.  Besides, it’s more than that.  It’s a promise.”

“A promise of what?” Chihiro cast a few nervous glances around.  Someone—Ojiro probably—was probably already noticing she’d been talking with Monoma for a while now and speculating wildly. Several of Class 1-B were definitely already looking at her.  

She wasn’t exactly as embarrassed by the thought of people finding out she was dating him as she’d have thought, but she’d kind of wanted to control the message.  But he’d been so insistent on giving her the bracelet before the busses arrived…

“It’s an apology too, for my earlier behavior, but it is a promise,” Monoma said, “that I won’t kiss you again.”  He leaned in close, and his voice dropped to a whisper. “Until you kiss me first.”  She was pretty sure she heard Fukidashi gasp.

Well, wasn’t that presumptuous of him?  Why was he so pretty when he was being so arrogant?  “Don’t,” she breathed, her Cords rising up reflexively, sparks dancing on the tips, “don’t you mean “unless?’”

He gave her one of those all too confident smiles, his eyes practically twinkling.  “Giving up on us so soon?”

Chihiro flushed red and couldn’t find the words to respond to that.

***

Toshi looked down at the clipboard he was carrying, nodded, and looked over to Asuka.  “That everybody?” he asked.

“It is,” Asuka told him, checking her own clipboard.  Frog-Shadow was sitting on her shoulder, looking vaguely bored.  “Everyone’s here, everyone’s luggage is accounted for, and the buses should be here in about ten minutes.”

“Good,” he said. Being Class Representative came with a lot of responsibilities, but his classmates made it easy.  None of them put him through half has much as their parents’ class had put Uncle Tenya through.  The worst he usually had to do was keep Katsumi from killing Mineta when the latter was being particularly aggravating or mediate a conflict between Aoyama and Sero.  It helped that he’d known the majority of them for years and understood their eccentricities.  

“Okay!” Toshi called out. “Everybody listen up!”  It took a moment—Sero was being especially chatty—but eventually, everyone did quiet down, with Kaminari hurriedly joining the group at the end.

“Thank you,” Asuka told them.  “Toshi and I both want you to know we expect all of you to be on your best behavior during the Training Camp.  Aizawa-Sensei wishes for us to emphasize that there will be severe consequences for misbehavior.”

“He was really scary when he said it!” Frog-Shadow piped in.  

“He was,” Toshi agreed, shuddering at the memory.  “But I know you’re all mature, responsible individuals who can be counted on not to do anything stupid.”

“How’d you manage to say that right a straight face, Toshi?” Katsumi asked, arms crossed, grinning smugly.

“It wasn’t easy,” he admitted.  “Now, any last questions?”

Mineta’s hand went up.

“That aren’t about fraternization during the camp?”

Mineta’s hand went down. Toshi breathed a sigh of relief.

He turned around and looked over to where Aizawa and Super-Ball were.  “All set,” he called out.  He heard Kana Tetsutetsu do the same.  

The two teachers walked over so they were standing in front of the two classes.  “Thanks, Class Reps!” Super-Ball said, grinning broadly. He spread his arms in an expansive gesture.  “Is everybody ready for a summer of fun?!”

Silence greeted him.

“That’s right!” 1-B’s teacher went on, as though they’d responded.  “Well that’s too bad, because Aizawa canceled all the fun.  Your friendly neighborhood bouncing ball tried to talk him out of it, but well, you try arguing with that face.  C’mon, make the face, Aizawa.”

Aizawa’s expression did not change.

“Yeah,” Super-Ball said. “That’s the one.  Seriously, though, you guys are gonna work really hard. But I know you can do it, and you’re gonna be better for it!  And we’ve got one extra surprise for you.   You want to take this one, Aizawa?”

“Right,” Aizawa said flatly. “In addition to Fujii and myself, your new Heroics teacher will also be accompanying us.”

A dozen plus conversations broke out among the two classes, as they began to speculate who that might be. Toshi had known that with Grandpa Might becoming the new principal, they were looking to fill the slot, but he hadn’t known for sure that anyone had accepted the job.  The weird thing was, neither Katsumi nor Shota seemed surprised by the news.  

“Who is it?” Rika Bondo, the blue slime girl from 1-B, asked.  

“That’s be me.”

“Uncle Kachan?!” Toshi stammered out.  Uncle Kachan had appeared almost out of nowhere, no less stealthy for his recent injury.  He was dressed comfortable, in civilian clothes, but still looked ready to take on any challenge that might come his way.  There was the slightest of limps to his step, but you had to be really looking to notice it.

But never, in a million years, would he have thought he’d be their new teacher!  

Someone had let out a girlish shriek.  “Oh, man, Monoma!” Anime Fukidashi giggled.  “You should have seen the look on your face!”

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, we’re all going to die,” Sero wailed.  He’d gone a distinctly paler shade of pink.  

“Well,” Toshi heard Izumi say, “this is unexpected.”

“This is… wow…” Haimawari trailed off.

“Guys? Seriously?  I think Monoma’s broke.  He hasn’t moved for, like, a minute.”  Fukidashi’s voice carried over all the others.  “Tetsutetsu, maybe you want to smack him?”

“I’m fine, dammit!” Monoma snapped.   All eyes were instantly on him.   He gulped nervously.  “My… apologies, Senseis.”

Uncle Kachan didn’t seem to care and Aizawa was as impassive as ever.    

“Breathe, kid,” Super-Ball said.   “He’s legally prohibited from killing you.”   He winked.  “But you’d be surprised what you can live through.”

Uncle Kachan looked over at Aizawa.  “Is he always like this?”

Aizawa just sighed. “This is actually one of his more sedate days.”

“And you didn’t think to mention that, you sorry excuse for a hobo?!”

“If I have to suffer, so do you.”

“You two do know I can hear you, right?” Super-Ball asked, though he didn’t sound offended.  “And so can they?  The impressionable children?”

Uncle Kachan sighed, then turned his attention to them.  “I’m not big on speeches.  So I’m just letting you all know now, All Might was the good cop.  I’m the bad cop.  And I’m gonna work you all like you’ve never been worked before!”

Several of the students gasped.  Toshi was pretty sure he saw Monoma look faint.  Katsumi just grinned that grin she did before she punched someone.  

Anything else was cut off as the automated buses arrived, one of which seemed a bit larger than the other, probably to accommodate Kentaro Fukui, the nearly three meters tall member of 1-B.   “About time,” Aizawa said.  “Get your luggage loaded and then get on the bus.  Class 1-A in the first bus, Class 1-B in the second.  We leave in ten, with or without you.”

***

It didn’t take long for the buses to get underway.  Aizawa was seated in the front of the bus, Uncle Katsuki in the back.  The various couples in the class were sitting together, as were the usual friends like Chihiro and Mineta and Isamu and Shota, while Asuka was sitting with their new classmate Kocho.  Their odd numbers meant that Shoji was sitting alone, though he didn’t seem bothered by it.  And, of course, Izumi was sitting with Katsumi.

Izumi turned to look at her friend.  “So,” she said, “I am assuming you knew about this?”

Katsumi smirked at that. “Oh yeah.  All Might offered him the job a couple of days after the break started.  He thought about it for maybe a day tops before he said yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

That earned her another smirk from Katsumi.  “You didn’t ask.”

A smile spread across Izumi’s face and a small giggle escaped her lips.  “That is true,” she said.  “I did not.”

“Besides,” Katsumi added, “he swore me to secrecy.”

Uncle Katsuki would certainly be a… different teacher than All Might, she was sure.  But he was Japan’s Number Four Hero, with numerous Villain captures and cases solved behind him.  The media often liked to paint him as a volatile brawler, but she knew there was far more to him than that.

Izumi nodded.  “He has a wealth of experience to offer.  I am sure he will take to the role readily.” More importantly, Izumi was glad to see that Uncle Katzuki was doing well and getting back to something approximating normal.  With traumatic injuries like he had experienced, it took a truly exceptional individual to come back from them.  But then again, her father often said that Uncle Katsuki had “more guts than sense.”  She was reasonably certain that he had not meant it was a compliment—especially as her mother had swatted him for saying it—but guts were definitely required here.

“Yeah, well…” Katsumi trailed off.  Her dear friend rarely allowed herself to be vulnerable, and even here, it was only for the briefest of moments.  “Beats having him mope around the house while he’s taking medical leave.”

Medical leave, not retirement.  That was potentially promising sounding.  “They are hopeful for a more functional prosthetic?”   Katsumi had told her that her father’s Quirk made traditional prosthetics unwieldy for long term use, but that Doctor Shield and Mei Hatsume were working on a better one.

Katsumi shrugged. “Nothing yet.  They really don’t know if he’ll ever…”  Her voice started to crack, but she was fighting it.  She so hated to show weakness in front of anyone, even her.

Izumi reached over and gave her friend’s hand a squeeze.  Katsumi returned the grip, mindful that Izumi was not as strong as she. No other words needed to be said. As always, they would have each other’s back.

“But yeah,” Katsumi went on, her tone shifting back to something more in line with her usual self, “in the meantime, he’s going to make everybody here’s life hell.”  She looked around the bus.  “Pretty sure Aoyama and Sero might die.  Maybe Monoma too.”  That caused her to snicker.  “Did you see his face?”

“I did,” Izumi said, her tone carefully neutral.  She did not wish to encourage Katsumi’s delight in the misfortunate of others, though that was probably a battle she would not win.  But Uncle Katsuki would likely be an unrelenting taskmaster, and she knew she could expect no favors or special treatment due to her friendship with Katsumi or her own limitations.

Limitations she would not have were it not for her grandfather.

No.  She could not dwell on that now.  She had learned much, but she was still deciding what to do with that information.  Izumi had not even mentioned her visit with her grandfather to her parents. Mercifully, Chihiro and Mineta had not pressed her for details, respecting her privacy.  Soon, she hoped, when she had time to grapple with the reality of it, she would tell her friends.  But for now, she needed to focus on getting stronger.  She would need all her wits about her for the camp ahead.

***

“Anxious?” Asuka asked Kocho.  Frog-Shadow was dozing on her lap.  Long rides always had that effect on her familiar.  She knew their new classmate was already friends with Toshi, Haimawari, Sero, Ojiro, and Sato, but as elected Vice-Representative and unofficial “Class Mom”, she too had a duty to reach out to her, so she’d volunteered to sit with her for the bus ride while the others paired off.  Frog-Shadow had been upset that she wasn’t going to sit next to Shoji, but her other half had to learn that, even with their increased cooperation, she couldn’t always get what she wanted.

The moth-girl shook her head.  “Yes,” she said.  “Sorry, did I just contradict myself?”  Her wings were folded around her as much as she could make them, taking up the majority of her seat.

“A bit,” Asuka told her. “But understandable.  Are you comfortable?  I don’t mind pulling up the arm rest.”

“I’m fine,” Kocho said. “Little close, but it doesn’t hurt. This is still nicer than taking the city bus.”  She gave Asuka a reassuring smile.  

Asuka flipped up the armrest anyway and Kocho let her wings spread out a small amount.  “I won’t say your anxiety is unwarranted,” she said.  The truth of others experiences and feelings was not open for debate.  “But this is very standard for the Hero Courses.  They find a few Heroes or a Hero team from outside the school, so that they can bring a fresh perspective to our training, and under our teachers’ guidance, push us to increase the strength and versatility of our Quirks and skills.  It will be exhausting… but ultimately rewarding.”

She looked down at the sleeping frog on her lap.  Nothing but peace and contentment flowed through their link.  Asuka was determined to enjoy it while she could.  It wouldn’t last long once Frog-Shadow was awake. “Though what exactly they can do with this little one, I’m not sure.”

Kocho chuckled at that. “Any idea who they got to teach this year’s then?  Or is that one of those ‘rational deceptions’ Deku and Shinso were trying to warn me about?”

“They keep it a secret,” Asuka told her.  “Though it’s not a rational deception in this case.  It’s really more of just a U.A. tradition.  They like keeping us on our toes.”

This got a nod. “Makes sense, I guess.  Any idea what they were talking about then?”

Asuka could hazard a guess. “You probably don’t have to worry about that,” she said.  “If they try to drop us off a cliff, you can fly.”

“You’re, you’re joking about that, right?” Kocho asked, dark eyes going wide.  “Tell me you’re joking!”

“Not at all,” she replied. She put a finger to the side of her beak in thought.  “I’m told it wasn’t a particularly big cliff, though.”

“I still can’t tell if you’re joking or not,” Kocho replied.

“She doesn’t joke,” Frog-Shadow said sleepily, stirring on her lap. “She’s the most boring person alive!  I’m the fun one in this relationship!”

Asuka looked down to glare at her living Quirk.  “And here I was enjoying the peace and quiet.”  She shook her head.  “But I doubt there will be any surprises like that at this Training Camp.”

***

They’d been on the road for about three hours and the anxiety in the bus had practically become a palpable thing.  They’d made two stops already for bathroom and snack breaks and Isamu was fairly certain most of his classmates were going to jump out of their skin every time. About the only people who weren’t waiting for the other shoe to drop were Kocho, who didn’t know any better, and Shinso, who didn’t seem to see Aizawa in the same way as everyone else.  Between their parents stories of school and their own experiences so far this year (Sending real—albeit reformed—Villains after them?  What?), they were all rightfully paranoid.

Granted, his parents had known Aizawa too, even if they hadn’t been his students.  They’d said he was gruff, but fair, and had actually been supportive of the work they’d done, despite them being Vigilantes.  That somehow didn’t make him any less scary.

Throughout the trip, Shinso had kept up a steady stream of talk about Heroes and recent Hero events. Isamu had nodded along politely to a lot of it, occasionally adding to the conversation, but mostly letting the smaller boy talk.  The two of them had gotten into a debate though, over whether Shoto or Gale Force was cooler, when Shinso had brought up a recent team-up the two of them had had.  

Shinso had been rather insistent that Shoto was cooler, especially because of the fast way he could take down Villains without anyone being hurt.  Isamu, on the other hand, had gone to the mat for Gale Force, liking the Hero’s larger than life personality and All Might level of cheer. It had been a friendly debate, though neither one of them was backing down from their position.

The two of them were sitting more towards the back of the bus.  Occasionally, Shinso would look back to where Ground Zero was sitting, his arms crossed, and looking vaguely irritated, occasionally smiling a very familiar smile, as though enjoying some private joke.  It was the same one Kirishima-Bakugo made before she punched something.  The Number Four Hero was their new Heroics teacher?  Ground Zero certainly had a reputation as having a hair trigger temper, but there was no denying that he was also really good at what he did.  The look on his face suggested he was going to get far too much enjoyment out of putting them through their paces.

He’d survived Kirishima-Bakugo this long.  How much worse could it be?

“Toshi!  Toshi!” Shinso piped up.  “You’ve gotta settle this!  Who’s more awesome?  Shoto or Gale Force?”

Midoriya was across the aisle from them, sitting with his girlfriend.  Sora Iida was leaning against him, absorbed in some technical manual. Midoriya was definitely making progress. Not that long ago, that much prolonged physical contact would have had him shaking like a leaf.

Isamu was hoping to get some time with his girlfriend as well, this trip.  Kana had loved the signed Godzillo statue he’d brought back for her from I-Island (He didn’t tell her he’d lost the first one) and they’d managed to see a marathon of his movies between his return and the leaving for the camp.  Hopefully, she wouldn’t be too busy wrangling her class that they couldn’t share a few moments of their limited downtime.

“Oh no,” Midoriya said quickly, “I’m not getting dragged into this.  Besides, I’m a Lemillion guy.”

“Not one of the choices,” Isamu told him, chuckling.  Leave it to Midoriya not to take sides.  

“I stand by my statement,” Midoriya told him.  

“Aw,” Shinso said, pouting, “you were supposed to agree with me!”

Midoriya just laughed. “Maybe next time, Shota.”

Before they could continue, the bus came to a stop.  Isamu checked the time on his phone. They’d been traveling a while now; it had been a little over an hour since their last stop.  They’d left the main roads behind after the second stop, taking back roads, until they’d pulled through a long stretch of wooded areas.  He was pretty sure he’d seen more than a few security cameras mostly hidden in the trees.  

He could see some kind of big building out the front of the bus window, and what looked like several smaller buildings spread across a well maintained lawn.  Beyond them, he could see more woods and maybe a lake.  

“Either of you recognize this place?” he asked Midoriya and Shinso.  “Is it an Agency?”

“I don’t know,” Shinso admitted.  “But it looks pretty cool!  Whoever owns this place has to be awesome!”

Midoriya’s eyes widened slightly, his mouth making a small o before a grin broke out across his face.  “Oh!  So that’s who they got!”  

“You’re not going to tell us, are you?” Isamu asked.

