chapter 30: ... maybe

the next day Aizawa had the class outside for another quirk assessment test, everyone in class 1-A couldn't help but groan due to how bright and early it was.

"Alright everyone, today we're going to be training the full power of your quirks and trying to see if you can go beyond your current limit, plus ultra style. hey, Bakugo takes this ball and throw it as far as you can."

"sure whatever, make sure you don't blink, side characters!"

"huh, you know we've all improved a lot, I wonder how far he can throw it now?"

"it's probably close to a full mile!" Bakugo then got into a ready stance and then shouted: "GO TO HELL!" as he threw the ball with a bost from one of his powerful explosions. everyone looked at the ball disappear in the distance in awe while Izumi was concerned with what he just said.

"wow, that was definitely farther! hey Mr. Aizawa! how far was that!"

"... 709 meters."

"what?!"

"but that's only like 3 meters farther than the first time!"

"its been a whole semester since you started at U.A. and you've all definitely improved, mentally, socially, and you've gained new skills and tricks with a little extra stamina, some of you like Iida have even taken your quirks to new limits. but your overall training on your quirks has yet to improve since you haven't focused much on training your quirks in general. but that's mainly U.A.s fault given how we mainly taught and tested you on your heroic abilities rather than you individual quirk abilities but don't worry this summer camp is going to be all about training the muscles of your quirks to reach new heights, the training we got in store for you will make you wish for death, let's hope you survive"

Aizawa then smiled sinisterly toward all of class 1-A, everyone was now filled with complete dread and fear while Izumi was willed with annoyance toward Aizawa, I don't hate him but I also really don't like him. she thought.


the next day all of class 1-A was training like crazy with each student doing something different. Bakugo was dipping his hands in boiling water to make himself sweat more, therefore, making larger explosions; Todoroki was in a small bathtub covering the outside of the tub with Ice and then fire then back to Ice over and over again; Sero was producing as much tape as possible even when his body started feeling like it was hollowed out; Ojiro was hitting Kirishima to make his tail stronger and Kirishima was taking the hits to make his skin stronger; Kaminari was flowing his electricity through a very powerful battery; Koda was shouting as loud as he could to increase his voice range; Aoyama was continuously shooting his navel cannon even when his stomach hurt; Tokoyami was in a dark cave trying to control dark shadow; Uraraka was inside a large plastic bubble that was being rolled up and down the mountain to help her get less sick when using her quirk; Iida was running all throughout the land nonstop while Izumi was doing her best to keep up using Spark even when her muscles started to ache; Asui was climbing the mountain over and over again using both her limbs and her tongue; Sato was lifting weights while eating lots of cake; Yaoyorozu was eating lots of chocolate and making little nesting dolls; Jiro was stabbing her earphone jacks into the mountain to increase the quality of audio and effeciency; Ashido was continuously making asid even when it started to burn her; Mineta continuously but slowly picked the balls off of his head even long after his head started bleeding and lastly Shoji was making as many of his octo-limbs as he could while testing Hagakure on her stealth skills. just then Izumi got exhausted and her spark automatically turned off she was extremely sore but she knew better than to stop now so she got up Immediately to start again.

"*gasping* ugh... *inhales and exhales* okay! One for All: Spark!" Izumi then got ready to run to catch up to Iida but then a tall and muscular man got in her way.

"not so fast little girl! you're training will continue but it will be under my direction!"

"huh?! *gasps* I know you! your physically the strongest member of the wild wild pussycats: Tiger! can I have your-!" just then Tiger punched Izumi in the stomach and pushed her several feet back to where she landed hard on her back.

"... can I have your autograph... ow... " Izumi then got up and felt her throat and dry and ready for another hard cough, she quickly covered her mouth when she coughed and afterward she looked at her hand and surprisingly there was no blood. huh, guess today's my lucky day... more or less.

"sorry about the cheep hit young lady but you need to be ready to take a hit of at least three times that much force in order to become a big and strong hero like me. now, that's enough slacking off, GET UP AND START SWEATING!"

