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comicgeekscomicgeek · 6 years ago

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Their Hero Academia, Chapters 5-8

Presented raw and unedited. Edited versions will eventually be added to Ao3, where chapters 0-4 can be found here

Their Hero Academia – Chapter Five: Toshi Midoriya and the First Heroics Class

The next morning found Toshi rising early, as he usually did. It was a habit he’d picked up from his dad years ago. They’d go for a jog or another workout and then make it back home in time for breakfast. He always looked forward to it and intended to keep up his exercise program while he was at U.A. It was good for the mind and the body.

It was nearly seven by the time he returned to the dorms and most of the Class was already assembled in the common room, eating various combinations of breakfasts. They were still in the process of developing a chore wheel for the dorms, which would end up including some light cooking. Sitting at one of the tables with Asuka and Izumi, Shinso gave him a sleepy wave, then beckoned Haimawari over to join them. Good. That meant his efforts yesterday were being rewarded. Not that he’d have expected anything less of his friends.

He returned the wave and headed to the small kitchen, where Takiyo Aoyama was preparing complicated looking omelet with the help of Akaya Koda. He gave both of them a polite nod, while he searched the cupboard for his power bars. “Smells good, guys,” he told them.

“Of course it does,” Aoyama said. “I’m the one making it.”

The blonde boy’s illumination was barely noticeable, but definitely growing as he spent more time in the light of both the lamps and the sunlight filtering in through the windows. Toshi understood that he kept his room totally blacked out while he slept, so that some of the light he absorbed throughout the day could bleed off. By the end of the day, he’d be nearly too dazzling to look at, unless he burned off some of the power.

He also understood that, like his adopted father, Aoyama’s Quirk was not entirely under his control, requiring multiple support items to use the light he absorbed for much more than glowing brightly. Toshi couldn’t imagine what that was like. Sure, he’d accidentally launched himself into the air when he was surprised, but to have that much trouble with a part of yourself…

Koda gave him a gentle nudge. Despite her size (both the tallest and widest in the class), she was possessed of one of the gentlest demeanors of anyone Toshi had ever met. “Arrogance ill becomes anyone, Aoyama,” she told him. Her voice was especially incongruous with her build and size, soft, like the wind whispering through the grass. “Especially after I convinced these peppers to grow, that they might season our meals. Do not dishonor their sacrifice with your pride.”

The large girl had an… interesting perspective on things sometimes. But to each their own.

The point seemed to be made with Aoyama, though, even if he didn’t seem to completely buy the idea of dishonoring the peppers’ sacrifice. “As you say, Mademoiselle Koda,” he said, reluctantly. “I...appreciate your help in these culinary matters.”

Not exactly a thank you, not exactly an admission of fault. Of all the children of Class 1-A, Toshi knew Aoyama the least well. He hated to think badly of anyone, but he couldn’t exactly say he liked what he had seen. Maybe he’d grow out of it? Especially once they all really started working together? Toshi could only hope.

Koda held Aoyama’s gaze for a moment, then decided that was probably the best she was going to get. She helped him begin to plate the omelets. “Would you care for any, Midoriya?” she asked. There was clearly only enough for two, but he appreciated the gesture all the same, especially since Aoyama was making a rather unpleasant face behind her.

He shook his head, already biting off a piece of one of his power bars. “I’m good,” he said. “You two enjoy.”

Toshi walked out of the kitchen, taking in the rest of the room. The Iida twins were absent, probably at spending their pre-class hours in one of the workshops in the Support building. Sero was busy filming Sato with his phone, no doubt streaming his friend’s eating of a cactus for all the internet to see. Ojiro was pointing out something in a magazine to Shoji, who appeared to be doing his best to feign polite interest in whatever celebrity gossip the invisible girl was sharing and to Mineta, who was mostly drooling over the models on the cover. Chihiro absently munched on a breakfast sandwich, lost in whatever music she had streaming through her phone.

That only left Katsumi unaccounted for and she was likely still up in her room, getting in her morning workout. Where Toshi’s leaned more towards running, Katsumi’s involved more weight lifting and punching. Probably nothing to be worried about.

His phone buzzed, letting him know he had a text.

Dad: Hey, champ! Ready for your first real Heroics Class today?

I sure hope so! I can’t imagine what Grandpa Might has planned!

Dad: Just so long as he doesn’t have you fight Katsumi. I don’t need to hear from Bakugo about that!

He wouldn’t really do that, would he?

Dad: Probably not on purpose. But you know Grandpa Might!

Do I ever! He keeps following me around! They had to kick him out of the classroom four times yesterday!

Dad: I’ll talk to him. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll get Grandma.

***

Their table of four looked like it was going to become a permanent table of five. When they’d gone to the cafeteria, he’d made sure Haimawari knew he was welcome to join them. It was good having someone else around who clearly had the same kind of appreciation for Heroes that he and Shota did. Granted, it made more sense for someone like Haimawari to be into them, since he wasn’t from a heroic family. Katsumi had frequently pointed out that being such fanboys when their families were already Heroes didn’t make that much sense. But neither of them cared.

“Anything interesting in Pro Hero news, Shinso?” Izumi asked. Like Toshi, she had seen that their friend was practically vibrating with something to share. Izumi was polite enough to offer him an avenue to let it out.

“Only the coolest!” Shota bubbled. “Red Riot and Real Steel fought Diamondhead!” He pulled out his phone, showing them video of the two Heroes fighting against a Villain who could turn his skin to diamond in a very similar way to how their Quirks worked. As they watched, they saw the two Heroes land a punch against Diamonhead that caused a shockwave big enough to shatter all the nearby glass and knock loose objects over.

“The news report said you could feel the impact for miles away!” Shota added

“Oh, man,” Haimawari said, “that was one hell of a punch!”

“Yeah,” Shota said. “They’re both so manly!”

“Shinso,” Asuka began, “that was a lot of property damage… Maybe we shouldn’t be cheering that.”

“But it looked so awesome!”

Toshi shook his head. “Red Riot and Real Steel are good at what they do. They wouldn’t have done that if they had another choice. Judging by his Quirk, I don’t think anything else would have knocked Diamondhead out.”

“Think Kirishima-Bakugo’s seen it yet?” Shota asked. “Bet she’d love to see her dad in action! He’s all, like, “Pow! Bam! Take that, evil doer, for my manly heart is pure!’”

Toshi had to laugh at that, catching Izumi politely chuckling and even Asuka trying to hide a laugh behind her hand. “Okay, yeah, Uncle Eijiro does kind of talk like that.”

Haimawari frowned for a moment. “Keep forgetting you guys are all pretty much family. I can’t imagine what it must have been like growing up around that many heroes.”

“They’re just people,” he told him. “If you’re only seeing them when they’re being Heroes, you’re not getting the full picture. That’s part of who they are, sure. Some more than others. But that’s not all of who they are either.”

There were all kinds of things the public didn’t get to see. Like the way Dad could cry at the drop of a hat or the way he still geeked out when he talked about working with other Pro Heroes (not that Toshi didn’t join him in the geeking out, mind you) or the way Mom obsessively checked their bank account or had their shopping cart total figured out to the penny before they got to the check out, even though financial insecurity was a thing she’d long put behind her.