“Nope!” Midoriya said. Isamu hadn’t seen that mischievous a look in his eyes before.  “Don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

***

Katsumi looked around as the classes and teachers disembarked.  It was a big complex for sure.  Not exactly roughing it, though the woods around the buildings might hold some surprises, and one of the buildings looked like fairly utilitarian barracks.  It all looked vaguely familiar though.  She’d never been here, at least, not that she could recall, but she was sure she’d seen it somewhere.  Had Toshi shown her pictures?  She wouldn’t have put it past him.  Despite basically having Hero-stuff as the background radiation for his life, he still ate, drank, and slept it.

There were four Heroes waiting for them.  One was a man with spikey, sandy blonde hair, wearing a black bodysuit that left his arms bare, with silver boots, shoulder pads, belt, and bracers.  With him, there was a brown-haired woman in a pink costume that looked damn close to a princess dress decorated with darker pink hearts, who was even wearing a tiara.  Them, she recognized, Ravenous and Lady Lumious.  Ravenous had briefly been one of Papa’s sidekicks.  He even looked a bit like Uncle Tetsu, though they weren’t related.

The other man was blond, tall, with a costume in dark blue, with red highlights, boots, and gloves, along with small, gold pipe-like structures on his arms.  

Ah. So that’s who they got this year.

“Oh, shit,” she heard Monoma gasp.  Katsumi resisted the urge to cackle.  He was having a bad day for surprises.

“Why so down, little cousin?” the man in red and blue, the Hero called Boost Rush, Daichi Monoma, asked. He was a tall man, towering over his cousin.    

“I am the average height for my age!” Monoma snapped back.  “You could have at least told me you were going to be here!”

“And spoil the surprise?” Boost Rush asked.  He had the same arrogant, Monoma sneer all of them seemed to master.  Katsumi had to fight the urge to laugh again.   Monoma’s misfortunes were always funny. On the other hand, he hadn’t actually bothered her in months, no since his failed confession, so she could at least make an effort not to laugh at him when he could hear.

Katsumi’s eyes fell on the last of the four, a woman with light brown hair, who wore a costume in black, green, and orange.  There was more than a passing resemblance to Dad’s costume.  Her light brown hair was done up in twintails.  She had her arms crossed and was smirking.  It was an expression very similar to the one Katsumi and her dad often wore.

Katsumi, at the front of the group of students, gave her a smirk right back.  “They must be getting pretty desperate to turn to you, Old Lady.”

The woman’s expression instantly shifted to rage.  She pointed a finger at Katsumi.  “Still got a mouth on you, don’t you, Brat?  Well, we’ve got two weeks to beat it out of you.”

“You could try,” Katsumi shot back.  “Won’t you have to go to bed too early for that though?”

“Show some respect for your elders!”

“So you admit you’re old?” By now, several of her classmates and 1-B students were staring at her in open surprise.   Some, like Sero and Kaminari, had taken several steps back and away from her.  Toshi just looked mortified, while Aizawa was burying his head in his hands.  Even Lady Luminous and Ravenous looked vaguely puzzled.

“And so it begins,” Dad growled.  “Ladies, can we wrap this up?”

“I will when she takes that back.”

Dad just sighed. “Mahoro, you and I both know that’s never going to happen.  Can we just get on with it?”

Mahoro Shimano, also known as Vanish Veil, just grinned, but gave Katsumi a look.  “This isn’t over, Brat.”

Katsumi smirked right back. “Bring it, Old Lady.”

Aizawa cleared his throat. “If we’re all done?” he asked.  He didn’t wait for an answer.  “As some of you have figured out, this facility and the surrounding wilderness is a training facility used by the Rookies, a loose configuration of Pro-Heroes and Sidekicks, many of whom attended U.A. together, and of which Water Spout and Doc Clock are also members. They’ve got a varied skillset and are also some of the best trainers in the country; Agencies frequently send their new Sidekicks to them for additional instruction.  You will listen to them, you will follow their instruction, and you will not fight with them, no matter your previous or personal relationships with them.”   He gave Katsumi and Monoma an extra-long glare.  

“Now…” Aizawa went on.

He didn’t get to finish. “U.A. Hero students… think you’re pretty high and mighty, don’t you?” a voice, a girl’s voice, broke in.  Whoever it was, they weren’t one of the Rookies. There were five of them, she realized, coming out of the building.  Katsumi instantly tensed for a fight, wishing she had the gauntlets from her costume.

The seeming leader of the group took a step forward.  She was large, and powerfully built. “We’ll show you all how weak you really are.”

[relatableodins-blog]

FE Fates, Tokyo Ghoul, and BNHA? I'm 5'8, a quiet,straight faced individual, who has a tendency to talk weird and make situations awkward, I'm standoffish, a Cancer&an INFP, I like to talk about video games, anime, and art (that's basically all I think about) I draw on my school assignments bc I have an addiction, I'm emotional&dramatic for better or for worse but not in the gossipy drama queen way of course. athletic, artistic, stingy with money, aaand people say I look like a guy -_-

Awesome okay

Fire Emblem Fates

Best Romantic Match: Shigure. With your interest in art being so powerful and the fact that you’re quiet enough to be comfortable for him, it just clicks. Since your interests are not really that varied, you can talk to him about art all the time. You’re standoffish and quirky to him and he doesn’t mind, it’s even kind of interesting enough to where he enjoys drawing you often. (you’re a water type zodiac so that’s also a plus)

honorable mentions: Arthur, Odin, Corrin

Best Friend Match: Sakura. She’s quiet and you’re quiet, but your standoffish and openly dramatic and emotional personality is quite the contrast to her more subtle and timid one. You’ll bring her out her shell little by little all while not being too overly intimidating and she helps your over the top dramatic ways in line. (you’re a water type zodiac so that’s also a plus)

honorable mentions: Soleil, Hinata, Azura, Shiro, Kiragi

Worst Enemy: Jakob. I could see you bumping heads with Jakob and Saizo the most for the fact that they just find your antics to be annoying and the fact that all you think about are video games, anime, and drawing. Though it may be that they just need time to warm up to you… who knows… Also I feel like you and Azama may be at each others throats since he teases and you can be easy to rile up, but in the end you and Azama have some things in common so you don’t fight ALL the time. Just most of it.

Tokyo Ghoul

Best Romantic Match: Tsukiyama. He’s so over the top and would be the least put off by your, ahem… weirdness. He likes that quirky side the most and would enjoy your art for sure. Your quietness + his loudness = balance (?) (+1 for your Cancer zodiac)

honorable mention: Naki, Kanae 

Best Friend Match: Yonebayashi. Easy. You guys play games, watch anime, and are over the top about. A+ slackers, wonderful friends. Although, you are significantly more active than her.

honorable mentions: Juuzou, Shirazu, Hide (Hide is a good bro to everyone ;_;)

Worst Enemy: Touka. She thinks you’re strange and just doesn’t quite get it. You’re a lot like Tsukiyama with your expressions and quirkiness although Tsukiyama definitely has some unique interests. At least you’re only interested in games and anime things. 

honorable mentions: Ayato

My Hero Academia

Best Romantic Match: Aoyama. He has an eye for art and takes an interest in you. You both get along surprisingly well, considering you have a few things in common.

honorable mentions: Shoji, Inasa, Kaminari

Best Friend Match: Amajiki. He’s a little more shy and I feel like you’re the type of person to get along pretty well with the shy people. You guys are pretty good buds and that makes you pretty good buds with Mirio too. Nejire hangs around there too lol.

honorable mentions: Tetsutetsu

Worst Enemy: Todoroki. Eternally making the -_- face.

[supersteriochans-blog]

Juzo Honenuki Centaur maid (dragon maid) au

Kobayashi: Juzo

Tohru: Tsunori

Kana: Denki

Lucoa: Momo

Elma: Sero

fafnir: Todoroki

Saikawa: Tetsutetsu

Shouta: Jirou

takiya: Izuku

Warning!!! This au has: Poninuki. Tetsudenki. Momojirou and Tododeku

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Their Hero Academia - Chapter 67: Island Insanity Intensifies

Presenting the next installment of my on-going, nextgen, MHA fic! Earlier chapters can be found here

“Ah!” Tensei Iida exclaimed, gesturing wildly at the display before them.  “A most ingenious device.”

Toshi gave it a second look. He’d glanced at it briefly, but had been busy listening to Sora and Dave discuss the punch-enhancing gauntlets they’d seen at the previous booth and hadn’t been paying a lot of attention.  So far, he didn’t use any Support equipment himself, though he had a few ideas for some new bits for his costume he’d thought of after the Final Exam.  But if one of the twins thought something was well designed, it was probably worth paying attention to.  His girlfriend and her brother were two of the smartest people he knew, somehow managing to be in the Hero Course and still having time to take Support course classes as well.

Speaking of girlfriends, the device had now caught Sora’s attention as well.  She was, in fact, practically drooling over it.  “Oh, yes,” she agreed.  “This is quite spectacular!”

Toshi considered himself relatively smart.  He was probably wasn’t in the top fourth of the class, but close enough.  But when it came to advanced stuff like this, he didn’t have a clue.  It just looked like a silvery helmet with a dark visor to him, connected by wires to some kind of power source.  Before he could ask any questions though, Sero piped in.

“So, what’s it do?” Sero asked.  “Because I don’t know if that’s going to work with my aesthetic.”   Considering Sero had once said he’d purposefully bought a bowling shirt because the colors gave him a headache, Toshi wasn’t exactly sure what his aesthetic was and how anything could clash with it.

“Oh, it would be very useful,” Tensei explained.  “It combines several different scanners from across the electromagnetic spectrum into one device.  This should enable its wearer to view everything from the infra-red all the way to the ultraviolet end of the spectrum.  Very useful for locating Villains, even if they have stealth Quirks!”

“I do have concerns about the power source, though,” Sora added, further scrutinizing the device. “It would have to be properly armored and those wires could be easily grabbed.  And, of course, if pierced, the detonation could be rather significant…”

“Definite significant,” Sero said.

“You would not require cremation,” Sora told him, matter-of-factly.

“Still,” Tensei went on, “I do see possibilities.  I wonder though, if it would be better to house such power sources externally? Somewhere where they would not endanger the user?”

“A drone, perhaps?” Sora questioned.  “That way its power source could be properly armored, and then you would only need a wireless transmission to a visual source, such as a visor or other display…”

“Yes!” Tensei agreed. “Though the power supply needed to see the entirety of the spectrum would…”

Toshi lost track of the conversation at that point, not having the head for the engineering or scientific principles behind it.  If it ever got to gravity or some basic physics, then he was on pretty good ground. Otherwise…

“Got us a couple of smart ones, didn’t we?” Sero said, after a moment, giving Toshi a conspiratorial look. He grinned.  “I have no idea what they’re saying.”

“Then why do you look so happy about it?” Dave asked.  Once again, his patience for Sero’s actions was wearing thin, Toshi could tell.  “Don’t tell me you’re celebrating your ignorance.”

“Nah,” Sero said.  “I just like seeing Tensei get all happy about something.  He’s cute when he’s pontificating.”

Toshi had to admit, Sero had a point.  He thought the same thing about Sora.  Her eyes just lit up when she got passionate about something she was working on, even if he couldn’t follow it.

Mercifully, it didn’t take too long for the twins to wind down though, and by the sounds of it, they’d come up with yet another project for when they were able to access to a lab again. He was sure he’d hear more about it later.  He was probably going to have to remind them to eat and sleep in the near future.

“You two might want to consider a limited A.I.,” Dave said.  “Otherwise, it’s of limited utility.  If you have to keep manual control, then you’re going to be distracted focusing on that.  With an A.I., you can give it a target to follow or a patrol route.”

“Dave’s got a point,” Toshi agreed.  Not surprising.  Dave was both a star of the Support Department and had grown up with a Hero dad and older siblings.  It gave him a unique insight into the way in which the two met up.

“He does indeed,” Sora agreed.  

Tensei nodded.  “More difficult then.  And not our specialty.  Would you care to collaborate, Togata?”

Dave shrugged.  “So long as Power Loader signs off on it. Last time I checked, you two were on his shit list.”

“Very unfairly!” Tensei declared, arms flailing.

Sora joined in the protest, her own arms flailing as well.  How they managed not to hit each other, Toshi didn’t know.  “Just because we occasionally cause small explosions is no reason to restrict our lab access!  You would think he would understand that explosions are merely learning opportunities!”

This got a laugh from Sero and Dave, who looked at each other in surprise.  Both shrugged and then the group peeled off to look at the next exhibit.

“Oh, speaking of opportunities,” Sero told Dave, “Kimmie made me promise I’d ask if you were seeing anybody.  Because if not, she’s actually got some people lined up.”

Dave just shook his head. “I swear, you’re all as bad as Dad….”

***

“I can’t believe you know Godzillo,” Isamu told Togata, carefully carrying the signed statue in a small bag.  He’d mentioned wanting to get the retired Hero and actor’s autograph and Togata had insisted on introducing him.  Kana was going to flip out when she saw this.

“Dad and Uncle Izuku teamed up with him back when I was just a kid,” Togata explained.  “They got along real well, I guess.  Of course, Dad gets along with everybody…”  He laughed.  “But yeah, I figured I could convince him to do a gratis autograph if I asked.”

Isamu just shook his head. “I appreciate it though!  Kana’s going to love this!”

“Kana?” Togata asked, inclining his head slightly.

“My, ah, girlfriend,” Isamu said.  It still felt weird to be able to say that.  The notion that any girl might like him, let alone one who could probably kick his ass six ways to Sunday, was still a surprising one to him.  Though he also wasn’t entirely sure if her parents knew. He’d mentioned Kana to his, to his mom’s particular delight. On the other hand, she hadn’t formally introduced him yet to her mother, despite her mom being a teacher at U.A..  So he wasn’t sure what was going on there.  He wasn’t going to put too much thought into it. Considering she’d been the one to ask him out, he was relatively sure she wasn’t embarrassed by him or anything like that.  “Kana Tetsutetsu.”

“Battle-Fist and Real Steel’s daughter?” Togata asked.  He nodded slightly.  “Saw her at the Sports Festival. Uncle Izuku likes to have everybody working under him watch, get our opinions, see the upcoming Heroes. She’s pretty talented.”

“She is,” Isamu agreed. He wasn’t sure how well he’d have stacked up to her martial arts skills or ability to guard against attacks.  

They passed a few stalls selling various Hero merchandise, including one with a man with floppy once-dark now-grey hair and glasses glasses, who seemed to be selling copies of some kind of book.   Isamu looked up at the banner on top of the stall.  Taneo Tokuda – Author of When the Symbol of Hope Was Young –Soon to be a Major Motion Picture!

Isamu recognized the name and the title; there was a copy of it in his house.  It had been in publication for years, though originally it had been titled When the New Symbol of Peace Was Young.  It had retitled after a few years, when Deku had adopted the different and more fitting title.  It was still one of the top selling books, annually.  

The man—Tokuda, he now recognized from the author picture—shot up at the sight of them. “Tamaki Togata,” the man said, beaming. “As I live and breathe!  It’s been too long!”

“Not since the last time you interviewed Uncle Izuku for your script, Mister Tokuda,” Togata said. “I still can’t believe they’re finally turning your book into a movie.”

Tokuda laughed.  “You, me, and my bank account.  And I’ve told you, call me Taneo.  All my friends do.”   He gave Isamu an appraising look.  “Ah!  I know you! From the Sports Festival. Haimawari, right?”

“Yes, sir,” Isamu said.

Tokuda seemed to give him an appraising look.   “Oh yeah,” he said.  “I can see why Deku took you on.”   He pointed towards Togata.  “Both of you. You’ve got the same kind of spark. Takes me back to the first time I met him, really.”  He peered at them over the top of his glasses.

Not that he didn’t appreciate the comparison (He was, however, not going to think about it too hard, because down that path lay panic), but Isamu wasn’t entirely sure he was comfortable with the scrutiny the man was giving him.

A smile did work its way onto Togata’s face, though.  “You can turn that investigator mode off, Taneo.  He’s here on vacation, same as me.”

Tokuda’s face fell just a little, but he pushed his glasses back up and smiled amiably. “So no chance of an interview about everything going on back home?”

“Top secret,” Togata told him.

Tokuda laughed.  “Ah, well, can’t blame a guy for trying.   Still, expecting big things from both of you, so promise me an interview whenever you go Pro?  I know we’re going to see big things from you, Togata.  Just call it a hunch. ”

“Ah, sure?” Isamu said, uncertainly.  Deku taking an interest in him was one thing, but a reporter/writer as well?  One who’d done an official biography of Deku?  What exactly was his life?

“You’re going to be waiting a while,” Togata said.  He didn’t actually answer the question, Isamu noted.  “He’s just a first year student and I want a few more years working with the best under my belt.”

