Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia characters and plot events belongs to Horikoshi Kohei.
To Be a Hero
show me
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"Aizawa-kun!" All Might said as the bandaged man walked into the conference room and took a seat. A few of the Pro Heroes involved in the USJ incident were gathered in this meeting to go over new information. "You're still recovering and already came back to teach today. You don't have to push yourself so hard."
"I'm fine," the hero merely grunted and trained his eyes on Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa. "More importantly, how is the investigation with the 'League of Villains' going?"
The detective cleared his throat with acknowledgement and scanned over the paperwork in his hands. "The police investigated and there does not appear to be anyone registered with the name Shigaraki in his 20s or 30s with a Quirk that lets him disintegrate whatever he touches. It's the same with the villain called Kurogiri with the Warp Gate. They are probably not citizens and are using false names," he revealed. "In other words, they are people with unregistered Quirks who are part of society's underbelly."
"You mean we still don't know anything..." Vlad King furrowed his brows.
"We must hurry," Snipe added. "I managed to inflict a few gun wounds on their ringleader Shigaraki, but once he heals, they'll definitely try again. It'll be a pain."
"Their ringleader, huh?"
"What is it, All Might?" Principal Nezu asked when he saw the critical look on the number one hero's face at the mention of Shigaraki.
"It was a bold attack that normal people wouldn't carry out even if they thought of it. To suddenly go on with his wild statements like that... Although he didn't reveal his own Quirk to me, he bragged about that Nomu's Quirk. And when things didn't go the way he wanted, he was visibly upset. Well, the incident with the Quirk was to also force my hand, but..."
Nezu smiled, "Even so, it was foolish to throw away the advantage of having unknown Quirks when fighting against heroes."
"He made immature, wild statements with a straight face. He bragged about his possessions. He thought everything would simply go his way. Adding that to what I saw of him when he carried out the attack, the picture I get of Shigaraki is..." All Might narrowed his eyes. "Someone who hasn't gotten rid of his childish sense of omnipotence—a man-child."
"A child with power?" Vlad King grunted worriedly.
"Could it be that he never received the Quirk counseling every child gets in elementary school?" Midnight wondered.
"But what does that have to do with anything?" Snipe asked.
"There were 72 villains arrested the other day at USJ. They were all small-timers that lurked in back alleys, but the problem is how they all agreed with that man-child and followed him," Tsukauchi answered pointedly. "In the current environment saturated with heroes, villainous people who have been oppressed may be drawn to that kind of simple-minded evil."
"I can't disagree with that, but I think there's more to Shigaraki's simple mind than he's showing us," Aizawa finally piped up from his silence. "He has child-like tendencies but his instincts are sharp. He's more dangerous than just a simple villain."
"Well, it's thanks to you heroes that we are able to devote ourselves to our investigation. We'll expand our search network and continue to assist in arresting the perpetrators," Tsukauchi replied. "Someone who can have no qualms about killing needs to be detained... As of right now, we need to do everything in our power to keep the students at U.A. safe."
While the heroes all nodded in agreement, Vlad King turned to look at All Might with a knowing stare at his emaciated form. "It won't be easy if they somehow produce more of those Nomu things to target All Might. The USJ incident left two students critically harmed; if we're not careful next time, who knows how many more there will be," he said.
All Might clenched his fist with a nod. "Because of my situation, Young Midoriya and Young Aisaka were injured while trying to save the others. I will not allow this to happen next time, no matter what."
"Aisaka... That's Eraserhead's adopted child, isn't she?" Vlad King faced the bandaged hero. "From what I could gather from your students that day, she managed to make the Nomu creature disappear briefly. What kind of power does that child hold?"
"Her Quirk can alter probability as well as reality," Aizawa said. "It's the reason why she was handed to me to mentor. Otherwise, there are plenty of people in the world who don't know what to do with their Quirks and thus fall down a villainous path. "
"The ability to alter reality, though..." Midnight mused. "You mean that she can even alter things that already happened?"
Aizawa nodded.
