Midoriya left his room, with Reiko and Ryuto tucked in his hood as he trudged towards the main UA building. His body was aching all over, and he was tired. He had just taken a shower, ready to leave his room to check if the nauseating smell of pizza had left the common room and that his classmates were done eating. Nezu had texted him, telling him that he wanted to talk to him in his office, and that he didn't need to alert the teachers about him leaving the dorms as they were already informed of the meeting. Midoriya didn't really think too much about it, and snuck out of his window, trying to not go near the common room, before making his way to Nezu's office.
It didn't take him too long to do so, given how many times he had been to the principal's office, and he placed Reiko and Ryuto on the ground, before knocking on the door. He heard the sound of footsteps, and the door swung open. Much to his surprise, Nezu promptly wrapped his arms around Midoriya, though the principal was so short that he only reached up to Midoriya's waist.
"You're alright. I was so worried when I heard the news about the attack from the Hero Commission." Nezu breathed a sigh of relief, before gently leading the boy into his office. Nezu let the smaller boy sit on the couch in his office, and Midoriya noticed a plastic bowl with steam coming out of it, sitting on the short table that was located by the couch. He looked at it curiously, as Reiko and Ryuto leapt up onto the couch beside her, the cat gently nuzzling the larger bird, before curling up around him. Ryuto settled down, and let out a content chirp as Nezu patted him on the head.
Midoriya leaned over slightly, seeing that the bowl contained some plain soup, noodles and vegetables. It did smell nice, and he hadn't eaten his dinner yet, and he glanced at Nezu curiously, wondering why the animal principal had noodles in his office. It was pretty late, after all, and he assumed that Nezu would have already eaten dinner. Maybe he was working late?
"Eat." Nezu nodded his head towards the bowl, "I didn't think that you would eat dinner, given how many people there were crowded in your dorms."
Midoriya blanched, and quickly shook his head, protesting, "I can't... It's your food... I-"
"Don't worry about it, Izuku." Nezu calmly patted his arm, "I've already eaten; I'm not really hungry at the moment. Just eat it. You deserve it, especially after everything that happened today."
Midoriya paused, but with a bit more encouragement from Nezu, the greenette picked up the metal chopsticks that were with the bowl, and started eating the noodles. He picked up that pace when he realised that, one, the food was actually delicious, despite the meal being relatively simple, and two, he was actually pretty hungry, though on most days, he usually did his best to ignore his stomach.
The office was filled with silence, with the only sound being from Midoriya eating, before Nezu spoke up again, "I was so worried when I heard that there were four members of the League attacking the students, and I knew that you would do your best to protect everyone."
Midoriya looked away from Nezu guiltily, and Nezu sighed, gently patting Midoriya's leg, "I'm not mad. On the contrary, I'm proud that you trusted yourself, and decided to take matters into your own hands because you felt that you could handle it. I care about you, Izuku, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who was worried about your wellbeing while you fought the League."
Nezu paused, before continuing, "I'm just glad that you're okay, Izuku. Recovery Girl already informed me about the injuries you got from the villains... and while they're pretty bad, I'm just relieved that it's not as serious as the last two times you ended up in the hospital."
Midoriya froze, and he slowed his eating down, trying to process what Nezu was talking about. He was almost done with the noodles anyways. He knew that Nezu did care about him, and accepted it, as much as he found it hard to believe. Even though his injuries were healed, they were still aching, and Shuzenji had already told him that if the pain was too unbearable, he should go find her the next day. But he wasn't about to bother her, nor Nezu, about that. Shuzenji was probably busy, and he didn't want Nezu to worry more than he had to.
"I'm fine... Recovery Girl already healed them up." Midoriya replied, placing the empty bowl back on the table, and was about to stand up to find a sink to wash the chopsticks in when Nezu stopped him.
"Ah, just leave it there, Izuku." Nezu quickly spoke up, "Don't worry about it. I have other stuff to clear anyways, it won't be too much of a trouble."