Tokuda shrugged, smiling easily.  “I’ve got time.  But let me know if you want to come on set sometime.  They start filming in a couple months and I’m sure I can get some passes.”

That might be fun, Isamu thought, though he figured Tokuda was probably talking more to Togata than him.

“We’ll see,” Togata said. “Nice to see you, Taneo.”

As they were walking away, Isamu turned to Togata.  “Everything all right there?  Guy seemed a little, ah, intense?”

Togata just smiled and shook his head.  “Tokuda’s a good guy.  Probably nobody out there who’s a bigger fan of Uncle Izuku than him, actually. …Well, maybe not bigger than the Shinso kid.  He just really believes in what Uncle Izuku means as a symbol.  But he can’t quite stop looking forward or turn off that reporter’s instinct, so he’s always looking for the next story, whether it’s there or not.  His instincts are usually on the money though.”

“Great,” Isamu sighed. “One more person expecting big stuff out of me.”

“I told you,” Togata said. “Don’t worry about that.  Focus on your training and being the best you can be. You’ve got time.”

***

Melissa had already studied the hologram in front of them numerous times.  Hell, she’s studied the real thing.  She’d been up to her elbows in it, even.  Working together with Mei and the best forensic analysts at both Deku’s agency and that the HPSC could spare, they’d taken all of the robot-Nomu apart one piece at a time and studied every inch of every one of them.  

That their secrets continued to elude them was nothing short of infuriating.  The combination of enhanced technology and bio-augmentation suggested an expertise in multiple fields of science.  Who had that level of knowledge and expertise?

Jinsei rubbed his chin with his hand.  “The same design, every time.  These were definitely mass produced.   Nothing identifying to any of the parts either.”

Melissa nodded. “There’d been some technology thefts in the weeks prior to the attack, but none of the Heroes were able to find any leads, even with the Voice and Glamour hitting the streets and shaking down just about every source.”  She tapped a few keys and called the list up.  “Not nearly enough to account for all of this… unless you only needed a handful to take apart as a model.”

He nodded his agreement. “Very sophisticated robotics. You can see certain systems here and there that are extrapolations of current theories and designs though.  I can see some of the technology from U.A.’s robots, there’s Shield tech, and I even see a few of Hatsume’s designs.  And…”

Nothing they didn’t already know.  Whoever had built them was well versed in current technology, no matter how proprietary. But the facial journey Jinsei was undergoing was something else entirely.

Jinsei frowned, his face flush with anger in a way that made his scars stand out even more.  “Those bastards.”  He slammed his hands on the console, causing the hologram to briefly flicker.  “Those bastards!   How!?”

“What? Melissa asked. She’d jumped at his outburst and paused to readjust her glasses.  “What is it?” She’s seen Jinsei get angry before, especially after…  But the pure rage she was seeing here was stunning.

He tapped keys, bringing up a hologram next to the one of the Nomu.  With more tapping, he isolated what they’d identified as the Nomu’s power source.  Melissa let out a soft gasp.  The two were identical.

“That’s the power source for the robots I’ve been designing,” Jinsei said.  “The ones I consulted you about.  The ones that were going to…”

He trailed off. Melissa had listened to his arguments about the failures of Heroes often enough to know where he’d been going with it. That they took too much on and that too much was expected of them.  That they were worked to exhaustion and made mistakes.  His idea to replace or supplement them with robots who didn’t get tired or have bad judgement was well meaning, even if she knew it wasn’t possible. The level of A.I. just wasn’t there yet, among other things.  

“That was Ami’s design,” he growled, head down, body shaking with rage.  “Back when we were just designing the robots to support the Heroes. Before…”

His head snapped up. “Those bastards stole her design!”

Melissa blinked her eyes slowly, then set her face in grim determination.  Jinsei needed goals and directions now, if he was ever going to come out of this state and not spiral into self-destructiveness.  “Who else would have had access to the plans?  Do you think there was a data breach?”

Jinsei started pacing, quick frantic steps back and forth.  “My lab assistants.  The board. A few others I’ve had to consult with. You.”

She jerked in surprise. “You can’t possibly think…!”

He shook his head rapidly. “No, not you, never you.  I trust you, Melissa.  I’m just…  my life’s work… turned into part of those monsters.  I wanted to help. And something I designed nearly killed so many…”

Melissa placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.  “Hey,” she said quietly.  “It’s another clue.  We’re going to get this figured out.”

***

They were working their way through the crowd to meet back up with Midoriya and the others when Togata suddenly stopped.  “Everything okay?” Isamu asked.

“I don’t know,” Togata said. He looked around, scanning the crowd. In an instant, his body language had changed, moving from relaxed and at ease to alert and ready for action.  Isamu had heard that the really good Heroes had a certain kind of instinct, the kind that came from years of dealing with trouble. Supposedly, they could tell when trouble was coming practically before it even started.

Tamaki Togata was only a Sidekick.  But he was the Sidekick to the greatest Hero on the planet and had worked with many more. It wasn’t surprising that his instincts would already be finely honed.

Isamu straightened up, looking around as well.  If Togata thought there was something worth getting ready for, there probably was. Even if he couldn’t see it.  All he could see were people milling about, going from stand to stall to booth.  People were snapping pictures, signing autographs, showing off their Quirks. It seemed about as non-threatening as was possible to get, his early feelings of being overwhelmed notwithstanding.

He forced himself to listen, to look around for signs of trouble.  Isamu didn’t have super-human senses.  He wasn’t an even an expert at listening like Shoji.  But his Quirk did demand that he be observant and react quickly. If he wasn’t, he’d have ended up a smear on a wall the second something came up that he couldn’t maneuver around when he was sliding.

There.

It was distant, but he could hear the sound of screams now.  They were growing louder and getting closer by the moment.  The crowd was parting now, trying to run away from whatever it was.

Togata was already taking off, heading towards the source of it, a blur of motion.  He should have stayed where he was.  Even with the super-relaxed Quirk-use laws on I-Island, he was still just a Hero student.  No license, barely a term into his studies.  Absolutely no one would have blamed him if he’d just stayed where he was.

Instead, his body moved on his own. He pitched forward and fired a burst of power from his Quirk, his autographed statue left behind without a thought, sliding through the crowd and around the fleeing Expo guests.  Just ahead, he could still see Togata, faintly glowing with power as he darted through the crowd.  

It didn’t take long to see what was going on.  Already, a number of booths and stalls had been completely trashed.  It didn’t look like anybody was injured, but that wasn’t likely to last long.  At the center of the destruction were several people—he assumed they were civilians because they weren’t in costume—all swathed in a bright orange glow.  One seemed to have some kind of fire Quirk, one was a giant rhino man, and the other was woman lobbing blobs of sticky goo.

There was no coordination in their attacks, just seemingly random destruction.

“Get away!  Get away!” the fire-wielder, said, letting loose a stream of crimson flames.  They didn’t look all that hot; he couldn’t even feel the heat from this close.  “You can’t have my liver!  I’m using it!”

“Scorpions!” the rhino man shouted, charged and smashing everything in his path.  “Covered in scorpions!  Get ‘em off me!  Get ‘em off me!”

The woman was spraying goo everywhere, her eyes wide in panic.  “Clowns!” she screamed.  “Not clowns! Anything but clowns!”

Togata seemed to sense his arrival.  “Haimawari?” he said, not turning to look.  “Stay back.  This looks dangerous.”

Another Hero arrived on the scene, but not one that Isamu recognized.  He was wearing a black costume, with boots, gloves, trucks, and a cape all the dark grey of approaching storm clouds.  A square-ish lightning bolt symbol adorned his chest. “<Don’t worry,>” the Hero said, in what he realized was English, “<Thunderhead will stop them!”>

The Hero—Thunderhead—brought his hands out to the side and then slammed them together, hard.  It created a powerful boom that sounded like a clap of thunder, sending a wave of sound out from his hands.  It struck the rhino man dead on but did little more than knock him back for a second.  

The rhino man eyed him, his tiny, dark eyes widening in fear.  “More scorpions!” he shouted, his voice laced with fear.  “Gotta stop them before they can sting me!”  The rhino man struck out, hitting Thunderhead hard enough to send him flying.

When Thunderhead got up, he was glowing.  The exact same orange glow as the others.  There was a madness in his eyes, one that was clearly driving his actions now.  “They’re all against me!  They think I’m an idiot!  Well I’ll show them!”

Thunderhead brought his hands together, unleashing another wave of force.  But Togata moved, his own body aglow in green light and he placed himself right in the line of fire.  The wave of force rocked against him, but he was not moved.  Not for nothing was his Hero name the Shield.

“Whatever it is that’s driving them crazy,” Togata said, “it’s contagious!”

Togata drew back a punch. “Dammit,” he hissed, “no time to be subtle about it!”  He threw the punch forward, glowing brighter as he amped up his density.  The force of the blow itself was enough to push the air forward, a powerful gust that knocked Thunderhead down for a moment, still aglow with orange light.

Which still left the other three.  If they touched anyone else…  Isamu quickly began to realize that following might not have been the best idea.

“Do not worry,” a voice shouted, “I am here to render assistance!”   Isamu looked to the source and found that it was Ingenium:  Tenya Iida, the twins’ father.  He was clad in his armor and running at full speed.

“Roller skate clowns?!” the goo-throwing woman shrieked.  She tossed blobs of her goo, but Ingenium dodged every one.  But then he got close…

“Ingenium!” Togata shouted. “Look out!  Don’t let them touch you!”

But it was too late. The woman’s fingers brushed against Ingenium’s armor, even as he dodged out of the way of her attack.

That was all it took.  Ingenium skidded to a stop, turning on a dime.  And by the time he had finished, he too, was glowing orange. Isamu couldn’t see the man’s expression behind his helmet, but he got the feeling that it wasn’t one he would have wanted to ever see.

Ingenium readied himself to run again.  “Back for more, eh, Stain?  You’ll not find me a careless child now!”

There was a roar like a jet engine as Ingenium fired his Recipro-Burst.

***

Rei lowered her binoculars and grinned.  “Looks like the guy we sprung is doing his job.”   Unlike the other “voluntary detainees” under I-Island, Setsushi had been stored in a tube, constantly sedated.  His Quirk took the form of a communicable madness, making whoever was infected with it hallucinate heavily, bringing their worst fears or other delusions to life. And once someone was infected, they could pass it on to others.   All it took was a touch, didn’t even have to be skin to skin contact.  Ursa had had to design very special gloves for the two of them to wear to be able to get him up to the surface and let him loose in the expo. Didn’t even need any real prompting. Just had to let him stagger around and bump into a few people.

Perched on one of the island’s towers, in the blind spot between cameras, they had a very excellent view of the chaos below.

Miss Compress lowered her own binoculars.  “Barely twenty minutes since we dropped him off, and he’s already infected more than a dozen people, including a few Heroes.  Everyone else is running or panicking.  Quite the catastrophe we’ve engineered, dahling.”

Rei did, ultimately, feel just a little guilty about that.  She did have family down there, after all.  Not close family, but her little rocket-powered cousins-in-law were still part of the crowd.  At least it wasn’t her actual cousins or anybody like that.  Sometimes, you did have to break a few eggs.  

“How long did the boss say this was supposed to last?” she asked Compress.

Her companion pulled a pocket watch from her coat pocket and examined it.  “Infection in any given person is supposed to last no more than thirty minutes and no less than five, depending upon individual resistance factors.  But reinfection is possible, so depending upon how many people it spreads through once it starts hitting the crowds…  Possibly forever.  Or at least until they all beat themselves senseless or worse.”

Compress replaced the watch in her pocket.  “Quite the show.  You don’t think our dear leader is going too far, do you?”

Rei shrugged. Compress was, she knew, more in it for the thrill of it all, the chance to pull one over on Hero society.  That it aligned with their leader’s overall goals of showing the cracks in Hero society and destroying it worked out well, but she didn’t have quite the same lust for battle that some of the other members did.

As far as Rei was concerned, it could all go burn.  Any society that let monsters like her grandfather live, even humiliated and in exile, didn’t deserve to stick around.  

“Still,” Compress went on, “one more straw for the proverbial camel’s back, I suppose.  And I can’t say I’m disappointed to see Ingenium down there.”  Ingenium, Rei recalled, had ultimately been responsible for the capture of her mentor, Mister Compress.  He’d been the last of the original League of Villains to be captured, staying free for years after the others had been captured or killed.  Small wonder she bore him some enmity.

Rei’s communicator beeped and she checked it.  “We’d better get going.  Overdrive just sent the exit confirmation.  She’s meeting us at the docks in twenty.”  Her tongue slid over her lips.  There was bound to be plenty of blood by the end of the day.  “Shame we gotta run so fast.  It was just getting’ interesting.  You got still got the sample?”

Compress patted one of her coat pockets and nodded.  “Of course, dahling.  And don’t worry.  I’m sure our benefactor will have plenty of video we can watch later.”

***

Ka-Pow!

The blue-white energy bolt hit Ingenium squarely in the middle of his forehead.  There wasn’t a lot of power behind it, but when combined with the Turbo Hero’s speed, it was like running head first into a throw fastball. Isamu looked at his hand as though he was seeing it for the first time.  Had he really done that?  Had he actually just assaulted a Pro-Hero, the Number Six ranked Hero at that?

He wondered if you could get expelled for that kind of thing.

Togata turned his head to look at him.  “Good job!” he said, flashing him a brief thumbs up.  But worry immediately replaced the cheer on his face.  “This isn’t good.  Whatever this is, it’s spreading fast and spreading by touch by the looks of it.”

Isamu’s thoughts quickly went to Midoriya and the others, and then to the countless others on the island. Even with more Pro-Heroes than you could shake a stick at, it wouldn’t take much for this to spread and spread quickly.  He didn’t even know if it would wear off.  Ingenium was down, but still glowing.  

The other infected were leaving them alone for the moment, but still causing plenty of trouble, lost in their own personal madness.  But it was only a matter of time before someone was seriously hurt.

“Probably shouldn’t do this,” Togata said, “but I know Uncle Izuku has faith in you.  So I’m deputizing you until this is all over.  So you can use your Quirk to fight. Just don’t get killed, okay?”

Isamu nodded, even as his heart was thudding in his chest.  “Okay,” he said.  “What… what do we do?”

Togata shook his head. “Try to keep people from killing each other, try to find the cause of this, work with as many Pros who’ve managed to avoid catching this as we can.  See if anyone’s made a call for help.  Whatever else happens, we can’t let this get off the island.”   Worry strained his voice.  Isamu knew his family was somewhere on the island now too. Togata’s younger brother, David, would probably be with Midoriya and the others, so he was about as safe as could be. But he had no idea where Doctor Shield or Togata’s older sister, Nejire, were.  Nejire Togata was, at least, a third year U.A. student and one of the Big Three.  Her phasing Quirk would probably keep her safe.  

People counting on them. The whole island in danger.  His friends missing.  Some kind of insanity that was spread by touch.  And he’d just shot Ingenium in the head.  It was all too much.  Isamu could fell himself start to shake and he bent at the waist, hands on his knees to keep himself from falling over.  This was supposed to have just been a vacation.  Not… whatever this had become.  He was barely sixteen.  How the hell was he supposed to cope with all of this?

He became aware of a hand on his shoulder.  Togata. “Look,” he said, “I know this is overwhelming.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared too.  But right now, we’ve got to get moving.  Every second counts.”

Isamu straightened up. He pulled his goggles down over his eyes and his bandana up to cover his nose and mouth.  All round now, he could hear the sounds of screams, of Heroes calling out attacks and telling people to head for shelter, and the sounds of all kinds of Quirks going off.  It definitely wasn’t the time to be worrying.  It was a time for action.  “Can I have a panic attack later?”

“We all can.”

***

The sound of screams split the air.  The kind of raw, panicked screams you heard when there was serious trouble afoot. Takuma’s eyes darted around and he could see that Midoriya, Sora, and Tensei were all doing the same.  They might only have been first-year students, but all of them were the children of Pro-Heroes.  Long before they entered U.A., their parents had been teaching them how to look out for themselves.

His parents were lower-ranked than some of his friends, but both still well within the top one hundred. He knew for a fact that there had been more than a few kidnapping attempts on the children of higher ranked Heroes, the twins and Midoriya among them.  The adults didn’t talk about those much, but from what little he’d been able to gather, it hadn’t gone particularly well for any of the would-be kidnappers.   Kaminari had once joked about it, suggesting that anyone who had kidnapped Kirishima-Bakugo would have brought her back almost immediately.  But even now, on the road to becoming Heroes themselves, vigilance was a must.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see David Togata moving to the back of their group. Probably smart.  Togata didn’t have Hero training or even a combat-oriented Quirk.  It sounded like the screams were coming from outside though…

“Maybe… maybe it’s nothing,” Takuma ventured carefully.  He didn’t really believe it, but…

“I don’t think so,” Midoriya said.  The crowd around them in the Expo building had frozen, waiting for the next shoe to drop. A few people he recognized as Pro-Heroes were making their way towards the front of the show floor.  