"Her Quirk has potential to save the future," Tsukauchi chimed when realization hit him. "Isn't it possible for her to revert back All Might's health?"
"No." Aizawa and All Might immediately said at the same time. Though, it wasn't because of the notion being impossible, but rather because they know the implications of it since it is possible.
"That is not something I will ever allow her to do because that will kill her," Aizawa replied firmly as the number one hero besides him agreed with a frown.
"And neither will I. As much as I loathe this form where I can only be a hero for mere hours, I have accepted it and will do the best that I can to service this world. I will not allow Young Aisaka to risk her life from the limitations of her Quirk. Remember, the young heroes at U.A. are the future, and we are here to guide them, not take it away from them."
"Sorry," the detective apologized with a remorseful smile. "That was just wishful thinking on my part."
"Tsukauchi-kun's just looking out for me, I know," All Might grinned. "My emaciated form is not something I want to show our students. For as long as I can, I must maintain as their Symbol of Peace and teach them. Besides, Aizawa-kun will have our heads if anything happens to Young Aisaka again."
"That girl's really melted your cold heart during these years, huh?" Midnight chuckled. Being classmates with the Erasure Hero throughout their U.A. days, she knew how detached and unsympathetic he was. "It's probably a good thing for you."
Aizawa neither agreed or disagreed with her comment, but it didn't a genius for the rest to figure out that Shiro gave the hero more reason to live. As the conference came to an end, the Pro Heroes all settled out with similar feelings.
No matter what, what was important was the safety of the world's future heroes. Especially with the sports festival coming up so quickly, it was critical that they be more careful.
For the next two weeks, the students of class 1-A all trained hard for their preparation of the sports festival. U.A. had the perfect grounds to train, whether it was for endurance, muscle-building, or Quirk strengthening. Many of them trained alone after classes let out, but they often crossed paths during passing or end up using the same facility...
The Replica City District was a popular place for students to go train because there were multiple grounds and a large amount of space. By chance, Shiro had bumped into both Midoriya and Ojiro at the same battle ground, and they had decided to train together with working on balance and reach. In other words, today was parkour.
Shiro, while using a protruding pipe on the side of a building to swing herself forward, saw Midoriya and she could see that he had a few scrapes on his arms. The male was actually keeping up pretty well without his Quirk, which was impressive. Landing on her feet, she noticed that the sun was low on the horizon and realized that they've been training for a while since they first bumped into each other. Everyone was getting tired, herself included.
"Break?" Ojiro asked as he slowed down, landing on the middle of a rooftop. Shiro gave him a thumbs up.
Seeing that his two classmates had stopped, Midoriya leaped across the large distance between the two buildings to get to them but lost his balance. Gripping onto a nearby bar at the last second, he narrowly caught himself. Shiro's head peeked out from above the rooftop with worry in her eyes.
"Midoriya-san! Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah," he gulped as Ojiro used his tail to assist him up. This was a lot harder than he had anticipated, and since he couldn't use his Quirk lest he hurt himself, he was forced to do the best he could with keeping up. Ojiro's tail gave him added jump power as well as balance, while Shiro was able to increase her chances of landing safely along with her natural agility. "You guys are amazing, though! I could barely keep up..."
"Considering that my Quirk gives me an advantage, you're not too bad either, Midoriya-san," Ojiro insisted with a gentle smile. Shiro nodded in agreement.
"I was surprised, actually. It looked like you were channeling in your all."
"T-Thank you...!" Midoriya exclaimed, looking happy and embarrassed at the same time. "It was just that I remembered how I felt back at the beach park with Al—I mean! Yeah!"
They blinked at how fast he changed what he was going to say, but they merely shrugged it off. "I know we're training to cover all of the basics, but... I wonder what events we'll be participating in?" Ojiro asked instead.
"Apparently it changes every year," Shiro stated. "So it's hard to predict it."
"Shiro-san's Quirk can technically make a certain event more likely, right?" Midoriya suddenly wondered aloud.
"Oh... That's true..." she mumbled at the thought, her eyes displaying serious consideration. The male grew enthusiastic at the range of her ability.
