An age in which superpowers became more and more common as the days passed by was an age that was considered by many to be almost apocalyptic. Some – Mostly the Quirkless – Saw it was the end of the Human race, as it changed and mutated into something else. Something different.
Something more terrifying. Something that had the power to change the course of society. Something…
Unknown.
And that was really the scariest part about it, at least in the general sense. So many found themselves terrified of this new development in Humanity that they didn't understand. Loved ones turning into beasts and demons, children growing up looking like aliens. And these weren't changes that could be voted against, or repealed. No one knew what to do in the face of these new mysterious Quirks. Research was coming up empty-handed. No one really knew what was going on. It certainly didn't help that Quirks were unique to each individual – So when one came face to face with someone Quirked, there was no way of knowing what their powers were.
Of course, that was a single way of looking at it. Some saw the development as terrifying.
Others saw it as opportunity.
If someone asked Mei Hatsume what she thought about the Quirk epidemic, her answer would easily be that it was amazing.
Of course, given that she possessed a Quirk herself, one could see her as being a biased source, but really, there was a lot more to it than her being involved. Mei's Quirk wasn't even all that impressive – What she loved about it was how it made things more interesting.
Without Quirks, everyone was almost the exact same – The same capability, the same restrictions, and the same appearances. Mei couldn't figure out what the Quirkless saw in it – Quirks were vastly more interesting.
Plus, they were absolutely perfect for engineering.
What surprised Mei about Yuuei was how forward thinking that the Headmaster was. While some people understandably felt that he had just been put in charge because the people in power didn't want someone who was going to fight back, Mei got the feeling that he was honestly interested in trying to make life better for those who were born with these powers. He had one himself – Although, that was a whole thing, lately – And he seemed to understand that you couldn't treat people who had Quirks in the same way as those that didn't.
Equality wasn't something that Quirks could maintain in society. Equality assumed everyone was of equal ability, which with Quirks, simply was not the same.
Rather, equity was what was going to be the way forward – Accepting that every Quirk was different, and that everyone had different requirements. A person whom had a Quirk that let them have wings wasn't going to have the same requirements as someone with a Pyrokinetic Quirk.
Mei understood this, and had quickly found herself knee deep in work. Invention was always something she was good at – She remembered taking all the family electronics apart, and then putting them back together when she was little – And it helped to have something to keep her busy and distracted from the world's madness outside the walls. She helped develop things for people to use their Quirks that bit easier – Clothing that was fire-retardant, clothing adjustments for various mutation type Quirks…
…And of course, gadgets the help people utilize their powers more. What really ended up being the passion project that she became fascinated by. Using technology to help assist power holders use their Quirks in new and creative ways, to improve them and compensate for their weaknesses.
The Quirkless certainly didn't have even the remotest interest in this sort of advancement. If anything, the technology they researched seemed designed to suppress Quirks, as opposed to bring them out in all their glorious fashion. One would have logically thought that people who had Quirks would be more interested.
Although oddly enough, no one ever seemed to want the devices that she made, which had her completely stumped. An entire corner was dedicated to her and her craft, all utilized for whatever Quirks she saw in the courtyards of in the training halls, or just whenever something came into her mind. Her brain was a powderkeg of ideas that just needed a spark to unleash the full power of her imagination, and being surrounded by Quirks was easily the fastest way to get her brain racking. Not that she didn't have other areas of expertise.
More that she knew where the sweetest parts of her passion laid.
Every day that passed just seemed to get more and more strange.
Ever since the idea of Heroism had made its way into Izuku's head, nearly every day had been filled with strangeness. Granted, he'd never been what someone could call predictable, or traditional in the first place, but there was certainly something about the idea of Heroism that had made him take it all to a whole new level.
His ideas, at first, to many, seemed insane. Far-fetched, idealistic, and downright strange. But Izuku had a way of bringing out the optimism in people, and convincing them to go along with his plans. Sometimes even those who followed him questioned why they followed him. He just had that air about him.
Each day came with its own challenges, ideas and questions. When you were already doing the incredible, there were only two things that remained – The mystery, and the confusion.
Today was easily a mix of both.
