Setting takes place after the End of Term Exam arc but before the Training Camp arc. For the sake of the story, there will be a gap of time and days between the two arcs.
Updates will vary.
Chapter lengths will vary.
There will be some deviations/alterations from the main story, obviously.
I do not claim to be an expert on karate or participated in the fighting style. So I apologize in advance if some of the things I write are wrong or misunderstood. Though I will try to make it accurate with what I have to my knowledge.
Feel free to offer criticism.
Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia/My Hero Academia is owned by the Kohei Horikoshi. I own nothing except the original characters and the story. No copyright infringement is intended.
[8][8][8]
U.A. High. One of the most prestigious and respected schools in Japan. In just the first term, the school and its students (particularly those in the hero course) have had their share of drama between the Sports Festival to incidents involving infamous villains. The school is reaching its end of the term and most of the students will be off for the summer. Except for the students, like those within the hero course, who will be using that summer to train and improve themselves.
Two days ago, Class 1-A and 1-B had their end of term exam. While they have been told there were no failures overall in the exams, the students have not yet been given an evaluation on their performance during the practical.
Fast forward to the present…
"Now then, today you will be receiving your evaluations on your practical exam."
The atmosphere of 1-A's classroom turned tense upon hearing those words. Although, it was the students who failed the practical (Ejirou Kirishima, Rikidou Satou, Mina Ashido, Denki Kaminari, and Hanta Sero) that had the most notable reaction as their expressions were a cross between depressed and scared.
Then again, it would be an impressive feat to not feel tense when the homeroom teacher giving out the results was Shota Aizawa.
"Of course, I will personally give you your evaluations individually. If any of you have anything to say regarding the exam, better tell me now. I don't want to have the conversation be brought up later. It would be impractical."
Aizawa began gathering his papers as he continued, "There is a break room two doors down from here to the left. I will be holding the evaluations in there. I will call for one student, then when we are done, they will get the next one. Are we clear?"
"Yes sir!" the class responded together.
"Good. We will start numerically. Aoyama, you're first."
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Time passed at a decent pace. Each student had been given roughly five minutes for each of their evaluation. Fifteen of them had finished theirs and were either talking in relief or feeling downtrodden from the lack of motivation.
The next student impatiently waiting for his turn can only listen to the words of his classmates until finally the sliding door opened.
"Oi, Deku! Your turn!" Katsuki Bakugou yelled.
Izuku Midoriya stood up from his seat with an immediate response, "Right!"
The two former childhood friends turn rivals crossed each other as Midoriya left the classroom and Kirishima began asking Bakugou about his evaluation.
Midoriya made his way to the breakroom, opening the door to see Aizawa waiting for him with the usual deadpan expression.
"Midoriya, close the door and have a seat."
Midoriya did as he was told and now sat in front of his teacher in anticipation for his words.
"Now then," Aizawa began, "For your exam, I assigned you and Bakugou together not for any academic reasons. I think it is obvious why you two were partnered."
Midoriya responded with only a nod. The tension between him and Kacchan was common knowledge for his classmates and Aizawa.
"Despite the situation you were put in and who you were up against, you and Bakugou were able to set aside your differences to pass the exam. So, in terms of cooperation and teamwork, that's progress for the both of you."
"However," Aizawa glared, and Midoriya felt his body stiffen from the action.
"On an individual basis, you have the most need for improvement. You may have done a crucial part convincing Bakugou to cooperate and rescuing him at the last minute. But for the most part, Bakugou did most of the heavy hitting."
Aizawa flipped to another page. "From All Might's rescue simulation, you have shown improvement with your Quirk to not be a liability. Even still, from what I have seen and been reported, you can only use a minimum of your full power without injuring yourself. And from what I have seen from the recording of your exam, that limit on your Quirk hindered your performance in dire situations."
"In short, your Quirk still needs improvement." Aizawa finished.
"… Yes sir." Was all Midoriya could say.
Every word his teacher let out glued into Midoriya's mind. He felt both the determination to overcome those faults, but also the disappointment of his shortcomings. All he could do was glare at the table in front of him and clench his fists in frustration.