“Trust me,” Asuka said, “my father’s “Darkness” speeches don’t work nearly as well when he’s telling you to pick up your room.”

Toshi knew from experience that Asuka’s mother could be far scarier with as single look of disappointment than her father could in full “warrior of the night” mode.

“What do your parents do, Haimawari?” Izumi asked.

Toshi could swear there’s the tiniest moment of hesitation before Haimawari answers, but he has to be imagining it.

“Nothing as cool as yours,” he says. “Dad owns a convenience store in Naruhata. Mom’s a writer for a Pop!-Weekly.”

“The music magazine?” Toshi asked. He’d seen Chihiro reading it from time to time. When Haimawari nodded, he added, “That’s pretty cool!”

That got the skinny boy laughing a little. “Guess it all depends on your perspective. They’re just my parents to me.”

“Seriously though,” Toshi said. “It is pretty cool. You should tell Chihiro. She’d big into music.”

“Sorry,” Haimawari replied, “still learning everybody’s names. Chihiro is…?”

“The blonde girl with the ear-Quirk,” Izumi told him. “Chihiro Kaminari.”

“Mineta’s friend,” Asuka elaborated.

“Ooooh,” Haimawari said. “Her. She’s got, ah, interesting taste in friends.”

“She’s not as bad as Mineta,” Toshi assured him. “Try and talk to her. Couldn’t hurt.”

“Yeah, maybe I will.”

***

For their Heroics Class, Mr. Aizawa and his grandfather had taken them to Training Ground Epsilon. Unlike most of the Training Grounds, which were designed to replicate specific kinds of environments, Epsilon was essentially a long open field, with an observation bunker at one end. It was a warm day, the sun shining, and the sky clear, though their gym uniforms were comfortable enough in it (apparently, the costume department was significantly behind this year). Toshi was a little bit surprised that Mr. Aizawa could stand that much direct sunlight.

“Normally,” Grandpa Might said, “we’d start Heroics off with the Battle Trials, pitting Hero against Villain in a death-defying race for control of a bomb which might very well destroy the entire world!”

He waited a moment for a reaction from the class. When no one other than Shinso (who cheered, of course) responded, he looked a little deflated, but he went on. “Unfortunately, due to a… ah, Quirk misfire with Class 1-B, the Training Grounds for that is currently unavailable and undergoing repairs. So we have prepared an alternative exercise.”

Okay, Toshi was definitely going to have to pay more attention the other Hero Classes. If someone in 1-B had a Quirk powerful enough to do that kind of damage…!

Grandpa Might went on, “We’ll be splitting you into teams of four. Your job will be to defend the Observation Bunker, where the rest of us will be. Your job will be to defend the bunker from waves of robots that will be attacking!”

“However,” Mr. Aizawa said, “if even one robot makes it to the Bunker, then your team loses, no questions asked. Because it means everyone inside is dead.”

Ojiro shot her hand up. “Do we get to pick teams?”

“No.”

“As Heroes,” Grandpa Might explained, “you’ll often find yourself working with other Heroes you’ve never met before. You’ll need to improvise working with a wide variety of Quirks on the fly. This will help with that and help you get acquainted with your classmates’ Quirks!”

“And,” Aizawa added, “I don’t trust any of you to make good decisions about teams. The teams will be as follows. Team One: Midoriya, Aoyama, Sero, and Tensei Iida. Team Two: Kirishima-Bakugo, Shinso, Ojiro, and Mineta. Team Three: Todoroki, Haimawari, Sato, and Sora Iida. And Team Four: Tokoami, Koda, Shoji, and Kaminari.”

Okay, he could work with that… Pretty good Quirk spread on his team. Pretty good spread on all four teams, actually. At least Aizawa and Grandpa Might were giving them a fighting chance.

“The hell? You losers better not make me lose!”

…He honestly hadn’t expected anything else from Katsumi.

***

In general, Toshi thought he was pretty good with his Quirk. He could lower his personal gravity until he could bounce off the walls. And with split second timing, he could increase it until he turned into a cannon ball and then bounce back away. He’d sparred with his dad and trained more than a lot of people his age probably had. Being all second generation heroes, they definitely had some advantages going in, though they hadn’t all worked together much. This would still be a real test.

He slowly adjusted his gravity, bringing himself back down to the ground.

“What did you see, Toshi?” Tensei asked. While he could actually fly rather than float like Toshi, he was more like a rocket, needing to keep moving, which was not always as ideal for observation.

“Three one-pointers and two two-pointers,” he said. “About 50 meters out, coming quick.”

Aoyama was glowing in the afternoon son, difficult to even look at directly. Reflective wristbands likewise glittered in the sun. “Should go out after them? Show them what we’re made of?”

“No,” Toshi said. “Our mission is to protect the Bunker. We need to stay close to it, but not let them get too close. You and Sero need to hang back. You’ve both got long range Quirks.”

“Aye, aye, Captain Midoriya!” Sero said, tossing off a little salute.

“Are you sure you and Iida don’t just want to grab all the glory for yourselves?” Aoyama sneered. “Keeping me on the bench while you get to be the heroes?”

“I don’t like your tone, Aoyama,” Tensei said. “Toshi is no glory hog!”

“And perhaps I don’t like yours!”

Toshi’s bad feelings about Aoyama returned. But now was not the place to get into it. “Uh, maybe we should just…”

“They’re here!” Sero shouted, interrupting any further argument.

And indeed they were, three one-pointers rolling along on their treads, and a pair of floating two-pointers. According to the further explanation Grandpa Might and Mr. Aizawa had provided, the waves would only get stronger. They ten minutes. Either they held the line that long, or one of the ‘bots got through and they lost.

He didn’t want to lose. Especially not with his grandfather watching. He didn’t want it to be this haphazard, he’d wanted some kind of plan. Dad had drilled into him how important having a plan was. Now…

“Let’s get ‘em, guys!”

Toshi concentrated, bringing his gravity to near zero and took a jump, bouncing up like he had springs under his shoes. It carried him up and over and then at the right moment he increased it three fold. He immediately fell like a stone, crashing into one of the one-pointers, smashing in its head. Quickly, he switched back to low gravity again, bouncing off and landing on the sand.

Already, the blood was rushing in his head. He couldn’t do that kind of rapid switching for too long, not without getting a killer headache. Not to mention the effects of all that gravity on him. He was tougher when he amped his gravity up, but it put its strains on him.

Around him, the others were tearing into the rest. Tensei had flown through one of the other one pointers like a battering ram, propelled by his jet engines. “As suspected! They still have not fixed the structural flaw! Quite disappointing, but good for our Team!”

Sero was quickly wrapping up the remaining one-pointer in his Acid Tape, this time making it as acidic as possible. It was a good combination of his parents’ Quirks, really, the ability to create tape like his dad, but with all the different and variable properties of his mom’s acid. “Die, evil robot, die! Hey, with a dry, cool wit like that, I could be an action hero!”

And Aoyama… was staring down both two-pointers. His glow intensified until it was blinding. “Let’s see how these ruffians fair against my Dazzling Beam Blaster!” Both of his arms snapped up and his wrist bands flared, each unleashing a powerful golden beam of light that punched holes right through the two-pointers. His overall glow was diminished after that, still lending him a bit of a sparkle and getting brighter by the moment, but it was clear he had spent a lot of energy.