And that was severely underselling it. To say that the last thirty minutes had been a confusing miasma would be the understatement of the decade.
Classes had been rather sporadic ever since the incident between Izuku and Kirishima, what with everyone being so incredibly shaken by the events, and with a sudden increase in the amount of outside-the-classroom work the teachers were suddenly given. What the teachers were busy with, the student body couldn't hazard a guess. Rumors had started that there had been some kind of incident that needed the Heads attention, while others theorized that word about the fight had leaked outside the Yuuei walls, and now the Quirkless were trying to figure out a way to shut down the school in retaliation.
Of course, no one really knew for certain. Common sense and logic suggested that the teachers wouldn't be so preoccupied by a threat to close the school – The Quirkless were the ones who wanted it in the first place. It kept as many Quirked people in one place as possible. Even if there had been a leak about the incident, it didn't seem all that likely that the Quirkless could even give a damn. Seal them in, and let them do whatever seemed to be a pretty common mindset when it came to Yuuei.
Still, that didn't change the fact that they'd only had a single class since the incident, and even then, it was a rather… Lacklustre one at that. And that felt weird, describing something Aizawa did as lacklustre, but it was. He hadn't seemed all there, like something was firmly on his mind.
And when Aizawa wasn't fully there for a lesson, then it was a safe bet that something was going on behind the scenes.
In any case though, classes hadn't really been much of a thing for the last few days. Many students found themselves with a lot of free time that they didn't quite know what to fill with. Unlike other students at non-Quirked schools, they might have been able to go into town, buy a few games or go and see movies, or do… something. But it wasn't an option. The risk of being attacked or harassed was a risk that very few of the student body was willing to take. So they found themselves trapped within the Yuuei grounds.
For Izuku's group, their days had been filled up for construction work. The last few days had been spent digging out a foundation, and now they were joined by Kirishima's group, each and every one of which – Excluding Monoma – Were all there with them in the morning, ready to spend the day digging up what was left the dig out, and then figure out what was to come next.
Except today, there was a…. Surprise for them.
The first words out of Izuku's mouth? 'Don't ask me, because I don't know.'
Ignoring the fact that he had snuck out at night – Which, frankly, Mina was both amazed and annoyed that she hadn't predicted that one – The group found themselves wide eyed at the sheer sight of what was in front of them. Windows, framing, concrete blocks, and a kind of large barrel container, which was filled to the brim with cement, still wet. Giant blocks of construction rocks….
Everything one needed to build a house. Everything that they needed – In nearly the exact quantities. In some places, there was more than what they needed.
And it was all just there. In the open, waiting for them, lacking just the wrapping paper and bow to be just like a Christmas present.
Of course, Katsuki was convinced that it was some kind of trick, or that there was something else going on. He ended up checking just about every single square inch of the… What did Mina even call it, now that she thought about it? The gift? The surprise? The supplies? Well, whatever it was, Mina found herself entirely agreeing with Katuski's total suspicion and skepticism – To him, this could all easily just be some kind of elaborate trick, designed to mess with the Quirked. The Quirkless didn't often come around Yuuei since the motorcycle incident, but maybe one of them had come around, seen what they were working on, and then rigged up all these supplies to do who knew what.
No one just gave away all this kind of stuff for free.
Todoroki suggested that perhaps the Head had brought it all in overnight, as per Izuku's request. That was an explanation Kirishima seemed to think made sense – Although, seemingly just out of spite, that made Katsuki even more convinced that it was some kind of trick. Of course, he kept searching every single centimeter, over and over again, expecting to find the… Whatever it was he was looking for on the next centimeter. But he came up with nothing, no matter how hard he searched. It was clean.
So these supplies appeared out of nowhere, from some unknown source, from outside Yuuei, was all clean of traps and spying equipment and trickery, ready for them to utilize the moment that they got their hands on Monoma, and he got hold of the Cement Quirk - They'd even left cement for him to manipulate, so they clearly knew what was going on in detail. And on top of that, no one had even the slightest idea how it all got here without being heard, only a few hours ago - The cement was still wet, so it couldn't have been here for long.