"If... you say so.." Midoriya reluctantly left the chopsticks on the bowl, and Nezu looked at his watch, "It's late right now... and I'm sure that you're tired after everything that happened today. You should go back and rest."
"Alright... goodnight, Nezu..." The green haired boy merely nodded, and Nezu wrapped his paws around Midoriya's neck, giving him another hug, before Midoriya left the office, heading back towards the 1-A dorms.
Nezu stretched, and hopped off the couch, going to one of the cupboards by the door, rummaging around inside, before procuring a bowl of instant noodles. He just had his dinner delivered to his office when Aizawa informed him that Midoriya had, apparently, not eaten anything at all, and while he didn't like lying to Midoriya, he knew that it would be the only way to get his little pup to eat anything other than instant noodles.
Nezu just picked up the chopsticks and the empty bowl that Midoriya had eaten from, before moving towards the staffroom to get some warm water for his instant noodles, before disposing of the empty bowl and washing the chopsticks.
Midoriya trudged back into his room, and flung himself on his bed., before noticing that there was an envelope on his desk. Midoriya sat up, and walked over to his table, picking it up, looking at it curiously. He went back to his bed, and gently peeled open the envelope, noticing that there was a small, plastic card, as well as a sheet of paper. He was about to look at the contents of the paper when there was a knock on the door.
The green haired boy looked up, and Shinsou carefully opened the door, "Hey... Izuku... There was supposed to be a movie night again with 1-B, since there aren't any classes tomorrow... and they were wondering if you wanted to join us? Somehow, everyone is downstairs comparing scores and their hero licenses, though... Oh, yeah, Dad left your license and feedback in that envelope, since you were exhausted after the exam."
Midoriya looked away briefly, before nodding, grabbing the open envelope and following Shinsou out of his room. Luckily, it seems that his classmates had already cleared away the pizza, and the nauseating smell of it had already dissipated. The greenette was glad that no one brought up the fact that he didn't join them for dinner, and settled into the bean bag in the corner of the common room, before opening the envelope and taking out the piece of paper, noticing that there was a score, as well as some comments.
Overall, he seemed to do pretty well, getting ninety five points in total. There were some comments, stating that he did a good job surveying the environment and not acting rashly, trying to save people and fighting villains despite having a broken leg, and even coming up with a plan to take out the mock villain in the exam, which was something that only the students in their arena managed to do.
He apparently only lost marks due to a lack of enthusiasm, which was mostly noted by the members of the HUC that he had saved, though they really didn't take away too many points since Midoriya had still done his part. Midoriya didn't really care too much about that; as long as he got the job done, it didn't matter how he was feeling. Enthusiasm would only cloud a person's judgement, and result in them making rash decisions. Plus, how on earth could he be enthusiastic about saving people who weren't really in danger, and were just acting and pretending to be injured?
"Hey, Midoriya!" Sero grinned, as Awase, Ashido and Kaminari chattered excitedly behind him, "How much did you get? I got eighty four!"
Midoriya just looked up, opting to remain silent, and just passed the black haired boy the paper with his score on it. Sero gleefully took the piece of paper, and glanced over it, "Woah, you got ninety five? That's even higher than Yaoyorozu!"
"Someone got a higher score than Yaomomo!?" Hagakure yelled, "Who!?"
Uraraka had to literally restrain the invisible girl before she tackled Sero to look at the paper he was looking at, and Iida calmly took the paper from Sero, comparing it to Yaoyorozu's paper. Kendo and Yaoyorozu peered over Iida's arm, examining Midoriya's report, and the orange haired girl gaped, "Woah. You didn't make any mistakes except... lack of enthusiasm?"
"Uh... he seemed pretty enthusiastic to me." Jiro commented, confused, as Todoroki muttered, "Maybe they just didn't want someone getting full marks."
Reiko purred lightly, rubbing Midoriya's cheek; her human was really getting uncomfortable as Kamakiri, Shishida and Kaibara also tried to take a look at the paper curiously. Shinsou hastily pushed the other students away gently to give Midoriya space, and luckily, Iida also subtly moved away so that they weren't so close to the green haired boy.