"That would be so handy!"
"Now that I think about it, I could use it to pick a favorable event..."
"Amazing!"
Ojiro looked slightly perturbed as they continued to devise all of the possibilities. "But guys..." he scratched the side of his cheek as they stared at him in question, "As much as I'd like to choose events that complement my strengths, too, it would be unfair to the others... We should win with dignity."
Midoriya immediately broke out in apology for making the male feel uncomfortable with the conversation, and Shiro also assured him that she wasn't actually going to do it since it wasn't possible without consequences and she wanted to win fair and square, too. However, a small smile was present on her face from knowing that her tailed friend was so noble with his principles.
Ojiro is such a good person, she thought.
[]
Walking into the forest to start her training session later that week, Shiro stepped on a twig which caused a few rabbits and squirrels that had curiously gathered near a large tree to disperse. She could see a little bit of a triangular head sticking out from behind the tree, and upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be her classmate Koda Koji.
"Koda-san," she greeted. "Are you training here today?"
The shy male looked both surprised and nervous to see her, but he nodded bashfully.
He really doesn't talk much...
Shiro realized that she didn't know Koda at all other than the fact that he was quiet. He was strong in terms of muscle mass and from the Grip Strength Test weeks ago, but since he never really displayed his Quirk during any of the hero basic trainings, she didn't even know what his Quirk was.
"Those little animals back there..." she inquired with wonder. "How did you get them to come so close to you? They usually run away when they see me... Especially when I'm training."
At her question, Koda motioned for her to watch as he opened his mouth. She blinked with bewilderment as no words came out, but soon enough, a group of rabbits came back out of hiding and hopped over to the male.
Koda Koji, Quirk: Animal Voice.
Impressed, she bent down and tried to pet one. It was calm even under her touch. "This is pretty cool," she turned to the male with a small grin. "Does it work with any kind of animal?"
Koda nodded.
"And you can command them to do whatever you want?"
Another nod.
Shiro suddenly had a vision of Koda commanding a group of rabbits to attack someone and her brows shot up. As if sensing what she was thinking, Koda shook his head and waved his hand in denial.
"Oh, sorry!" she apologized, though she was not entirely sure what for. He grew even more nervous at her apology and repeatedly bowed his head, making Shiro even more confused.
[]
Splash!
"Tsuyu-san, you're always at the pool," Shiro remarked as the frog-like girl jumped out with her tongue wrapped around the mechanical fish she was searching for in the water. Shiro had been passing through the pool room whenever she needed to get to U.A.'s main gym. "Frog-Form is such a nice Quirk. It gives you the best of both worlds."
Tsuyu tipped her finger against her mouth and nodded, "On land, I can jump high and stick to walls. I can also stick my tongue out up to about 20 meters. I'm weaker in hotter climates, but wetter climates are my speciality. Shiro-chan, you have a probability changing Quirk... Does it work in water?"
"I've never really tried," Shiro said honestly. "But I think if I was in an ocean, I can raise the probability of large tidal waves, and as long as there's at least 1% chance that a tsunami can happen during a specific time, I can even make that happen at a higher probability. It'll take a lot of energy, though, since a tsunami is pretty large-scale."
"Would you hurt yourself in the process?" Tsuyu stared at her with those blank, black irises that was hard to decipher emotion from. "During the USJ attack, when you used your Quirk on that villain... Your Quirk isn't exactly like Midoriya-chan's, but you can also get really hurt from it, right?"
"Ah, that..." Shiro blinked and nodded. "My reality rewrite ability takes power from both of my eyes, and it's capable of taking what's true about an object or person and changing it to what I want to be true about it... Kind of like playing 'creator' in a sense, so it takes a lot of power. It's true that trying to change the reality of something beyond my capabilities can potentially kill me though..." she trailed off and simply offered the girl an appreciative smile for her concern. She didn't want to spoil the mood. "But don't worry, I can manage to change less extreme weather conditions a few times without any trouble since I'm just increasing or decreasing the chances of it."