Izuku made it a point to call up the Headmaster to ask if he knew anything about it. It took a couple of attempts before his mentor picked up the phone, and, placed on speakerphone, he revealed that he knew absolutely nothing about it, and promising to come down and look over everything at some point during the day. He also promised to investigate if any of the staff had the answers, though he didn't sound like he believed any of them did for a moment.
No one had a solid answer. No one even had any guesses after that.
Finally, Izuku suggested that they just be grateful to whomever it was that had brought them these supplies - Whoever they were, and for whatever reason that they had brought all of this, they had saved them from the biggest roadblock to their goal. That they shouldn't look a gift-horse in the mouth, and just make the most out of what they had.
It was a stance Yaoyorozu agreed with. Kirishima trusted Yaoyorozu's judgement, and Uraraka, speaking as someone who grew up in poverty, and with a construction company, pointed out just how exceedingly rare it was to get something like this, and agreed with the logic of just being thankful that someone, whomever that was, supported their idea enough to bring them this, even if it was anonymously. It ended up being the Zero-Gravity Quirk users' assessment that swayed the conflicted minds of the others.
Katsuki still maintained that it would be safer to destroy everything, just in case it was a trap, but he found himself outvoted. He had grumbled, but conceded.
Somehow though, that wasn't where the oddities ended though.
The stares were something Mina found herself unable to get past. Even after fifteen years, she could never get used to them. She'd always found herself being self-conscious when it came to being in crowds of people, no matter who she was surrounded by. Quirked or Quirkless. She was aware of how much she stood out in any crowd, and it always wound up with her being the center of attention anywhere she went, no matter if she wanted to be or not.
Right now, she wasn't. Not exactly. It was Izuku they were staring at, thanks to his brand-new reputation, but they all saw Mina too. She was the girl that he hung out with, and that reputation Izuku had seemed to have leaked onto Mina without either of their approval. And just the knowledge that she wasn't the one being watched wasn't helping her there.
It was bad enough when the Quirkless stared. The judgmental looks that were mixed with glares of hatred and fury. The anger at the mere existence of something that was different to them. The fear of something that they didn't understand.
As inhuman as it made her feel though, Mina could at least understand why the Quirkless stared at her. It wasn't all that difficult to understand when you looked at it from their perspective - People with abnormal characteristics and supernatural powers that were impossible to predict. Supernatural powers that the Quirkless didn't have – It wasn't hard to see why so many people were afraid of her.
Even though it was unwarranted, she could at the very least understand. It was a small part of why she was so afraid of the Quirkless herself - They were different to her, and she couldn't even begin to guess which ones were fine with her, which ones would just stare, and which ones would try to beat her to death if given half a chance.
They made her uncomfortable, but she could at least tolerate the Quirkless stares. Even if they frightened her half to death.
But when the Quirked stared, it made the pink girl feel all the more isolated.
The Quirked were her people. They were people who were just like her, who felt and suffered from the same discrimination she did, people she felt more comfortable around. No matter what she did, she would always catch people's eyes, but at least when surrounded by other Quirked, she knew they understood that she had no choice, and gave her a fair chance.
They understood, and she understood them. Even without exchanging words, there was that mutual understanding at least.
Being stared at like this though made her feel like she'd lost that understanding. And it made her uncomfortable, and hyper-aware or just how... Alien she was, even among her own kind. Like they didn't understand her. Like they didn't even know her.
Like… She wasn't one of them anymore.
She cleared her throat.
"Uh... So... Uh, how - How'd you learn about this girl, Midori?"
Izuku's discovery of someone who understood architecture, and a variety of engineering and mechanical skills, was frankly a sudden development. Neither Mina nor anyone else had heard of such a person attending Yuuei, and if this was common knowledge, both knew that Izuku would have been the first person to investigate getting this persons help. Since he was only doing so now, he must have only recently learned of this girl.
The timing of this was certainly strange too. The very same day that this mysterious pie of supplies was presented to them was the same day Izuku had planned to meet some reliable tech wizard?
If Mina didn't know better, she would have thought that Izuku knew what was going on.
"It's uh, it's just something I uh, overheard." Izuku answered half-heartedly, like he was distracted.