Ryuto stuck his head into the envelope, and couldn't get it off his head, before starting to nibble curiously on the plastic card inside. Midoriya hastily fished the envelope off the hawk, before gently patting his head in an attempt to get Ryuto to release the card before he accidentally injured himself on the plastic. The greenette tucked the card in his pocket; he didn't want anyone to notice it and start questioning him about his hero name. He was already tired enough of all the fussing over his score; it was just a score, and they all passed. Was it even that important?
Luckily for him, the rest of the hero course students were also pretty tired from the Hero Licence Exam, and were impatient to start the movie so that they could go to bed earlier. That was more than enough to convince them to give Midoriya back the report of his performance while the others grabbed their snacks from the kitchen.
Kendo and Koda had shifted over the other bean bags from around the common room, and Shoji and Shishida even brought over more bean bags from the 1-B dorms in order to create more space for everyone, since the first time the two classes had a movie night together, it had been a bit crammed with only the couches and mattresses. Seeing as the students were also using the bean bags, Midoriya grabbed the black bean bag and also dragged it to the middle of the common room so that he could see the screen.
Shinsou scratched his head as he surveyed the area. He had gone to grab some water from the kitchen while his classmates sorted out the seating arrangements, and had come back to the common room, only to find that there wasn't anywhere to sit. There wasn't any more space on the couch nor on the mattresses, since instead of sitting, some people were lying down, and all the bean bags were taken up.
"Ok..." Shinsou muttered, trying to figure out where to sit, since Tokage had already switched off the lights and Ashido had started the movie... whatever it was. Shinsou wasn't even sure what movie was being played.
Midoriya spotted the purple haired boy out of the corner of his eye, and he glanced at him, not really sure what the other boy was looking for until he realised that there wasn't anywhere for him to sit. Midoriya was tired, and would much rather sleep in his room than stay downstairs and watch the movie, but he wasn't too sure if Shinsou wanted to watch the movie or not. The bean bags were rather large, and there were people who were sharing bean bags, like Uraraka and Asui, or Bakugou and Kirishima (Midoriya had no idea how the red head managed to convince the explosive blonde to actually do that).
If it were anyone else, Midoriya would be far too terrified and uncomfortable to even think about it, but he did trust the taller boy, at least, enough to share his seat with him. At the very least, he knew that Shinsou wouldn't push him out of his seat, like his classmates in elementary school did every time they were short on chairs. He let out a small growl, almost indiscernible, quiet enough to not bother anyone else who was watching the movie, but loud enough to get Shinsou's attention.
The lavender haired boy heard the growl, and turned, seeing the shorter boy looking at him. Midoriya nodded his head slightly, beckoning Shinsou over to him, and the taller boy just looked down at the smaller boy, confused. He crouched down, "Are you okay, Izuku? Do you need anything?"
Midoriya didn't say anything, and merely shifted to the side so that there was more than enough space for Shinsou to sit down in it if he wanted to. Shinsou just looked at Midoriya oddly, not really sure what the other boy was doing until Midoriya nodded his head at the empty space next to him.
"I can... sit here?" Shinsou asked softly, and Midoriya nodded.
Shinsou let out a small smile, and gently settled down next to the green haired boy, "Thanks, Izuku."
Midoriya just gave the other boy a small grunt in acknowledgement, wrapping his arms around Reiko and Ryuto, before turning towards the screen, actually somewhat curious about what his classmates had planned to watch.
The students had spent their one free day resting. Since they didn't have any homework, the Bakusquad literally spent the entire day playing video games, though there was way too much screaming and explosions from the common room for anyone to even do anything. Ashido was apparently recording them playing some horror game in Virtual Reality, and somehow, Midoriya managed to sleep through the entire thing while sleeping in the bean bag despite all the screaming and yelling. He didn't wake up for breakfast or lunch, and the only reason he had eaten a bit for dinner was because Uraraka, Iida, and Shinsou bugged him enough, before he promptly went back to sleep; Iida had gotten up for his daily morning run, only to find Midoriya already sleeping in the common room, curled up in the bean bag.
