Toshinori, like most heroes, had seen his fair share of strange and unusual quirks over the years. And while this one was nowhere near the oddest, it was certainly up there.
The ability to turn humans into random animals for a likewise random length of time didn't sound like it could serve any immediately obvious purpose in real life, so he supposed he understood how it could become frustrating and lead to discouragement. What he couldn't sympathise with was the decision to use that ability for crime. In this case, robbery.
The perpetrator in question had managed to pull several small scale heists over the course of the last week and escaped capture each time. Of course, due to the uniqueness of his quirk he'd made the news. The first incident in which an entire convenience store full of people had been turned and then set loose as a distraction had been quite the story.
There were reports that the change could last anywhere from an extremely disorienting couple of seconds to several days, so people were reluctant to get involved.
As the criminal was operating within the area and still at large, Toshinori had kept an eye on things because, well, old habits die hard and it couldn't hurt anyway.
He honestly hadn't intended to get involved himself, it just… happened, more or less. As things do.
Toshinori had been craving a specific brand of organic tea that he could only buy from a specialist shop in town. When Izuku had caught word of his plans he'd decided to accompany him. Toshinori had tried to tell him that it wasn't necessary but the boy had insisted and so the two of them ended up making the trip in together. Despite his initial adamance that he could go alone Toshinori was quite glad to have the boy's company. Likewise, Izuku thoroughly enjoyed the chance to have an outing alone with his mentor and the whole thing was actually quite pleasant.
Right up until they exited the shop.
The sound of a commotion from the other end of the street had Toshinori and Izuku pausing to exchange weary glances and looking back over their shoulders. There was shouting, accompanied by a loud, jumbled mess of distressed animal calls and a man came bursting out onto the street, a stuffed bag clenched in his hand. He looked about wildly, frantically searching for the best escape route. Apparently decided, he began to run in their direction. Toshinori and Izuku turned around fully now, both of them instantly recognising what had happened and who this person was. They braced themselves to take action.
"Midoriya, my boy, be sure not to let him grab you", Toshinori warned, frowning at the quickly approaching robber.
"Understood", Izuku said, widening his stance slightly.
"I'll attempt to trip him, you get behind him as fast as you can and pin him down", Toshinori continued, lowering his groceries to the ground.
"Yes." Izuku nodded, having had a similar plan occur to him as well.
The robber thankfully didn't seem to realise that he was running straight towards the former number one hero and his disciple, one of UA's brightest.
As he drew to less than a few paces away Izuku finally activated his full cowl. The robber's eyes flew to him, startled, and so he didn't seem to notice at all as Toshinori dropped down suddenly, a leg flying out towards the man's lower shins. At least, that's what it seemed like. What occurred next happened extremely quickly.
The robber had far keener senses than they'd given him credit for and at the last second he seemed to realise what was happening and attempted to jump Toshinori's leg. His reaction was just a bit too slow however and it still clipped him in the foot, causing him to lose balance and land awkwardly. He stumbled and began to fall and Izuku moved to pin him like planned. The robber still had one last trick up his sleeve however and began to twist mid fall. Izuku's momentum meant that he wouldn't be able to dodge the man's reaching hand on his own and Toshinori lunged backwards, off balance himself to grab his student and pull him out of the way. He heard Izuku give a startled yelp and felt the man's hand clamp down on his forearm.
Toshinori only had a second to let out a heartfelt, "Shit-!" before he was enveloped in a cartoonish puff of smoke and his perspective completely shifted.
"Toshinori-san!" Izuku shouted in distress, an arm automatically rising to shield his face from the smoke.
There was a thump of two bodies hitting the pavement and the bag that the robber had been carrying skidded out from the cloud. Then came a clatter of hooves and a shout, accompanied by a loud hollow thump and the robber himself tumbled out. Izuku stared at him, startled as the criminal flopped back on the pavement with a large red mark on his forehead, rolling over and groaning in pain, seeming stunned. As the smoke dissipated Izuku was finally able to see his mentor, or, what he could only assume was his mentor.
The goat stumbled around awkwardly on the hems of the clothes hanging off of it for a moment, shaking its head and looking around.
It turned and met gazes with Izuku, perking up at the sight of him and giving a soft bleat.
"Toshinori-san…?" Izuku asked uncertainly.
The goat nodded, ears flicking. It turned its head back towards the robber, straightening determinedly, and Izuku scrambled to his feet, intending to finish things.
It was at that moment that a mass of expanding branches came reaching down from above and surrounded the downed robber, pinning his arms to his sides and efficiently immobilising him.
Izuku and the-goat-which-was-Toshinori glanced up startled as Kamui Woods landed on the street.
"Oh boy, another one, huh?" the pro-hero said, taking in the sight of the clothing swamped goat.