He gave himself a small clap. “That’s how you do it, boys.”

Okay, so Aoyama was powerful. But that didn’t mean Toshi had to like working with him.

And then, just like that, a buzzer split the air, signaling failure.

“What? How? We got all of them!” Sero said.

“Probably something you lot did,” Aoyama snapped.

“An unseen variable, perhaps?” Tensei mused. “Some x factor I did not anticipate?”

“Uh, guys?” Toshi said, pointing behind them. A one-pointer was already at the bunker, and others were moving in from the sides.

Mr. Aizawa’s voice came over the loudspeaker. “Perhaps next time you’ll know to watch for all directions. I expect all the rest of you to have learned something from their failure.”

“DO NOT WORRY, YOUNG GRANDSON! FAILURE IS BUT THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS VICTORY! I MEAN, AH, DO NOT WORRY, YOUNG HEROES! YES, I WAS TALKING TO ALL OF YOU!”

…Maybe he’d be better off just floating away. He could get a job as a parade balloon. Anything sounded better than being here right now.

Their Hero Academia – Chapter 6: Isamu Haimawari and the First Big Mistake

He wasn’t hurting. In fact, he felt like he was past the point of pain. But he could hear people yelling, screaming. Strange, he could swear he smelled something burning…

“Go!” he heard Aizawa yelling. “Get them to Doc Clock!”

And it had been going so well…

***

Well, if the son of the Number One Hero could mess up on their very first real Heroics exercise, maybe Isamu didn’t have to feel so bad about how he was probably going to fail too. All four of the first team had had impressive powers, but they hadn’t been watching their backs. Plus there was the whole thing where they’d been too busy arguing to pay attention to anything. Still, he’d done his best to congratulate Midoriya on at least getting to smash one of them. The green haired boy looked pretty down from his failure. He would be too.

After the first group had returned, the second group had set out. The absolutely terrifying Kirishima-Bakugo took the lead, with the other three following her.

She looked around. “Loud Kid,” she told Shinso, “you’re on lookout. You two, you’re with me. And for fuck’s sake, look around you!”

There wasn’t any arguing this time like there had been with Midoriya’s group. Kirishima-Bakugo was simply too frightening for the rest. Ojiro looked the most like she was going to say something (Maybe. You could only read so much body language on a floating gym uniform), but chose otherwise.

The robots were quickly upon them. Kirishima-Bakugo raced out to meet the first one, letting out a scream of “DIE!” as she did so. When she got close enough, she gave it an open-palmed slap on the two-pointer’s side and seconds later, a massive explosion rocked the robot, destroying it.

“That’s how you do it!” she screamed.

“Whoa!” Isamu yelled. He remembered how she’d made the spoons explode like firecrackers in the cafeteria yesterday, but he hadn’t know she could do anything like that.

“Yeah,” Midoriya agreed. “her Quirk is pretty powerful. She can release this liquid from her hands that does… something to whatever it touches and makes it explode. The more she lets out, the bigger the boom.”

“…Remind me never to make her angry.”

“Trust me, Haimawari, when I say ‘good luck with that.’”

Kirishima-Bakugo had already destroyed another two-pointer, while the rest of her team were making short work of the rest. Ojiro stopped in front of the one of the one-pointers and then simply… disappeared.

“Wait,” Isamu asked. “She can get more invisible?”

“Uh-huh,” Midoriya explained. “What she’s really doing is bending light. Her skin’s always doing it, but she can extend it to anything she’s touching, like her clothes.”

The one-pointer suddenly jerked and bucked, like something was trying to climb it, and then its head suddenly disappeared! It stopped completely, staying still on the sand. With the one-pointer distracted, Mineta gave it a powerful kick with one of her hooves, knocking it down. The robot’s head reappeared as Ojiro returned to view, jumping off of it.

“Oh, that’s good,” Midoriya said. “She made its head invisible so its camera couldn’t detect anything!”

Mineta was doing a decent job of her own as well, even without team work. She lowered her head, aiming her horns at one of the remaining one-pointers. From the tip of teach horn, a stream of purple spheres fired forth, starting the size of a pea, but rapidly growing to the size of a baseball. They stuck wherever they hit the robot, jamming its joints and obscuring its vision until it could neither move nor see, at which point she rammed it, knocking out its control panel.

“Hey!” she called out, “if I do well enough, do I get a kiss?”

“I thought I told you to stop hitting on me, horse-legs!”

“Sheesh! You’ve really got no sense of humor! Besides, maybe I was talking to Ojiro!”

“In your dreams, Mineta!”

The remaining one-pointer was demolished by a shrieking Kirishima-Bakugo, blowing its treads off with a pair of powerful explosions. “More! Bring ‘em on!” she yelled. “Keep fighting, all of you!”

And the second wave was on them. More two-pointers this time, but still a few one-pointers. Like last time, some of these started coming in from the sides.

“From the left!” Shinso called out. As one drew close, he took in a deep breath and then let out a long, low tone. Isamu could see the air between him and the robot ripple and the ripple slammed into the robot, knocking it over as though it had been punched. Shinso kept up the tone until the rippling wave punched a hole in the robot’s chest.

That was… that had definitely been a thing. Isamu remembered how Shinso’d made the ground flow like a wave yesterday.

“What,” he asked, “what exactly is his Quirk?”

“Beats me,” Midoriya said. “They call it Vocal Harmonics. He does a sustained pitch and stuff happens. Different things for different pitches. Nobody’s really figured out any logic behind it. Trust me, they’ve tried.”

The others leapt into action too. Kirishima-Bakugo exploding them, with Mineta and Ojiro slowing them down for her and Shinso.

It was in the fourth wave that things started to go south for them. The one-pointers were gone, two-pointers making up the majority of the wave, along with a single giant three-pointer.

It started when the two-pointer had Ojiro down, one of its massive arms pinning her to the ground. Her clothes flickered in and out of visibility as she tried to squirm away, but to no avail. “Argh! No fair!”

“I’m coming, Ojiro!” Shinso called out. He took in a breath again and started coughing. All the explosions Kirishima-Bakugo had been setting off had stirred up a massive amount of smoke, smoke he sucked into his lungs. Another two-pointer pinned him, face down on the ground.

Kirishima-Bakugo lashed out, heading for the three-pointer, causing explosions along every two-pointer between her and it. Mineta fired off more sticky balls from her horns, but panic was throwing her air off, not to mention that the smoke was also interfering with her ability to aim.

Kirishima-Bakugo reached the three-pointer, sliding under its reach and tapping its arm. But she was also clearly running out of whatever liquid she generated to make things explode, because the explosion she created was clearly much less powerful than she had expected. She stared at her hands like they had betrayed her.

And then the failure buzzer sounded, as the three-pointer had reached the bunker.

“Well, you lasted longer than the first team,” Aizawa said, his voice ringing from the loudspeakers. “We’ll review everything tomorrow. For now, get back to the Bunker. We’ll let the smoke clear out before Team Three goes.”

“Good job, Team!” All Might said. “Though you might want to learn to take it easy, Young Kirishima-Bakugo! There’s a time for going all out and a time for caution!”