Then it was back to school, starting with assembly in the morning.
Nezu had just given a speech about the importance of sleeping to one's fur and hair quality, before stating that disturbances in lifestyle weren't very healthy, and that the increasing threat of chaos due to villain attacks were affecting people's lifestyles, stressing the importance of U.A. students' future place in the society, as well as the importance of internships for the students in the Hero program, who would have to go out and fight these threats. Inui had tried to say something to the students, but only managed to get some growls into the microphone before Kan took over, and reminded the students that while it was necessary to work hard, they should also take time to relax, as moderation was important.
It had taken the teachers some time to dismiss the students back to their classrooms, and Aizawa sighed, "Alright, we'll be continuing regular lessons starting today. A lot of unprecedented things happened, but you'll need to switch gears to focus on your duties as students. We'll be staying in the classroom today, but this semester, your training will be even harsher than before."
"I'm sorry, can I ask a question?" Asui raised her hand, "Can you tell us what the "Hero Work Studies" that came up earlier during the assembly was about?"
"Oh yeah... the principal didn't mention anything about it." Sero muttered, as Tokoyami nodded, "I was wondering as well."
"He said it was something many of the upperclassmen are engaged in..." Yaoyorozu added, and Aizawa sighed, "I was planning to talk about those at a later date, but I guess telling you guys now is more logical. To put it simply, they are hero activities outside of school. Like the internships you did under heroes before, only closer to the real thing."
"Wait, then why did we work so hard for the Sports Festival?!" Uraraka exclaimed, as Iida mused, "That's true... if we have work studies, then even those who didn't get scouted at the Sports Festival would have paths open up for them..."
"The Hero Works Studies use the scouting from the Sports Festival as connections. This isn't part of a class, but an activity done at the discretion of the students, so those who weren't scouted at the Sports Festival would have a hard time arranging one to begin with. And in case you have forgotten, one of your didn't even have an internship after the Sports Festival." Aizawa replied.
"Oh yeah... Midoriya transferred in after the internships had concluded..." Kaminari spoke up, as Aizawa sighed, "Yes. Originally, individual agencies recruited on their own, but there were many complications with trying to get UA students to join, so it ended up being like this. Now that you have your provisional licenses, you can assist in more real ways for longer periods of time. There aren't many cases where first years have received their provisional licenses, and with the increased activity of the villains, we are currently seriously thinking about your participation."
"Even after... the villain attack during the exam?" Mineta timidly asked, and Aizawa nodded, "Especially after that. That attack has shown that to get to the heroes, villains aren't above attacking students as well, and for the safety of yourselves as well as others, the earlier you get experience, the better. We'll have you hear more about what it's like tomorrow. Now, you have your next lesson with Present Mic."
Midoriya just grabbed his worksheets to prepare for the English lesson. They were probably going to get the second or third years to talk to them about the hero work studies, most likely, the Big Three from UA's current third year cohort. He should get some research done, just so that he wouldn't be jumping in blindly.
"Is there any reason why 1-B is taking today's slot with the Big Three?" Yagi asked, "Young Mirio did seem very interested in meeting Young Midoriya..."
"Apparently, Nighteye wanted to see how Togata was doing, but he was caught up with something and couldn't make it." Nezu shrugged, "I do know that you were interested in seeing the possible effects of Izuku's theory about One for All, but this also involves Nighteye. I'm afraid you'll just have to wait for tomorrow, Toshinori."
"That is true..." Yagi muttered, and Nezu cut in again, "And we should also have Aizawa, since we don't really know what One for All is capable of. The quirk may get out of hand, and we'll need Aizawa should that happen. Do you know what quirks might possibly be contained within One for All?"
"Well... I know my master's quirk is Float... and I think she mentioned something about one of the users before her having some whip-like quirk, though I'm not sure how accurate it is... I don't think that previous users of One for All had thought of this possibility, or it would be clearly documented somewhere." Yagi replied, and Nezu nodded, "Alright, at least it's a start. We should focus on those first."
