As Inko, Izuku, and Anima stepped out of the airport there was a rush of wind as Jesse tackle-hugged into her husband full-force. Anima swung her around to bleed the kinetic impact as he embraced her with everything he had. Setting his lover down, Anima looked her in the eyes before stealing her lips in a searing passion.
"You think he left for a year by that greeting…" Izuku heard his homeroom teacher comment with his trademark monotone. Looking past the cuddling werewolves, he saw Shouta and Toshinori standing to greet them.
"Seems whoever you went to healed your arm well." the former hero said, looking at Izuku's working appendage. By this point, Anima pried himself of his wife with a promise for continuing later that night.
"Yeah, I took them to someone in Russia that could forcefully manipulate organic tissue. She healed the nerve damage and most of the skeletal and muscular problems." the werewolf answered.
"I'd imagine a hero that could heal injuries that well would be well known." Shouta noted but was surprised that the travelers shook their heads.
"She wasn't a hero; she was a hermit that wouldn't help unless bribed." Inko told the night hero. Shouta looked at Anima who shrugged.
"I may not like her personally, but she's one of the best healers alive I know." The homeroom teacher could appreciate the lengths his co-worker would go for his disciple, even if he was cautious about letting someone not medically trained tend to the teen. Toshinori butted into the conversations to steer it another direction.
"But while we're glad you came back safe, we, unfortunately, have some things to sort out about young Midoriya's stay at UA."
"Wait, what?" Izuku all but shouted. "But I'm not handicapped, my arm is fine now, my grades are fine, my-" a spike of aura shut the teen up as everyone turned to Anima, still clinging to his wife.
"Let them finish before you start panicking!" the werewolf growled. After he got his point across, Jesse started to pull him away. Realizing what she was doing, Anima chuckled.
"See you tomorrow at the earliest." he commented before walking to the motorcycle his wife came to the airport on. Riding off at law-breaking speeds, the rest of the teachers chuckled at their coworkers' antics.
"What I wanted to talk about was the fact UA is going to turn into a boarding school this semester. We need your guardian's, in this case your mother's, permission and signature to let you continue attending." Shouta explained.
"Where's the paper?" Inko asked without hesitation. She would normally be more worried about her son's safety, but knowing the Cacciatore's and staff that would be there, her concerns were small compared to Izuku's dream. The teacher held out a clipboard and small stack of forms for the mother. Inko found a bench to sit on and read the papers before signing them off.
"Thank you for your understanding." the night hero sounded almost like a machine from how scripted his words sounded.
"C'mon bud, let's get these filed and get you to bed. You look like you need it." Hizashi patted his friend on the back as he bowed to the Midoriyas.
"I'll drive you two home while you fill me in on what happened on the trip." Toshinori offered. Both Inko and Izuku were feeling the strain of the trip, so gratefully accepted.
Izuku contacted his friends to tell them he was back and that he'd meet them tomorrow. Right now he needed sleep.
The next day, Izuku met up with his friends in class at the cafe near the school. Thankfully it was a slow day, so the teens could group their tables into a massive row. Izuku had Tenya on his left side as Ochaco was on his right.
"So where'd Anima-sensei take you?" Ochaco asked.
"We went to Russia to meet an acquaintance of Anima's, who managed to heal the damage my stunt at the raid did to me before going to the Wudang temple in China-" at this point, Mashirao cut in.
"Wait, you went there? Oh man, I'm jealous!" everyone at the table looked over at the tailed teen.
"What's so special about it?" Momo asked curiously.
"It's said to be the birthplace of kung fu" Izuku explained. "And I met Han Tūng, the current master of the temple. He helped me with the martial path I'm taking."
"Incredible." Tenya noted. "I wonder what the practices over there must be like." Izuku gave his friend a basic rundown of the principle of many kung fu styles.
"After we left there, Anima took me to another Temple in the Kunlun mountains. There I met Xuan Li, one of the masters there. I learned more about the spiritual aspect of martial arts there, and then left China to Rome."
"Oh, oh, oh! Did you see the Coliseum?" Kirishima asked. He deflated at Izuku's negative, but continued to listen.
"No, but I did get to see the Vatican and sacred forest." he noted. "You guys remember the trip to the hero museum a couple weeks back? Starhealer, the saint of heroes, has his own room in the main building. Reading the notes on him, he was a symbol of peace without ever resorting to violence; he was a complete pacifist."
"That's incredible" Koji noted, and everyone saw the admiration; for someone so soft-spoken, a pacifist hero must be role-model material.
"He was." Izuku agreed. "The final stop was to London to see the pre-quirk monument."
"The what?" Ochaco asked before Yuga answered.
"Before the Hero Assistance Act, heroism was technically vigilantism as well. The Monument has the names of the fabulous heroes that died before the career." seeing everyone's eyes on him, the flamboyant teen posed a smile.