The robots released Shinso and Ojiro, the former of whom offered Kirishima-Bakugo a hand up, but she batted it away, getting up on her own and stomping towards the Bunker, her face set in a deep scowl.

Isamu finally remembered to close his jaw. If his team lasted any time at all… it was going to get intense out there. He was pretty sure his Quirk wasn’t going to be any good for smashing robots, but maybe he could be a distraction for some of the others? Or get a couple of the robots to smash each other?

Midoriya gave him an encouraging grin. “Hey, you’re up next! You’re gonna do great, I know it.”

He returned the grin, maybe a little sheepishly. “Maybe. Gotta try, anyway.”

Okay, deep breaths. He could do this.

***

When the smoke had cleared, Team Three was finally able to step outside the Bunker. “So,” Isamu said, “how do we want to do this?”

They’d already seen the first two teams. They definitely wouldn’t devolve into in-fighting like the first group, but hopefully they wouldn’t mess up the battlefield like the second either.

“I’ll guard the rear,” Sato volunteered. “My Quirk’s no good unless they get real close.” Isamu remembered catching sight of him a few times during the Entrance Exam, tearing into a robot with his teeth. It wasn’t something he was going to forget anytime soon.

“Good,” Todoroki said. “Sora, Haimawari, you both have mobility-based Quirks. Do you think you can control the left and right edges?”

“I’ll give it my best,” he assured her. Hopefully that would be enough.

“Just leave the driving to me!” Iida said.

Todoroki nodded. “Then I will do my best to hold the middle. Remember to support each other when you can, and try not to make too much of a mess.” Her lips twitched slightly when she said the last part. A smile, maybe? Isamu didn’t know her well enough to know.

Really, Todoroki was quite the puzzle. There was the strange power she seemed to have over the ginormously scary Kirishima-Bakugo. And Torodoki herself was so reserved, quiet, but firm. It was hard to know what to think of her.

And then the first wave of robots was upon them, the same mix as the other two times. Two two-pointers, three one-pointers. Iida went right, so he dropped to the ground and went left, his Quirk pushing him along like a bullet shot from a gun. Maybe a little too fast, as he was coming up on the one-pointer faster than he expected.

He didn’t have nearly the power to go with his speed to ram his way through it like he’d seen Tensei Iida do in the first round… but maybe he had some skills they didn’t! Instead of trying to dodge, he kept going and when he got close to the one-pointer jumped on the robot and kept going, sliding over it as easily as he had over the ground. The nearest other one-pointer took a swing at him and he added an extra burst of speed, carrying him over the robot’s shoulder and down his back. The second one-pointer’s blow hammered home on the first, smashing a hole in it and bring it down, giving him just enough time to hit the dirt and slide away.

He skidded to a stop. “I… I did it!” He’d managed it a couple times during the Entrance Exam, but he really hadn’t been sure he could do it again.

“Good job, Haimawari!” Todoroki cheered. “But keep alert!’

A two-pointer was nearly upon her, but she pointed a pale hand at it and frost began to appear along its surface, until its skin was frozen solid and it started to crack under its own weight. Todoroki grimaced with the exertion of it, her pale features flushing. She pointed at one of the one-pointers, this time unleashing a blast of flames that quickly took it down. As she stopped the flames, her condition improved.

Weird, actually. Every time he’d seen her make ice, she made fire right after. He didn’t know what that meant.

But he needed his head back in the game. He saw Iida taking down the last one pointer, her jet engines giving her more than enough power to knock its head clean off.

“One more two-pointer,” he said. “Heading towards Sato!” The thick-lipped boy took up a defensive stance, but he wouldn’t last long against that.

Isamu threw himself forward and saw Iida keeping pace with him. “There’s a design flaw,” she told him. “Lots of them, actually. But the leg joints are especially weak. If we both hit it at the same time in a different leg, we should be able to take it down.”

“Got it!” he said, squinting against the dust their speed was kicking up. He was definitely going to need goggles and a mask if he was going to keep doing this kind of thing.

He concentrated, pouring on the speed, kicking himself into a higher gear. Iida kept pace, both of them racing to towards the robot. Sato, to his credit, held his ground, bearing his teeth at the machine. He and Iida reached the robot at the same time, both of them striking a leg joint. The joints buckled and the robot toppled over. Sato pounced on it, opening his jaw wider than Isamu would have thought possible, taking a huge bite out of its head.

“Blegh,” Sato said. “It’s stale!”

Yeah, he wasn’t going to ask any follow up question about that.

And there wasn’t any time. The next wave was already starting.

***

By the fourth wave, they were running out of steam. Iida was down, having run out of fuel from overusing her Jetpack. Sato was curled up on a ball, his belly bloated, moaning.

Todoroki looked dead on her feet, and even Isamu was exhausted. This was the longest and hardest he’d ever pushed his Quirk continuously. At least during the Entrance Exam, he’d had spurts where he could rest, catch his breath for a moment.

“You… okay?” he asked Todoroki, as the next wave came towards them.

“No,” she said. “I do not think I can keep fighting much longer.” A hard, determined look set itself on her face. “But I will go down fighting.”

She brought up both hands and Isamu could feel the temperature dropping. A massive block of ice incased every last robot in the fourth wave, two and three-pointers both.

“Whoa,” he breathed.

Quickly, however, he noticed that Todoroki had gone even paler. Her knees buckled and she began to fall.

He found himself moving before he could even think. Even as he heard someone yelling, telling him no…

Too late, he remembered about the flames. As he caught Todoroki before she could fall, her body erupted in flames and his world turned to pain.

***

He sprung up with a gasp, only to find he was no longer on the battlefield. Instead, he seemed to be in… a hospital bed? He had to be in the medical building. How was that possible? He’d taken a blast of fire that could melt steel to the face. Isamu was pretty sure that he should be dead, or at the very least, severely burned. But his hands were unblemished and as he felt his face, he realized that was too.

“What?”

“You’re awake,” a voice said, as he heard the curtain around the bed part. “Good. You gave us all quite a fright when you were brought in.”

At the foot of the bed, he saw a woman in thirties, wearing a white doctor’s coat over a black and purple costume with a clock insignia on her chest. She had blue-white hair down to her shoulders, but what was most noticeable was the horn growing from her head.

“How…?” he began.

“Are you not dead? Or at least not more severely injured? That would be my doing.”

“I thought I heard someone say something about a… Doc Clock? Is that you?”

The woman smiled. “I never did like that name very much. A friend of mine called me that when I was a student here and it stuck. I am Doctor Eri Izumi.”

“Ah, nice to meet you, Doc. So do you have a healing Quirk or… Because I didn’t think there were any like that that were that strong.”

She shook her head. “Nothing like that. I can rewind living matter back in time. It’s best if I have an idea of exactly how long. But on the plus side, you’re now about twenty minutes younger than you used to be.”

Well, that was a new one.

“Are you feeling up to visitors? A few of your friends are waiting on you.”

He nodded and she turned to a very elderly woman that he now noticed was napping in an electronic wheelchair at a nearby desk. “Recovery Girl!”

The old woman’s eyes snapped open. “Just resting my eyes!”

“Of course you were,” Doctor Izumi assured her. “Do you think you could go get Haimawari’s friends?”

