Chapter 7: Mix and Match-up Pt. 1
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Reborn! _ _ _ _ _ _ _
As dawn breaks and sunlight filters into my room, I start to wake up. Then, as a small detail clicks in my head. My window doesn't face the east. With that realization, I snap awake, and jump out of bed. Rolling to the side and letting a small crackle of Lightning flames envelop me, my eyes dart around as I come to a stop in a crouch. As I quickly take in my surroundings I see... an empty room.
Oh. Right. I moved to the Dorms at UA. My new window faces the East. Thank god that no one was here to see that. That would have been embarrassing. I haven't reacted like that since I first got to this world, when I had to stop myself from acting like a 20 year old mafioso in an unfamiliar area, and instead act like a 4 year old kid.
As I wind-down from my instinct-ingrained response, I take a look at the time. It's just past 5:30 am. A bit earlier than I would normally wake up, but that's fine. I pick out my usual work-out clothes: dark green sweat-pants, black sneakers, and a white tee.
After getting dressed, i make my way out of my room and down the elevator. No reason to take the short route today, since i'm up a half hour early.
To nobodies surprise, i'm the only person up and about at this time, at least from what I can see given the lounge area is empty, besides the desk person. Today it's a slightly older looking male, probably a second or third year. Short grey hair, brown eyes, a piercing in his left eyebrow, and three more in each ear. Reminds me a lot of Ryohei actually.
"You're up early." Gruff and to the point, but not necessarily hostile. Kid probably would have been a military brat in a different world. I see the resemblance is purely physical.
"Ah, yeah. Woke up a bit early and figured i'd start my morning run now. I'm Midoriya Izuku, first year. You?" Might as well make friends with the people who work the front desk. Might come in handy later.
"Muguruma Kensei. Third Year. Don't make too much of a mess." And with that he continues on with what he was doing when I got here, namely sharpening a combat knife. Is that even allowed on campus?
As I head out and start to pick up speed to start today with a light jog, I think on that. I know we're allowed gear to use with our hero costume, but I thought that would mostly be support items like something to focus our powers or reduce negative side-effects from prolonged use or pushing ourselves too far.
Then again, when you have people who can turn city blocks into a crater if given proper motivation, small weapons doesn't seem to much of an issue. Kinda like arguing against someone bringing a pistol while everyone is holding rocket launchers.
And actually, training people to use small, containable weapons seems like so much less paperwork then having them use their quirks for everything, more than likely causing collateral damage in the process.
That gives me a few ideas.
As I lose myself in my train of thought, I start to lap around the dorm in a wide circle. As I pass by the edge of the garden type area, I let my eyes wander over it. For now it's empty of people, but there's quite the variety of plants in it. Some flowers, some trees, a couple bushes. Now, I might not be much of a nature person, but I can at least appreciate the obvious effort that someone, or more probably some people, put into it to make it look this nice.
I spend about half an hour doing this, probably clocking in a good 5 mile jog. I could probably have done more in that time, but i don't want to push myself too hard. Don't know what'll happen in class today.
As I do some cool-down stretches, I notice a figure approaching from the dorm. Lo and behold, it's preppy, I mean Tenya. I should be careful about how frequently I call him that in my head, it might transfer to real life.
He's wearing his own training clothes: Blue sweat pants, blue sneakers, blue sweat shirt, and even blue wristbands. All in all he looks like he just walked out of a commercial for sports-wear.
"Yo. You're up early. It's what, 6 o'clock?"
"I could say the same to you, Midoriya-san. I was simply coming out to do some light-morning jogging in order to warm up for the day, and prepare myself for what trials may await." God it is too early for this.
"Cool. I actually just finished up doing the same thing myself. I was gonna do some push-ups and stuff before heading back in for a shower."
"I see. I am glad that you are taking your training here at UA seriously. Do you usually perform your training so early in the morning?"
"Actually I usually start right about now, but i woke up a bit early today. New environment and all that, you know?" To this he nods along.
"Understandable. It is similarly jarring to me as well, moving to a new area to go to such a premier school. In my case, I found myself unable to fall asleep at my usual time. I am sure that our fellow students must feel the same. That combined with the events of class yesterday probably has most of our class expecting something similar today."