“But who would dare dream of causing trouble here, with so many Heroes present?” Tensei asked.

“It has been dared before, little brother,” Sora said.  “You’ve heard Father tell the story often enough.”

CRASH!

With a terrible sound, a chunk of wall came tumbling down, sending people fleeing and crushing several booths and pieces of Support equipment on display.  And through the hole stepped a purple-haired man in a military-stylized uniform with a peaked cap.  An orange glow surrounded him, as well as the blobs of flesh floating in the air around him.

“That’s Sisicross!” Midoriya exclaimed.  “But why’s he glowing?”

Sisicross looked across the show floor and sneered.  “Trying to surround me, eh, Villains?!  You’ll not find this son of Shiketsu so easily beaten!  Come at me!  I’ll take you all on!”  With his hands held behind his back, he clicked his heels and send the fleshy blobs flying into the crowd.   Each time they stuck someone, that person went down, transforming with a painful sound into a fleshy-blob.  Takuma gulped and fought the urge to be sick. And worse still, the blobs themselves were glowing the same orange.  He saw one man try to pick up the blob that had been his companion and the glow spread to him.  

The man let out a scream, dropped his friend, and unleashed his Quirk, firing sharp Quills from his body. Most of these missed, but a few stuck people, spreading the orange glow even further.  They started freaking out too, talking about perceived threats and other nonsense.

It was, in a word, madness.

A swarm of fleshy missiles headed straight towards them.   “Move!” Midoriya shouted.

They hadn’t planned on it, but not for nothing were they Hero-trainees and friends.  The twins rocketed into the air, Sora grabbing onto Midoriya’s hand while Tensei grabbed Togata.  Takuma fired off a strip of his Acid Tape and gave a hard yank, reeling himself upward towards the ceiling.  The flesh missiles hit where they had been seconds earlier, splattering against the floor with a sick, wet sound.  

“Too close,” Takuma muttered.  They touched down at the far end of the room.  The chaos was only getting worse, with people succumbing to the orange glow or panicking trying to get out.

“Let’s not do that again,” Togata said.  He looked vaguely ill from the sudden acceleration, to say nothing of the danger they’d been in.

“What do we do, Toshi?” Sora asked.

Midoriya looked pale. “I… don’t know.”

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Their Hero Academia – Chapter 54:  Back to School

Presenting the next chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia!

Due to scheduling things, this is being simultaneously posted here and AO3!

This chapter and earlier ones can be found here

The mood in the common room was rather somber.  The events of their Internships and the Nomu attack on the city still obviously weighed heavily on everyone’s minds.  But Class 1-A had returned to U.A. all the same.  Even in the wake of chaos, their parents had insisted.  U.A. was one of the safest places in Japan and future Heroes could not be cowed by such threats in any case.

Iasamu… honestly wasn’t as scared as he thought he’d be.  True, that creature, the Nomu, had been absolutely frightening.  But he’d been ready to fight it all the same.  He wasn’t entirely sure what he would have done, but all three of them—him, Midoriya, and Kocho—had been ready to fight it, like they’d moved without thinking.  Thank goodness Deku had recovered in time to take care of it instead, though.  But maybe a good blast would have done something?

He’d always wondered what he was really doing here.  Trying to prove himself, trying to be even more than his parents had been.  He’d often wondered if he could keep up with the kids of actual Heroes.  Between winning the Sports Festival and his Internship—freaking Deku believing in him!—he felt like he’d maybe made a turn in that regard.

It hadn’t even been a question if he’d return to U.A.  He’d set himself on this path and intended to see it through.  Dad hadn’t been surprised and Mom hadn’t taken much convincing, though both of them had hugged him and cried and told him they were proud of him.

And after all that… maybe it was time to think about not keeping secrets from his friends.

That didn’t mean it wasn’t a frightening world out there.  So many Heroes had gotten hurt fighting those Nomu (Even Dad had briefly gotten into the fight, giving Ingenium a few extra seconds to recover, something Mom had yelled at him for risking.).  A lot of them would probably be out for at least a week, according to most news sources, some of them for even longer.  And then there was what happened to Ground Zero…

Isamu plopped down on one of the couches, next to Tokoyami, Midoriya, and Sora Iida.  Tokoyami actually had Frog-Shadow out, the familiar happily perched on one of her shoulders. Usually, she kept her Quirk under wraps, but she’d let Frog-Shadow out to play all evening for once.  Hadn’t even argued with her all that much compared to usual. Iida was sitting as close to Midoriya as possible without actually sitting in his lap, pressed right up against him with one arm around him, her hand on his leg.  Midoriya had an arm almost around her, his hand hovering just above her hip, shaking. She was so close that he was pressed against her… chest.  He had to fight to keep from chuckling at that.  Midoriya could face down a Nomu but got the shakes around his girlfriend. Of course, given how he flailed like a maniac whenever Mineta got flirtatious, he was hardly Mister Smooth himself.

Speaking of girlfriends, though he wasn’t sure they were really there yet, he’d been to see Kana Tetsutetsu already, and stammered his own way through that.  It was still hard to believe an amazing girl like her was interested in a guy like him.  She’d come out of everything on Saturday safely, though her mentor, Phantom Thief, had been hurt in the fighting.  Still, she’d expressed concern and sympathy when he’d talked about how close to the start of things he’d been.  According to her, Class 1-B had mostly been further from the action than 1-A had ended up, though she was worried about Shiro Monoma, who hadn’t yet made it back to school, even though he hadn’t been hurt.  He didn’t much like what he had seen of the guy, but she’d seemed concerned, so he’d expressed his sympathy as well.

Around the common room, most of 1-A had broken into their usual friendship groups.  Isamu could see Kirishima-Bakugo in a corner, talking softly to Izumi, looking about as broken as he’d ever seen her.  In fact, she looked like she was on the verge of tears. He didn’t blame her, not with what was going on with her family.  He wished there was something he could say, but she was unlikely to accept sympathy from him.  She barely tolerated his presence on a good day.  Midoriya and Izumi were about the only people she really seemed to like.

But it was very strange, seeing her seem so broken.  She was angry and aggressive, yes, but she was also one of the boldest people he knew, always throwing herself headlong into anything and everything.  That she hadn’t yelled at anyone all evening was just… wrong.

The other couch was occupied by Ojiro, Sato, Sero, and Tensei Iida.  None of them seemed as lively as usual.  Ojiro wasn’t even smacking Sero, which had to be a first. Sato in particular looked particularly down, though Ojiro seemed to be trying to cheer him up.

Sero was showing his boyfriend something on his phone and Isamu recalled the male Iida had briefly gone viral a few days ago, before everything had broken out.  Perhaps it was something about that?  Sero was extraordinarily media savvy, after all.

Mineta and Kaminari occupied another pair of chairs.  Mineta seemed the closest to her usual self of anyone.  She was making gestures with her hands that seemed to be outlining someone’s shape, with particular emphasis on that person’s rear end.  Isamu caught a brief mention of “so freaking hot” from Mineta, while Kaminari just rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics.

Koda, Shoji, and Aoyama occupied the other table.  Isamu had heard than none of them had seen much action, with Koda having even been too far away to get involved.  A few months into school, he still didn’t know Koda or Shoji very well.  But he had become friendlier with Aoyama in the events leading up to the Sports Festival.  He knew he was really trying to prove himself, in spite of the attitude. Being sidelined probably hadn’t sat well with him.

Koda did like kind of down, though.  She was usually a fairly cheerful, if subdued, girl, so Isamu wasn’t really sure what was up with that.  As far as he knew, she hadn’t even been involved in anything, so he wasn’t sure what was weighing on them.

He also couldn’t help but wonder how Kocho was doing.  Even without Pro-Hero parents, he’d grown up with stories of his parents’ Vigilante adventures, and had actual Hero classes.  She hadn’t even had that and had gotten thrown in the deep end.  Maybe he’d make a point and see how she was doing tomorrow.

None of them had really talked much about what they’d seen during the Nomu attack.  Just a few words here or there, asking if someone else was okay, or saying that they’d been way too close.  When pressed for more conversation, it would inevitably turn to Deku and how he had saved the day.  A good, safe topic that didn’t rely on remembering how much danger you’d been in.

He looked between Midoriya and Tokoyami.  “Either of you talk to Shinso?” he asked.  “He’s not back yet.  I tried texting him, but he never texted back.”  The dorm seemed a lot quieter without the little guy’s constant chatter. He’d half expected to come back to a play by play of all the different Hero vs. Nomu fights, repeated ad nauseam.

Midoriya frowned. “Dad brought him to the hospital with Uncle Kacchan.  He was there when he got hurt.  Pretty shook up by it.  He was supposed to go home today, but I didn’t have a chance to check on him when we brought Mom home.”

“How is she, by the way?” Sora Iida asked.

“Getting better,” he replied.  “She mostly just needs some rest.  Grandma Inko’s going to stay with her while Dad’s investigating everything.”

“I haven’t heart from Shota either,” Tokoyami said.  She passed a pretzel from the bowl she was snacking from up to Frog-Shadow, who took it gratefully.  “I also tried texting him, but he didn’t respond.”

“Same,” Midoriya added. “I hope he’s okay…”

Iida shook her head. “I know seeing Kestrel being hurt was not a pleasant sight and her chances of survival were much higher than Ground Zero’s.  Her wings were very nearly ripped from her body.”

Midoriya actually moved her hand from his knee and took it in his, giving it a squeeze.  

“I’m sorry you all had to be out there for that,” Tokoyami said.  “We were stuck inside, watching it and that was terrible enough.  I feared for all of you.”

Frankly, Isamu had feared for all of them too.  He’d feared for himself as well.  But behind that fear, he’d found himself starting to move without even having a chance to think.  And it sounded like many of the rest of the class had stepped up as well.

Maybe that was what being a Hero was about?

The door to outside opened and Aizawa walked in. He looked tired, more than usual. “Gather ‘round,” he said simply.  Oddly enough, he didn’t seem as irritated with them as he usually was.  “I’ve got some important announcements.”

***

Izumi looked over to Katsumi.  “Shall we?” she asked, gesturing towards the center of the room.  The others who had been scattered about were heading there, where Aizawa stood waiting on them.  Her friend looked terrible and Izumi could not blame her.  Katsumi had experienced much during her Internship, from being unable to save someone on her first day, to seeing Aunt Ochaco hurt, to what had happened to Uncle Katsuki.  Those would have been terrible burdens to place upon an adult Hero, let alone a teenager.

She would need to keep a close eye on her dear friend in the days to come.  Katsumi herself would be the first to admit that she did not do well processing difficult emotions and that often resulted in violent outbursts.   With nearly everyone in an agitated state, it would be far too easy to ignite a spark.  

Katsumi had said her father was going to speak to Doctor Shield and Mrs. Hatsume about possible prosthetic options, but that a workable one seemed beyond current science.  He would be in the hospital for some time yet, for physical therapy and to avoid post-surgical complications.  Her friend would need much support during these next days and Izumi hoped she would not be found wanting.

Her own thoughts were, sadly, preoccupied.  The events of the Nomu attack played out upon her mind.  She’d been forced to listen while Uncle Denki and Mister Minoru fought the Nomu, somehow managing to hold their own long enough for Uncle Izuku to arrive and take it out in one mighty blow.  Both had emerged battered, but alive, able to resume their operations in a short amount of time.  But the fear that she had felt when she thought she had trapped them in with it to die still lingered.

And there was still the mystery of the Villain called Plague to unravel.  With everything that had happened, she hadn’t had a chance to speak to her parents about him and his connection to her.  She did not doubt they would be truthful if she asked, but she could not help but wonder just how truthful or cagey they would be.  A great many people seemed to be going to a great deal of trouble to hide things from both her and the public eye.

There was also the mystery of the stuffed animal someone had brought her while she was in the hospital, which now rested upon her bed in her dorm room.  Her father had tensed briefly upon seeing it, but had let it go. Though no one had offered any explanations, it tugged at cloudy childhood memories.

Katsumi nodded sullenly and they went to stand behind one of the couches with the others.  Once they were all assembled, Aizawa began to speak, taking a moment to look over all of them.  He always looked tired, but somehow, he looked even more so now, as though the weight of the world had come crashing down upon him.  Hadn’t UA been removed from the fighting?  What could be troubling their teacher?

“Firstly, while we will be discussing them more in class, let me say that the preliminary remarks I received from your Internship mentors were largely positive.”  His gaze lingered for a minute on a few members of the class, especially Sero and Mineta, but he continued.

“Especially considering what I’ve heard about your participation in Saturday’s events.  You should never have been put in that position, and for that, I am sorry.  But being a Hero comes with few promises of safety.  Your mentors did—for the most part—the best they could to keep you out of things, but some measure of conflict appears to be have been unavoidable.

“That being said, Hound Dog will be available for counseling sessions.  For the majority of you, this is not optional.  With the exception of Koda and Tokoyami, all of you were directly on the streets at the same time as these monsters.  Some of you may require more sessions than others, and there is no shame in that.  Being a Hero requires both mental and physical health.  In the meantime, we’ll be reshuffling the nature of your Heroics classes for more theoretical and historical work until such time as you’re cleared to participate in more dangerous and violent activities.”

“We’ve already scheduled a session, sir,” Asuka said.  Izumi recalled that she’d been hurt prior to the Nomu attacks and had been taken off the streets early, though she had no physical injuries that she could see.  “We” was interesting though.  Her and Frog-Shadow, perhaps?  

“I… actually have my own issues I would like to discuss, given the opportunity,” Koda added softly. She was usually one of the more even keeled members of their class.  What would have affected her like that?

“Aw, screw it,” Katsumi growled next to her, crossing her muscular arms. “I’m fine.  I don’t need a damn headshrinker.”

Aizawa held her gaze for a moment.  A tenseness, like a bomb waiting to explode, hung in the air.  Was Katsumi going to explode so soon? “Then you won’t require more than one session to clear you.”

She held his gaze, not flinching or backing down in the slightest, then nodded, seemingly satisfied she’d met the insinuation she needed help on her own terms.  

Aizawa’s gaze seemed to soften for a moment and his head drooped ever so slightly.  “While I regret that you had to be placed into action like you were… I am very proud of all of you.  Any questions?”

Toshi’s hand shot into the air.  “Where’s Shota?”

That was something Izumi was wondering as well.  The dorm seemed somehow emptier without Shota’s constant chatter and cheery face.  They all could have used some of that cheer, but with what Katsumi had said, there was likely very little to be had.

At that, Aizawa seemed to draw into himself ever so slightly. When he spoke, his voice had lost more of its forcefulness and edge. He was Shota’s godfather, after all, and held a close relationship with Shota’s father.  Shota’s absence and what it meant was obviously very personal for their teacher.  “Shinso will hopefully be rejoining the class sometime this week.”

Izumi raised her own hand. “Is he all right?”  No one had said anything about him being hurt, but as the youngest and most naïve and idealistic of the class, the harshness of reality would have fallen heavily down upon him.  A weight like that, grappling with your own inadequacies, perceived or real, would pull you down into a dark abyss.  

Izumi knew something about that.

“I haven’t been able to get ahold of him,” Asuka said.

“Me neither,” Toshi added.

“I haven’t either,” Isamu said.

Next to her, Izumi could hear Katsumi counting, as their classmates began to speculate on Shota’s location and status.  When she reached ten, she let out a demonic sounding growl that made Izumi take a step back.

“All of you shut the hell up and leave the kid alone!” Katsumi shouted.  “If he wants to talk, he’ll fucking talk!  He doesn’t need any of you damn feel goods trying to drag anything out of him!”

Katsumi’s sudden protective streak, Izumi had seen it unleashed on her behalf often.  But Shota, like Shinji, had been closer to Katsumi when they were younger, and she had sometimes stepped in on his behalf. It looked like it was coming out again. Not surprising, given what Katsumi had said had happened.

Aizawa cleared his throat. “Thank you, Kirishima-Bakugo, for that vulgar, if not completely inaccurate assessment.   As I said, Shinso will likely be rejoining us later this week.  I know many of you are his friends, but I would request that you respect his desire for privacy during this time.”

He continued, and the world-weariness settled heavily in his eyes again.  “Additionally, Principal Nezu passed away last night.  We’re still working on funeral arrangements.  An announcement will be made once plans are more solidified.  He thought very highly of all of you and would want you all to carry on and continue to grow.”

He looked around the room once more.  “I’ll expect all of you in class tomorrow morning, on time.  We’ll begin discussion of your internships and your sessions with Hound Dog then.  I know… I know you’ve all been through a lot. But try to get some rest tonight.”