The old woman smiled. “Of course, dearie. Just leave it to me!” She threw the wheelchair into motion, nearly clipping a wall on her way.

Realization hit him. “Todoroki! Is she okay?!”

Doctor Izumi nodded. “She’s fine, just resting like you. It was a brave thing you did. Or as my father called it, “A damn fool heroic stunt.” That’s practically high praise from him. I’ve told him to have you take it easy for a few days though. Rewinding can be stressful on the body.”

Wait. What? She couldn’t have been talking about All Might, so she had to mean…

He was going to file that under things he wasn’t going to think about.

“What do you mean I can’t see Izzy, you shriveled old crone!”

“Who’re you calling shriveled, you whipper-snapper! Why, when I was your age, I knew how to talk to my elders!”

“That was my foot you just ran over, you senile old fool!”

“Young Kirishima-Bakugo…!”

“Katsumi, please…!”

Eventually, the noise died down and Recovery Girl brought Midoriya, Shinso, and Tokoyami, along with All Might. The former Number One Hero, here to see him. His heart was suddenly pounding in his chest.

“Young Haimawari!” All Might beamed. “Quite the display of heroics out there! Though I really would ask that you not do anything like that again! This old heart of mine isn’t as good as it used to be.”

“Oh, really?” Doctor Izumi asked him. “Did I not do a good enough job the first time?”

“What? I, Eri! You see…”

“Relax,” she told him. “I’m just teasing you.”

“Oh, of course…”

Doctor Izumi chuckled and shook her head. “Just a few minutes, now, all of you. Haimawari needs his rest.”

As his new friends gathered around his bed, Isamu thought he might actually be doing all right after all.

Their Hero Academia -- Chapter Seven: Izumi Todoroki and Trying to Make Amends

“Mama! Daddy! Look! Ice! Ice!” She had been so happy the day her Quirk had come in, showing off her power to her parents by making ice cubes.

“Oh, wonderful, darling,” her mother had said.

“That’s good,” her father had said, smiling. He smiled so rarely, always seemed so lost in thought, but he always smiled for her and her mother.

And then she had started feeling warm. Too warm. “Ow! Hot! Hot!” And little flames danced from her hand…

***

Under normal circumstances, Izumu would have been glad to see her parents. But these were hardly normal circumstances. Not when she was lying in a bed in U.A.’s medical building. Not after what had happened on the Training Ground. She had pushed herself too hard and had collapsed during training. That too, would be cause for concern, but not as much as she was facing now. If she’d had more endurance… maybe she wouldn’t have collapsed.

Maybe she wouldn’t have injured Haimawari. Her memory of the event was fuzzy, but she knew she had seen him racing towards her as she had collapsed. He would have been at ground zero when she had ignited.

Mr. Aizawa had been direct, but not unkind, when he had told her what had happened. She had badly injured the young man, burns over most of his body. If it had not been for Doctor Izumi (He was injured by one Izumi, saved by another. The irony was not lost on her), he very likely would have died. And only the doctor’s unique Quirk had saved him from a lifetime of permanent injuries.

He had told her, had not tried to tell her that she should not feel guilty. Instead, he had told her to use that guilt to motivate herself, to make sure it never happened again. She would.

She should never have tried to absorb that much heat at once. Unlike her father, she couldn’t just lower the temperature to make ice. She absorbed the heat into herself. And that had to go somewhere, manifesting as flames. She could hold it in for a little while, but the amount of heat she’d absorbed, coupled with having already reached the limits of her endurance during the training exercise, had overwhelmed her. And when she had passed out, all of it had come racing out at once.

“We’ll just bring you home for a few days,” her mother said, “so you can recuperate properly. You’ll be feeling fine in no time.”

She hadn’t wanted her parents called in at all. Students got hurt all the time during training at U.A. It was to be expected. They had a fine medical staff, even beyond Doctor Izumi. And students pushing themselves too hard were nothing new either.

But it had been a fight to even allow her parents to let her attend. Her mother in particular had been extremely against it, worried over her health. They had settled on a compromise, one suggested by her father. She would be allowed to attend, but they were to be called if anything disastrous went wrong with her health. And pushing herself to exhaustion definitely counted for that.

“I do not wish to return home,” she said, looking to her father for support.

“You collapsed, Izumi,” he said. He looked over to her mother, then back to her. “We need to look out for your health. If you push yourself too hard…”

She could make her already fragile state even worse. “But if I do not push myself,” she said, “I will not improve. The only way to surpass my limitations is to push them.”

“We’re not asking you to drop out,” her mother said. “Just to take a few days off from more intensive training. You can keep up on your regular studies still.”

It sounded perfectly reasonable. But she understood her parents, understood their caution and worry. It would be a very short journey from coming home for a few days to staying longer to not returning to U.A. at all. The arguments would be logical and well-reasoned. And if she was forced to endure them, she could see her resistance wearing down.

Which was why it could not be allowed to happen.

“Doctor Izumi already recommended the same to Mr. Aizawa,” Izumi said firmly. “So I am already excused from active Heroics training for the next week. Here or home changes nothing about it. So I would prefer to stay here.”

In spite of the seriousness of the situation, her father let out a small laugh. “Such a stubborn girl,” he said.

Her parents exchanged a glance and as one, both said to the other, “She gets that from you.” This, in turn, prompted them both to laugh. Her father’s short and sharp, her mother’s longer, fuller.

“My health is always my concern,” Izumi went on. “I am aware I cannot last as long, run as fast, or work as hard as some of the others. But I am where I want to be. I want to be as good a hero as either of you. And I cannot do that if you treat me like a fragile flower.”

Her life had revolved around her health for as long as she could remember. Long doctor visits, the best specialists an absurdly considerable fortune could buy, enough medications to fill a large truck. Constant reminders that she just couldn’t keep up with her friends. And even the bullying that Katsumi had protected her from. But she truly was getting better. Getting stronger. Even months ago, she wouldn’t have been able to absorb that much heat fully rested, let alone exhausted. That had to be proof of something.

She took in a breath. “Please.”

Her mother looked like she was going to disagree, but finally managed a nod. “All right,” she said. “But I want you to have a visit with your regular doctor. Doctor Izumi has my utmost respect, but her primary training is emergency medicine.”

“Probably as good a deal as you’re going to get, Izumi,” her father said.

That was… better than she could have hoped. She unclenched a hand she didn’t realize she’d been clenching.

“I can agree to that,” she said finally. “Thank you.”

“Get back here, you hooligan!”

“Screw you, old woman!”

There was the sound of running in the hallway, until Katsumi appeared where the curtains parted, frantically looking behind her. “Crazy old lady didn’t think I could jump over her, but I showed her. Got halfway down the hall before she could even get turned around!”

She seemed to realize that it wasn’t just Izumi in the room and had the self-awareness to look slightly sheepish.

“Ah, hello, Mr. Todoroki. Mrs. Yaoyorozu.”

Her eyes widened, then narrowed with anger as she drew her own conclusions. She dropped into a fighting stance. “You’re not taking Izzy! You can’t! I’ll… I’ll fight you! You’ll have to go through me first!”

She really didn’t mean to—Katsumi looked so serious—but Izumi actually burst out laughing. Her parents just looked confused, looking back and forth between the two girls.

