It had been a week since Midoriya had started training, both for supressing his new empathic powers as well as to prepare for the sports festival.
The suppression training had been going decently though there were still some kinks. Ectoplasm had a limit to the amount of clones he could make, and they had reached the point where the greenette could stand up to the flood of both erratic and focused emotions from all 36 clones at once, though he still ended up with a horrible headache that felt as if Bakugou had actively reached into the boys head and exploded his brain from either side. If he could build up a tolerance and have the pain come down to a more manageable level soon then that was the best he could hope for to still participate in the sports festival.
Their training on the Far Reach front was much more erratic. Ectoplasm had agreed to help get accustomed to his new form of Far Reach for the other students safety, and tried his best to help the marked boy with his weaker variant (which was still a pain to get working. He could at least hold it for a few seconds before it dissipated completely but it was still a hassle and nothing useable yet.)
Once the marked boy could use those powers safely he'd get no more guidance from the maths teacher until the sports festival was over, due to it being 'cheating' according to Ectoplasm.
Midoriya had just finished yet another frustrating session of trying to summon the weakened version of his tendrils and failing, for the better part of an hour. Having no success, no matter how much he focused on the power he was putting into it, didn't do great for his confidence in himself.
As he stepped out of the gym, he came face to face with another source of frustration he had been confronting recently.
"Heya Deku!" Came Uraraka's cheery voice and he looked up to see his group of friends waiting to walk home with him. He still felt guilty that they were wasting time they could have been using training on him but they had insisted on it.
As he looked among them, his empathy flaired up as it seemed to always do whenever his eyes scanned over Hagakure as a large amount of worry bombared him. He had been concerned the first time it happened but when he had tried to confront her, she had simply avoided the questions he asked.
To a lesser extent it was also a similar scenario with Jirou, though she at least didn't deny she was freaked out, apparently both about the sports festival and the revelation that there were people who wanted to hurt the greenette, which he couldn't fault her for.
They weren't the only confusing emotional jigsaws either. Ever since he had properly developed his new power he had noticed every day he would pick up on more and more bouts of unexplained anger. At first he had thought it was Bakugou, who the marked teen did everything in his power to avoid channeling for his own sake, but was eventually proven wrong when Bakugou stayed home one day and the anger persisted.
After some 'rigorous testing' (aka, just trying to not get caught intently stating at everyone), he eventually realized that it was the ever stoic Todoroki. While the greenette's intrest was peaked, he knew trying to outright talk to the boy would be perhaps even more pointless than asking Bakugou about his emotions.
Other than that though, Midoriya's new power hadn't been too bad, even if it was weird. As long as he didn't channel Mineta at any point that would hopefully remain the same.
The group of friends talked among themselves, Iida and Hagakure discussing some school subject the invisible girl was struggling with while Jirou and Midoriya discussed a game series they both enjoyed, Uraraka occasionally adding a few comments but mostly focusing on something on her phone.
"So how's your training with our horror monster of a math teacher coming along?" Jirou asked out of nowhere, and the greenette pondered the question for a moment, not noticing the others leaning in to hear his answer.
"Well, it's going well enough. I'm a little worried, the empathy training was going a bit slowly because he doesn't want to overload me like in class but it might of made getting ready for the sports festival harder overall."
"Well that sucks." Hagakure commented and the marked teen nodded. He understood the man's reasoning, he just hated the situation. "Is there any other training you're doing? Me and Jirou have been using the school gym a lot to prepare. Uraraka's trying to get her weight limit up and i'm sure Iida's got some nerdy technical 'vroom-vroom' plan."
The group could only stare at the girl after her very Hagakure-like phrasing, Iida especially annoyed. Midoriya just shook his head with a small smile. 'Only Hagakure….and maybe Ashido.'
"Well, I've been keeping up my normal exercise routine that i've been on since I started getting prepped for the enterance exam. Its not much but everything counts, especially with what one hundred percent does to me." The boy explained and others grimaced, remembering the multiple occasions were the marked teen had destroyed his limbs. His eyes shined a little brighter as he remembered something else. "Oh yeah, and my mom found a bunch of old sports festival tapes we've recorded as I grew up. I never missed it and always wanted to watch them back to write down all the different quirks I saw in action. No two sports festivals are ever the same but some events do repeat in different ways, so I was gonna study the actual events to see if I could get anything out of them."
"That sounds like fun! It's a shame we can't join you." Uraraka said with a sad smile. They stopped as they all reached the train station and waited for a train to arrive.