***

“I can’t believe you were right in the thick of everything, Kohco!” Momoko Mogura, short, bespectacled, and mole-like, said.  

Koharu finished putting her fresh laundry away, turning to the mole-girl sitting on her bed.  “I really wasn’t in the thick of anything,” she said.  “I mean, I was there when Deku fought that thing, and I got to go on some patrols and get some training before that.  It’s not like I did any real fighting or anything.”

No, but she’d been ready to… what, exactly?  Her body had practically moved on its own, wings lifting her into the air to try and help protect Lemillion from the Nomu.  What exactly had she thought her Moth-powers were going to do to a nightmare that could knock down Deku?  

“That’s way closer than any of us got!” Mogura said.   She pushed her glasses up with one clawed finger.  “We were all so worried!”

While the Hero and Support courses got Internships, the General Education courses and the Business courses had different paths.  The Business courses would do Internships of their own later in the year, after the School Festival, and the General Education courses simply continued their rigorous studies.  There was always the chance of some work shadowing experiences, but the focus was academics.

She had a decent amount of work to make up, but she considered it worth it.

Koharu gave her best friend an apologetic smile.  “I’m sorry,” Koharu said.  “Didn’t exactly plan on any of that.”

“I cannot believe you got to work with Deku and Shinso!” Yu Tokuda, another of her classmates and friends said, also sitting on the bed with Mogura.  Her dark purple hair hung about her shoulders, and her single eye blinked rapidly.  The way she spoke so reverently of both of them, it reminded Koharu of how she’d been on her first day of her Internship.  

That seemed like such a lifetime ago, even though it had only been a week.

“They’re just normal people, Tokuda.”  She considered, then continued, “Until they’re not.  There’s a point where they just… go beyond, I guess.  I’m not sure there’s good words for it.”

Deku and Lemillion especially.  Watching them turn from a couple of goofballs into serious heroes in the blink of an eye, she wondered just how they could turn it on and off like that.  Shinso had been more serious, of course, but even he softened considerably when talking about his family or trying not to facepalm at something Lemlillion had done.  And all his composure went out the window when his wife was around and trying to be flirtatious.

Koharu took a minute to look around her room.  For the most part, it was a normal room, like any teenage girl might have.  Sure, there was an elaborate mirror she used when cleaning her wings, but that wasn’t really anything special.  There was her poster of the Voice, of course, who almost never allowed merchandise.  And one of Glamour too.   Though, if she was pressed to admit it, that might have been for a slightly different reason.

With a little luck, so long as she passed her final exams, she’d be packing it all up for the second term.

“Guess that makes you the big hero now,” Mogura said.  She looked down.  “You’re not going to… to forget about us, are you?”  She looked so forlorn that it practically broke Koharu’s heart.  Shy and unassuming, with significant mutations, Mohura didn’t have a lot of friends, even in the class.

“She’s just moving a couple dorms over,” Tokuda said.  “It’s not like she’s going to a different school or anything.”

“Hey, listen to me,” Koharu said.  She moved and sat down on the bed, keeping her wings carefully out of the way.  She put an arm around Mogura’s shoulders. “Just because I’m going to be moving dorms doesn’t mean we’re not still going to be friends.  Gen Ed doesn’t forget.  Doesn’t matter how busy I get, I’ll make time.”

Who knows, maybe she could even introduce her friends to the Class 1-A girls?  Get a few little intercourse friendships started?

“Promise?”

“Of course, I do.”

A soft knocking brought her attention to the doorway to her room, where their Class Representative, Jin Satome, stood.  “Kocho,” he said, running a hand through his sandy brown hair.  “You’re back.  Good. Are you all right?  After… everything?”

Koharu gave him a reassuring smile.  Satome was Quirkless (He was about the only Quirkless person any of them knew, though she supposed she could now count Doctor Shield as well.), with no aspirations towards joining the Hero Course.  He was smart and dependable, but tended to be largely risk adverse.  He’d been supportive, but questioning, of her desire to join the Hero Course.  Few people in General Education actually did want to transfer, not really, even though some fantasized about it.  It was the great hope, though, for a few.  It had definitely been hers.  

“I’m fine,” she said. “Didn’t even get a scratch on me.”

He nodded.  “Good,” he said, jerking a thumb behind him.  “Vice-Principal Midnight’s downstairs waiting for you with Hibiki-sensei.”

The Vice-Principal and their Homeroom teacher?  That… didn’t sound good.

***

“Ah, good to see you, Kocho,” Hibiki-sensei said.  “Thanks for joining us.”  He was an ordinary and avuncular man, with dark hair and glasses, a little overweight, somewhere in his mid-forties.  Like most of the teachers in the General Education department, he was not a Pro-Hero. He had a Quirk which let him read print by running his fingertips over it.  

“Yes, thank you,” Vice-Principal Midnight said.  Koharu had seen the woman around campus a few times, including at the orientation ceremony on the first day of school, but even dressed professionally, she was a formidable presence.  Of course, Koharu was also familiar with her heroic exploits as well.  

She could scarcely think of why both of them would be here to see her.   And what she was coming up with wasn’t good.  Were they revoking her transfer?  Putting it off?  Deku had made it sound like it was pretty much a done deal, with even a new Homeroom picked out.   Had she messed up in her Internship somehow?   Did they decide letting her in was a bad idea after all the craziness that had gone down?

“Am I… in trouble?” she asked.

Surprise flittered over their faces.  “What? Oh, no, sweetie,” Midnight said, sympathetically.  “We’re just checking in on you.”

Hibiki-sensei nodded. “The Vice-Principal briefed me on what you encountered during your Internship.  And I saw those… awful things on the television reports.  To think, one of my students was out there during that…”

Midnight placed a fingertip along her chin, stroking it daintily.  “Midoriya and Shinso’s early reports about you were highly complementary.  It looks to me like we missed out having you in the Hero Course to begin with.”

Okay, was she this distracting on purpose or just that good at it naturally?  Her voice practically purred no matter what she was saying.  Dammit, Koharu, stop being a useless lesbian!  She’s old enough to be your mother!

“But you were thrown into the deep end,” she continued.  “The Hero Course students are already reeling from it, even those who weren’t directly involved.  Those monsters, that kind of action, it would shake anyone.”

Koharu titled her head. “It was scary, sure,” she said.  “Really scary.  I mean, probably the most scared I’ve ever been in my entire life.  That thing was beating up Deku!”

She gave her wings a little flick.  “But he beat it.  Then he saved everybody.”

Hibiki-sensei took off his glasses, cleaning them on his shirt.  “He did,” he agreed.  “But that doesn’t change what led up to his victory.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I think you’re going to have to fill me in?  Because I’m not following.”

Midnight gave her a kind smile.  “We’re just saying that if, after that, you want to defer or cancel your transfer, we’d understand.  No shame in it, no judgement.  With your marks and skills, we’d be happy to keep the spot open.”

They… they thought she wanted to back out?

“Now you’re sounding like my mom,” she said.  Instantly realizing what she’d just said, she slapped a hand over her mouth.  If she could have snatched the words from the air, she would have.

Midnight just stared at her and for a moment, her left eye began to twitch behind her glasses. Hibiki-sensei took a couple of additional steps to the left, giving the Vice-Principal more room.

Of course, none of it had changed the fact that it was true.  Mom had been reluctantly to let her go forward with her plan to transfer to the Hero Course. She’d argued Koharu should just stay in General Education, maybe think about transferring in the second year, when the world got a little less crazy.

What she hadn’t understood was that seeing Deku in action, seeing Lemillion in action, seeing the Voice and Glamour in action, even seeing Midoriya and Haimawari in action, had galvanized her resolve, now more than ever.  The way they helped people, the ways they could help people, the fact that they could, in a moment, turn a nightmare into a victory…

During the middle of her Internship, Deku had trusted her with being his eyes in the sky.  She’d done her best to help there, satisfied that even providing that perspective was accomplishing something.  When she’d expressed doubt about how much she was really helping, Deku had told her, “Everybody’s got the power to help.  It isn’t a contest.  The desire and the will to help is what really matters.  Training and time will take care of the rest.”

Her Moth Quirk wasn’t as impressive as some out there, like Deku’s Super-Power or Lemillion’s Permeation, or even Midoriya’s Personal Gravity and Haimawari’s Slide and Glide. But subtle powers, like the Voice’s Brainwashing, or even more ordinary ones, could be just as useful, just as helpful. If it could help just one person…

“Ma’am,” she said, and then instantly regretted it again, because Midnight flinched again.  “If anything… what happened… it just means I want it even more.  I saw what it’s like out there.  People are always going to need help from someone.  And that someone is who I want to be.  When the monsters show up, I want to be one of the ones who does something.”

“Well said, Kocho,” Hibiki-sensei said, nodding.  “I wouldn’t have expected anything less of you.  We would still like you to speak with Hound Dog, at least once, though.  Just to make sure you’re all right.”

“Indeed,” Midnight said. “Some… impertinent comments about my age aside, I think you’re definitely got what it takes to start your hero academia.”

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Their Hero Academia – Chapter 66: See You on the Island

Presenting the next installment of my on-going, nextgen, MHA fic! Earlier chapters can be found here

Isamu took out his phone and waited for it to power back up so he could check his texts, eyes carefully scanning around the interior of the I-Island airport.  The plane ride in had been nice enough and he wasn’t feeling particularly jetlagged.  Granted, with I-Island being mobile, he wasn’t entirely sure what time zone he was in.

But even from the air, he could tell that I-Island was an impressive place.  Several of his classmates had talked about it before and the past Expos that they had attended.  Pretty much any Top Ten Hero got an invitation to the Expo, as well as other prominent Heroes, though right now most of them were rather busy in lieu of the Nomu attack on Tokyo and the follow-up investigation. The attacks had also brought a lot of more minor league Villains out of the woodwork, stressing the system further.

He still got chills when he thought about it and Deku and the rest were trying to find the serpent’s den that they’d spawned from.  He guessed he still had a long way to go to being a Hero.

His phone finished booting up and he saw he already had a handful of texts.  A couple from Kana Tetsutetsu wishing him well.  These he responded to immediately, letting her know he’d arrived safely and that he would absolutely try his best to get her Godzillo’s autograph. Though the Kaiju Hero was long retired from both heroing and acting, he was still popular and a regular guest at the Expo.  

There were also a couple from his parents, with Dad telling him he was proud of him and wishing him a good time, and Mom’s in all caps telling him to be on his best behavior and that she too was proud.  He fired off a couple of quick replies to let them know he’d touched down safe and could talk to them later.

And there was a group chat with messages from Midoriya, the Iida twins, and Sero.  Midoriya was traveling with the Togata family and Sero was traveling with the Iidas.  He smiled a little.  Apparently Tensei’s argument that if Midoriya got to spend the trip with his girlfriend, then he should get to spend the trip with his boyfriend had been convincing to Iida’s parents.  Of course, after a long plane ride with Sero, they might come to regret that decision…

It looked like they’d already arrived and were waiting at the hotel.  Now he just needed to figure out where that was.  Someone from the Expo staff was supposed to be meeting him…

Ah, there they were. A woman a few years older than him was standing holding a sign with his name on it.  She was of average height, but covered in soft brown fur with vaguely raccoon-like features, including ears on the top of her head, and had a large, bushy tail that was the same blue as her hair.  

“That’d be me,” he said, as he approached her, dragging his rolling luggage behind him.  He had a few changes of casual clothes, a suit for the formal dinner, and his costume for some of the Expo events.  

“Good to see you,” she said. Her Japanese was good, enough to make him think she was a native speaker, though I-Island drew people in from all over the world.  “I’ve just got to check…”   She pulled out her own phone and tapped away at it for a minute, scrutinizing the screen before eyeing him.  

“Just confirming you match the picture,” she said, giving him a friendly smile.  “I’m Sumire Hiwatashi, with Expo guest services.  I’m here to escort you to the hotel and I’ll be on-call for any questions or needs you have for the duration of your stay.”

“Oh, ah, thanks,” he replied.  “Don’t really know if I’ll need anything once I know my way around, but ah, I appreciate it.” He definitely didn’t want to impose on anyone, even if that did seem to be her job, or part of it.

“Really, it’s no problem,” she said and gave him a conspiratorial wink.  “Trust me, this gets me out of a whole lot of other jobs.”

“Oh,” he said.  “Ah, good then?”  He wasn’t sure how to react to that.

“Anyway,” she said, “if you want to follow me?  We can go over the schedule on the way.  As the U.A. Sports Festival winner, we do have a few events we’d like you to attend, but you’re otherwise free to go around the Expo as you please.”

He’d looked at the itinerary on the plane ride.  It didn’t look too bad.  They did want him to compete in the mock Villain course and there were a few other panels they wanted him at, but nothing too bad.  Profile was pretty important to Heroes, though he still wasn’t sure how comfortable he was with that.  Especially since so any Heroes seemed to go out of their way to cultivate their image.

He sent a quick text to Midoriya and the others that he was on his way and followed after Hiwatashi.

***

Isamu stepped off the elevator to see his friends and classmates waiting for him, all dressed in their Hero costumes, though Sero and the twins had forgone their helmets. He had his goggles on his head and bandanna pulled down himself. Midoriya gave him a friendly wave when he saw him and Isamu quickly crossed the lobby.

“Good to see you guys,” he said.  “How was the trip in?”

“Great,” Sero said. He gave his boyfriend an affection elbow in the side.  “Though somebody shot down by idea of sitting in the back of the plane and necking.”

Tensei Iida went several shades of red, his arms flailing through the air as he spoke.  “That… that would have been highly inappropriate with my parents and sister on the plane!”

Sero sighed dramatically, burying his face in the crook of his arm.  “If you don’t want to, you can just say so, you know.”

Iida continued his wild flailing.  “I did not say that!  I would be very happy to “neck” with you!  There is no reason to put words in my mouth!  I am simply seeking a sense of propriety and…”

Finally looking like he couldn’t take it anymore, Sero just laughed.  “Relax, babe.  I’m just winding you up.  Though I’ve glad to hear you’re not opposed to a physical relationship.”

His sister broke into laughter, pointing.  “Oh, oh goodness!  You should have seen the look on your face, Little Brother!”

Iida crossed his arms, a grumpy look crossing his face.  “It is a good thing you are adorable, or it would be much harder to be mad at you.”  

“Wait, wait, wait,” Sero said, now flailing his own arms.  “Say I’m adorable again.  I need to get it on video so I can send it to Kimiko.”

“Doesn’t she have enough ammunition without you giving her more?” an annoyed sounding voice asked. Isamu realized there was someone else with his friends, a blonde boy of about their age, with glasses and fingers that seemed unnaturally long and possessed of an additional joint.  

“Hey man, what’s your beef with Kimmie?” Sero demanded.

“You mean other than the fact that she somehow found out about my breakup and tried shilling me to every single girl in the school?”

“She was doing you a service!”

Fortunately, Midoriya stepped in between the two.  “Okay,” he said, “we’re all here to have a good time.  Nobody’s arguing.  And nobody’s webcasting any of this.  Or Instaglaming it or Squawking it or whatever.”

“Squawking isn’t a thing anymore, Midoriya.  Only old people Squawk.”

“You know what I meant, Sero.”  Midoriya shook his head.  “Oh! Haimawari, I don’t think you’ve met Dave?  Isamu Haimwari, David Togata.  Dave’s a family friend and in the Support Course.”

“Nice to meet you,” Isamu said.  He recalled Lemillion mentioning his youngest during his Internship with Deku.  “Your dad brags about you a lot.”

That got a laugh out of Togata, though it had an edge of long-sufferingness to it.  “I’m sure he does.  Dad’s kind of embarrassingly proud of all of us.”

Isamu couldn’t blame him. One kid who was Deku’s sidekick, one who was one of U.A.’s latest Big Three, and one who, given he’d made it past the first round of the Sports Festival, seemed to be a Support Course star? What dad wouldn’t be proud?

Granted, Lemillion was definitely extra proud.  Always bragging about “his genius son” and his “heroic son” and his “heroic daughter.”  And also his “brilliant wife” and “amazing friend” and… He’d gotten the feeling Lemillion was always extra everything, so it was hard to judge any one part of it.

“So, ah,” he said, “I’m supposed to give the Villain course a shot, but after that, we can have a big look around?”  He wasn’t real sure how well that would go.  These days, he was trying to mix up his fighting style, between his mobility based attacks and his long-range blasts.  But both required a certain amount of space and freedom to move. Depending on how it was set up, he could be in for trouble.

“Sounds good to me,” Midoriya said.  “I wanted a shot at that too!”

…Maybe he’d let Midoriya go first.