“Katsumi,” she said. “That was never an option under serious consideration.” Not the whole truth, but it would prevent Katsumi from getting angrier. “And we have reached a further agreement to allow me to stay.

“But thank you for your support.”

“Oh,” Katsumi said, deflating slightly. “Well… good.”

A shriveled hand suddenly gripped Katsumi’s wrist. “Got you!” Recovery Girl said. “And I told you, no more visitors!”

The ancient Hero used her free hand to put her wheelchair into reverse, dragging Katsumi with her.

“Hey! Let go of me, you crone! You can’t do this! I’ve got rights!”

When they were both gone, her parents both looked over to her, incredulous. Izumi just shrugged. “Katsumi is always watching out for me,” she explained.

There was another shared glance between the two of them, the meaning of which she did not fully grasp. In point of fact, her father’s expression was quite confused, while her mother seemed to be trying to communicate something she couldn’t even guess at.

“I see Bakugo and Kirishima’s daughter is the same as ever,” her father said.

“Your… friend is quite devoted,” her mother observed.

“She is,” Izumi agreed. “I am quite lucky.”

***

Once she was back at the dorms, Izumi sought out Asuka Tokoyami. She could have gone to any of her closest circle of friends about this, but what she needed right now was the kind of bluntness only the bird-headed girl could provide. Toshi would try to soften the blow and Shota would inevitably get derailed into telling her how awesome she’d been prior to that fateful moment. So she needed someone who would tell her like it was. She just counted herself fortunate enough to have made her way back without having run into Haimawari. That was another good reason to avoid Toshi or Shota as sources of advice. They shared a floor with Haimawari.

She found Asuka in her room, the door open. Her friend’s room was tastefully decorated, with bright, floral prints on the walls. Asuka was at her desk, where she was typing on a green computer, the monitor of which was shaped like a frog’s head. “Asuka?” she asked. “May I come in? I need to talk to you.”

Her friend stopped typing and looked to the doorway. “Sure,” she said. “Come on in.”

“Thank you,” Izumi said as she stepped inside. Asuka gave a slight nod to the spare chair in the room and she took a seat.

“How’re you feeling?” Asuka asked.

“Well enough,” she replied. “I am on several restrictions as far as Heroics go for a time, and I must see my doctor, but I am being allowed to stay. How is Haimawari?”

“Physically fine. Doc Clock fixed him up. We brought him back as soon as she cleared him to leave. Toshi and Shota got him to bed.”

“And mentally?”

“Harder to say. He was more concerned about how you were. But he did almost die. Who knows how he’ll handle it when he gets time to process it.”

Not exactly what she had wanted to hear, but also exactly why she had come to Asuka in the first place. Bad enough that she had potentially damaged her own career, but if she had waylaid someone else’s as well…

“I would not know how to begin to apologize to him,” Izumi said. “A simple “I’m sorry” does not seem sufficient for setting someone on fire.”

“Probably not,” Asuka agreed. She placed a finger on her face, near her beak. “But you should still try. I’m sure he knows you didn’t mean to do it.”

“Would… would some kind of apology gift be appropriate?” Perhaps that was it? Certainly, money was no object in that regard.

Asuka shook her head. “Definitely not. Don’t make it look like you’re trying to buy his forgiveness.”

There was a brief flash as Frog Shadow appeared, manifesting over Asuka’s shoulder. “But if you’re throwing money around, we could use a new phone.”

“Really?” Asuka asked her familiar.

Frog-Shadow just shrugged. “Your phone’s boring. No games!”

Green-feathers ruffled with irritation. “I can’t take you anywhere.”

“You never go anywhere fun, anyway!”

Izumi got the feeling she was now intruding on something rather personal. “I, ah, I shall leave you to your discussion, Asuka. Thank you for your honesty.”

***

Izumi stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind her to give Asuka and Frog Shadow their privacy. She had known the bird-headed girl nearly all her life and considered her one of her closest friends, but she still could not even begin to understand the relationship between the girl and her Quirk. Granted, there was much about most of her classmates and friends she did not understand.

Kaminari was outside her dorm room, sitting on the floor, occasionally looking down at a text book or scribbling something on a piece of paper. She looked up. “Get the advice you’re looking for?” she asked.

Izumi raised an eyebrow at that. “How did you…?”

“I’m not that dumb, Todoroki. I was there and I saw what happened to Haimawari. And you’re probably one of the kindest people any of us knows. So yeah, you’re probably worried about what to do next. And everybody knows Tokoyami won’t sugarcoat anything.”

“I hurt him, Kaminari. I am not sure how you walk back from that.”

Kaminari shrugged, but it wasn’t a dismissive one, as far as Izumi could determine. She brought up both of her Extension Cords, sparks dancing from the tips, then pressed the double-prongs of each together, setting off a spark that set her twitching for a moment, before she pulled them apart.

“You and me, we’re not that different,” Kaminari said. “Your flames got out of hand, I can electrocute somebody or fry my own brain if I’m not paying attention. See, I did that on purpose just now, but it doesn’t take much to set off a spark if I’m not careful. All our Quirks can be dangerous if we’re not careful. Yours, mine, even Shoji’s.”

Her right Cord pointed at Izumi. “The real important thing is learning and not letting it happen again. We all came here knowing it was going to be a rough road and we might get hurt. Just gotta make sure it’s never the same way twice.”

Izumi nodded. “I… Thank you, Kaminari. I shall keep that in mind.”

The sound of hooves cut off any further discussion, as Mineta ran down the hall and into her room. The door reopened for a moment and she stuck her head out. “If anyone asked, I was here all night!” The door closed again.

Yes, she was never going to completely understand all of her classmates. But she especially was never going to understand Mineta.

***

It was not until the next morning that she was able to speak to Haimawari. Though exhausted by the day, she had slept poorly, replaying the events of the previous day over and over in her mind, trying to figure out what she should have done differently and what she could say now.

She let him eat breakfast with Shota and Asuka, eating hers instead with the Iida twins. They were too distracted with sketching something to bring up the events of yesterday. It brought her a little respite, at least.

Finally, though, she had to approach Haimawari and the others. “May I,” she began, finding her voice faltering. He did not flinch from her, but seemed slightly uneasy in her presence. That… that had to be something. Something she could hold onto, build up from. “May I speak to you, Haimawari, privately?”

“Come on, Shota,” Asuka said, rising. “I’ll help you with that homework problem before class.”

“What homework….” Shota began, until comprehension dawned on his face. “Right. Homework. Gotta go. See you in class!”

It left the two of the alone. Everyone else in the Common Room was busy enough. Everyone had seen what had happened. They would likely not be disturbed. Even if Haimawari looked like he would rather be anywhere else. “Ah… sure,” he said. “We can talk.”

She took the seat opposite him and took a deep breath. “I’m told you tried to save me yesterday. Thank you.”

At this, he did smile. “Just doing what heroes do. Felt like I was moving before I could think.”

Izumi nodded. “I’m told many of us have had a moment like that.”

The silence hung before them like an uncomfortable cloud.

“I hurt you,” she said when she could bear the silence no more. “Badly. You could have died because I pushed myself beyond my limits. Because I was not strong enough to control or contain my Quirk.”