Mina blinked, but then shrugged. It wasn't exactly a satisfying answer, but he seemed distracted. He was bound to be preoccupied, what with everything that had gone over the last few days, the mysterious supplies, and him trying to figure out where to find this mechanical girl.
On top of the depression and everything else on his mind. She couldn't blame him for being distracted.
Still, that didn't mean that she was a particular fan of the idea of walking around in silence.
"You uh, you think Bakugou's doing okay back there?" Mina asked, glancing behind her. Of course, the rest of the group was long out of sight, but there was at least a small part of Mina that half expected to see an explosive blast erupt into the sky from the site.
Mostly she was just trying to start a conversation. She wasn't all that worried about her friends. They could all handle themselves, but so far, the walk had been quiet. Unusually quiet.
Mina had opted to go along with Izuku to find this girl for two reasons – Reason number one being that she wanted to make sure that he would be okay. His many, many issues right now meant that she would feel so much better if he was with someone at all times to make sure that he was okay, and if given the choice, she would prefer to be that person.
Reason two was simply because she didn't feel safe around Kirishima's group. And after the stunt that they all pulled, she doubted that she ever would. Before the incident, she was weary of him, given that he did outright attack Izuku before, but over time, he seemed to mellow out, and Izuku explained that the two of them seemed to have reached a mutual understanding.
Of course, that turned out to be complete garbage.
She didn't trust them. She wasn't going to make the mistake of letting her guard down again, and was almost convinced that they were playing some kind of long game, and planned to screw something up somehow at some point. She couldn't prove it, but she had a feeling.
And the time to not trust her instincts had long passed.
Though right about now, as she and Izuku walked past another crowd of people who stopped everything they were doing to watch the two of them walk by, she was starting to regret not telling her instincts to shut up and settle down. Hence why she was so eager to try and talk to Izuku. A conversation would give her something to else to focus on other than the looks she was getting. And she didn't particularly care what the topic was.
"Kacchan's a hothead, but he wouldn't start any trouble." Izuku responded calmly. He'd been at Yuuei and always someone was giving him a sideways glare. He was more than used to it, and adapted quickly. Maybe he took comfort in the fact what he did was to help those around him. "He's not the kind of person to start a fight unless he's got a good reason to. I trust him."
The pink girl nodded. For all the many flaws Katsuki had, he was a very… What she called a 'Just aggressor'. He had a personality that was as pleasant as sandpaper, but he never went out of his way to start fights. He always seemed to understand when the time for action was, and refrained from using violence when it wasn't the time to.
Plus, he'd been friends with Izuku for most of his life. And Izuku trusted him, and Mina trusted his judgement.
Still, it didn't mean he was infallible.
"Guess I'm more worried about if Kirishima and his group give him a reason to start a fight..."
"I'm not sure they will."
"I thought you didn't trust them?" Mina blinked. Just yesterday he had talked about wanting to smash a shovel over Kirishima's head, and had almost broken down over how guilty he felt after thinking how easy it would be. So, in the space of a day, he'd gone from that, to putting those suspicions to the side?
"I…. Don't. But… I…. I don't know." He sighed. He was trying to find the words, but they weren't there. It was almost like he was picking the words he was saying carefully, even though they meant nothing at all. "I just don't think that they're going to try anything again. I can't explain it."
Mina blinked. Today was turning into one filled with unsatisfying answers.
"Right…" She muttered, before letting out another sigh. "So, what's the plan with this girl, anyway? We've already got a pretty good idea of what we're doing with the orphanage, don't we?"
"I thought it might just be good to see where she works." Izuku replied.
"Where she – Wait, aren't we going to speak to her?"
Izuku shook his head. "Right now, I think it'd just be a good idea to get a feel for her work. I don't want to risk her finding out about The First Generation. I know the chances are small… But I'm not in the mood for taking risks right now."
In truth, a part of Izuku did was to introduce himself to this 'Hatsume' character. From what Yaoyorozu had told him, she sounded eccentric, but far more focused on the possibilities of enhancing Quirks through technology than she was about hiding and living a quiet life. She sounded like someone he wanted to be on good terms with. Someone that he knew that he could fall back and rely on in case The First Generation needed some upgrades. Maybe she could even develop equipment for them.