Toshinori ducked his head in apparent embarrassment and Kamui turned his attention to Izuku standing nearby, eyes widening in recognition.
"Hey, you're that kid!" he exclaimed cheerfully.
"Ah, yeah…that's me", Izuku laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, edging over to his mentor.
Toshinori turned towards his student and tried to take a step but seemed to give up half way through the motion and shifted his weight in frustration.
"Toshinori-san", Izuku said quietly, crouching down next to him.
As might have been expected, his mentor was quite a large goat, although Izuku admittedly had little frame of reference for such things. His shoulders came up to about Izuku's waist when he was standing upright. He appeared to be as emaciated as ever but it was less obvious under the double layer of clothing and long shaggy fur, the same shade as his hair. He even had two particularly long locks hanging down from his forehead, framing his triangular face just like in his human form. A pair of large, dangerous looking horns curled back and out slightly before curving upwards at the ends like the base of a tick.
"You know the person, kid?" Kamui asked him, keeping half an eye on the robber who was more aware now, glaring at them and hissing expletives under his breathe.
"Yes", Izuku said distractedly, trying to figure out how to help his mentor.
Both of them wanted to leave and return to the safety of UA. The longer they lingered the more likely it was word would get around that All Might himself had been caught up in the latest incident involving the small-time robber who turned people into animals. Even if the story itself hadn't been trending for a good week now, the media would be all over this in an instant. They had no idea how long Toshinori's change would last for though. If Izuku could help him take some of the clothes off it would certainly be easier to move around but there was the chance he would transform back and end up half naked in public which was completely out of the question.
"Okay", Izuku said, mostly to himself. "Okay", he repeated after a pause, reaching for the nearest leg. "I'll try to roll everything up a bit", he said. "Can you..?"
Toshinori shifted his weight for balance and obligingly lifted the leg. Izuku took the stretch of spare fabric and began folding it back on itself, pulling it up until a cloven hoof was exposed. Toshinori lowered the foot to the ground and Izuku rolled the fabric again several times to try and get it to stay in place. He sat back on his haunches and eyed his work critically. It was okay for now but it didn't seem like it would stay put for long on its own, especially if they had to walk. Both of them realised this and Izuku met Toshinori's odd-sideways-pupiled-gaze. They simultaneously slumped in resignation.
"Wait!" Izuku exclaimed, perking up again suddenly and causing Toshinori to give a startled bleat.
"Sorry", he apologised absently, hopping to his feet.
There was a convenience store right across the street.
"I'll be right back", he said, making a totally unnecessary 'stay here' gesture at his mentor before he jogged over to the store.
He was back no more than a couple of minutes later with a packet of rubber bands in hand.
"Here we go", he said as Toshinori lift his foot again and Izuku secured the rolled up fabric with a band. "Perfect." He grinned in satisfaction.
If Toshinori's face was capable of it right now he would have been smiling at his student. It wasn't though so he just had to give his shoulder a gentle nudge with his head instead.
Izuku flushed happily and beamed, moving onto the back leg.
Soon all four feet were free for movement and Toshinori took his first tentative steps. He was a little unsteady but managed not to trip over or anything, and was quickly getting the hang of moving four limbs in tandem. Izuku, who had been slowly circling him and hovering fretfully, gave him a wide, proud smile when he looked up, to which Toshinori snorted in amusement.
Kamui Woods cleared his throat from behind them and they both turned to blink at him in question.
"It seems you two will get along fine on your own so I'll be taking this guy down to the police station now", he said, glancing at the robber, who curled his lip back at him in a contemptuous sneer.
"Oh, right", Izuku said, having almost forgotten they were there. "Thank you, Kamui Woods." He smiled.
The hero gave him a nod of acknowledgement as he lift the robber up and stretched out his powers to gather the fallen money bag with his other hand. "Happy to help", he said in parting.
Izuku glanced over to Toshinori and found him walking back to the place where he'd put down his groceries.
"Oh!" Izuku exclaimed as his mentor eyed the plastic bag contemplatively. "Let me", he said, quickly joining him and reaching down for it.
Toshinori eyed him as he picked it up, as though he wanted to insist that Izuku let him carry it himself, but then gave a resigned huff. Even though he was fairly certain he could manage by holding it in his mouth, he had a feeling it wouldn't be particularly pleasant to carry it all the way back like that. Plus he wasn't sure whether or not the transformation would bring out any latent animal instincts. It would probably be best to keep anything non-edible out of his mouth for now and not give him temptation, just in case.
They resumed their walk down the street and, if it weren't for the fact that one of them had been transformed into a goat, it was like nothing had happened.
"…Will they let you on public transport?" Izuku wondered aloud with a slight frown.
Toshinori broke into loud, wheezy bleats of laughter.