He looked down at the table and folded his hands in front of him. “I definitely didn’t think I’d come that close to dying on my second day,” Haimawari said after a moment. “But I’d do it again. Even when I caught on fire, all I could think was “at least I went out doing the right thing.’”

“I am sorry,” Izumi said. “You should never have been put in that position. Never should have had to face that.”

“Isn’t that why we’re all here?” he asked. “Because we can’t help racing into danger? You don’t have to apologize to me, Todoroki.”

“I must,” she said, now looking down herself. She realized she was crying. “If anything more sever had happened… If Doctor Izumi had not been able to… I do not know what I could have done.”

He reached across the table and took her hand. “P—p—please,” he said. “Don’t cry. I said you don’t have to apologize to me, and I meant it. But if it means that much to you, I accept your apology. And I forgive you.”

She looked up. He was smiling and there was not a hint of malice or fear in his eyes. “I was afraid you would hate me,” she said. “Or fear that I might hurt you again.”

“Don’t really have it in me to hate people,” he said. “Got plenty of room for friends, more than I’d like for fear, but no fear for my friends. I’ve got plenty of doubts all on my own. Like what I’ll do when my back’s to the wall.”

“I would guess you’ll probably rush in and try to do the right thing again.”

He laughed. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“So,” she ventured. “We are… all right? Things are “good” between us?” Why did people have to be so complicated?

“We’re good, Todoroki,” he said.

“After everything,” she said, “I must insist that you call me Izumi. It only seems right.”

“Only if you call me Isamu.”

“It is a deal.”

***

“See, Izumi?” her father said. “You just have to make sure you let the fire out. Careful where you put it though.”

“I know, Daddy! I know!”

“Just keep it balanced,” her mother had told her. “And you’ll do just fine.”

“We know you’ll make us proud.”

Their Hero Academia – Chapter Eight: Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo and the Need To Woman Up

Katsumi’s fists pounded into the heavy bag hanging from her ceiling, letting her vent her anger and frustration. At least, that was the theory. As of right now, it didn’t seem to be doing her much good. The events of the previous day kept playing over in her mind.

It had been one shit show after another. First, her team had fallen in the fourth round. She’d exhausted her reserves and run out of explosive power and the rest of her team had let her down to boot. Some people might have said that lasting four rounds was good. But not her. She was aiming for the finish line.

And then Izzy… She’d always known Izzy was powerful. But she hadn’t realized just how powerful she was. That girl truly was silk hiding steel. Even if she’d pushed herself too far. But Katsumi did the same thing. She could hardly blame Izzy for that. Even if her heart had seized up in her chest when Izzy went down.

In some dumb way, she was grateful to the Newb. If he hadn’t caught Izzy… Dumb Newb had damn near gotten himself killed for it though. Maybe she really could ease up on him. A little. She had a reputation to uphold.

But her thoughts lingered longest on what she’d said in front of Izzy’s parents. She’d threatened to fight two Pro Heroes, one of them the Number Three Hero. She’d threatened to fight them for Izzy, to keep them from taking her away. Who knows what she would have done if that withered old crone hadn’t dragged her off?

Well, Dad probably would have laughed and encouraged her. So that was something. Papa on the other hand…

“You are a mess, girl,” she told herself, pausing to catch her breath. “And you’ve got it bad.”

There was a series of knocks at her door. Three short taps, one hard tap, a pause, then two more hard taps. Go Beyond! Plus…ULTRA!

Katsumi shook her head. “What do you want, Toshi?”

“Can I come in?”

“Before I answer that, do you have Loud Kid with you? Because I cannot deal with him before I’ve had coffee.”

“Shota’s having breakfast with Asuka and Haimawari.”

“Then you can come in.”

Toshi slid the door open awkwardly, as he was carrying a pair of coffees and a pair of those Pro Hero branded power bars he liked so much. “Thought you might like some breakfast,” he said, offering her one of each.

She eyed the coffee mug suspiciously. “What kind of coffee is that?”

“It’s coffee-flavored coffee. Black, no sugar.” Toshi made what she was guessing he thought was an imitation of her scowl. “Like my heart.”

She gave him a blank look. “Was that supposed to be me?”

His eyes went wide. “Ah… that depends on whether or not you liked it?”

Toshi could be annoying sometimes, but he did know how to make her laugh. And whether she liked it or not, he was always looking out for her. For all of them. Even if they didn’t want or need it. She took the coffee mug and gave him an affectionate punch in the arm, nearly causing him to spill his own coffee. “You’re all right, Toshi,” she said. “Thanks.”

She accepted the offered power bar and took a bite out of it. “So what’re you really doing here?”

“Why do you assume I have an ulterior motive?”

“Because you only bring me food and coffee when you wanna talk.”

“Well, you do get kind of hangry…”

She rolled her eyes. “Out with it, Toshi.”

“Just checking up on you,” he said. “After everything that happened yesterday, I was worried about you.”

Her pride flared. Who did he think she was? Some kid who needed a babysitter? She wasn’t somebody who needed looking out for, like Loud Kid. “I’m a big girl,” she said.

“I know that,” he said. “But yesterday… yesterday as rough.”

Sometimes, Toshi had a real talent for understatement.

“I mean, you and me, we know the risks. Our parents are Pro Heroes. We’ve seen them get hurt sometimes. Sometimes badly.”

That was true. Dad got hurt all the time, mostly minor scrapes, cuts, and bruises. But she was still haunted sometimes by a memory from years ago, when Papa had been badly beaten by a Villain named Strongarm. She remembered seeing him broken and bandaged in that hospital bed, she remembered hanging onto Dad. It was one of the only times she could remember seeing him cry…

“You don’t have to remind me,” she said. “I know getting hurt’s a possibility.”

“You know you getting hurt is a possibility.”

She paused, coffee cup halfway to her mouth. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I saw you, when we were watching Izumi’s group…” He trailed off, as she began to glare at him. “I didn’t mean to! But you were getting kind of loud and everything! But, every time Izumi nearly got hit or had to dodge or when she collapsed… I saw your face.”

“Probably the same kind of face you were making,” she snapped. “It’s Izzy. We all care about her.”

“Yeah, we do,” Toshi agreed. “And maybe I’m not a really great judge about this… but maybe you care about her as more than just a friend.”

She had him pressed up against the wall, one hand on his neck, before she knew what she was doing. Both coffee cups had clattered to the floor, spilling their contents on the carpet. “The hell did you just say, Toshi?!”

His eyes were widening as he struggled against her grip. “Can’t… can’t… breathe… Katsumi…”

With a growl, she let him go. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said…”

“Is it that obvious?” she asked. Did the whole freaking school know? How the hell was she supposed to make people quake in fear of her if everyone knew she was soft over somebody? …Did Izzy know?

Toshi shook his head. “I don’t think so. I mean, I haven’t talked to everybody about it, but Asuka noticed it even earlier than I did. But I don’t think most of them know. Shota definitely doesn’t. And we’re not going to tell him.”

Okay, that all added up. And she could definitely cross Ojiro off the list of people who maybe knew. If the invisible teen knew, the entire school would have known. People in America would have known. Theoretical evil twins from an alternate universe would have known. No gossip was safe from invisible lips.