But the risk was too great. Right now, anyway.
For one thing, there couldn't be any doubt that Hatsume knew that Yaoyorozu was helping with the construction project outside Yuuei – She had provided the Creation Quirk user with the blueprints with explanations, and Izuku couldn't be sure that she was the type of person to just give that kind of thing away without asking questions. And Izuku's face was well known throughout the school – Hatsume could put two and two together, and inadvertently bring it up.
And considering that Mina was there with him, that would go against Yaoyorozu's wishes to remain anonymous.
Frankly, he wished that he'd thought of that before letting Mina come along. This train of logic had only just hit him as he considered the implications of meeting with her.
Secondly, while the risk was minimal, it made sense to Izuku that him going alone would pose the least risk to The First Generation. Strength-Enhancement Quirks were common, whereas Acid wasn't. And even though they had gone to extreme lengths to help hide the nature of Mina's Quirk, they had to take every single step of vigilance to keep their identities secret.
Hatsume was apparently smart. So assuming she watched the news and looked closely enough, she might find something to latch onto, which could end up exposing Mina.
That wasn't something Izuku wanted to happen whatsoever.
So as much as it irritated him, right now, he was focused solely on observing this girls work, and not interacting with her in any way.
Toshinori had known that there was a high chance that he'd end up here as a possible witness.
Frankly, there hadn't been any doubt about it at all. When he first gave his blessings to Izuku about The First Generation, he knew that there was a near certainty that he'd find himself sitting amongst a board of Quirkless directors and leaders. He knew that they'd come to him when they wanted to know something about the Quirked. He might have possession of a Quirk – Or rather, the remnants of one, not that he made a distinction, mind – But he was still respected as a community leader.
Or as well respected as someone with a Quirk could be.
The people he met with were civil with him, and let him speak his mind, frankly and without protest. They took his ideas and his suggestions into consideration, and listened when he had something to say.
But that didn't necessarily mean that they weren't suspicious of him.
Born without a Quirk, Toshinori knew that when he accepted one, the looks of passive neutrality that he got in the streets would turn into anger and fear. He accepted the power because he truly did believe in what he preached – Those who had Quirks and those that didn't could live with one another just fine. There wasn't any need for any of the violence and the persecution.
He just wished that the leaders of such communities shared his optimistic views.
"You're telling us that you don't have even a single idea – Not even anyone you can suspect – Of being these 'First Generation'… People?"
"I've already said that. Several times. I don't have any idea who they could be."
The last few days had been a confusing and hectic batch for the previous One For All holder, and it was with regret that he'd had to push his stresses onto his staff as well. The authorities had been monitoring the actions of The First Generation ever since Midoriya's – Or publicly, Maverick's – message had been televised. Authorities who wanted these masked assailants taken down, before they did any more damage.
And as dirty as it made the older man feel – He found himself able to understand the situation.
"Mr. Yagi, you are aware that we have a corpse on our hands, correct?" The Commissioner General of the Police Force made his question towards Toshinori flat and, if one interpreted it as such, accusatory.
"I am aware of that."
"So you are aware that withholding any potential information would be akin to hiding information that could lead to the arrest of a murderer."
"I don't know if I'd call it akin." Another member of the board said. "Isn't that exactly what's going on here?"
"That implies that what caused all that damage was Human to begin with. But murder is still murder."
"I don't see any logic in continuing to insinuate that we're hiding something."
Toshinori turned his head to look at Aizawa. Those were the first words that the Erasure Quirk user had said throughout the meeting, and that were flat and straight to the point – Although, one could use those exact words to describe Aizawa himself.
Unlike Toshinori, Aizawa had made his contempt for this entire meeting as clear as possible. Whereas Toshinori was well dressed and groomed, Aizawa sat not even in a suit, but the same tracksuit clothing he always wore. He left his hair unkempt - He made no effort whatsoever to look presentable for this formality.
As far as he was concerned, that was what it was. Or rather, that was what their presence here was.
Several seconds passed, before a separate board member broke the silence. "Mr. Aizawa, is there anything you'd like to add?"