Aizawa sighed. "Obviously, building up your body to handle your Quirk remains as the priority. However, I want to offer you a suggestion,"
Midoriya's eyes widened in surprise. He lifted his head to face his teacher in anticipation at his uncommon offering."
"Now that you have some control of your Quirk, you could look into finding a fighting style that suits your Quirk and your capabilities. Take me for example, you seem to be familiar with how I fight for the most part." Aizawa grabbed his scarf to accentuate his point. "My decision to utilize my Quirk in combination with this capturing scarf was decided immediately and I spent years learning how to use it. I became strong enough to deal with enemies that I am both suitable against or would put me in a disadvantage."
"I see." Midoriya awed.
"I'm not saying you should use my method. Frankly, I don't even think my style is suitable for you anyways. I am not going to give you all the answers. But you should consider my suggestion."
He slid Midoriya's evaluation paper to him before finishing their one-on-one review with:
"Find a different approach between how you fight and utilizing your Quirk."
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By the time Aizawa had finished his review with Yaoyaorozu, it was lunch time.
For Midoriya, that last sentence his teacher gave him kept being repeated in his head from when he left the room to the present: where he sat with his five of his classmates (Uraraka, Tsu-chan, Iida, Todoroki, and Kaminari) in the cafeteria.
"Midoriya?"
The call from Class 1-A's representative turned his attention away from his thoughts, and toward his friends who stared at him with confusion.
"Eh? What is it?" Midoriya asked.
"You were spacing out." Iida responded. "Is something on your mind?"
From the perspective of his classmates, Midoriya had been staring down at his half eaten katsudon while they were conversing with one another. Upon realizing his change of behaviour, Midoriya sputtered out some reassurance to the group.
"Ah no! Nothing worrying! Just thinking about my talk with Aizawa-sensei."
"You're not the only one," Kaminari groaned. "Maan~~ He doesn't hold back when he's chewing us out. Even if they were handicapped, our teachers are still Pro Heroes. Would it kill him to loosen up a little and cut us some slack?"
"Considering your track record between the practical and written exams, I'm not surprised he didn't hold back against you, Kaminari." Tsuyu bluntly stated.
Kaminari sputtered his retort, "Tch – Oi, Tsuyu!"
"But that's what the training camp is for! We have the entire summer to improve on our shortcomings!" Uraraka cheered. "Maybe you'll be able to impress Aizawa-sensei when you show him how far you could go."
"Y-yeah…" Midoriya agreed half-heartedly.
Uraraka's words were not wrong. The potential for substantial improvement during the training camp was an enticing thought for the young heroes in training, himself included.
And yet, he kept thinking how different his situation was compared to theirs. All going back to his talk with All Might, particularly one line that gave him the most concern.
'You may one day have to fight against this great evil …'
All For One. The thought of fighting a villain powerful enough to injure and instill worry into the Symbol of Peace.
It was a scary thought.
This line was a constant reminder of his responsibility as the successor to One For All. Thinking back to how much he has accomplished so far, the path still felt so long. What's worse:
'There is not a lot of time left.' Midoriya thought. 'I have to get stronger before All Might's time runs out.'
Slowly finishing his lunch, he continued lingering in his thoughts as his friends kept talking.
'Even though I made some improvement, I feel like there's so much more I can do with this Quirk. Building up my body to master One For All at its strongest is what I had been mostly focusing on. But what can I do with finding my fighting style?'
"Hey, Class 1-A."
At the sound of someone calling out to them, Midoriya snapped out of his inner monologue and turned to the voice.
"Kendou?" Iida called out.
Standing before them was the representative of Class 1-B, Itsuka Kendou. She had that friendly smile they were familiar with, every other part of her face had what looked to be mild frustration. She dug her fingers into her orange hair as she spoke.
"This feels a little awkward. But I wanted to apologize for giving you wrong information about the practical exam."
The group of 1-A students were familiar with the topic. A few days before the Hero Course exams, Kendou had given them information believing that the practical exam would involve fighting robots. Only for a last-minute decision from the faculty to have the students fight teachers instead.
Given her position as a representative and being the one to spread misinformation, Kendou definitely felt bad for what had happened.