"... ugh..."


after some time class 1-B joined in on the training with class 1-A and were assigned by the rest of the wild wild pussy cats to the training needed to boost up their quirks while those with strength-based quirks were lead to a more secluded area by Tiger. Izumi was already there, she was in a fighting stance and throwing punches in the air nonstop however she actually did stop when she saw the students of class 1-B and her eyes started to sparkle. the boys of class 1-B were kinda thrilled knowing they would spend time with Izumi but also disappointed because they knew all she would want to talk about was their quirks. before either of them could talk though Tiger hit Izumi on the back of the head and she immediately resumed throwing punches.

"Alright, that's enough! show me what you got!"

"One for All: Smash!" Izumi made sure to use at least 10% in her smash but Tiger dodged and punched her into a tree, she was quite sore and exhausted but then she turned to her dark form and activated her spark at 15% and zoomed around Tiger looking for the perfect time to strike.

"hm! impressive! but needs improvement!" Tiger then punched Izumi in the stomach, while she was mid-air which caused her to fall on to the floor and spit out blood.

"huh, it's a little too early to be spitting blood but that shows the training is working! now get back up! the day is still young and so are all of you! you need to train like crazy now so that you can be big and strong as adults! so go beyond! plus ultra!"

"... ugh... grrr. YES SIR!" it took a lot of effort but Izumi managed to stand back up and yell triumphantly and then continue throwing punches.

"good girl! now, you lot! hehe, which one of you wants to go first!" Tiger then looked at the class 1-B students with a sinister aura which only made them all sweat in fear.


after training was finally over everyone had once again been turned into walking corpses with their souls just barely hanging onto their bodies. today rather than meeting up in the cafeteria they were all gathered in a large outdoor public picnic-like area and at the largest table, there was no prepared food but instead fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients.

"Hey ya, everybody! so as explained yesterday we won't be preparing the food anymore! so from now on, you'll have to make your own meals!"

"I know your all really tired but unfortunately villans wait for no one so we have to keep training you even when preparing meals, so for today your food training will be to prepare yourselves lots of delicious Curry." suddenly Iida's soul returned to his body, filling him with energy and life.

"I see! so by learning how to make simple meals like this even when we're deathly tired its a way to prepare us in a sort of hostage situation like if we and some civilians were trapped somewhere, we were very injured and tired, and all we had to eat were a few simple ingredients. it's perfect for such a scenario or anything related! everyone this will be a perfect learning experience so let us do our best! class 1-B! I hope we can count on your assistance as well!" everyone from both class 1-A and class 1-B only managed to groan faintly a "... yeah, ok." to reply to Iida. Izumi wanted to shout in enthusiasm but her throat was already sore from all the yelling Tiger forced her to do. Aizawa then mentally thanked Iida for his enthusiasm despite his exhaustion, even though his expression didn't change Mandalay could tell Aizawa was impressed.

"your really proud of your choice for the class rep of 1-A huh?"

"hm? oh, I didn't choose Iida for class rep, there was a class vote for it and Mirodiya was the winner but she was bad at the position so she voted that Iida take her place. honestly, I don't even know why anyone voted for her in the first place, she's smart but also useless. granted she has improved a lot over the semester but I still would have expelled her if she wasn't All Might's successor." Aizawa then just walked away leaving Mandalay a little concerned geez he hasn't changed at all since we were kids she thought he switches too quickly from a nice guy to a total prick, even now I still can't tell when he's being considerate or a jerk.


the students got started right away trying to start the fires for the grills, Yaoyorozu tried making lighters while Todoroki was using his fire, Kirishima asked Bakugo to use his explosion to light the grill but refused to ask him to light another when his explosion destroyed it.

"hey Momo-chan! can I have some flint and steel!" Izumi was looking at Yaoyorozu with sparkling eyes while Yaoyorozu was mostly confused.

"um, I could just make you a functional lighter Izumi."

"no a small block of flint and steel will be good enough!" Yaoyorozu then made what Izumi asked and Izumi used her spark at 5% to continuously strike the steel off the flint to make lots of sparks on the grill and sure enough, she made the fire start at a record time. when the fire got stronger Izumi felt proud of herself not noticing that the flint was still hot and now that it was next to her shorts it made them catch on fire.