"For the record, I was going to fine-tune my gears to be able to reach higher top speeds and perhaps some kind of turbo." Iida pouted quietly, making the group giggle.
The train ride home had been surprisingly quiet despite the whole group being together, all content to occasional small talk and focusing on their thoughts. Soon Uraraka and Iida had gotten off and it was just Jirou, Hagakure and Midoriya.
It didn't take long to reach the boy's stop, and all three disboarded, causing the greenette to sigh. Ever since he had returned the two girls always walked him home, every time. It was sweet at first but he knew it cost them more money and it cost him more stress as he was forced to focus on their worry.
They soon reached the park Midoriya visited as a child, which is where they always split up. Hugs were shared (though in Jirou's case, while acting like she hated it) and they split paths.
The teen quickly ran up his apartment buildings stairwell, excited to rewatch some of the old festivals. It didn't take long for him to reach his front door but before he could walk in…
Worry. Overwhelming worry.
Midoriya stopped for a moment as the unexpected feeling washed over him and he grimaced. Was his mother having a panic attack. 'I better make sure she-'
"oh shoot." A quiet voice whispered and the greenette heard a few steps off to his left. He couldn't help his groan, recognizing the voice and he turned to face a headless shirt peeping around the corner. "Uh…hi?"
"This is almost stalkerish." Midoriya said unimpressed, crossing his arms against his chest as the girl stepped out into the opening. "And that's coming from me! …I don't know who comes out worse from that sentence."
"Sorry…it's just…." The girl trailed off before huffing as she seemingly was rubbing her arm nervously, standing in front of the marked teen who's features softened.
"You're worried. I can literally feel it all the time, and I'm sorry for getting annoyed about it, it's completely normal that you're freaked out. Hell, I think i'm the least worried and i'm still terrified. It's just, I want you and Jirou, who i'm assuming is just down the stairs…"
The purple haired teen quickly came out into the open, face flushed red with a look of guilt.
"…I want you both to be happy and doing what ever you actually want to do, not wasting time on me. I appreciate the concern, really I do but I can handle myself." The greenette said and pulled the invisible girl into a hug while gesturing the purple haired girl to come over as well. As he held Hagakure he felt something wet fall onto his arms. "A-are you crying? Oh no, please don't! I'm sorry-!"
"No it's not your fault it's….it's just….everything has been so scary, and the-the stress has been piling up since the USJ and w-we got off easy…" The girls grip tightened around him and Jirou, slowly and reluctantly joined the embrace. "You've had it w-worse and it's….it sucks, it's not fair!"
"Y-yeah….it really does." Midoriya admitted as he felt small tears begin to form in his own eyes. "But….it's over for now….you're safe, i'm…relatively safe. We're all safe."
"Oh dammit…" He heard Jirou whisper quietly and just let a small smile form when he saw the slight shine of tears beginning to appear in her eyes. He didn't call her out on it. "You sorks are way too emotional."
"But you love us for it." Hagakure teased as she leaned to the side into the girl, loosening her grip on the marked boy. The mutant girl just rolled her eyes slightly.
"….Yeah….a little…."
"Do you two want to hurry home or….I'd you want I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind if you came in for a little bit." Midoriya offered as he finally separated from the girls embrace. The two teens looked between each other, debating silently.
"Well, if you're sure, my mom will understand if I shoot her a quick text first." Hagakure said as she pulled out her phone. Jirou did the same.
"Yeah, my mom will be cool with it. My dad will freak but he's not the one in charge." Jirou said with a small smile which Midoriya returned.
The trio turned and walked into the boy's house, a strong scent of ramen in the air and the bustling of someone in the kitchen. "Mom? I'm home! I have some friends with me."
"Friends? Oh give me a second!" A loud clattering was heard and a moment later the plump form of the green haired woman appeared from the kitchen, kitchen utensil in hand. She was wearing a large apron over her outfit and had a large smile upon her face. "Nice to meet you! I'm Izuku's mother, but you all can just call me Inko! It's been….a long while since Midoriya has ever brought any friends back. I never thought it would be girls as well!"
The last part was said with a slightly teasing tone which caused the boy to go red as his friends just laughed at his expense. "Ugh…mom!"
"Oh come on now, you can hardly blame me. I never get to tease you in front of anyone anymore. Now, girls, the living room is just down this hall. Those two rooms on your right are me and Izuku's room and the one on your left is the bathroom. Don't be afraid to ask if you need anything! I always make more food then the two of us alone can eat anyways so don't be shy." Inko explained to them with a blindingly bright smile and a true sincerity that the boy hadn't seen from her since he had gotten onto U.A. 'Wow. Maybe I should invite Iida and Uraraka at some point as well then.'