"That's good to hear. We were all worried," the frog-like girl said before jumping back into the pool to resume her training. Before she submerged herself underwater, she added, "Todoroki-chan and Bakugou-chan almost got into a fight over you."
"Eh...?!"
[]
The materials in Shiro's arms clanked as they rubbed against each other; she was on her way to train in the forest area behind U.A. again. Suddenly, a giant explosion blasted somewhere at her right, the force strong enough to blow broken branches and rubble her way.
Bakugou, she immediately thought. Once the smoke cleared, she could see the blonde standing in the middle of the destroyed area, a drop of sweat trailing down the side of his face. When he turned to her direction, the grin on his face turned down.
"Oi, this is my turf," he growled as her brows shot up.
"Last I checked, this was U.A. property."
"Well I'm fucking training here."
"And I am too," she insisted before dropping the darts and throwing weapons on the ground in a huff. "Well, was. You nearly destroyed all of the trees in this half of the forest and now I can't practice my target training."
He smirked with triumph. She was right; he blasted most of the trees here to the ground already, and traveling further into the forest would require trekking over all of the fallen debris. Suddenly, he got an idea. "Why don't you just fight me?"
"I'd rather go train instead of wasting my time fulfilling your weird desire to fight everyone on this earth," she snorted before turning away. "I think I saw Hagakure-san at the gym... Maybe I'll go there instead."
Bakugou stomped over the fallen debris and grabbed her arm. "That's what I meant, dumbass," he sneered. "Train with me."
"You just want to fight me. You know we can't use our Quirks to fight each other unsupervised, right?" she retorted with the same amount of bite to her words. "Dumbass."
"What the fuck did you just—"
"But if you want to actually train with me at the gym, then okay," she continued, cutting him off. Bakugou gritted his teeth with a look of contempt, but after staring into her serious and unblinking ruby eyes, he scoffed.
"Fine," he said and retracted his hand from her arm. "You still owe me a fight."
"Yeah, yeah," Shiro rolled her eyes as they started walking. He was still explosive around her, but dare she say that she's gotten better at calming him down. It was fun to rile him up sometimes, even if he did the same to her.
"By the way, why is your hand sweaty as hell?"
"That's obviously because it's what ignites my fucking Quirk, dumbass."
"...Prickhead."
"Heh."
Two weeks of training quickly passed by.
"The bag check's taking forever!" A female reporter complained as she stood in the giant line to check in. They had come early for this, but every news station in the nation was here today. That, plus the thousands of supporters and Pro Heroes all coming to watch the show. The cameraman besides the reporter merely shrugged at her anxiousness.
"Well, they were just attacked by villains... Of course they'll be more strict. There are people criticizing their decision to hold it this year."
At that mention, the reporter grew excited, "Controversy equals ratings! Class 1-A will be the ones to watch this year, huh?"
And they were indeed... Today is the day of U.A.'s sports festival!
Class 1-A all waited in the participant waiting room before the sports festival began. By the lockers, Mina pulled at her gym shirt with a pout.
"Man... I wanted to wear my costume."
"To keep everything fair for the other courses, we can't," Ojiro explained with smile. He was stretching his arms as the door to the waiting room slid open and Iida popped in with news of when the event was officially starting.
"Everyone, are you ready? We will be entering soon!"
The class president's announcement made Mineta frantically draw the kanji for "person" on his palm before swallowing it to calm his nerves. Next to him, Midoriya repeatedly breathed in deeply and exhaled. Uraraka was jittering at her seat, but when she looked over at Shiro, she noticed that the girl had her eyes closed and her posture was calm.
"Shiro-chan, are you not nervous at all?"
Keeping her eyes closed, Shiro let out a small breath before answering. "I am, that's why closing my eyes. Thinking makes me calmer."
"Oh, I see!" Uraraka said, following in her example.
"That was an ironic statement," Sero commented with a grin.
Deep in the abyss of her mind, Shiro was recounting the days leading up to the festival. The training, the work she put in, the...
Accident with Bakugou during training.
Blushing at that quick flash of memory, she shut her eyes tighter and switched to thinking over the words Aizawa said to her this morning before she got here.