***

On second thought, Midoriya going first was a bad idea, because the other boy was damn impressive. Isamu watched as the countdown timer sounded off and Midoriya instantly sprang into action.  He took one step back, something Isamu had come to recognize as what was actually a pretty glaring tell, and jumped, negating most of his gravity.  Just before he impacted with the nearest robot Villain, he twisted in midair so that he impacted with the robot feet first, increasing his gravity just long enough to give the impact some power.

Then, with the kind of control that Isamu envied, he immediately negated his gravity again and pushed off, flying through the air towards the next robot like a bullet.  Midoriya had once explained that he’d copied the fighting style of someone called Gran Torino, a Hero that Isamu had never even heard of.  He’d done a little bit of internet searching and found that almost no one had until a few years ago when the man had passed.  He’d apparently even been All Might’s mentor at one time.  But there’d also been a few sparse videos, including from final battle between All Might and All for One more than two decades ago.

He could definitely see the resemblance in fighting styles.  

Again and again, Midoriya bounced from robot to robot, deftly avoiding their strikes and blasts, occasionally even bouncing off the faux rock walls.  He was a constant blur of red, blue, yellow, and green, never even bothering to touch the ground.

In what seemed like too little time, Toshi finally did stop, deftly landing lightly, his hair slightly standing up from the lower gravity, until weight seemed to settle on him like a cloak.  He looked up and gave them all a friendly wave.

“We’ve got a new record!” the announcer declared.  “Toshinori Midoriya… twelve seconds!”

“Go Toshi!” Sora Iida cheered, hands sailing through the air.  “Victory is yours!”

“Whoa!” Togata said, ducking under her arms.  “Careful, Iida!  Arm radius! Arm radius!  We talked about this!”

She dropped her arms to her sides, looking apologetic.  “My apologies, Togata.  I was swept up in the passion of the moment.”

“I think she should make sure to give Midoriya a victory kiss when he gets back up here,” Sero said. “Then again, he might short circuit if you did.”  He made a show of considering this, finger tapping his chin.  “No, wait, you should do it.  I can film it.”

“Is that all you think about?” Togata asked, sounding annoyed.  

“Hey, you’ve got your sciency-stuff, I’ve got fame.  You don’t see me poo-pooing your gizmos and do-dads and thingamabobs.”

Togata gave Tensei Iida a flat look.  “And you’re really dating this.”

Iida shrugged.  “The affairs of the heart are not nearly so quantifiable as the rules of science and engineering.”

Fortunately, Midoriya’s return broke up any further discussion or potential fighting, with the green haired boy landing next to them thanks to another gravity-powered leap. Immediately, Sora Iida threw her arms around him and even planted a kiss on his cheek, leaning Midoriya to blush furiously.

“I knew you could do it!” Iida beamed.  “And a new record!”

Midoriya smiled sheepishly. “Thanks,” he said, still blushing. “If that was my prize, it was definitely worth it.”

Sero clapped his hands to his mouth.  “Oh. Goodness.  Midoriya just tried to be smooth.  I never thought I’d see it.”

“For your information, Sero,” Sora Iida said, fixing him with a glare, her hands on her hips. “Toshi is very smooth! And I will not have you speak badly of him!  Do you understand?!”  There was a surprising undercurrent of a threat to her words.

Sero let out a terrified yelp and jumped into his boyfriend’s arms.   “I understand!  I understand! Don’t hit me!  And if you do hit me, not in the face!”

Midoriya just watched it with the weariness of someone to whom none of this was anything new, then turned to Isamu.  “You up for it?”  There wasn’t any challenge to it, no “let’s see if you can do better” or anything like that, just one friend checking in on another.

Deciding that ignoring the show going on in front of them was probably the best bet, Isamu nodded. “Bring it on.”

***

“Next up,” the announcer said, “winner of U.A.’s first year Sports Festival… Isamu Haimawari!  Let’s see what kind of mark this high speed hero can make!  In three.. two… one!”

On the announcer’s final word, a buzzer sounded and Isamu launched himself forward, racing towards the nearest Villain bot.  They were more humanoid than the robotic Villains they typically trained with at U.A., but still larger than the average person, closer to the size of their classmate Shoji.  But judging by the rounds they’d watched before Midoriya’s turn, their human shape didn’t make them any less effective.

He poured on his speed and bowled the first one over, leading it to smash itself to pieces when it came down. With more speed, he raced up the nearest wall and then onto the ceiling, stretching his left arm so that he could fire energy pulses behind him, striking several more Villain bots with rapid shots and exploding them in a shower of sparks.  He completed his arc and raced down the opposite wall, executing a high speed spin and extending his legs at the bottom, taking down yet another.

The next part was trickier, he needed to get going vertical as well, with robots stationed at the different points on a fake hillside as well as several right in front of him. He didn’t have Midoriya’s gravity jumps, but…

Carefully adjusting his speed, he rocketed towards the nearest robot, came up out of his crouch, the palms of his hands hitting the robot’s torso and letting him slide his way up and over it.  As soon as he was on the robot’s shoulders, he pushed off with his Quirk, unleashing a repulsion blast from all four limbs.  It had the dual effect of launching him forward and also sending the robot flying... right into the others that remained at ground level!

Sailing through the air, Isamu used a couple of controlled bursts to keep himself from flying out of control and landed right in front of the next robot.  He launched himself forward again, racing counter clockwise around the slope, firing pulse after pulse.   When he reached the top, he quickly realized he was going too fast to break and had to apply his adhesion power.

His momentum still nearly sent him flying off and he felt for a moment like his arms were going to give way, but they held.   He crouched there for a moment, trying to catch his breath, before he was able to stand.   Finally, he dared to look up to see his time.

Fifteen seconds. Still pretty good, he thought.

“And Haimawari takes second place with that time!” the announcer said.  “Let’s give him a big hand.”

Above, he could see the crowd cheering.  But more importantly, he could see his friends cheering, louder than anyone.

Maybe he didn’t win here. But he’d given it his all.  And with his friends on his side, that was enough.

***

For Melissa, returning to I-Island was always like coming home.  Small wonder, really, when for much of her life, it had been home.  Pretty much her entire childhood had been spent here.  Even after Papa had been arrested for his part in shutting down the island’s security and attempting to steal the Quirk Enhancer, she’d been so close to graduating that she’d been allowed to stay.   She’d fully expected to spend most of her life here.

But then Uncle Might had called, not long after Izuku had graduated from U.A.  He was giving Izuku Might Tower, he’d said, and wanted him to have nothing less than the best, including a dedicated and in-house Support staff.  Izuku was one of the youngest Pros to helm their own agency ever, but he deserved it. Even here, they’d seen his battles against Shigaraki and the League of Villains.  Practically the whole world seemed to have rallied around him.

Besides, Izuku had been an old friend by that point, not to mention a former long distance boyfriend. They’d dated for a little bit during his second year of U.A., and a little into his third, even gotten to see each other in person a few times.  It hadn’t gotten very far before they’d decided they were better off as just friends, and friends they’d stayed.

If she hadn’t taken that job, she’d never have met Mirio (And boy, had Ochaco been quick to suggest she date him), never had her three amazing children…  No, even if she got a little homesick for I-Island or America sometimes, she was always certain she’d made the right choice.  Japan had been something of an adjustment, of course. On a per population basis, they had far fewer Quirkless people than most countries, of what was already an increasingly shrinking population.  Add being a foreigner on top of that and well… Some people had not been particularly nice.  But that was, for the most part, long behind her.  As the brains behind the top two Heroes in Japan and a multitude of sidekicks, she’d more than proven herself.

Of course, she still made it a point to return for the Expo.  But this year, it wasn’t just about that.  The Expo was part of why she was here, but it also served as an excellent fact finding cover.

The door to the lab recognized her badge and opened to let her inside.  Good.  That meant that her friend had remembered she was coming and gotten her access.  She stepped inside to a myriad array of half completed robots and other mechanical projections in various states of completion. A small smile crossed her lips. Some things never changed.

“Hello?” she called out in Japanese.  “Jinsei? Are you somewhere in this mess?”

Jinsei Saika looked up from a workbench in the back, pushing goggles up onto his head.  He was a tall man, about her age, with numerous scars on his face that stood out sharply, many of them long and jagged-edged.  His dark green hair was longer and shaggier than the last time she’d seen him.  He’d probably been “too busy” for a haircut again.  

“Melissa!” he called out, grinning.  He coughed hard after, but his tone was friendly. She knew his vocal cords had been damaged in the same incident that had given him his scars and that the damage made speaking difficult after long periods of silence.  “How’s the smartest Qurikless person I know?  Aside from me, of course.”

“I’m the only Quirkless person you know besides yourself,” she shot back in equally friendly banter. They’d been friends since their Academy days, their Quirklessness something that had helped them bond.  Even if things hadn’t been particularly rough here, the shared bond of lacking something so many others reveled in had made them good friends.  “And besides, I know my scores were better than yours.”

“It’s good to see you,” Jinsei said, definitely not rising to the bait.  “How’s the family?”

“They’re good,” Melissa replied.  “Mirio’s busier than ever, of course, especially with everything that went on, but he’s positive they’ll turn up the right clues sooner or later.  And the kids are all here with me.  David’s doing well in the Support Course at U.A., Nejire’s ranked as one of the top three Hero Course students, and Deku says Tamaki could go solo in just a year or two if he wanted to.  Of course, he likes working with Deku and being his Sidekick, so even if he did go solo, he’d probably still end up just working with him all the time anyway.”

She was definitely proud of all her children. David took after her and Papa and was already inventing amazing things.  Nejire may have had some occasional issues with making common sense decisions, but she had a heart bigger than almost anyone.  Melissa had met her mentor, the Laughing Man, several times, and he always spoke highly of her. Tamaki wasn’t even twenty year and already well on his way to being an incredible Hero.  She owed Deku more than she could ever repay for helping her eldest achieve his dreams.

“And what about you?” she asked.  “Is there anyone or…?”  She trailed off, aware she was treading into awkward waters.

Jensei shook his head. “No, no, there’s just me.  But I have my work.  And I have my friends.  That’s enough.”  His eyes darted to a small desk in one corner of the lab, adorned with pictures of Jensei and a smiling woman and two smiling children, a boy and a girl, neither older than five or six.  

Melissa didn’t know how he carried on.  If she lost Mirio or any of the kids…

He smiled ruefully and shook his head.  “But you didn’t come all this way just to catch up, now did you?”

“If only,” she replied, pulling out a small thumb drive.  “Mei and I have looked the remains over from top to bottom and come up with nothing.  Even the best forensic experts the HPSC can offer hasn’t been able to find any major clues. We can match the DNA the robots were wrapped in to the Nomu corpse that was stolen when it was being transferred between secure sites, but that’s about it.

“You’re probably the best robotics expert we know, Jensei.  Think you can help us out?”

“Something nothing all the Heroes and their friends can figure out?” Jensei asked.  There was something slightly bitter and mocking in his tone.  “I guess I’d better give it my best then…”

***

“You okay there, Haimawari?”

Isamu jerked and looked up and found Tamaki Togata in front of him, tall, blond, and muscular, wearing his costume.  He gave the Sidekick a smile, rubbing the back of his head.  “Yeah, just finding this all a little overwhelming.  I’ve been to a few Hero-Cons and there’s Naru-Fest back home and all, but this is all just a little overwhelming.”   He gestured vaguely to the crowd around them and the different booths offering Hero merch or Support equipment.  The crowd was huge, with both Pro-Heroes, Sidekicks, Support developers, and civillians.  

“Plus,” he added, “they had me on a panel with some other first place finishers from some other Hero Schools. Questions from the audience, that kind of thing.  Wasn’t so bad, I guess, but even with the clips they had, U.A.’s is the only televised one, so…”

“All the eyes were on you?” Togata guessed.

Isamu nodded. Sure, Midoriya and the others had been in the crowd too, so he’d been able to get at least a little bit of reassurance by looking at them when he’d started to falter, but it had still been a nerve wracking experience.  They were supposed to get media training later in the year, but that hadn’t helped him now.

He’d told his friends he needed a little time to clear his head and that he’d catch up to them later. In spite of their reassurances, he still felt like he’d made a total fool of himself.  Asked about strategies, he’d credited Midoriya for the Obstacle Course, and just gone with “try not to get hit��� as his manta for the rest.  Not exactly the most inspiring story.

“Yeah.  And the second and third year winners.”   There had been Hiroaki Gushiken, from 2-B, who had the Quirk Mirror, which let him reflect things back at their source, and Ahmya Amamiya from 3-C, who had the Quirk Storm, which granted her localized weather control.  Both so much more impressive Quirks than his own Slide and Glide, even with the newer tricks he’d been teasing out of it.

“Not used to all the attention?” Togata asked, seemingly sensing his discomfort.  

He shook his head. “Not at all.  Most of the time, I try really hard not to remember I was on national TV winning one of the biggest events in the country.”  He’d made peace (mostly) with the fact that he’d won, accepted that while there was certainly some element of luck to it, that speed and quick thinking had made a enough of a difference for him to claim victory. Midoriya and the rest had pounded that particular item into him well enough.  There was luck, but no one was that lucky.

Well, except perhaps for the Gambler Hero: Blackjack, who could warp probabilities in his favor. But that was neither here nor there.

Togata smiled reassuringly. “Trust me, it doesn’t get much easier when you’re a Pro or a Sidekick.  If anything, there’s only more eyes on you.  Especially the higher up you rise.”  He chuckled.  “Being the Number One Sidekick to the Number One Hero, and son of the Number Two, well…”

Right!  Togata had probably been dealing with that kind of exposure his whole career.  Even with a relatively simple Quirk that let him enhance the density of his muscle fibers for extra strength, he’d made quite the splash, winning the Sports Festival in his own third year.  Though he hadn’t made much of an impression his first year at U.A., Isamu knew that Togata had later interned under Ground Zero one year and Deku the next, immediately jumping from that to a Work Study, and a Sidekick job right out of graduation. That kind of high profile circumstances had to come with a lot of eyes.

Togata led them over to a stand selling drinks, purchasing a pair of fruit drinks in souvenir Deku glasses. Even having met the man himself, Isamu couldn’t help but feel a little fanboy thrill.  Okay, a big fanboy thrill.  Exclusive merch was always awesome.  

“Does it get easier?” Isamu asked, once they’d found a bench to sit and talk.

Togata gave that some consideration.  “Yes… and also no.”   Well, that was reassuring.  “You get used to it, is more like it.  Fame is part and parcel of being a Hero, unless you’re one of the Underground types.  Making the news, merchandise, public opinion polls, the rankings, that’s something Hero society’s never really completely gotten rid of. But it eventually starts becoming part of the background radiation, rather than the most pressing thing. But that also means you never really stop being aware of the eyes on you.  …Or of trying to live up to all the expectations put on you.”

There was something odd about the way he said the last part of that, Isamu thought.  But Togata didn’t elaborate.

“But you’re a first year student,” Togata went on.  “Even with your accomplishments so far, you’re got a lot of time to make a name for yourself, and a lot of time to figure out exactly who you want to be.”

“I really just want to help people,” Isamu told him.  “My dad says helping people is one of the best things a person can do.  He missed his chance at going to a Hero school, so he found other, small ways to help people.  Still does.  But I think there’s a part of him that still regrets missing his big shot.  And I’ve got the same Quirk as him.  So if I can do something, I should.  Not for the fame or anything like that, I’d rather just be known for my good deeds.  Maybe inspire some other people to do good because it…”

Togata was grinning broadly at that.

“What?” Isamu asked.

“Nothing,” Togata said. “Just… what you said just now, reminds me an awful lot of Uncle Deku”  

***

“Really, dahling, your talent for circumventing security systems never fails to impress.”

Crouched in the hallway, many levels down in the main laboratory building of the island, with a circuit panel open in front of her, Rei Toga gave the masked woman next to her a grin.   “How else am I supposed to visit Granny? Uncle Sho’ keeps trying to up the game so I can’t get in.”  She grinned wider.  “He ain’t beaten me yet.”

Miss Compress shook her head.  “You do love your family, don’t you, dahling?”

“Well, most of ‘em,” Rei told her, before returning back to the job at hand.  I-Island security had gotten a lot smarter over the years. Parts of it were still computer controlled, but they’d also tried to subvert total take overs with manual pieces.   The League’s leader had made arrangements to keep the security cameras on a loop, but accessing this particular corridor beneath the island was entirely up to them.  But it didn’t take more than a few minutes to bypass the lock, the door sliding open with a hydraulic hiss.

Miss Compress offered her a complimentary tip of her hat, then pointed down the hallway with her cane. If the schedule they’d memorized was correct, they had more than a good twenty minutes before anyone would be coming.