Iida immediately reassured her. "No, there's nothing to apologize. I'm sure none of us could've expected that twist. I'd expect no less from U.A.'s unpredictability!"
"Besides, we know you were only trying to help us." Tsuyu added. "You don't come off as a deceitful person."
"Mm-hmm!" Uraraka nodded.
Kendou's face brightened at their kind words. "Well that's a weight off my chest. Thank you."
"I told you apologizing was unnecessary, Kendou." Kendou's expression changed to annoyance at an all too familiar condescending voice.
All eyes around the table turned to the approaching peace disturber that was Neito Monoma.
"Still, it must've been an amazing sight. To see their hopes for an exam they can breeze through, only to be snatched in despair at fighting teachers. If only I could've seen it myself!"
"Doesn't that technically apply for Class 1-B too?" Uraraka whispered to the group.
Todoroki, who had been busy eating his cold soba, finally spoke. "Just ignore him."
Monoma heard Todoroki and responded with a smirk. "What? Am I beneath your acknowledgment, Mr. Recommended – ack!"
Before he could escalate the situation further, Kendou had knocked Monoma unconscious with a chop to the back of his neck.
"Sorry for his behaviour. Again." She said with annoyance.
"Nah, you don't have to apologize for his account. I'm pretty sure we're getting used to his taunting." Kaminari reassured.
Kendou smiled softly. "Still, I just want you guys to know not everyone from Class 1-B is out to get you."
Kendou grabbed the back of Monoma's collar. "I do want us to get along. See you later, Class 1-A!" She walked away, dragging Monoma with her.
"I kind of feel bad for her, having to deal with all the drama." Uraraka voiced out.
Todoroki slurped some soba. "Considering she's their representative, I think she knows what she got herself into. And that the class knows she can handle it."
"I wonder if our class representative could handle him any better." Kaminari wondered.
"Don't you start underestimating me!" Iida waved his arms rapidly. "Though if I tried, I could probably stop him without resorting to violence."
"I'm kind of impressed actually," Kaminari admitted in admiration. "One hit from her was enough to knock him unconscious. Does it have to do with her Quirk?"
Tsuyu explained to Kaminari, "Yaoyaorozu told me Kendou was familiar with karate. I guess her training made her hands strong enough to hit hard and precise without her Quirk activating. Kero~"
"Ah, that's actually pretty smart. She must have thought everything through before applying to U.A." Uraraka added.
Clank!
The conversation at the table was cut off by the drop of an empty katsudon bowl. Midoriya sat with his hands open and his eyes wide as if he found out the truth to a dark secret.
"Midoriya! You alright?!" Iida exclaimed.
Recovering from his shocked moment, Midoriya grabbed his bowl quickly to save face. "I-I'm fine. My hand just slipped. Sorry for scaring everyone. Again."
His five classmates looked at him with disbelief and started bombarding him with worried questions. Midoriya, nervously, kept reassuring them he was fine.
And truthfully, he was. Because he might have found a solution to his dilemma.
[8][8][8]
The day had passed by normally for U.A., classes have finished and most of the students have already left the building.
Among those that remained was Midoriya.
When classes ended, Iida and Uraraka approached him asking if he was ready to head to the station together.
"Sorry, but I need to stay behind. You go on ahead." He told them.
This wasn't the first time his two friends had to leave without him. When he had to stay behind to talk with All Might, he didn't need to say much of why. They just nodded in understanding and gave their farewell.
Fast forward to the present, where he stood near the entrance gate of the school after about fifteen minutes, with a passive and patient expression. But his chest was beating a little quicker than normal, and his mind was going through what he wanted to say. And overthinking about the outcome.
His gaze never left the building entrance. There were still some students leaving, and as he scanned amongst the small groups and individuals, he finally spotted orange hair tied into a familiar side ponytail.
Taking a short breath, he stiffly walked up to her.
"Kendou! Hi!" He stuttered out with a mix of unintentional force and nervousness.
Kendou's eyes widened at the sudden approach. "Midoriya?"
"Sorry for bothering you, but there's something I'd like to ask you." He asked.