"Izumi! your clothes!" Izumi then looked at her shorts and saw the smoke and quickly dropped the flint and put it out, thankfully it didn't do much damage but her shorts were definitely ruined. she was about to sigh in defeat but then she saw how happy Todoroki seemed to be using his flame he then noticed Izumi looking at him, she then smiled warmly at him which caused him to blush and walk away in a shy manner. I'm so happy he's getting better at his fire, he doesn't have to be so shy about it though. after varying degrees of success and failure over a hundred bowls of curry were made and everyone started digging in as they got their first plate. everyone was chowing down like crazy, even though it was understandable given the hellish training they got earlier in the day some were still surprised to see how fast Yaoyorozu was eating.

"geez Momo-Chan, I know its good but maybe you should slow down?"

"it's not something I can help, the lipids from my eating is used by my quirk to make the inorganic material. I was eating a lot earlier but that was for training and took a lot out of me."

"wow, so that's how it works!" Izumi then got out her hero research book vol. 14 and went over to the pages where she wrote about Yaoyorozu's quirk to update it.

"you really find that interesting Izumi? it kinda just sounds like the same thing as pooping." Yaoyorozu was shocked by Sero's statement and she immediately emitted an aura of despair, then Kirishima and Izumi who heard everything glared at Sero angrily while Jiro straight up punched him right in the face. Izumi then laughed a little and then continued eating, after she was done with her first plate she immediately went for another but then saw that Kota was staring at everyone and eating and when Mandalay called him to tell him that his dinner was ready he just walked away. Izumi still grabbed a second bowl but followed Kota until he stopped at a cave on the top of a small mountain, he didn't seem to do anything he was just standing there glaring at the field while his stomach was growling. I did that one time she thought it was one time after the day was over at my old school someone took my school lunch and said that it shouldn't be wasted on a quirkless loser. Izumi then turned to her dark form as she confronted Kota.

"h- hey Kota."

"w- what the heck?! how did you find me?!"

"sorry I followed your footsteps. anyways I heard your stomach, it's not good to starve yourself, trust me I know."

"tch! you don't know anything! go away, you heroic wannabe! I don't need losers like you in my secret fort!" Kota then glared at Izumi in unyielding fury while Izumi looked back seeming even sadder than before.

"... okay, but I'm going to leave the curry, I really don't want you to starve." Izumi then faintly smiled at Kota even when the sadness was still in her eyes, Kota actually seemed shocked about this but Izumi didn't notice she just walked away slowly.

"wait!"

"hm?"

"... I... you... why do you look like that?"

"huh?"

"your face, you looked really... *blushes* pretty, you looked super pretty. but now you look awful, what happened?"

"hm, it's my quirk, I turn pretty when I'm happy but I turn ugly when I'm sad."

"... that's a stupid quirk!" Kota shouted it out as to make Izumi more unhappy, yeah that's right I said it! now cry you stupid wanna be! you'll never be a hero with such a stupid quirk now cry and run awa- Kota's train of thought was interrupted when Izumi started laughing instead of crying. although her laughter seemed genuine she was still in her dark form and was also crying.

"hahaha! your right! it's stupid! it's so stupid I hate it! hahaha!" Izumi continued to laugh joyfully and uncontrollably leaving Kota very confused but then after some time she stopped laughing but continued to cry.

"but its mine, I have to accept that and move on... but I've always wanted a cool quirk like my mom who could move objects and hey now that I think about it I believe she said one time that my dad could breathe fire! that's such a cool quirk if only I had that instead. maybe then I could be a proper hero." after hearing that last sentence Kota got angry once again.

"you- you shouldn't want to be a stupid hero!"

"huh? why not? heroes are cool and they save people, right?"

"no, they don't! heroes are just jerks who make themselves look cool while killing themselves! and villans are no better, they both just kill each other in a stupid cycle of who has the better quirk! it's awful and stupid! I hate every bit of it! if your smart then be happy that your stupid quirk keeps you from being a hero!"

"... But I can't be happy because it's always been my dream to be a hero." Kota was shocked to hear this but wasn't done protesting.

"Just give up on being a hero!"

"no don't wanna."