Does this guy ever shut up? He's actually brought up a good point, though. I should probably double check with Ochako and Momo if they slept alright. Wouldn't want them to fall behind in class due to sleep deprivation or nerves. Won't bother with Katsuki though. He'll be fine, and even if he isn't he'd sooner bite his tongue off than admit it.
"Yeah. Wonder what today's spectacle will be."
"Well, I wish you luck with your exercises, Midoriya-san. If you will excuse me, I shall begin my jog."
"Go right ahead dude. Catch you later in class." Makes sense a dude with a speed-based quirk would mostly focus on runner training. He'd probably make Usain Bolt eat his heart out.
After another half an hour of more strength based training, i make my way inside to head back to my room.
After taking my shower and getting dressed in my usual clothes, I head down the elevator once more. It's about 7 o'clock so i've got an hour before class starts. The reason i'm going down to the lounge instead of sticking in my room for now is so I can get myself more familiar with the area. Plus it wouldn't do to become a shut-in. As I enter the lounge-are though, I see an interesting sight. Momo and Ochako sitting at one of the tables, drinking what looks to be either coffee or dark tea. Along with them is Floating Clothes and Pinky, also known to the rest of the world as Hagakure Tooru and Ashido Mina, if i remember correctly.
"Morning Momo, Ochako." They perk up at my voice, stopping whatever conversation it was that they were having before I got here.
"Ah, Izuku-san. Good morning to you."
"Morning, Izuku-kun!" They both get off their respective greetings almost simultaneously. Clothes and Pinky seem a little hesitant for a second, probably unsure of what to say given our clear familiarity.
"Yo, you two are Hagakure Tooru and Ashido Mina, right? I'm Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet ya, and just call me Izuku." They seem to get more relaxed at that, or at least Pinky does. Kinda hard to read an invisible girl. Pinky's the first to speak up, at least.
"Hello! Yeah, i'm Ashido Mina, but you can call me Mina!"
"Same, just call me Tooru, Izuku-san." Giving a cordial nod to them, i go to talk to the girls i'm more familiar with, but Pinky beats me to the punch.
"You three are pretty close, huh? You guys friends?"
"Yeah, I met Momo and Ochako here about 5 months ago. Been pretty close ever since." I guess they're the naturally curious types, since Invis-girl pops in next.
"How'd you guys meet, if you don't mind me asking that is."
"Ah, nothing much. Just ran into each other in the mall."
"Ah, there you go again, Izuku-kun, downplaying everything." Ochako shakes her head at me, while Momo picks up the story.
"You see, Izuku-san here did actually just happen to bump into us, but what he's neglecting to inform you of is how on the day we met he rescued me and a bunch of others at a restaurant from a Villain, and when we met Ochako, he helped her with someone who was, well, being a clingy nuisance." Momo is also shaking her head at me, but they both share an odd smile half-way between exasperated and knowing.
"Woah, that's pretty cool, Izuku-san! Why didn't you say anything about that?" Pinky really is the more vocal of this duo, huh?
"Meh. I don't really view it as anything worth talking about." I'm not trying to seem cool, or arrogant, it's just that honestly both encounters were so unbelievably anti-climactic that I kinda forget that they happened from time-to-time if i'm honest.
We proceed to spend the next half hour just chatting. Tooru and Mina seem nice, but not really the sort i'd hang out with consistently. Too gossipy for my tastes.
Anyways, eventually we all head to class, meeting up with Katsuki and Tenya on the way. All in all, it's not that bad of a start to the day. That and if my hypothesis is correct... well, let's not think too much on that right now. Time to focus on class.
The first half of the day goes extraordinarily... well, ordinarily. After Homeroom, in which Eraser Head simply calls attendance and goes over the day's schedule, we have English. English is taught by Present Mic, and honestly the dichotomy of him very calmly and relaxedly talking about pronouns and shit, versus his random outbursts of excitement is kinda irritating. Thankfully during my time with the Vongola, i learned multiple languages. There was English, Spanish, French, German, and of course my home-language of Italian.