Kendou blinked. "You were waiting here to talk to me?"
Midoriya recoiled at that statement. It almost sounded like something nefarious to him.
"W-Well, yeah. I-It's nothing bad, really! I j-just want to ask about your training."
There was an awkward pause between them, with neither one making a sound until Midoriya decided to call it quits.
"S-Sorry! I shouldn't h-have come straight to you like this! M-Maybe I should just—"
"Midoriya, relax." Kendou desperately tried to calm the poor boy. "It's no trouble at all. It's just … really sudden for you to come to me like this."
Midoriya stared at her dumbly. "Oh."
Kendou gestured to the gate of U.A. "Why don't we walk and talk? Are you on your way to the station?"
"Y-yeah." Midoriya answered as calm as he could.
Kendou smiled. "Then talk away."
The two students walked through the gate and down the walkway. Midoriya explained to Kendou how Yaoyaorozu told Tsuyu who told him that she was taught karate before entering U.A.
Kendou confirmed with a nod. "That's right. Are you interested in learning, Midoriya?"
Midoriya gave a short pause before answering, "Yes, as much as I can."
Kendou frowned at his answer. "You do know karate isn't something you can learn over night, right? It took me about three years to earn my black belt."
Midoriya gritted his teeth through his closed lips. "I know. But I want to give it a chance. If it means improving myself …"
Kendou tilted her head to get a better angle on Midoriya's frustrated expression. She took a moment to finally ask.
"Why do you want to learn karate Midoriya?"
Midoriya froze on the spot. Kendou was a few steps ahead before stopping and facing him. Midoriya clenched his right hand and bent his arm up halfway to his chest.
"I … I need to make more progress on my training. Everyone is ahead with their Quirks, and I still can't use mine to its fullest. Aizawa-sensei told me that I should try finding a fighting style that would suit me. Truthfully, my fighting revolves around punching. I don't have any fighting experience or technique to help me. If learning some karate can help my Quirk or my arms in anyway, then it's a chance I want to take. E… Even if in the end it doesn't suit me, at least it's a step closer to my goal."
Unbeknownst to Midoriya, Kendou had been staring at his scarred arms as he was giving his heartfelt explanation. His words reminded her of the Sports Festival. When she thought about what she knew of him, it was very little.
And yet, the more she remembered, the more she found him intriguing.
A young man who barely used his Quirk during the first event and (as far as she was aware) second event, and still managing to make it into the tournament. The amount of power he was capable to use at the expense of his body. And making Todoroki use his flames.
If he were to learn some fighting techniques in conjecture with his Quirk, and if he were to continue building his body to handle his Quirk at its fullest …
The thought excited her to see how far he could go.
Kendou closed her eyes, letting out a satisfied sigh.
"Alright," Midoriya looked up to see that smile of hers. She continued, "Are you dead set on learning karate?"
Without hesitating, Midoriya nodded. "Yeah."
"Okay!" Kendou punched her open left palm. "I will teach you then."
It took a few seconds for the realization of her words to sink into his head. And Midoriya blinked twice before saying, "Really?"
"Really." Kendou nodded.
Midoriya made a big goofy smile. He bowed to her. "Thank you so much. I know I'm taking up your time teaching me when you probably had other things to work on. But I am grateful."
"Nah, don't think like that. If anything, I also have something to benefit from this agreement."
Midoriya stood up straight in confusion at her remark. "Wha— You do?"
"Don't worry, it's nothing bad." Kendou waved her hand dismissively. "Think of it as an exchange of knowledge between two friends."
Midoriya's mouth went agape. "F-friends?"
Kendou chuckled. "Of course, remember what I said: I want our classes to get along."
"Kendou…" Midoriya whispered.
Kendou turned back to the road ahead of them. Her head still looking at Midoriya. "Come on, I'm sure we want to catch our trains eventually. We'll talk more on the way."
"R-Right!" Midoriya quickly made his way to her and they continued walking.
Along the way, the two new friends talked about making a good schedule and meeting spot, to even discussing about their individual activities for the day.
All the while from the walk to separating for their trains, the smiles on their faces never left them.