"In your seats, everyone." Aizawa ordered, as Kaminari, Sero, Ashido and Kirishima scrambled for their seats.
"Now, we'll go into more detail about the work studies. But anyways, it hasn't been decided yet whether first years will be sent to work with pros. We'll be deciding that at a meeting, but if we do it, we'll also have to think about how to handle the media. But we still decided that you should know what's going on to decide if you even want to participate in these activities in the first place." Aizawa turned to the door, "Please, come in. We'll have people who experienced it first hand tell you about how these are different from the internships. Listen carefully."
The door slid open, revealing a blonde with scarred arms, a girl with long periwinkle hair that was mostly straight, with curls near the ends, and a pale boy with messy indigo hair.
"These are the three third years at UA who stand at the top of all UA students, also known as the Big Three."
"The Big Three?" Sato muttered, as Kaminari gawked, "The top of all UA students!?"
"The crown among the splendid UA students..." Iida gaped as Yaoyorozu stared at the third years in awe, "The ones closest to pro heroes among us..."
The only one who didn't seem very surprised was Midoriya; he was completely apathetic to the three students.
Midoriya knew the basics about the Big Three. In the previous year's Sports Festival, none of them ranked very well, though Togata's clothes had fallen off on live television due to his quirk.
Togata's Permeation quirk allows him to phase his body through physical matter, Hado's Wave Motion quirk allows her to convert her energy into as blast waves, while Amajiki's Manifest quirk allows him to manifest traits of any food they've eaten while it's still in his body. Nothing too special, but any quirk can be extremely powerful and versatile if used properly and creatively. Togata had been given One for All. But besides that, Midoriya seriously doubted that they would become the Big Three if they didn't master their quirks properly.
"Okay, can you please introduce yourselves briefly?" Aizawa asked, "Let's start with Amajiki."
The indigo haired boy gave a very intense stare, though it didn't seem to affect the students too much; they had seen a very enraged Midoriya very literally kick Muscular's butt before, and this was nowhere as intense as the greenette had been.
"It's no good." Amajiki muttered, "Mirio, Hado, even if I look out on them imagining they are potatoes, everything other than their heads remain human. I can't see them as anything but human. What should I do... I can't say anything... my mind's blank... I can't..."
Amajiki turned around and faced the wall, "I want to go home."
"Uh... you are the top of UA's hero course, right?" Ojiro sweatdropped, as Hado grinned, "Oh, listen, Amajiki! That's called having the heart of a flea, even though you're human! It's so strange!"
Midoriya was starting to hate Hado. That comment about having the heart of a flea was just plain mean.
"This is the flea, Amajiki Tamaki! And I am Nejire Hado! We were asked to talk to you guys about work studies. But wait -"
"Hey, hey, why are you wearing a mask? Are you sick? Trying to look cool?" She asked Shoji, who tried to reply, "It's because in the past -"
She didn't even let him finish before moving on to Todoroki, "Oh my! you must be Todoroki! How did you get burned right there?"
Todoroki didn't even get a chance to reply before Hado continued, "Ashido, if your horns grow off, do new ones grow in? Can you move them? Well? Mineta, are those balls of yours hair? How do you get a haircut? Asui, you're a tree frog, not a toad, right? There's so much I want to know about all of you! It's so strange! Hey, hey, Ojiro, can you support your whole body with your tail? Hey, hey, tell me, I want to know! Oh, Midoriya! How is it like being quirkless!? Why are you so expressionless?! You should smile a bit more! I'm sure you'll look much cuter! Oh, also, why do you wear a collar? Is this your cat? It's so cute! What's it's name? And a bird as well?"
Midoriya really just wanted her to shut up. Ryuto was just confused by the blue haired girl, while Reiko smacked Hado's hand away as she tried to pet the feline, but Hado merely laughed it off.
"Isn't this lacking rationality?" Clearly, Midoriya wasn't the only one who was getting rather annoyed by Hado; Aizawa's eyes were practically glowing red.