"Oh mom? Random question but do we still have all our old sports festival tapes?" Midoriya asked and the one blinked in surprise before quickly turning and moving into the living room.
"Hang on a moment…and….here!" The portly mother announced as she pulled a box out from storage, some video tapes inside. "I knew how much you loved these so I never throw them out. This should be every one since you were four."
"Wow that's a lot." Jirou muttered with eyes widened in surprise. "Also, tapes?"
"Our TV is pretty old." Midoriya shrugged.
Soon, the trio were sat around a table, the sports festival from the previous year playing while they ate some of the ramen Inko had been preparing and making jokes, just enjoying each others company.
About half an hour later, they were onto the third tape where second years were navigating an Obstacle course. The greenette had just finished his drink when a part of the video caught his eye.
'Oh…that'll be useful to know….'
The rest of the week passed by in what seemed like not time at all. The empathy training had reached its natural end and Midoriya had been given his chance. He was going to just have to walk into the festival and hope his training had been enough.
Students chatted as they walked around the stadium while Midoriya made his way to the changing room, doing his best to avoid thinking about the sinking feeling in his stomach.
Outside the stadium, stalss were set up and people were crawling all around. The boy fortunately had managed to avoid the crowd as the enterance for students was at the back but he could still catch the occasional feelings of excitement or frustration from the crowd.
His footsteps echoed as he opened up the waiting room for 1-A and took a seat beside Iida, who seemed to be reading a book to pass the time.
"Nervous?" The blue haired teen inquired as he looked up to face the marked boy, who just nodded. "Can't say I blame you. I'm quite worried as well, knowing my brother will be watching. I have to make him proud!"
"I h-hope you do." Midoriya said with a shaky smile, trying not to focus on the crowd he'd be walking out towards soon. 'On the bright side, at least i'm not facing down any demons or overseers.'
"It's a shame we have to wear these outfits, I was excited to show off my costume." Mina pouted as she picked at the offending clothing.
"Well at least it will keep it fair!" Ojiro reasoned as he did some stretches. They pondered among themselves what they thought the challenges might be when Midoriya noticed an odd feeling of sadness wash over him. 'Huh, what the-'
BANG!
The door crashed open and Uraraka stumbled in, clearly in a rush. "The first ecents starting soon, we're being asked to all go the field!"
At the news the class all made to get up and Midoriya frowned as the feeling of sadness got stronger and mixed in with anger and doubt. It was a new yet disturbingly familiar sensation as he felt his breath start to hitch.
"Midoriya." A cold, stoic voice said and the greenette turned in surprise, coming face to face with Todoroki. 'Oh crap these are his, what's going?! Did I do something wrong, did I say something that upset him-' "I'm not a fool. From an objective standpoint, you're more powerful than me."
"Huh? Wait, Todoroki-"
Breathing was getting harder, his vision was starting to blur yet the others seemed not to notice as the ffie and ice user's emotions crashed like violent waves in the greenette's mind. The staring of their classmates didn't help and Midoriya's fist cleched tightly. 'I was able to deal with 30 people vefore! Why are just his so overwhelming now?!'
"But I am stronger than you, clearly. Even with someone godlike in your corner."
Midoriya's eyes widened and he could hear his heart drumming violently in his ears. 'Does he know about the outsider?!'
"I won't pry about you and All Might's personal buisness but know this, I will beat you-Midoriya?!" Todoroki's intense speech was interrupted as the greenette suddenly clutched his chest, grabbing a chair for support as his breathing got more erratic. Iida quickly came to his friends side as Hagakure walked up the them, somehow moving in an angry manner.
"Way to go icey! Now he's having a panic attack." she berated as Iida did his best to run the teen through some breathing excerises. Kirishima rose from his seat to try tp mediate the situation.
"Ok guys, come on now we're all friends here, let's not go picking fights-"
"No…it's fine…." Midoriya interrupted as he looked up to the teen, his own eyes reflecting the swirling tidal pool of emotions that the stoic teen was feeling. "Let's just…get to the field."
"Are you sure-"
"I'm fine, Iida." The greenette reassured and Todoroki turned, walking away.
"Apologies. However my point stands."
And with that, Todoroki left for the field, the others following along in confusion of it all. Midoriya traled behind in the back, just one thought swirling around in his head.
'What's Todoroki going through?'