The long-haired man lazily looked towards the man whom had spoken. A middle aged, Quirkless businessman whom had accumulated enough power to be considered to attend such a meeting. No doubt, what The First Generation were doing would in some way affect his business. Aizawa didn't make any effort to hide his contempt.
Although he didn't make any effort to hide his contempt for anyone on the board.
"We've been at this for two days now." The Erasure-Quirk user stated plainly. "And both days, you've been treating this more as an interrogation as opposed to an investigation. You're not looking into areas that The First Generation could be. Instead, you have this idea that we'll know exactly who they are because we're Quirked as well."
"This has nothing to do with your status as Quirked individuals." The Commissioner General stated. "This is about figuring out who these masked maniacs are and bringing them to justice. Public usage of Quirks is strictly against the law – "
"A law you introduced after several of our students fought back an attack by Quirkless bikers."
" – A law which is to be universally upheld by any and all Quirked individuals."
"You put that law in place to prevent the basic self-defense rights of anyone targeted because of their Quirks."
"This isn't a debate about civil liberties." The businessman said. "The fact of the matter is, when The First Generation fought that… Whatever that giant, purple… Thing, was, that they wound up destroying nearly an entire street, and most of a skyscraper!"
"That, and Yuuei is the biggest concentration of Quirked individuals in the entire country! It would be easy for radicalization to start there!"
"And who's fault would that be?" Aizawa flatly asked the same board that had made Quirked attendance mandatory.
"Aizawa!" Toshinori hissed. Aizawa didn't even give him a look.
While his delivery was certainly in need of some work, there wasn't any denying that his points were valid – This was the very same board that permitted Yuuei to be built, under the logic that it would keep the Quirked out of the way and hopefully reduce the number of violent incidents. This was the same board that, under that logic, decided to make the attendance of the school mandatory for those within the age range.
Several of the board members gave each other uncomfortable glances.
"The goal here isn't to pass blame around. We're simply trying to figure out who these people are, so we can prevent more events like what happened with that creature. We're dealing with people who are, by every definition of the law, murderers, and they need to be treated as such." The head of the board said.
"We've said that we don't know who they are. What more do you want from us?"
"I wouldn't put it quite so bluntly." Toshinori glared towards his companion out of the corner of his eye, before returning his gaze to the board. "But Aizawa is correct. We don't know anything about the situation, and we don't condone them whatsoever. This feels less like an investigation, and far more like we're being put on trial for crimes we haven't committed."
"I wonder why that could be." Aizawa commented, once more with brutal honesty.
Over the past two days, the scruffy man had been subjected to all kinds of flawed rhetoric and arguments that fell apart if one thought about them for more than five minutes. These weren't people who were thinking rationally. They were people who had a problem that they wanted to get rid of, but didn't have even the first idea on how to do it. They were people who didn't understand the issue that they were facing, so they called in the first people that they could think of who might have some idea.
Conveniently forgetting that they were in part responsible for the borderline sub-human treatment of those with Quirks.
They dressed it up behind pretty words like justice, but they were, as far as Aizawa could tell, self-serving. They all felt threatened, for a variety of reasons that the Erasure Quirk user couldn't even guess, and wasn't sure that he wanted to know. Maybe some of them were just legitimately concerned about the upholding of the law, and maybe some of them were legitimately concerned about the safety of the Quirkless, but anyone who could see with both eyes clearly could see that the majority were here to serve their interests.
He didn't make any effort to make it hidden that this was what he thought of the executives and leaders sat before him.
And his cynical bluntness seemed to shake those on the board.
"…Perhaps we should take a break until tomorrow." Suggested the head of the board. "We can collect our thoughts." He stared at Aizawa. "And cool our heads." Back to the rest of the board. "And come at this with a fresh perspective."
Murmurs of agreement came from one board member after another, and within less than a minute, they were all standing up and making their way out of the room, some doing their best to give Aizawa as wide a berth as possible.
Once the room was empty, the scruffy man turned to his superior. "We spend maybe two or three hours a day here before they decide that that's enough. There's not a lot of logic to be spoken of here."
"It's hardly surprising when you scare the hair off them." Toshinori sighed. "The first thing you say in two days, and you take every opportunity to insult them?"