Next we have Literature with Cementoss. He's a guy that looks like a three year old tried to make a sculpture of a person with grey clay: all blocky and with next to no defining facial characteristics. He's a real nice person though, and as a pro Hero he uses his quirk 'Cement' to control the cement and asphalt in a city. He's more of a Support-Type than a Fighter-Typer though.
After that is Art with 18+ Hero, Midnight. A tall, black haired bombshell of a woman known for her provocative clothing and personality. I can practically feel the Purple Pervert ogling her as she teaches. Ewww. Anyways, her quirk 'Somnambulist' is simultaneously one of the most interesting yet terrifying quirks i've seen to date. Interesting, because hers is the first quirk i've seen that doesn't actually give away what it is from just its name, unless you happen to know a lot of random trivia. Terrifying because Somnambulist actually means 'Sleepwalker' which references her quirk's ability to make people fall asleep using a pheromone she releases from her skin. It works better on people of the opposite sex, and spreads faster with an increased heart-rate. Her quirk makes her a natural born assassin. Most quirks you can fight head-on if you know what you're doing, but hers requires either former-knowledge, or very quick thinking to fight, or else you'll end up asleep and at her feet.
Moving on, the last theoretical class of the day is Math with Ectoplasm. A black and yellow fellow who's half pirate and half private-detective in outfit. Quirk: 'Clones'. It lets him make clones. Pretty straight-forward.
Then there's lunch in the cafeteria, served by Pro Support-Hero, Lunch Rush. Looks like you took a chef's outfit, slapped metal pipe on the face, and called it a day. I... don't actually know anything else about him. Nobody does. He's just kinda... there. He's been seen all over the news giving food to people who need it, but there's no actual information on where he came from, who he is, or what his quirk is. Weird.
After lunch, however, is the period we're all waiting for. Practical classes. Hero Basic Training. The whole end of the day is set aside just for this. The class itself changes both in content and teacher every day, so nobody actually knows what's going to happen on any given day. Sometimes it's just basic P.E., other times, we could find ourselves in a situation like yesterday. At least, that's what the consensus has been from what i've read online.
We all arrive, sit down, and generally make small talk until class starts. Nobody is quite sure what to expect, though there's a rumour that today we'll be getting a lesson from All Might. Knowing Yagi, if he is teaching us today, then we can expect some sort of practical lesson. Probably some kind of combat-training.
Yagi's far from stupid, but he's not much of a deep thinker, or a theoretical person. He much prefers to teach through action. Sure enough, right on time, a voice calls out from behind the door.
"I AM...USING THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" God damn it, Yagi.
As he said, he opened the door and entered like a completely normal person, if you discount the yelling that is. The whole class perks up, Kaminari even pointing out the obvious.
"It's All Might!" Followed by, umm... Red hair, umm... Kirishima something-or-other? Eijiro! That's what it was. Kirishima Eijiro.
"He really is a teacher!" He almost sounds like he didn't believe it when it was announced. The next person to pop up with oh so helpful commentary is Froggy, or uh, Tsuyu Asui i think it was?
"That's a costume from the Silver Age ain't it?" After her is Tail Guy. Mashi- fuck it. He's Tail Guy until i actually need to bother with his name.
"It's style is so different, it's giving me goosebumps." Yep. Not like he's been wearing the same fuckin costume since his Pro Hero debut. Nope.
I probably shouldn't be too harsh on them I guess. I mean, not every one has the Number One Hero as a personal mentor for 10 months, so i'm probably just used to his shenanigans by now.
Speaking of, completely unperturbed by the peanut gallery, All Might skips over to the front of the class. Yep. Skips. Damn it Yagi.
"Hello there! Today i'll be teaching Hero Basic Training. It's a class to teach you the various basics of being a Hero. Of course, being a Hero School, this is the longest class of every day." Then he starts posing. I wonder what he's about to build up to.
"Let's get right into it! This is what you'll be doing today-" He turns back to the class, holding a white card with the word 'BATTLE' in orange/red on it.
"Combat Training!" The class starts to practically vibrate with anticipation. Not gonna lie, i'm kinda looking forward to it myself.
"And to go along with it are these!" He gestures to the left-hand wall of the class room, which starts to open up, revealing shelves of boxes with our seat numbers on them.