Part way through their trip back Toshinori had somehow regained his ability for speech, though how it worked exactly with him still being a goat, neither of them knew. The discovery had sent Izuku into an extended muttering session which Toshinori had waited out with practised patience and a fondly exasperated look. He'd eventually had to pull him out of it however since the double oddity of a fervently muttering young man and a goat in clothes had drawn twice the attention, which they didn't need. Had it gone on much longer someone might have felt inclined to report them for being highly suspicious.
Apart from that the trip was largely and thankfully uneventful.
Turns out the UA security system still recognised Toshinori despite his current goat status and they were able to pass the gates without incident.
Miraculously, they were even able to make it all the way back to the dormitory without encountering any of the other students or teachers.
Izuku and Toshinori cautiously made their way into the building, heads swivelling back and forth on the look out for any of the other residents. The sound of a frustrated groan coming from the dinning room had them heading in that direction.
Mina and Kirishima were sitting on opposite sides of the table, books and papers spread out around them as they bent over, apparently trying to struggle through the latest batch of homework together. They both looked up when the returning pair entered the room. It seemed to take them a second to process the sight of a goat standing in their dinning room.
"A goat!" Mina shouted gleefully, pushing back from the table to get a closer look.
"What the heck, Midoriya?" Kirishima asked with an incredulous laugh. "Is this your new pet, or what? Where'd it come from?"
Izuku flushed and nervously glanced back and forth between his peers and his mentor.
"No, uhh. Not- I mean, he's not. I. This-" he stuttered out, hands waving. "…Its Toshinori-san", he managed to finish lamely.
The two blinked at him in confusion.
"What about him?" Mina asked, head tilting.
Izuku swallowed, gaze bouncing around the room.
"The goat", he said slowly. "Its Toshinori-san…" he glanced down at his mentor, who glanced up at him, and they both glanced at the other two.
Mina and Kirishima looked at him silently for a long moment before they both dropped their gazes to Toshinori, who shifted and said sheepishly after a moment. "Its me."
"…NO WAY!", they burst out together.
Mina immediately dissolved into helpless laughter and Kirishima quickly stood up to crouch in front of Toshinori, grinning from ear to ear.
"Wow. I don't know how I didn't see it now", he said, taking in the telling features.
Mina wheezed from the table.
"How the heck..." Kirishima trailed off, looking up at Izuku.
Izuku drew breath to answer but was interrupted by Aizawa entering the room with a mobile in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other.
Everyone froze.
Aizawa's gaze moved slowly over the scene. Mina slumped at the table, flushed and teary eyed from laughter, Kirishima crouched in front of a bafflingly familiar looking goat swamped in human clothing, and Izuku, standing rigidly and barely seeming to breathe.
He glanced down at his mobile, opened on a news app with a breaking story about Kamui Woods apprehending the robber with the quirk that changed people into animals.
He glanced up to give the familiar, clothing swamped goat another look over before his eyes finally settled again on Izuku, who promptly broke out in a nervous sweat.
The teacher gave no further reaction and his student began fidgeting on the spot, nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
Aizawa just continued to stare into Izuku's face blankly for a long, long moment.
When it didn't seem like he was going to do anything else anytime soon Toshinori tried calling tentatively from besides his student. "Aizawa-kun…"
Aizawa's gaze dropped back to him again and then he slowly closed his eyes as though in pain, shifting the hold on his mobile so he could bring the hand up and pinch the bridge of his nose. He let out a long, low exhale… and kept going.
After a few moments of extended exhaling Mina glanced at her wrist watch with a vaguely amazed expression. Izuku and Kirishima stared. Toshinori shifted nervously.
By the time Aizawa had finally finished Kirishima and Mina felt compelled to burst into spontaneous applause, impressed.
"Midoriya." The apparently exasperated teacher eventually said as the clapping died off.
Izuku snapped to attention. "Y-Yes?"
"I'm going to go to a teacher's meeting. Until I get back…think you can manage not to get into any more trouble?"
Izuku flushed, spine straightening further. "Yes, sir! I'll try my best!" he said, trying to sound reassuring.
Aizawa considered him for another long moment. "That's all I can ask for, I suppose", he muttered, knocking back the last of his coffee like a shot and turning to leave. He turned back after a step however, apparently having an afterthought, and pinned Toshinori with a flat no-nonsense look. "You. Too." He emphasised, eyes slowly shifting to a sharp red and hair fluttering.
"Yes, sir", Toshinori repeated, thoroughly cowed.
Aizawa nodded, satisfied, and left.
The room stayed quiet for a beat and then Kirishima slapped a hand to his knee and cheerfully proclaimed, "that could have gone worse!"
Author's notes: "yagi" means goat in Japanese. The characters for Yagi in Toshinori Yagi's name are written differently and have totally different meanings, nothing to do with goats, but they're still pronounced the same. Hence he gets turned into a real, "yagi-san". Get it? Get it? Hurr.
Thank you for reading!