"but if you become a hero you'll die!"

"Not if I'm strong and smart about what I do."

"that's not good enough! no matter how strong anyone is they'll definitely die being a hero!"

"I'm not afraid of death. I don't really mind dying." actually that's a lie Izumi thought, she was completely unaware that Kota was deeply shocked about what she said, he even started crying.

"don't say that you stupid loser! *sobbing* don't you know if you die someone will miss you! *sobbing* what about your parents! what about your friends! what about your son!" Kota then collapsed on all fours and cried even harder than before, Izumi quickly noticed this and went over to Kota and hugged him for comfort, surprisingly he hugged her back.

"were not talking about me anymore, are we?"

"Mommy... daddy... why did they leave me? was being a hero so important that I didn't matter?" Damn it Izumi, you had to make the kid cry didn't you Izumi started mentally criticizing herself ok you did this so now you need to fix it.

"... Kota, please don't say that I never knew your parents in person but they most definitely loved you. I bet you were the only thing they ever thought about, even in their final moments."

"then why didn't they save themselves and come home! *sobbing* why didn't they just let the villain go?"

"Kota, they didn't die battling the villain they died protecting civilians."

"I KNOW THAT BUT I DON'T CARE! *sobbing* they still should have come home... "

"Kota-"

"DON'T SAY IT! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT ANYMORE! THEY DIED NOBLY?! THAT'S STUPID! WHO CARES?! THEIR STILL DEAD!"

"... I wasn't going to say that. your parents did die nobly, but yes they are still dead. you have every right to be angry, every right to be sad, and every right to cry. but please don't be mad because they were heroes, one of the essences of a hero is to defend others at the cost of one's own being. your parents were just trying to uphold that idea because they wanted you to be proud of them." Kota then stopped crying and looked at Izumi in slight confusion as the last of his tears left his eyes.

"they wanted me? *sniff* to be proud of them?"

"of course, you're their son Kota! you meant everything to them! I bet every day after another mission of heroism they always looked forward to coming home and seeing the smile on your face when they told you the stories of their adventures in heroism." Kota's eyes went wide with realization they wanted to... to make me proud? he thought to himself, he then started crying harder than. although Izumi's expression didn't change she was now filled with concern. did I really say the right thing. she thought but then both of their inner thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a hungry stomach only this time it wasn't Kota but Izumi's stomach.

"oh... haha, now that's stupid, I already ate and yet I'm still hungry? that's so weird... well here's your plate Kota, I'm gonna go back and see if there's still any left for me. sorry about making you cry but please remember what I said about not being angry at heroes." Izumi then got up and left, Kota would have normally been happy that she was finally gone but instead he wanted her to stay and he himself wasn't sure why.

"wait!"

"hm?"

"do... do you want to share the curry?"

"... sure." Izumi managed to smile but was still in her dark form due to feeling bad for making Kota cry so much. they then shared the bowl of curry in silence but enjoyed it well and then afterward when Izumi was done with her half she thanked Kota for letting her have half.

"well, that was delicious. there should still be more, do you want me to get you another bowl?"

"oh uh, no. auntie Mandalay said she made me dinner so I should probably eat that instead, but uh... is it ok if I stay here a little while longer."

"... sure it's your secret fort after all, sorry for intruding and thanks again for the meal!" Izumi then got up and was ready to leave for real this time but once again Kota stopped her.

"uh h- hey! you know if... if you ever want to come back you can! we can meet up at the exact same time! only I'll bring snacks this time, so you won't have to make anything!" Izumi looked at Kota supprised then slowly but surely her hair started turning green again, her eyes were shining again and her skin was now lively and no longer pale. the sight of Izumi back to her normal and beautiful self made Kota blush wildly.

"I- I would love that Kota! but I need to prepare my meals in order to keep training, but hey! if your bringing snacks then I'll be sure to bring two bowls! one for you and one for me!" Izumi then ran back to the camp joyfully, I did it! I helped Kota! even though it was a little bit it was still something! now I know I can be a hero! as Izumi was full of joy Kota was completely motionless and eventually fell to the ground looking up at the stars.

"m- maybe... maybe heroes aren't so bad after all... maybe."