"This is a big chance, Shiro. You have a rare Quirk, but it's a hard one to showcase... I doubt I have to tell you this, but your every move should be calculated with the highest efficiency to effectiveness ratio. This is an event that the whole country is watching closely, but the important thing here are the Pro Heroes looking to scout prospects. Being just 'good' will not gain their attention."
"I know that from just your expectations, Eraserhead."
"Then you should know to go out there and show them why they should be paying attention to you."
"It's not working!"
Uraraka's loud sigh broke Shiro out of her thoughts. Finally opening her eyes, she saw that the girl was running her fingers through her hair in frustration.
"It's only making me think about the festival more...!"
She patted the girl on the back sympathetically. This event was important for everyone in this room, and no one wanted to mess up. Everyone was aiming for the top and it was a certainty that those who do well have a much better chance of becoming Pro Heroes.
"Midoriya."
She turned curiously when Todoroki suddenly called out to the curly haired male behind her. She's never seen the two interact much, so it was surprising to see that they were talking. It seemed that the rest of the class thought the same, as now all pairs of eyes were on them.
"Todoroki-kun? What is it?"
"Looking at things objectively, I think I'm stronger than you," Todoroki stated without holding back. His eyes narrowed, "But All Might has his eyes on you, doesn't he?"
She saw that Midoriya visibly reacted to that accusation, but he didn't say anything. Actually, she had been wondering that for a while, and Todoroki was just bringing up everyone's observations.
"I won't pry about that, but whatever the case, I'm going to beat you."
"Oh?" Kaminari looked at the two of them nervously as Kirishima stood up. "Is the best in the class making a declaration of war?"
"Hey, why are you picking a fight all of a sudden?" the redhead came up behind Todoroki and set a hand on his shoulder. He was saying what everyone was thinking; usually this role was taken by Bakugou. "This isn't exactly the best time, we're about to start!"
"We're not here to play at being friends," Todoroki shrugged Kirishima's hand off roughly and turned away. "So what does it matter?"
"You're not here to make friends."
Aizawa's statement from a while ago rang through Shiro's mind. There are people here who thought the same way he did, after all. She blinked at Todoroki. Though, I thought we were on good terms... Guess not?
"Todoroki-kun," Midoriya suddenly called after the male. "I don't know what you're thinking when you say you'll beat me, but of course you're better than me. I think you're more capable than most people... Looking at it objectively..."
"Ah, Midoriya, you don't have to think so negatively—" Kirishima started to console the boy, but he was cut off.
"But," Midoriya gripped his fists and looked up, "Everyone here and all the students from the other courses—they're all aiming for the top with everything they've got. I can't afford to fall behind. So that's why... I'll be going for it with everything I have, too!"
Midoriya... Shiro stared at his determined face and took a deep breath for herself. Aizawa was right. Being just 'good' wasn't going to cut it if everyone here is giving their 100% and more.
I have to put myself completely out there, too. But how?
"HEY! Pay attention, audience! Swarm, mass media! This year's high school rodeo of adolescence that you all love, the U.A. sports festival, is about to begin... Everybody, ARE YOU READY?!"
Shiro could hear Present Mic's voice project loud and clear as her class strode through the tunnel connecting to the stadium. She walked next to Midoriya, his declaration still clear on her mind.
"It's time for the students to enter for the first-year stage!"
The light from the other end was blinding; fireworks exploded in the sky, and as soon as they walked out, the entire stadium shook with cheers.
"U.A.'s sports festival! The huge battle where fledging heroes sharpen their swords once a year!" Present Mic, from his position in the announcement cube, pointed right at her class to fuel the crowd's excitement. "Anyway, these are the guys, right? The miraculous new stars who overcame enemy attacks with their hearts of steel! Hero course, class 1-A!"
"T-There's so many people...!" Midoriya gulped as he glanced at the bleachers. The entire stadium was packed; usually the third-year's stage had the most attendance, but considering all that happened...