It was just her and Compress.  Overrdive was trailing the island in a boat, carefully stealth screened, but Doctor Ursa and the other members remained back in Japan.  But they had more than enough skills for the job at hand.  Between her talent for subverting security systems and Compress’s stagecraft, they didn’t even need their Quirks.

Of course, they’d been told not to kill anyone they didn’t have to, which was a shame.  She’d just gotten her knives sharpened!  What was she supposed to do, not stab people?  Why did she even have knives if she wasn’t supposed to stab people with them? Cut then open, set their blood on fire with her Quirk…

Sometimes, she just did not understand their leader.

Inside, the corridor opened into a large, semi-circular chamber, the outer wall lined with… not exactly cells—No one who worked here or lived in them would call them that—but they might as well have been. She hadn’t been surprised to learn such a place existed, merely disappointed.  

“I dare say,” Compress said, sucking in a breath, “I didn’t expect there to be so many…”

“Ain’t that just the way of it?” Rei said, following her inside.  “A buncha years ago, the government’s lockin’ people up for havin’ ‘dangerous’ Quirks, and now people’re doing it to themselves voluntarily.”

It was, technically, true that everyone here at the I-Island Quirk Research Center was here voluntarily. Most of them had nicely appointed rooms, televisions, books and other entertainment, and full contact with their friends and loved ones.   Each and every one had made the decision to come here themselves.

For some of them, for those that had come from other countries, that might even have been true. For those who came from Japan, which seemed overrepresented in the occupancy, each and every one of them had also had it “suggested” to them by the Center for Quirk Research.  And not in the kind of way you turned down.  It was, in theory, kinder than they days of Plague and Manticore and the like, where having a “dangerous” Quirk got you locked up in a dank cell and the key thrown away, hunted by men like her grandfather until they caught you.

Each and every person here had a Quirk that made them dangerous to the world around them in some fashion.  There was one who slowly and uncontrollably released cyanide gas.  There was another who constantly generated a psychic field that made everyone around them fall asleep.  There was yet another who was on fire all the time.

They had come here with the promise of protecting others from themselves, with the possibility that I-Island’s research into Quirks would eventually allow them to leave and live normal lives.  And some of them could have been very useful to the League’s cause, but they would never have joined them.  They didn’t believe.

They were not who they were there for.

Her eyes fell on a particular nameplate.  

AYUMU SETSUSHI

QUIRK: DELIRIUM

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Their Hero Academia – Chapter 57:  Overdue Conversations

Presenting the next chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia!

This is actually the edited version, but won’t go up on AO3 and FF.net until tomorrow, so tumblr gets it early!

Earlier ones can be found here

***

“Still can’t believe you were right there on the front lines, Haimawari!  It’s like you’re one of the main characters or something!”

Isamu gave Anime Fukidashi a curious look.  Kana Tetstutetsu, had invited him over to her dorm to study and then to hang out.  The studying had gone pretty well (Their classes were on pretty much the same schedule, thankfully.), but then her floormates had invited themselves in and what should have been a nice, semi-private moment (It wasn’t like they were going to make out or anything!  He wasn’t even sure when the right time to talk about that kind of thing was!) turned into hanging out with them.

Still, he was grateful for the time spent with her.  They hadn’t had a lot of it, but they had clicked and clicked well.  She was attractive, certainly, with her orange-red hair and her muscular physique.  But she was also kind, friendly, and looked out for her classmates the same way Midoriya looked out for 1-A.  

Of course, Mineta had pointed out—frequently—that she was basically the less violent version of Kirishima-Bakugo, but he was trying very hard not to think about that or what it said about him.

“You keep talking like our lives are some kind of TV show,” he said instead.  He’d been cautioned that she was a little strange, and looking like some kind of living piece of animation only added to that.  But all kinds of people looked a little different these days.  He himself had pink stripes in his hair at this temples.  No, what made her strange was the fact that she talked like life was some kind of, well, anime.  “And even if it was, I’m definitely not main character material.”

“Don’t be so sure of yourself,” Fukidashi said.  “Let’s just say I’ve got a feeling about you.  I even heard You Say Run during the Sports Festival when you won!”

Tetsutetsu waved a hand dismissively.  “Ignore her when she gets like that.  We all do.”

“The way I hear,” Rika Bondo, a girl made of blue-green slime, said, “your class was there at most of the big fighting.”  She was semi-translucent and her clothes actually seemed to be made of some kind of rubberized material.  She’d brought popcorn to share, though she had her own bowl of it.  She extended her fingers, picking up a piece and tossing it into her mouth. The pieces seemed to just dissolve in her mouth when she ate them. It was weird, but he was trying not to judge.

For a moment, Isamu’s mind snapped back to watching the Nomu fight Deku.  He’d been certain, even if just for a minute, that he was going to witness the death of the Number One Hero.  Fortunately, that had turned out not to be the case.  He closed his eyes for a second and let out a breath.

Tetsutetsu put a hand on his shoulder.  “You okay? You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.  Some people should know better.”  She punctuated this with a glare in Fukidashi and Bondo’s direction.

He waved it off.  “I’m fine,” he said.  “Getting past it.  Scary, but part of the job, you know?  Not all going to be fun and games.”

“Pretty sure Tetsutetsu and Monoma were the only ones from our class who saw any action,” Kitiara Kaniyashiki said.  She was a redhead, with her hair in two vaguely claw-shaped pigtails.  She apparently had some kind of scissor Quirk, though he hadn’t seen her use it.  “I was on the whole other side of the country.  Aunt Monika says the police had a hell of a time cleaning up after it was all over.  Lots of small league Villains trying to take advantage of the chaos and the big name Heroes being hurt or busy.”

“Don’t remind me,” Tetsutetsu said.  “Uncle Neito got pretty banged up by one of those things.  But Dad made it out without a scratch, at least.”

“How’s our Monoma doing, by the way?” Kaniyashiki asked.  “I mean, not that I don’t appreciate the quiet—that guy’s like a little screaming gremlin—but it’s too quiet, you know?”  

“Like somebody turned off the background music!” Fukidashi piped in.

“At least he’s talking again,” Bondo said.  “He wasn’t even doing that a few days ago.”

“Blame Mika for that one,” Tetsutetsu said.  “She gave him a little kick in the pants.”

Isamu hadn’t had much to do with Shiro Monoma, other than having witnessed him attempt to taunt some of his classmates from time to time.  But he knew he was friends with Koda and Mineta, and had a particularly antagonistic relationship with Kirishima-Bakugo.  Granted, Kirishima-Bakugo seemed to have an antagonistic relationship with everyone except for Midoirya and Izumi, but there seemed to be a greater degree of bad blood there.

Still, he supposed he couldn’t blame the guy for being shaken.  Some of his classmates still weren’t really talking about what went down and Shinso had been gone all week before finally coming back.  The place really hadn’t been the same without the little guy, so Isamu was glad to see him again.

Isamu himself had mostly made peace with what he’d seen and was trying to stay focused on the good that had happened during his Internship.  And not the horror.  And definitely not the creeping worry about what it meant that someone had the resources to drop that many monsters on the city.

“Girls,” Tetsutetsu said, pinching the bridge of her nose, “can we talk about something that’s not depressing?  Like I was doing with my boyfriend before you all barged in?”

“I like the sound of thaaaaaa…” Isamu started to say, but then his mind seized up.  They’d hung out a bunch and gotten food and watched movies together and texted and talked on the phone a lot, but that didn’t make them…! They hadn’t talked about…!

Before he could shift his brain back into gear, Fukidashi seized on the moment.  She leaned forward in her chair, her eyes briefly replaced by cartoon hearts.  “Ooooh!   He didn’t know!   Is this like He Doesn’t Know He’s My Boyfriend (But I’m Trying to Tell Him?)”

“Why did you say the parenthesis?”  Kaniyashiki asked.

“Don’t let Monoma hear you say that he’s your boyfriend,” Bondo said, “he’ll flip his lip about 1-A again…”

“Out!” Tetsutetsu shouted, pointing to the door.  “All of you!”

Isamu started to get up, but she put a hand against his chest.  “Not you!”

When the other girls had filed out, he broke the silence.  “So… I’m your boyfriend?”

Tetsutetsu pinched the bridge of her nose.  “Sorry, Haimawari, that really just slipped out.  I shouldn’t have…  We haven’t talked…  I’m really not usually that impulsive; I swear Mika is rubbing off on me…  And please don’t tell her I said that, because she’ll take it the wrong way and the right way and be even more insufferable.”

She looked up.  “But I do really like you.  So maybe it’s too quick, but…”

Isamu smiled.  “I really like you too,” he said.  “A lot.  We click.  So… why not? Call me your boyfriend.  And Isamu too.”

***

Akaya frowned as she looked up from her book.  She and several others had started an impromptu study session in the Common Room.  Though the final exams had not yet been announced—they were expecting that on Tuesday—many of them sensed that they needed to start preparing early.   She was not especially worried; her grades put her towards the tail end of the upper third of the class, but she knew well that overconfidence often led to failure. And so studying was absolutely a requirement.  English was a particularly tricky subject.  She could read the language well enough, from studying one of the copies of the Bible her mother had in the language, but the rules to it were far less easy to grasp.

By coincidence, everyone at the table had a somewhat unusual appearance: Mika, Kaminari, Shoji, and Aoyama. It drew Akaya back to the events of her Internship.  While she had been away from the action and violence that hung over most of her classmates, her own experiences still weighed upon her mind.  Hound Dog had sympathized when she’d spoken to him about it and had shared experiences of his own.  He had suggested that she might find some commonality in it with her classmates and friends.  Unsure of how to broach the subject, the winding down of the study session gave her the moment she required.

“Ugh,” Mika said, sticking out her tongue.  “I have to go get new shoes tomorrow after the funeral.  That’s gonna take most of the rest of the day.”  

Monday would be the funeral for the late Principal Nezu, who had died a week ago.  They were being given the day off to attend and reflect. Akaya could not claim to have known him at all, other than seeing him speak occasionally, but the loss was always a tragedy.  She trusted in God’s plan, but sometimes, it was difficult to see.

“Going to the mall?” Kaminari asked.  “Can I come? I could go for some new boots too.”

Mika raised an eyebrow. “To the farrier, Chi.”

“Huh?”

Mika swung around in her chair, bringing her legs out from under the table.  “Hooves, Chi.”

“Oh.  Right.  I knew that.”

Akaya opened her mouth, but quickly closed it again.  No, she needed to do this.  She closed her eyes for just a moment, said a silent prayer for courage.

“Friends,” she began, cautiously, “may I ask you a question?”

“What’s up, Akaya?” Mika asked.  “Is this the birds and bees talk?  Because while I’m qualified to give it…”

Kaminari swatted Mika upside the head with one her Cords, shooting their mutual friend an annoyed look. “Stop that.  This is serious.”

“Crude as ever,” Aoyama muttered.

“Dealing with you later,” Mika told Aoyama.  But she had the momentary sense to look apologetic.  “Sorry, Akaya, what’s up?”

Akaya hesitated for a moment, but pressed on.  These were her friends and classmates.  She could tell them anything.  “Have any of you ever experienced any harsh words or actions because of your appearance?”

There was a long moment of silence.  

“Akaya,” Shoji said slowly, concern marring his handsome features, “did something happen?”

“Whose ass do I need to kick?” Mika asked. She jumped up out of her chair, brought her fists up, and started punching the air.  “Just point me in the right direction!  I’m not afraid to fight dirty!”

Kaminari swatted her again.   “Rein it in there, cowgirl,” she said.   She reached up and touched her left Extension Cord.  “I can’t say that I have,” she said, actually answering Akaya’s question.  “But my Quirk’s not really all that noticeable. Most people don’t even pay much attention to them.”

She sounded sympathetic and concerned, but, Akaya reflected, Kaminari’s Quirk was hardly noticeable at all. She didn’t have the kinds of experiences necessary to really process this.  While there was no longer a definition of “normal,” there was certainly still a baseline that the majority of people fit into.  And she was well within its bounds in a way Akaya was not.

“Sorry,” Mika said. “Um, I mean, I’m pretty sure somebody’s called me a horse or a cow or something like that over the years, but that’s really it. People have said some shit about my body, but not usually about the horns or the hooves.”

Of course.  Akaya bore her friend no malice, but Mika was very conventionally attractive.  Something she was well aware of and used to her advantage.  She might carry her own burdens, but she could not truly understand.

“There was the time in middle school somebody put a bale of hay on my desk…  or the pail full of milk…  Boy, was Shiro pissed…”

Or perhaps she had thought too soon.

“Not me, so much, but Dad,” Shoji said.  It was true, Shoji was… distractingly attractive, Akaya would admit, with handsome features, silver hair, and a powerful build. Even Akaya would confess to wishing to be cradled in those strong six arms of his.  “He usually makes the list for Top Ten Heroes Who Look Like Villains.   Tries not to let it get to him, but sometimes…  Yeah, you can tell.  And some people still scream when they see him.  It’s why he used to wear the mask.  But he decided he didn’t want to hide anymore.”

Shoji was not particularly talkative.  That might have been the most words Akaya had heard him string together at once.  He must have felt very strongly about it.

“Koda,” Aoyama said, “please, tell us your troubles.  We are your friends.”  Though his appearance was typically baseline, the fact that most of the time, he was glowing, gave him his own bit of strangeness.  

Akaya frowned.  But she had come this far.  She might as well go a few steps farther.  “During my Internship, some of the people we rescued were,” she hesitated for a moment, “very prejudiced against those with Mutant-type Quirks or Mutant characteristics.  They said some very unkind things towards myself and the ship’s crew.  The ones our age made rather… ugly and suggestive comments about me.”

Her cheeks flushed and she hung her head.  But it was out there.  She needed to tell someone, anyone.  At least she had her friends here.

The silence that followed was even more palpable.  But much shorter lasting.

“Qui étaient-ils?  Donnez-moi des noms!  Je les tuerai!  Je vais les faire souffrir!”   Aoyama exploded into rapid-fire, angry French, his glow pulsating with his words. Akaya didn’t understand any of it, but she certainly understood the emotion behind it.

“I don’t speak your crazy moon language, Frenchie,” Mika said, “but I know what it sounds like when someone’s winding up to deliver an ass kicking!  Count me in!”

“Both of you, no,” Kaminari said, facepalming at their outbursts. “You can’t just go beat someone up like that.”   Sparks danced on the ends of her Cords.  “No matter how much you’d like to.”

Even Shoji’s implacable calm was being broken by this.  Akaya could see the slight twitch of the muscles in his jaw as he ground his teeth. All six of his fists were tightly clenched, making veins bulge in his muscular arms.  “Koda,” he said, as he approached her, “you know people like that are rare, right?  And idiots, too?”

She nodded.  “My crewmates and Aunt Tsu said as much.  I had thought myself over it, but…”

“It sticks with you,” he said.  And she nodded in response.  “Can I give you a hug?”

Akaya jerked slightly in surprise.  “I… yes,” she said.  “I’d like that.”

Shoji wrapped his arms around her.  The only one of their class bigger than her, his arms fit around her large frame easily. His muscles were ever so firm. She wrapped her own arms around him and returned the hug.   And then let out a breath, releasing some of her stress.  “Thank you, Shoji.”  She looked at the others when the hug broke.  “And thank all of you, for your support.”

Aoayam nodded.  “I am serious about the offer of violence.  To defend your honor, I would even fight beside Mineta.”

Mika ignored the barb for once.  “If you can’t kick ass for your friends, who can you kick ass for?”

“You okay for now?” Shoji asked, somber and serious.

She nodded.  “I am.  I cannot guarantee the mood will not overtake me again, but…”

“We’ll be here when it does,” Mika confirmed.

When the group actually did break up, Mika held back with Akaya.  “That’s not everything, is it though?”

Akaya gave her a curious look.  “You’re being unusually perceptive today.”

“I have my moments. Now, what’s up?”

Akaya sighed.  “The vileness of it all bothers me, of course, but it did also stir up old feelings.  While I know that people like me do often find love, as my own family shows… It brought up old fears that no one would find me attractive.”

Mika got a strange look upon her face, something Akaya could not quite identify.  “Leave everything to me.”  And with that, she took off like a shot, hooves makings a steady clip-clop­ sound.

“Mka!”  Akaya shouted after her.  “Explain yourself!”

***

Later that day, Daisuke held open the door to the dorm and let Emiko inside.  The Common Room wasn’t currently occupied.  Good.  It wasn’t as though as was trying to hide his relationship; he and Emiko both simply preferred their privacy.  Of course, if they really wanted their privacy, they could have just gone to the library or somewhere else. Though if they had, he’d still have had to check that Ojiro wasn’t followed them. So this definitely wasn’t hiding.  It just wasn’t going out of their way to make a thing of it. Few of her own classmates knew either. It definitely wasn’t hiding it, even though they’d met during the first week of school, had been dating since the second, and hadn’t really told anyone.  But it had been her idea to study at his dorm, so he was not inclined to object.