"Don't worry, Eraser Head!" Togata laughed nervously, "I'm going last to wrap things up, right?"
He turned to the class, interupting Hado, "The future's going to be?"
There was silence.
"Grim!" Togata ad libbed, "That's what you are supposed to say, right? All right, my call and response was a huge fail!"
Shinsou sweatdropped, as Togata proceeded to laugh at himself. This was just like Yamada and the silence to his "yeah"s.
"All three of them are weird..." Sato muttered, "Even though they're called the Big Three, it's like..."
"You can't feel it in their personalities." Tokoyami replied, "But maybe it's like with Midoriya; unless they're fighting, they won't show it."
"Well, you guys look like you're not sure what's going on, right? We're third years who suddenly appeared to explain work studies that aren't even required. That's confusing, right?" Togata thought to himself for a few seconds, before continuing, "You guys got your provisional liceses as first years, right? This year's first years are really... energetic, right? Besides, it looked like my jokes didn't work earlier, right?"
"Mirio?" Amajiki asked, as Togata punched the air with his fist, "Why don't you all fight me at once?"
"Eh?! Fight you!?"
"It's the most rational to have you all experience our experience firsthand, right?" Togata laughed, rubbing his nose, and Aizawa sighed, "Do whatever you want... but the students can't wear their hero costumes."
It didn't take them too long to move to Gym Gamma. Luckily, it was the last period of the day, so they didn't have to worry about missing their next lesson.
"Um... are you serious?" Sero asked, but Togata just stretched and replied, "Totally serious!"
"Mirio, you probably shouldn't." Amajiki muttered, his pressing his head against the wall, "For work studies, it would've been enough for us to say "This is how it was and I learnt a lot from it." Not everyone is filled to the brim with ambition. We can't end up with kids who are unable to recover after this."
"What does he mean by "unable to recover"?" Kirishima asked, and Hado, who was messing with Ashido's horns, merely replied, "Oh, listen! Did you know that in the past, there was a student who got so frustrated that they quit being a hero, and that caused a lot of problems! Did you know that? It's tough, isn't it, Togata? If you don't think things through properly, this'll be rough. Really rough."
"Please stop." Ashido whined.
"Wait, there's a handicap, but we're fought the pros before." Tokoyami spoke up.
"And villains, too." Kirishima grinned, "Do we look like such weak small fry to you that you need to worry about us?"
"Right! I like that spirit! You can come at me anytime, from anywhere. Who's first?" Togata exclaimed.
"Uh... Aizawa-sensei... Midoriya isn't here..." Ojiro noted, and Shinsou replied, "Izuku just wanted to get something. He said he'd be here soon."
True enough, after another minute, Midoriya entered Gym Gamma, holding a case that the students normally used for their hero costumes
"Midoriya... I thought I said no hero costumes." Aizawa sighed, but Midoriya just ignored him and walked directly over to Togata, as Kirishima started charging. However, Midoriya grabbed the redhead by the back of his shirt and yanked him backwards, stopping him in his tracks, before passing Togata the case.
"Eh... this is the casing for my hero costume?" Togata scratched his head in confusion, opening the case to check that it really was his.
Midoriya didn't reply, and merely signed, "I don't want you to end up turning naked in front of everyone because of your quirk."
Hado and Togata blinked in confusion; they did know sign language, but they were surprised that Midoriya actually knew what Togata's quirk was, at least, enough to be wary of it. Reiko leapt off Midoriya's shoulder, and walked over to Aizawa, with Ryuto flying after her. Hado was about to run after them, yelling, "So cute!", but Reiko just gave her a very threatening growl for a feline of her size, stopping her in her tracks.
"Wait, what do you mean, naked?" Shinsou asked, and Midoriya merely signed back, "His quirk is Permeation. It gives him the ability to phase parts of himself, or his entire body through any kinds of physical matter, which includes all of his clothes. As far as I know, his hero costume is specifically designed so it phases along with him, so I asked the principal if I could retrieve his hero costume."