"Costumes made on your Quirk Registrations, as well as requests you sent before school started. After you change gather in Training Ground Beta!" Huh, same field as the one me and Ochako used in our entrance exam. Neat.
The class as a whole gets up and grabs their appropriate boxes, before heading over to the communal locker rooms. One for Girls and one for Boys. Thankfully, because everyone's too excited for training, nobody causes a scene, although i see the purple pervert looking intently at a poster on the wall. Said poster is actually oddly placed once you look at it, with the top of it being at almost eye-level with the midget. Something to keep an eye on, I suppose. For now though, I won't worry about it.
We all get changed and head over to the training field, meeting up with the females as we enter the field.
AS we meet up, i notice Ochako really quick. OR rather she spots me first, and i can't help but notice her.
"Oh, Izuku!" there she is, wearing a skin-tight, black and pink suit with pink, fluffy looking accessories on her hip, feet, and wrists, as well as a pink helmet. It's uh, rather...eye catching, to say the least.
"I should have written what I wanted. It ended up being a skintight bodysuit. How embarrassing." She looks genuinely embarrassed, rubbing the back of her hair (I mean helmet? would probably have been her hair if not for that).
Her declaration brought over Momo, Katsuki, and Pre-Tenya. Tenya. Gotta work on that.
"My, you look great Ochako-chan!" There's Momo.
"Ah, right back at you, Momo-chan!" And-God Damn It! My heart can't take much more of this! There's momo, wearing red boots, a red skin-tight shirt that leaves the center of her torso exposed in a vertical line, and three yellow bands, one over the top of her chest, and two acting as a belt/mini-skirt.
"Indeed, you two both look incredible in you hero outfits. I can clearly see that they are optimized for mobility and flexibility. A wise decision, if i do say so myself." And there's Tenya, wearing fucking armor. Thank god that i made some male friends. My poker face couldn't handle another scantily clad girl.
Off to the left of me is Mineta, aka Purple Pervert. Dressed in some shitty purple thing that makes him look like a baby playing dress-up. He sees Momo and Ochako in their suits, and get's a nose bleed.
"The Hero Course is the best." At his little declaration, i'm distracted from my own thoughts on their appearance. Looking over at him, I make direct eye contact. Then I pull on all my memories of the Varia leader, Xanxus, to glare at him. Gotta say, watching the life drain out of his face is pretty amusing. Right as i'm about to put the fear of Me into him, i get interrupted by a familiar, if occasionally annoying voice.
"OY, Izuku! What's with the fucking monkey suit huh?!" And that's Katsuki, wearing baggy black pants with metal knee-guards and black/red boots, as well as a sleeveless black shirt with an orange X shape on it, with a metal collar. To top off his look, he's got a mask with a stylized explosion going from the back of his head, and what appear to be two giant grenades acting as gauntlets. Actually, looking closer, he even has normal sized grenades on his belt. Please tell me those aren't real.
"Oh, this? It's my hero costume, Katsuki."
"Bullshit it's a Hero Costume. You look like you just came from a fucking business meeting." What he's referring to, of course, is my own costume.
At first glance it's exactly as Katsuki put it. A pair of black dress shoes, with matching black dress pants, a white button up shirt, a black vest, and to top off the image, black gloves and a dark-orange tie with two green lightning bolts crossing over an yellow sun on it's center.
"Now, now, Katsuki. If i've taught you nothing else, it's that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover."
What I mean by that, is that unknown to my friends, there's a lot more going on in this outfit than just a suit. The shoes are actually made of a special fabric that looks like leather, but has the same durability and strength of kevlar, as well as a metal bit over my toes that's as strong as steel while being lightweight, and the soles are made from a special metal that's temperature resistant and has little spikes in it to increase grip and striking power.
The shirt and pants are both made of a fabric similar to the shoes, only instead of looking like leather, the pants are made to look like wool, and the shirt to look and feel like silk, all while both maintain a durability equal to that of most bullet-proof vests. The pants, being made of thicker material, afford more protection than the shirt, but that's why I wear a vest.