Emiko looked around. “So this is how the Hero Course lives?” she asked.  With the dark glasses she wore, it was hard to tell where exactly she was looking.  A side effect of her Quirk—Perfect Night Vision—was that she required eye protection against brighter lights.

“It’s not that much different than yours,” he replied.

She gave him an affectionate jab in the side with her elbow.  “I’m teasing you, Hero.”

“Yes, well…”

Daisuke stopped.  He could hear faint sounds in the distance. “Someone’s coming down the stairs.”

For a second, his heart thundered in his chest.  He was so used to everyone not knowing, so used to keeping the details of his life private.  He’d enjoyed it, in a way.  No invasive questions, no attempts at judgement.    

She touched his arm. “It was bound to happen,” she said. “Let it.”

Of course, it was the worst possible combination of his classmates: Sato, Sero, and Ojiro.

“Where are we going again?” Sero asked.

“To see the kid!” Ojiro bubbled.  The sleeves of her t-shirt waved through the air in excitement, as she bounced from foot to foot.

“What kid?” Sero asked.

“Doctor Izumi’s kid!”

“Was she expecting?” Sero asked.  “I mean, I know you’re not supposed to ask if a lady’s pregnant, but she didn’t look…”

“Dude,” Sato said, giving the pink-skinned boy a look. “Kimmie told us.  Doctor Izumi and Water Spout adopted, remember?”

“See, Kenta remembers!” Ojiro said. And then, as was common, she started hitting Sero, pummeling him with both fists.  “WHY DON’T YOU REMEMBER WHEN I TELL YOU THINGS?!”

“Ow!  Ow!  Kimmie! Stop!  I’m sorry!”

It was, honestly, the perfect distraction and Daisuke made a motion for Emiko to follow him around the feuding trio.  But Sato proved to be far more observant.   “Oh, hey, Shoji,” he said.  “Who’s your friend?”

The smacking immediately stopped.  And though he could not see her face, Daisuke was immediately aware that Ojiro was staring at him and Emiko.  And then she started vibrating, emitting a very high pitched “squee.”

“Is… is she okay?” Emiko asked, pulling a strand of blue-hair back behind her ear.  

“Oh, no…” he said, feeling that sinking feeling come on.

“Shoji!” Ojiro shouted, arms waving frantically.  “Why didn’t you tell us you had a girlfriend?!  I can’t believe you were trying to hide her!  She’s so cute!  What is wrong with you?!  Don’t you like us?!  Why don’t you want to share?!”

And, of course, then the smacking began, her tiny fists thudding against his arm.  Why did he think he was going to get away with this?

“Kimmie, maybe give the guy a chance to talk?” Sero said.  He flinched. “Please don’t hit me.”

The hitting stopped, fortunately.   Ojiro crossed her arms.  “You better have a damn good explanation, Shoji!”

Daisuke looked over at Emiko, who gave him a small nod.  At least she hadn’t bolted at the nonsense.   “This is Emiko Shiryoku.  My girlfriend.  Emiko, this is Sato, Sero, and Ojiro.”

She gave them a small smile. “Nice to meet you.  You’re the ones with the webshows, right?”

Sero positively beamed. “You’ve seen us?”

Emiko shook her head. “I can’t actually watch electronic screens.  Too bright. But people do talk, and I still enjoy listening to Gossip Corner.”

And there went that high pitched squee-ing again.

“Do you guys have any sponsors yet?  Or are you making any money from ads?” Emiko asked.  “If not, I can suggest a few ways to bump yourself up in the algorithms and goose your ratings a little, maybe get a little cash for bigger videos…  You could probably even get a sponsor for combining unboxing videos with Sato’s show…”

Sero’s jaw dropped. “Okay, I’m gay, so I never thought I’d say this to a girl, but where have you been all my life?”   Next to him and out of his line of sight, Sato facepalmed.

“The Business Course,” Emiko told him.  

Ojiro finally stopped squeezing though and put her hands on her hips, huffing indignantly.  “I can’t believe you’ve been keeping her from us, Shoji! And all the times I talked you up as eligible on the show!”

“I didn’t ask you to that,” he reminded her.  

“It’s a free service!”

“Yes, well,” Emiko said, “now that you do know, I would prefer you don’t announce it to the world. Daisuke and I really don’t want a lot of attention.  I’m still trying to make a name for myself and I don’t want it to be just because I’m dating a future Hero.”

“The world has a right to know!” Ojiro said, stomping her foot. “This is premium content!  The number one voted on the hottest guys in the Hero Course, off the market!”

Daisuke let out a groan. That damned list again.  He’d been dreading it coming up ever since Monoma had mentioned it.  He was hoping to talk to Emiko about it, but…

“…The what?” Emiko said, shooting him a look.  Even being unable to see her eyes, he knew he was in for an earful.  

“Didn’t you say something about a kid?” Daisuke tried, at least hoping to get some kind of privacy and really hoping to avoid a lengthy conversation with the would-be internet stars.

“Omigosh!” Ojiro said. “Right!   C’mon, boys!”   Sero followed after her, but Sato stayed behind for a moment.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “Kimmie gets a little crazy sometimes, but she means well.   …Mostly well.”   He turned to follow them.  “Nice meeting you!”

Daisuke was still being glared at.  “I swear, Emiko, I only just found out about the list last week…”

“Last week?” she challenged.  

Maybe there was a shovel in the supply closet.  It would be faster at this point.  “I…”

She took his hand. “Guess this means I hooked a real winner then.”

He just shook his head. “You planned this, didn’t you? You wanted us to get caught.”

Emiko smiled.  “I may have already known about the list.  And the way she talked about you on her show. I thought if I got ‘caught’, I might have a chance to get some of that to stop.”

Daisuke felt a smile tug on his lips.  “Yeah, you’re going to be rich someday with a mind like that.”

“I’ll need a boy toy when that happens, you know…”

“Emiko…!”

***

“So, ah, hey, Kimiko,” Kenta said, standing in her doorway.  Takuma had gone ahead and gone back to his room already.  He had to admit, Kimmie had been right.  Water Spout and Doc Clock’s adopted kid had been adorable.  Definitely still settling in, but she’d looked happy.  

“What’s up, Kenta?” she asked, powering up her computer.  Probably getting ready to scour the internet for the latest gossip.

Of course, she was currently sitting on the biggest piece of gossip of the year (Her words, not his.), which she had vocally complained about most of the walk over and back  It had covered topics from the unfairness of it all, to how dare they keep her from sharing it, to laments that one of the hottest guys in school was officially off the market.  While both he and Takuma had had the good sense to just let her rant and stay out of swatting range, Takuma had agreed with the last part and had to be reminded that he already had a boyfriend.

“Still feeling down about Shoji?” he asked.

Kimiko threw her hands up in the air.  “You have no idea.  How can I call myself the Gossip Queen of U.A. if I not only missed out on the best gossip of all time, but I can’t share it with anyone?!  Not to mention, it’s freaking Shoji!  And he’s out of the running!”

Kenta winced at that. He was in good shape, he knew, but he was no Shoji.  Still, he took the lack of protest to his presence as an invitation and walked inside.   “Well, what if I gave you some gossip to make up for it?”

That got her attention.  She practically spun around in her desk chair to look at him.  “I’m going to need details and I’m going to need them fast.”   She looked at her computer.  Waving a fist threateningly at it.  “Boot up faster!  How can I take notes if you don’t boot up!?”

She turned back to him again.  “Okay, how did you get gossip and who’s it about?  Oooh?  Is it Todoroki?  Please tell me it’s Todoroki!  She’d be, like, the gossip motherlode!  She’s not on anybody’s radar!  Secret boyfriend?  Secret girlfriend?  Tell me!”

“It’s not about Todoroki,” Kenta said.  Now or never, he supposed.  “It’s about me.”

That got a jolt of surprise from her.  “About you? And you’re coming to me first? Getting ahead of the gossip train is very smart, Kenta!”   She leaned forward, putting her elbows on her knees and supporting her head in her hands (Or at least that’s what it looked like.).  “Any girl’d be lucky to have you!  Who’s the lucky lady?  Is it Kocho? Or somebody more surprising?  What are you keeping from me, Kenta?!”

“Well, I, ah, don’t actually think she knows I like her yet.  So maybe this is pre-gossip?”  His heart was starting to pound in his chest.   He could do this.  He could do this.  He’d been planning on doing this before the Nomu thing.  

Kenta had had some productive sessions with Hound Dog and gotten his head back on a little straighter, especially with support from his friends.  If he backed out now, if he was afraid to talk to a girl who’d been one of his best friends for nearly all his life, how big a coward was he?

Kimiko sat up and crossed her arms.  “Still gossip,” she said, though she sounded disappointed.  “But it’s not nearly Shoji level gossip.  And you still haven’t told me who!”

Kenta gulped.  “It’s, ah, it’s you, Kimmie.”

There was a long, way too long, silent moment.  Kenta could usually read Kimiko like a book, in spite of her invisibility.  And right now, there was a growing moment, like the calm before the storm.  A very primeval part of his brain was screaming at him that he needed to run and run fast.  Finally, Kimiko exploded out of her chair, fists flying.   He quickly got his hands up to protect his face.

“THAT’S SO MEAN, KENTA!  WHY WOULD YOU JOKE AROUND LIKE THAT?!  I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE NICE ONE!  WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!”

He was probably going to have bruises after this.  Kimiko’s pummelings were always unfocused, but she could put a lot of power behind them. “Kimmie,” he said, dodging blows, “Kimmie, stop!  Stop!  Kimmie! It’s the truth!”

The pummeling suddenly stopped.  

“You… you like me like me?” Kimiko asked.  

“Yeah,” he said. “You’re one of my best friends. And the prettiest girl I know too.”

Kimiko let out another high pitched squee.  Being at ground zero, Kenta had to cover his ears for a second.  “Does this mean you like me too?” he asked.

“OF COURSE I LIKE YOU, YOU BIG GOOF!” she shouted, arms flailing again.  “Wait a minute…  DID YOU THINK I WOULDN’T?  DON’T YOU KNOW ME WELL ENOUGH TO KNOW IF I LIKE YOU?  DID YOU THINK I WOULDN’T?  WHY DON’T YOU HAVE MORE CONFIDENCE IN YOURSLEF?!”

He was going to take that as a yes.

Fortunately, this time at least, she wasn’t hitting him, just flailing.  “You know me, Kimmie,” he said.  “Always gotta second guess myself."

“Well that stops right now,” Kimiko said.  “No guy I’m dating is going to be a sad sack!  You’re going to have confidence, do you hear me?”

“Ah…yes,” he said.

“Good!” Kimmie bubbled, clapping her hands.  She threw her arms around him.  “We’ve got to tell Takuma, though.  Otherwise he’s just going to third wheel himself onto our dates and we’ll never have a moment’s peace.  Because he is not going to get the hint.”

“Do we tell him before or after everyone else?”

“A personal gossip announcement?  Do I dare?” Kimiko asked, breaking away. It wasn’t what he meant, but there was no stopping her when she was on a roll.  “Is that even gossip or just oversharing?  Who cares, I’m telling everybody anyway!  Here comes a very special episode!”

***

Sora became aware of shaky hands on her shoulders, forcing her towards wakefulness.  She head snapped up.  “It’s so simple!” she shouted.  Surely, if she was just able to put that breakthrough she had been dreaming of into practice, why then she could…  could…

She sagged in defeat. Whatever it was that had been going through her unconscious mind, it was gone now.  But she was so certain she had been so close to solving it!  It was fundamentally unfair that she had to be woken up in the middle of her greatest discovery!  Who had…?

“What’s so simple?” Sora realized that her waker had been her boyfriend, Toshi.  She had been slumped over on her small workbench in her dorm room, blueprints and a half-completed device spread out in front of her.  

She shook her head. “I do not recall, possibly the solution to this,” Sora said, indicating the device in a half-assembled state.  It was supposed to be a small spy drone that could relay information back to her costume’s helmet, but she was having difficulties getting it to fly without exploding.  

“Oh,” Toshi said, then smiled.  He looked so cute when he did, the pink patches on his cheeks standing out among his freckles.  “Can I help?”

Sora shook her head. “I do not think so.  As loathe as I am to admit it, the solution is at a loss for now.  Also, I am at a loss as to why you are in my room?”

Toshi’s face when bright red at that.  “I…!   The door was open, we were going to get together with some of the others to watch a movie and you weren’t there and so I just…”

That made her frown. “Oh, no!   Toshi, I am sorry!  I became too engrossed in my work and forgot we had plans!”  Her arms chopped rapidly through the air.   I have failed in my girlfriend duties!”

He waved his hands quickly at that.  “No, no! It’s okay!  I know you get busy!  You get so focused on everything!  It happens!”

“You are sure?” she asked, uncertainly.  She was still very new to this, and she wanted very much to get it right.

“I’m sure,” Toshi said. “Besides, you’re awake now.   Asuka and Shota said they’d wait.”

That was a relief! Sora jumped up from her chair and wrapped her arms around Toshi, pulling him close.  As she was a good fifteen centimeters taller than he was, this did make for a slightly awkward embrace.  And this, predictably, led to Toshi shaking and being very uncertain where his hands should go.

It was, truthfully, very curious behavior.  He very rarely initiated physical contact and was often anxious when she did so herself. She let him go.   “Toshi,” she said, very seriously, “do you not like it when I touch you?”

Toshi winced at that. “No,” he said, “it’s not that. But I was, ah, hoping you wouldn’t notice.”

She crossed her arms. “Toshi, I am an engineer. Observation is a vital skill.”

He smiled sheepishly at that.  “Right. Of course.  And I like that!  Good skill for a Hero too…”  Toshi trailed off.  “Sorry, I don’t really ramble like that too much, unless I’m nervous…”

“Toshi,” Sora repeated, softly.  She tried to formulate a hypothesis for his behavior, and the only common factor she could find was herself.  “Do I make you nervous?”

“Sorta?” he said, rubbing the back of his head.  “I mean, it’s not exactly like I’m scared of girls.  I grew up around Katsumi after all.  I mean, I am scared of her, but that’s for entirely different reasons. Or Mineta, but she’s her own kind of scary.  But I talk to Asuka just fine or Izumi, or you, before we started dating…”

He trailed off again, but Sora just let him gather his thoughts.  Sometimes, it took a little bit of rambling to get ideas out.  She understood this well.  

“Look,” he said, “I know we’re young and all, but I didn’t exactly date much… or at all before this. Outside of all of you, I had a lot of trouble with not knowing if people really wanted to be my friend for real or because of who Dad is.  So I really don’t know what’s right or, well, anything about how this kind of thing works. I really don’t know what I’m comfortable with or what I should go along with or what’s too much and…  And you’re so amazing and beautiful and…”

He thought she was beautiful?  Sora was used to be being thought of as many different things, but that was not one of them. She was well enough aware that her breast size made her an object of lust for some.  But beautiful?  Fairy tale princesses were not usually the kind to wear a mechanic’s overalls or have a face covered with grease.  

“Then I must apologize,” she said.  “I did not think to consider your boundaries.  I have been told I may be a bit demonstrative…”

Toshi smiled.  “It’s okay.  And, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before.  I thought I could maybe just get used to it but…”

Sora started to reach out, then stopped.  “May I?” she asked.  When Toshi nodded, she took his hand.  “I like you, Toshi.  Very much. But I am very aware I do not quite think like other people do.  But you are very good at keeping me focused on what is in front of me.  I like that.  And I would very much still like to be your girlfriend.  But I am told a good relationship requires clear communication. Can we both do that?”

He nodded and gave her hand a squeeze, moving a little closer to her.  “Yeah.  I can… I can do that.”

There was a closeness in the air and Toshi came in a little bit closer, nervous and shaking, and Sora felt her own heart flutter in her chest, well above the average number of beats per minute.  “Toshi, I wish to…”

“Me too,” Toshi said, and he leaned in even closer, bringing his lips to meet hers.  They were warm and soft and everything she knew about biology was completely disregarded for the moment.

“Oi!  Toshi!”  A sharp voice broke the moment before it got any further.  “…What the fuck?!”

“Katsumi!” Toshi shrieked, and indeed, it was Kirishima-Bakugo standing in her doorway.

“Bird Girl and Loud Kid were getting worried about you so they asked me to check up on you two lovebirds. But now I’m getting out of here before I see something I can’t unsee.”

And Toshi started shaking again.  “Katsumi! It’s not what it looks like!”

“It is not?” Sora asked. “Was I doing it wrong?”

“Nope, nope, nope,” Kirishima-Bakugo said, backing out the door very quickly.  “I don’t wanna know!”