"La Pére took me when he was doing a modèle for a designer a few years back."
"That's so cool, Aoyama-chan!" Mina praised.
Izuku was smiling. He loved martial arts, and hero training, but the small moments like these were happy reminders of why he was doing the above. Laughing with his classmates over stories, talking about current trends and new heroes, seeing how many wings Kirishima could stuff in his mouth at once, it was satisfying to sit and relax with his classmates. He wouldn't trade these for much.
"Oh, what about the new changes to school? You know, the dorms and such. Did everyone's parents sign them?" Ochaco asked, setting the mood in another direction.
The students were moved into the dorm rooms a day before summer break ended, making sure everyone had time to set things in their rooms and learn the building layout. Some were ecstatic about the room sizes while others saw it as a minor downgrade, but no one saw a need to complain. After everyone had unpacked, it was just turning to night.
"So, we were talking about it…" Mina started after everyone was gathered.
'Never good words to hear' Izuku thought, but let the acid-user finish her thought.
"Let's have a room showcasing competition!" she suggested. Izuku had a suspicion that with everyone's backgrounds, few would be normal.
Deciding to go to Izuku's room first, it was eclectic in many ways. There were hero posters (mainly All Might, but some others as well) lining the walls, with books in a tall shelf ranging from textbooks to stories to even a couple mystic tomes, many in other languages. The desk against the wall could fold down, leaving more space, with a small stack of notebooks labeled "quirk analysis" and labeled from one to fifteen. In the corner was a wooden dummy, and some weights on a steel shelf. His bed was above where his desk was, like a top bunk with bars to prevent him from rolling off it, leaving quite a bit of space to move. There was a small bean bag next to the books, but easy to move. On another wall was a small hanging flat screen above a bokken.
"Wow, with everything up against the walls, it's spacious." Ochaco noted.
"Well yeah, practicing katas takes some space, so my room practically folds on itself." Izuku answered, scratching his head. Walking in, Fumikage saw a book, and pulled it off the shelf.
"From the clan at Matsue castle? I'm impressed." Izuku took a glance at the book his friend pulled, and saw that he recognized the mystic group's signature emblem.
"Yeah, the moonlit group there knew Anima-sensei, and he helped me get the book." he said, phrasing it so no one but those already in the supernatural wouldn't catch on; the shadow-user did.
"Man, this room is built for martial arts, ain't it man." Eijirou noted before the group moved on to Fumikage's room. After some nudging, and a good shove out of the way, the teens opened the door.
The room was dark, not surprising for the person using it as living space. There was a shelf, mainly filled with mystic pages, that was next to an ebony dresser. Some keychains stood on a stand while a skull ornament sat next to it. A decorated chair was in the corner next to a table with markings over it. Izuku noted the mystic feel of a couple items and figured it out.
"Holy hell it's dark, and scary too!" Toru exclaimed, walking in. Eijirou followed, recognizing one of the keychains as the same kind he got in middle school.
"Get The Hell Out!" the raven-faced teen snapped. Izuku connecting the dots stepped in.
"Come on guys; he seems to like his privacy, and we're being rude." he placated, guiding them out. Fumikage saw the gesture for what it was and he nodded at Izuku in thanks. Izuku smiled in understanding.
A magic user's workshop was sometimes more valuable than their lives, after all.
Like that, the boys' rooms were explored and eventually, Mineta told them that, in the act of fairness, the girls should show their rooms as well.
The girl's rooms were all cute in one way or another (Toru had a stuffed animal collection, Tsuyu had a rainforest-style room, Ochaco had some nice plants, and so on), and after getting to everyone sans Katsuki's room, everyone voted for the best room.
"Drumroll please! The winner, with seven votes goes to… Tsuyu-chan! Most comments going to that lily-pad pillow you had!" more talks went on before everyone decided to call it a night.
Class started like normal, with everyone talking until Shouta walked in.
"Your first objective this semester will be trying for your provisional hero licenses." the night hero stated, earning a "yes sir" from every student. Continuing the lecture, Shouta explained the details.
"A hero license grants you permission to directly intervene when people's lives are at stake, without using loopholes." he gave a glance at Izuku, Tenya, and Shoto, referring to the Stain incident. The trio looked down in embarrassment.
"Due to the high responsibility, the exam is extremely strict. Despite only being a 'provisional' license, the rate of acceptance is only five percent. So to help you keep up, the other staff and I will help you come up with your own signature moves." at this phrase, Midnight, Ectoplasm, and Cementoss walked in.
"Hell yeah! Now it's time for hero stuff!" most of the class shouted in joy, save for a couple.
"Welp, this is gonna suck…" Izuku noted.
This wasn't as hard as I thought it was gonna be when I started, but that's fine. Now everyone's back to school, and the license exam is coming up! Some things may change, but most won't until an arc later. I'm happy to read the new comments, so keep them up! Till next time!