She jabbed a finger in Toshi’s direction. “You tell no one about this.”

Toshi backed away from her finger, up against the wall. “Is this… is this because you like girls?” he asked. “Because we’re all okay with that. Sero’s gay too, you know…”

“It’s not that, you idiot!” She threw her hands up in frustration. “First off, I like guys and I like girls! And that’s still not the point! It’s… it’s an Izzy thing. I don’t know if she’d feel that way about me. I don’t know what a girl like her would even want with a girl like me.”

Toshi held up his hands. “I don’t know what to tell you, Katsumi. I really don’t. But I think you’re going to have to do something. You can’t just keep circling like that.”

He offered her a smile. “What I do know is you’re a pretty amazing person. And you and Izumi have been friends a long time. That’s not going to change, no matter what else happens. And I’m your friend too.”

“…I really hate it when you make sense.”

The silence hung over the room for a moment. “This isn’t the part where we hug, Toshi. Get outta here.”

He laughed as he exited her room. “Okay, Katsumi. I’m… I’m rooting for you.”

***

When she stepped into the Common Room, Katsumi was a woman on a mission. She was going to find Izzy and she was going to talk to her. An actual talk, with words and everything. The kind of mushy, touch-feely talk Dad derided and tried to substitute grunts for and the kind that Papa was so good at.

Step One: locate Izzy.

Actually, Step One turned about to be: Dodge the Chaos.

“You take that back, Frenchie!” Mineta snapped at Aoyama.

“I just call them like I see them, Chéri.”the blonde snapped back. “You prance around here, trying to seduce everything with a pulse. You know what that makes you.”

“Okay, that’s it!”

“Bring it!”

What happened next… couldn’t exactly be called a fight. Not with both of them just standing at arms’ length, flailing their arms and slapping them hands against each other.

And then some of the others started cheering them on. Sero was recording the whole thing on his phone, Ojiro was cheering on Aoyama, Kaminari was cheering on Mineta, and the Iida Twins were yelling at everyone that fighting would not be tolerated…

Yep, she just sidestepped that whole thing, passing by Koda, who was watching the whole thing rather helplessly.

There. Izzy was at one of the tables… with the Newb.

Great. Just great.

Maybe she could try the whole “being nicer” thing?

Yep. She was going to walk over there and ask to talk to Izzy. She wasn’t even going to threaten the Newb into moving. She was going to put on her friendliest face, go over there, and talk to Izzy.

So why weren’t her legs working?

She was Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo, the wo-manliest Hero-in-Training in the whole school, daughter of two of manliest and most awesome heroes on the planet. She didn’t back down from anything. Not from a fight, not from a challenge, and definitely not from a girl she’d had a crush on since she was eight.

One foot in front of the other. She could do this.

So why… was the Newb… holding her hand? And grinning like an idiot? And Izzy was smiling too…

She ran.

***

Izzy was back in school finally, having been gone for a long time because she’d been so sick. She’d ended up in the same class as Katsumi.

There’d been three of them. She didn’t remember their names. She just remembered what they’d done.

She’d fallen on the playground, while they were running, playing tag. She wasn’t as fast as anyone else, panting and out of breath.

“Why don’t you just stay down?” one girl had sneered, all three of her eyes cold and cruel.

“Nobody wants to play with a sick kid like you!” another had taunted, her spiked tail swinging behind her.

“Can’t believe somebody like her has Hero parents!” a third had said. “They must be so embarrassed!”

“All of you, shut up! Leave her alone!” She’d picked up a handful of rocks, letting her explosive power seep into them. She wasn’t supposed to use her Quirk while at school or on the playground, but they just made her so mad…! She threw the rocks, where they exploded at the mean girls’ feet, all bang and no flame, but more than enough to scare them off.

“Fine!” the three-eyed girl had snapped. “You want her, you can have her!”

She offered Izzy a hand-up. “It’s okay,” Katsumi had said. “I’m here.

Slowly, Izzy’s sobs stopped. “Thank you,” she’d said. “I didn’t… I didn’t know they’d be so mean.”

“Don’t worry, Izzy,” she’d said. “Anything happens, I’ll exploderize them!”

Izzy had pressed her hands to her face. “I… I wouldn’t want anybody to get hurt…”

“Aaaw, maybe I can just exploderize them a little?”

“Maybe just a little, Katsumi.”

“Don’t worry,” she told Izzy again. “I’ll take care of you.”

And Izzy was hugging her and she had never felt more like a Hero than she had right then.

***

Katsumi hadn’t gotten far, just under one of the trees in the courtyard. She wasn’t going to cry. She was not going to cry. She was Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo, and she definitely did not just go crying over anything.

She was… she was happy for Izzy. Yes. Izzy absolutely deserved all the happiness in the world. She couldn’t be mad at her for finding happiness…

“ARGH!” She let out a scream, releasing some of the rage she felt burning up inside her. Katsumi was well aware that she had what some might call “anger issues.” And sometimes, yeah, she let it out at the wrong times. Usually when someone pissed her off or did something stupid. But she had rarely been as angry as she was right now. Angry at the unfairness of it all, angry at missed chances, angry at herself for waiting so long.

She needed something to punch, something to explode. But no targets presented themselves. And she was smart enough not to just unleash random property damage. She didn’t need the headache or the detention that would come with that.

Problems she could punch were so much easier to solve.

“Katsumi.”

She looked up and blinked rapidly, because she had to be dreaming. It was Izzy. But why would Izzy be out here?

“Katsumi,” Izzy repeated. “In all the time I have known you, I have never seen you run like that. What’s wrong?”

Words left her mouth before she had the chance to stop them. “You came running after me? You break up with your new boyfriend already?”

Confusion worked its way across Izzy’s face. “My… what?”

She struggled to remember the Newb’s actual name. “Haimawari. I saw the two of you. I’m… I’m happy for you. Much as I hate to admit it… he seems like the Hero-type. And you deserve the best, Izzy.”

“Katsumi,” Izzy said, still looking very confused, “Haimawari is my friend. That is all. I don’t know what would lead you to believe otherwise.”

“I saw the two of you! Smiling, holding hands…”

“Ah.” Izumi nodded. “We were just speaking to each other. I apologized for setting him on fire.”

Only Izzy could have delivered a statement like that.

“He forgave me,” she went on. “I was… grateful for that. I was so ashamed of what I had done to him… I feared he might hate me.”

No one could hate Izzy, that much, Katsumi was certain of.

“So you don’t… like him, like that?” Katsumi prompted. “You’re just friends?’

“Just friends,” Izzy assured her.

Relief washed over Katsumi like a wave, quieting some of the flames of rage within her. Those flames were quickly replaced by icy, cold dread gripping its way around her heart. Izzy might not have been involved with the Newb… but she still seemed blind to how she felt about her.

“I am sorry if I upset you somehow,” Izzy told her. “I know… I am not always good at knowing how other people will react. But I truly do not understand why it would upset you so.”

Katsumi looked away, the words dying in her throat for once, instead of escaping before she could consider them. How could she tell Izzy how she felt? What if she didn’t feel the same way?

“Katsumi. Please. Talk to me.”

It was now or never. Time to Woman Up.

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

And then the dormitory exploded.

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

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