"There's not any point in waltzing around with the issue." Aizawa replied plainly. "They think we're responsible for The First Generation."
"Acting defensive will only increase their suspicion."
"Our only alternative is to admit and accept the guilt to something we don't do." The bearded man stood up from his own seat and shoveled his hands into his tracksuits pockets. His black eyes lazily looked over the board table with a mixture of contempt and absolute indifference. "There's only so much of that rhetoric I can stomach. These meetings are a waste of time as it is."
"They're meant to help improve relations between us and the Quirkless."
"Do you honestly believe that?"
Toshinori opened his mouth to insist that he did, to protest Aizawa's cynical view of the proceedings, and to tell him that he was reading too much into things.
No words came out though.
He had known Aizawa for some time, ever since he had decided to become a teacher, and ended up as the Headmaster of Yuuei. He had been there when Aizawa had been selected due to his Erasure Quirk, and it's inherent ability to prevent other Quirks from activating. The perfect Quirk in case some students got rebellious. He'd developed a professional, and ever so slightly personal relationship with the logic-driven individual, respecting his teaching abilities, and his objective eye. It was that objective eye that had made him come to trust his colleague's judgement.
In the years that they had known each other, Aizawa hadn't steered him wrong when it came to a judgement call. Even when it conflicted with his own opinion.
Though there was a difference between his own opinion, and what he longed the reality to be.
The skinny man sighed, and let his head fall. "No. I guess I don't. To build a bridge, there has to be some effort from both sides. But they seem quite content of interrogating us." A pause. "What do you make of their reasoning?"
"From their perspective, it's an obvious and logical conclusion. Like they said, we have the largest concentration of Quirked individuals at Yuuei." Those were points Aizawa would concede, and on the surface, they made sense, and were enough to justify some of their accusations. "However, that's the only thing that they have. They're not looking at other possibilities, or even think that there's a possibility that The First Generation members are outside of Yuuei. We're the biggest target, and there's not a huge amount that we can do to defend ourselves. It wouldn't surprise me if their accusations are just to convince themselves and the press that they're doing something about the 'Heroes'."
Once more, Toshinori sighed, and nodded. As usual, Aizawa's observations and reasoning made perfect sense. Painfully so.
"I suppose we should be thankful that they don't know about the incident with Midoriya and Kirishima." He mulled. "They could probably spin it off as a training exercise if they wanted to."
"Or the work Midoriya is doing outside Yuuei's front gate."
Aizawa's tone didn't give anything away. He was as blunt and emoteless as usual. Yet there was something about how he said it that gave away something. Something small and something tiny, but there was something about what he said that made Toshinori pause.
"Do you have an issue with what Midoriya's doing?" He asked. He posed it as a simple question of curiosity, with a tone that was innately intrigued by the answer. He couldn't be sure how well that would fool Aizawa though.
"My issue is that I don't know what he's doing." Aizawa answered plainly. "He could be trying to make a Colosseum for all we know. And there's the incident with him being expelled."
"His expulsion is temporary." Toshinori stated firmly. "At least until we can be sure of the situation. He volunteered to be expelled so we could claim ignorance on the incident with Kirishima."
This phrasing made Aizawa pause.
And then blink.
"Interesting thing for him to volunteer to be expelled for. As far as I know, it's an internal incident. Why did he volunteer to leave Yuuei if there was no reason to suspect that the incident would be made public?"
For a moment, Toshinori mentally punched himself in the gut for using such a flawed reason to try to explain Izuku's behavior. If there was anyone on the planet that wasn't going to work on, it was going to be on Aizawa. He'd pick apart every reason he gave until he could find a solid thread of logic that made sense and that he could accept – Which normally ended up being the truth. He wasn't an easy man to lie to.
"He thought it was too risky a chance to take." It was a simple cover up, and hopefully one that didn't cause Aizawa's brain to turn too much. Quickly, Toshinori added, "Uh, besides, he also says that with him expelled, what he does wont be applicable to Yuuei as a whole. We can claim to have washed our hands of him."
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Aizawa summed up.
"That's exactly the logic young Midoriya used."