Aizawa resisted the urge to facepalm. Of course, the problem child would know about Togata's quirk, and given the teen's relationship to Nezu, he wasn't surprised that the principal allowed Midoriya to grab the older student's hero costume.
"This is a good chance for all of you. Make sure you get the most of this experience." Aizawa spoke up, as Togata quickly changed into his hero costume, "That's good! You're energetic!"
Bakugou grinned, explosions popping off his palms, "The one at the top of UA! If we're going to spar, this is the best I could ask for!"
"The close combat team should surround him at once!" Sato yelled, as Kirishima grinned, "All right! Well then, thanks for showing us this kindness!
The only one who didn't get ready for a fight was Midoriya. Of course, Shinsou had translated the third year's quirk to his classmates, but they were just jumping into it headfirst without a strategy. Sure, there wasn't really anything they could do, since there wasn't any time to brainstorm, and while there was rubble, there weren't any solid walls that would provide Togata with an obvious advantage. Midoriya was at least seventy percent sure that the older teen could phase through the floor, and while he had dealt with villains with phasing quirks before, Togata was part of the Big Three, which meant that he would also have some tricks up his sleeve.
Ojiro had leapt in first, aiming his tail at Togata's face, only for his appendage to just slip through. Togata didn't even react as tape, lasers and acid flew at him, phasing through and hitting the rubble behind him, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Wait!" Iida yelled, but he was too late; the dust had dissipated, and Togata was gone.
In a split second, Togata appeared behind Jiro, "I'll start with the long distance fighters!"
Jiro screamed in fear as Shoji turned around, "He warped?"
"His power isn't just slipping through things?" Sato asked, as he charged at Togata.
"What kind of strong quirk is that!?" Kirishima growled.
Midoriya narrowed his eyes. Togata had permeated through the ground, that was for sure, but the speed at which he had gotten from one side of the arena to the other was ridiculous. It was almost like he teleported. Sure, Togata had One for All, and could theoretically boost his speed, but the greenette seriously doubted that Togata would use it against a bunch of first years. Permeation wasn't a strong quirk on its own; something else was at play, something that only Togata was aware of and could utilise fully, and Midoriya wanted to find out what it was.
Not to mention that his classmates were being idiots and attacking headfirst, leaving themselves open to all sorts of attacks. Twenty filmy wooden shields wouldn't do anything against a missile. In a state of panic, against an opponent who was strong and skilled, emotions did nothing but cloud their judgement, resulting in them not thinking straight and doing stupid things.
Dark Shadow attempted to grab Togata, but the older teen merely slipped back into the ground again, and reappeared right in front of Tokoyami, punching him in the gut. He disappeared again, reappearing right behind Sero and Mineta in the gut and taking them out instantly.
Togata had disappeared once more as Asui lashed her tongue out at him. Aoyama and Ashido fired off their lasers and acid respectively, but it did nothing to slow Togata, and they were taken out by powerful hits to the gut.
Yaoyorozu created a shield as Jiro tried to listen out for the third year, and Kaminari prepared himself to fire off his electricity, but Togata easily appeared in their blind spots and dug his fist into their guts, even phasing through Yaoyorozu's shields for good measure. Before anyone could react, he quickly took Bakugou and Shoji out, and grabbed Jiro's earlobes, tying them around her and Kaminari.
"Power!" Togata shouted, striking a pose, as the students, save for Midoriya, gaped at the blonde's strength.
"Togata Mirio..." Aizawa spoke up, "As far as I know, he's the man closest to being number one, including the pros."
"He got more than half of them in an instant..." Todoroki muttered.
"That's it for long distance fighters!" Togata grinned proudly, "All that's left are those who focus on close combat! And Todoroki, since his quirk can be used in both ways, but whatever!"
"I have no idea what he just did..." Kirishima admitted, as Uraraka gaped, "He's strong enough to be able to slip through things, but he could warp too?"