Speaking of, my vest is actually the second most important part of my outfit. Similar to everything else i'm wearing, it's a lot tougher than it seems. However, due to the fact it's much thicker than the shirt or pants, it affords a lot more protection. Woven into the fabric is actually a bunch of Silicon Carbide. That's the same stuff that the British used to make Tanks. It's a little heavy, weighing in at about 20 pounds, but it's worth being able to take the equivalent of 25% of One For All in the chest before it breaks. And considering 25% is like getting hit with a tank shell, i'd say having the equivalent of a piece of tank armor makes the extra weight worth it.
Then there's the cloves. They're actually something i've been working on for quite some time. They aren't normal gloves, but rather metallic combat gloves, with metal covering the fingers as well as my wrist and the back of my hand. On the back of my hand is a metal circle with an X going from edge to edge on the circle, bisected by a line going from the part of the circle closest to my knuckles, down towards the part closer to my wrist. These are my pride and joy, a replica of Decimo's X-Gloves, as i'm told they looked back when he first got them. The X bisected with a line is to represent three things: the fact that Decimo, or Vongola X took me into the Family, how in this world, in order to rebuild the Vongola I would become the new Primo, or Vongola I, but also that I would be the Eleventh Vongola boss, Vongola Undecimo, or Vongola XI as it were.
And the real kicker is that woven in with everything else in the suit, is a special experimental fiber I discovered about a month ago, that when exposed to Sun Flames, actually rebuilds itself back to it's original form. That means that even if something can punch through my 'armor', I don't have to get an entire new set made.
Oh, and the tie's just a tie. Nothing special about it. Only thing unique about it is the design, which I figured i'd base around my flames. Of course, this was before I knew I had sun flames, so originally the Orange was meant to represent Decimo, as thanks for taking me in, just like the gloves. Random coincidences for the win, I suppose.
All-in-all, I look like a proper Mafioso for the first time since I got to this universe. I must say, I missed it. And it would seem the others agree that it looks great on me.
"You look super cool, Izuku-kun! All dapper and stuff."
"I must say that the look does suit you Izuku-san."
"Indeed, you give off quite the professional aura, Midoriya-san."
"Che, whatever."
After the whole class gets together, All Might shows up in front of the group, standing in a classic hero Pose: legs spread, fists on his hips.
"They say clothing makes the Hero, young men and ladies. Be fully aware, from now on... you are Heroes!" Got to hand it to Yagi. He's a good Hype-Man if nothing else. He takes a moment to peruse the class, giving them what's undoubtedly a deceptively deep once-over.
"That's great, everyone! You all look cool! Now, shall we begin, you zygotes?" The hell? Never heard him say that before. And it might just be my imagination, but his trademark grin looks a little less fun and games now, and a bit more predatory.
Of course, Tenya can't help but start running his mouth.
"Sensei! This is a battle center from the entrance exam, so will we be conducting urban battles against robots again?"
"No, we're going to move ahead two steps." All Might replies, holding up two fingers.
"Most of the time, fights between Heroes and Villains happen outdoors, but if you look at the numbers, most Villains actually appear in indoor situations. Imprisonment, House Arrest, backroom deals. In this society filled with Heroes, truly intelligent Villains hide in the shadows!" Makes sense. If I was a Villain, i'd probably mostly stick to confined areas. My powers work best in close-quarters, and it would stop any heroes with more destructive quirks from unleashing their full powers.
"For this class, you'll be split into groups of two. One team will pretend to be Villains, while the other will play as the Heroes, and you'll fight 2 on 2 in indoor battles." Tsuyu apparently has her own question.
"Without basic training?" Well, i'd figure at this point, this IS our basic training, but her question still makes sense.
"This is supposed to simulate a real battle, in order to help you grasp said basics. That's why i said we're skipping two steps. However, the key this time is that you aren't fighting robots who you could just blast with your full power with zero repercussions!" Next on question duty is Momo.
"How are the wins and losses determined?" That's, actually a good question. I'd assumed it was last team standing, but that's hardly how it works in real life.
"Can we beat them up anyways?" And there's Katsuki. Classic.
"Will the punishment be Expulsion like with Mr. Aizawa?" Geez Ochako, let the man answer the questions before you pile more on!
"How shall we be split up?" Damn it Tenya!
"Isn't this cape awesome?" AND YOU- wait, what? What the hell sparkles?