Externally, the answer seemed to satisfy Aizawa. He simply nodded, and turned on his heels to exit the room, and head back to the school which he called his home.
Internally though, his brain was still working.
And it knew that Toshinori Yagi wasn't telling him the whole truth.
It was a small gadget that Mei had conceived when she first began to attend Yuuei. When not in her classes, she had claimed almost an entire workshop as her own, and had begun to craft all manner of devices that were mostly experimental, but some had a few practical appliances.
Some of her classmates compared her to that of a mad scientist as depicted in spy movies, and it wasn't an entirely unfair comparison. She did create – Or at least try – Many things a fictional spy would use. Grappling hooks, capture nets, and armor. The difference was, Mei had little interest in espionage and using her 'babies' for that sort of role. At least, not right now.
No, she invented simply for the sake of inventing. Because she thought something looked cool, and because she wanted to make it herself.
Several of her previous designs had failed, and given how simply one suspected it would be to make, it would be easy to write Mei off as a failure of an inventor. Who couldn't create a pair of uniquely designed goggles, but still tried to make entire suits of armor?
Of course, in her case, these goggles had to be modified to better work with her Quirk.
Zoom let her view things with a far closer eye, and her goggle were designed to help her make more accurate judgement based on what she saw – Like an analysis's reading, but for a small set of goggles with the `computing power of a tower. These weren't just simple goggles that she wanted to make. These were going to be her goggles.
And she wanted them to be perfect.
So she had worked, long and hard, experimented with different designed until she found one that looked comfortable, and then created a prototype, which she tested out. It needed to be tweaked, but for the most part, they would suit her just fine. Next came the requirement to create something with enough computing power, that could be fit into something so small. She thanked her lucky stars that computing technology had come a long was before she was born. She had plenty of schematics and blueprints to teach herself with, and then try to replicate. She got the device she needed down to no bigger than the fingernail on her thumb. Next came interfacing, and then the hard part. Making the device work alongside her Quirk.
Plenty of trial and error followed. Experimentation with the interface to see if she could rearrange the size of the text to see if it would fit in within her eyesight. The made it smaller in some cases, larger in others. She tried algorithms and other experiments to see what would suit her. Many failed, and many goggles ended up being scrapped.
To many, it would have been demoralizing. But to Mei, it was a learning experience – After all, one learned far more from failure than from success. And failure was no deterrent to her at all – Once she failed, she jumped right back in.
This time though, she had it. She was sure of it.
Built with everything that she had learned over the last few attempts, new creations, designs, and developments. Fail-safe's, and sextuplet checked for flaws and potential oversights. She was certain that these goggles were the pair.
Before she tried them on though, something caught her eye.
It was brief, and just for a moment, but she could have sworn that she had seen… Something.
Something green and black and pink in the corner of her eye.
Reflexively, she turned her head to the direction she had seen these colors. They were by the door. She went to search, but found nothing.
She blinked, and decided that she had been tricked by her eyes. And that she probably needed another cup of coffee.
And then she put on her new set of goggles.
Hatsume was eccentric. There wasn't any doubt about that. There couldn't be any question that she was…. Certainly not a conventional individual.
Just watching her for a few moments revealed that. Fast, yet detailed in what she was doing. Creative, and thorough. It was hard to guess what even a tenth of all the devices that cluttered the room even were supposed to do. There were a bunch of projects that she either never finished, or gave up on, or blew up in her face, but she didn't seem to let that discourage her.
He'd only gotten a short glance of her and her work.
But he'd gotten what he needed.
This chapter is a bit more of a filler one – Not much happened, except for some set up for later on. Mei has always been an interesting character in relation to FG. I'm planning some really cool stuff with her, and with a few others.
There's honestly a lot of characters I really want to play with, and FG is a story where I feel like I can play with all of them. Current MHA chapters with 1B make me excited as hell for what I've got planned for them – It's so much material I can use! And I'm finally getting around to using that material! I have big plans for the next chapter or two, so I hope you're looking forward to them – And seeing a development that I think very few of you expect.
I hope you enjoyed this short connecting chapter – And that I'll be able to see you all next time. See ya!