"Will we be able to give our best performance being watched by so many people?" Iida wondered, his eyes also shifting from one end of the stage to the other to gage the amount of people. "I see. This is also part of the training required to become a hero."
"I think Present Mic's gone a little overboard with the praise..." Shiro sighed at the direction of the hero before looking ahead again. Everyone's already paying special attention to us because of the USJ incident. There is no room to mess up.
"I'm getting nervous!" Kirishima grinned as he followed behind Bakugou. "Aren't you, Bakugou?" The blonde's face morphed into a triumphant smirk.
"No, I'm just getting more into it."
Present Mic listed off the rest of the classes, and soon, all of the first-year classes gathered in the middle of the stage. Shiro saw the purple haired male standing with his general studies class, as well as the gray haired male with class 1-B, and her lips turned up.
"Time for the player pledge!" Midnight announced as she raised her flogger. The R-Rated hero was the chief umpire for the first-year class this year, and her mere presence made several of the male students and the audience blush from head to toe.
"What is Midnight-sensei wearing?" Kirishima muttered with a blush of his own. Kaminari only nodded with approval next to him.
"That's an R-Rated hero for you."
"Hey... If you really look at it, it's like the sexier concept of Aisaka's costume!" Mineta commented with his eyes showing full approval. Shiro blanched, and then a blush made its way to her own cheeks at the preposterous suggestion. The hero's costume was erotica-inspired, hers wasn't!
"The leotard over a bodysuit, the belt—if you switched out the weapon for a whip—"
"Shut the hell up, Balls-For-Brain," the explosive blonde in front of them scowled, getting irritated with the shorter male's perverse ramblings. Mineta squeaked and recoiled back in fear but Shiro couldn't even feel bad for him.
This is the one time I'll commend Bakugou for his insults...
"Quiet, everyone!" Midnight demanded as she whipped her flogger for emphasis. "Representing the students for the pledge—Bakugou Katsuki and Aisaka Shiragiku from class 1-A!"
Suddenly, all pairs of eyes were on Shiro and Bakugou. She was also surprised, but she had sort of figured since she tied with Bakugou back during the entrance exam that this might happen. Shoot, I'm still not prepared for this... Seeing that Bakugou was striding confidently up towards the stage, she was forced to follow suit. Whispers sounded behind them.
"What is Kacchan going to say...?"
"Geez, the other classes already hate us enough..."
"At least Shiro-chan's up there, too!"
Shiro eyed the blonde as he stopped in front of the mic. She couldn't read his expression since it was set on neutral. What's he going to say?
"I pledge—" Bakugou started, his eyes focused as he looked at the crowd before him, "—that I'll be number one."
All jaws visibly dropped.
Damn it, I shouldn't even be surprised that he'd say something like that... Shiro rolled her eyes as the male turned around, inciting a cacophony of protests and shouts. How in the world was she going to calm them down now? Better yet, what the hell was she going to say after that?
"At least become a nice bouncy step for me to jump off of," he said, and she suddenly realized how serious his expression was. Rather than saying that he was being overconfident, he was carefully considering everyone his enemy. He walked off, bumping his shoulder softly against hers. "Hey, hurry up so we can start this damn thing."
Her lips set into a straight line as she took his spot. Bakugou was serious about winning.
But so was she.
"Another one from class 1-A, huh?"
"Who cares? That blonde's already gotten on my nerves..."
This Prickhead... The shouts calmed down a little with Midnight's piercing glare for them to quiet down again. He's got everyone's attention, that's for sure.
"I pledge that everyone here will put on a good performance..." she started as some of the students quickly lost interest. Others, mainly her classmates, regarded her with a warm smile. They felt that she was going to smooth the mood again. But... That just wasn't her. She couldn't just let Bakugou take all of the fun.
"Go out there and show them why they should be paying attention to you."
"However," Shiro's voice rang clear and pointed. She made sure that everyone was looking at her before a challenging grin appeared on her face.
"I also pledge to do even better."
I'm too eager for this... Hence why the updates are rolling in so fast! I'd love to hear your thoughts and reviews, though, so please please please let me know what you guys think! Don't be a silent reader :)