Fortunately, or unfortunately perhaps, All Might seems to have taken the slew of questions as a challenge.
"I will answer all you questions!" To this he pulls out a little notebook that's almost comical in size when compared to his mitts in Muscle Form.
"Now listen here. The 'situation' is that the 'villains' have hidden a bomb somewhere in their hideout. The 'heroes' are trying to dispose of the 'threat'. In order for the 'heroes' to win, they must either capture the 'villains' or the bomb in the alloted time. If the 'villains' manage to hold off the 'heroes' for the entire time, or manage to subdue the 'heroes' then they win and the 'heroes' lose. Teams and opponents will be determined by lots!" To this, he puts away the notebook and pulls out 3 boxes.
One has the words 'Hero' on it, the other has 'Villain', and the final box has 'Lots'. Tenya however, seems to have a problem with the arrangements. Because of course he does.
"They're being chosen so haphazardly?" Of course they are, dingus. I might as well contribute to the conversation.
"As pros we'll often have to deal with unknown variables such as not knowing who we're up against, or who we're working with, let alone all the Quirks at play in any given situation. So that's why. To get to build up our adaptability." Thankfully he gets it. I hope.
"I see. To think that far ahead. How befitting of a school such as UA! Please forgive my rudeness!" With that he preforms his typical 90 degree bow.
"It's fine. Let's do this quickly!" thankfully Yagi just lets it slide.
Team A: Me and Ochako
Team B: Tentacle Dude and Half-n-Half
Team C: Pervert and Momo (I feel so bad for her)
Team D: Katsuki and Tenya
Team E: Mina and Sparkles
Team F: Mute Rock and the Baker dude
Team G: Sparky and Punk Girl
Team H: Tsuyu and Emo Guy
Team I: Tail and Tooru
Team J: Red and Elbows
And no, i'm not going to bother to learn their real names. Not until they give me a reason to, at least. Thankfully, i'm teamed with someone i know, and she seems to agree.
"Whoa! It must be fate! I'm counting on you, Izuku-kun!"
"Yeah, this should be fun."
All Might starts to rumble through the two boxes marked 'Hero' and 'Villain'. I wonder if every team is in both box, or if they're split up? IT would make more sense to put both in each, but then you run the risk of pulling the same team twice. Well I guess you could just put both lots back in and try again.
"Let's see, the first match-up will be...These guys!" And with a flourish he pulls out two balls. An 'A' ball from the Hero box, and a 'D' ball from the Villain box. Well fuck.
"Team A will be the Heroes, and Team D will be the Villains! Everyone else, head to the Monitor room."
Shit. Of course my first real fight in UA would be against Katsuki. Fuck. I can feel his excitement from over here. Don't get me wrong, I have a solid 75% chance to win, but damn if Katsuki ain't gonna make me fight for it.
"Villain team, go ahead inside and set up. The Hero team will start their actions in 5 minutes."
This leaves me and Ochako waiting outside a building while Katsuki and Tenya head inside. OF course, All Might has a bit of advice for them first.
"Young Bakugou, Young Iida, try and think from the perspective of Villains. The goal is to be as close to a real battle as possible. Go all out. don't be afraid to get hurt. If things go too far i'll step in and stop it."
Oh why did you have to say that, Yagi? Tanya i'm not worried about, but if Katsuki really went all out, well, let's say a bomb would be the least of my worries.
As me and Ochako start our 5 minute wait, we look over the blueprints for the building.
"It's hard work, memorizing the floor plans. But, All Might is just like on TV! Unlike Mr. Aizawa, there's no punishment, so we can relax."
"Nah. Not really." At this her head tilts to the side a bit.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, knowing Katsuki, he's liable to forget that this is training and come at us at full strength." At this she gives a sigh.
"Yeah, that sounds like him, alright. Plus there's Iida-san."
"Yeah. Luckily, I have an idea."
"Ohh, really!? What is it?" As I lean in further to explain my idea, my grin becomes practically feral. Ahhh, I hope you make this worth the time, Katsuki. I haven't really been able to go all out since I was reborn here. I'm looking forward to it.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Reborn! _ _ _ _ _ _ _