Midoriya narrowed his eyes. Togata was attacking them directly, and in order to hit them, Togata had to be impermeable, so theoretically, they should be able to hit him in that state with a counter. If Togata could phase through the ground, that meant that he had activated his quirk through his entire body. Togata still had mass, as he didn't start floating away and immediately sunk into the ground, meaning that gravity was taking effect. But how on earth could he shoot out of the ground? If he was completely permeable, then he would have nothing to jump or push off of. He would have to become impermeable in order to get any leverage at all, but then his body would overlap with the ground and -
"Doesn't that make him unrivalled?" Ojiro asked, worried, as Togata grinned, "Aww, don't say that!"
"There has to be some sort of trick here." Todoroki muttered, "It isn't like he can have two quirks."
Togata nearly snorted at the irony of that. Sure, he was only using Permeation and not One for All, but still, it was funny. Amajiki glanced at Midoriya, not sure what the greenette was up to. The boy was just standing there, staring at Togata, hands in his pockets.
"Then come and try to figure it out!" Togata grinned, charging at the students, and slipped into the ground.
"Mirio's doing well." Sasaki muttered, watching from the upper level of Gym Gamma.
Nezu just smirked, "Don't get too cocky just yet, Nighteye. Izuku still hasn't bared his fangs yet."
Sasaki grinned, "Oh? With the rate Mirio's going, he's going to take out all of your students."
Nezu laughed, "All Togata's doing is delaying the inevitable. The longer a fight drags on, the better Izuku gets."
"If you say so." Sasaki smiled, "As far as I've heard, he has a unique ability to quickly analyze quirks and pick them apart. He was easily able to analyze the League's quirks from battle, but they didn't use their quirks creatively, and were relatively straight forwards fighters. But Mirio has mastered his quirk, using it in creative and unique ways, as well as utilising his surroundings. I am curious to see just how good your pup is in that regard."
Nezu let out a shit eating grin, "Trust me. When it comes to creative and unique fighting styles and using his surroundings, Izuku is one step ahead."
"He went under!" Sato yelled, and Midoriya, who was standing at the back of the group, let out a growl.
"Behind!" Shinsou yelled, whirling around, as Togata popped out of the ground and tried to attack the greenette. But much to the older boy's surprise, Midoriya easily dodged his attack despite Togata attacking from behind.
"He's attacking us from behind." Shinsou yelled, as Togata slipped into the ground again, whirling around as the older boy popped out right in front of him. Shinsou rushed forwards, aiming to punch Togata, but the older didn't seem fazed at all.
"You predicted I would come up here, huh?" Togata grinned, "But here's an ultimate move! Blinder Touch Eyeball Crush!"
Shinsou closed his eyes as Togata pretended to poke him in the eyes, and delivered a punch right to his stomach.
"Most people try to launch a counter attack like that, right? Of course, I'll train to go after those guys too!"
Iida tried to give Shinsou back up, but Togata had disappeared once again, before reappearing and punching Iida in the gut. Kirishima hardened his arms and tried to figure out where Togata would reappear next, but Togata still managed to hit him in the stomach. In a split second, he took out Todoroki, Koda, Sato, Ojiro, Uraraka and Hagakure, and the only one left was Midoriya, the only one who managed to dodge a single attack by Togata.
"You know... about Togata... hey, hey, listen to me. Togata's gotten stronger, hasn't he?" Hado grinned, and Amajiki muttered, "Mirio's been strong ever since we were kids. It's just... he should learn to hold back."
"I mean... one of them's still standing." Hado pointed out, and Amajiki turned around slightly, catching a glimpse of the greenette who was still standing, still as a statue, as the rest of his peers were lying on the ground, either unconscious or clutching their stomachs in pain.
"So... there's one left." Togata grinned, "I've heard a lot about you, Midoriya! Let's see what your analysis skills can do, okay?"
Midoriya raised his head, and took a step forwards, before he charged at Togata, aiming a kick at the taller boy, only for his foot to just phase through. Togata promptly disappeared into the ground again, and Midoriya started running, keeping a mental count in his head, before pushing all his forwards momentum upwards and jumped.
The time frame at which he disappears and reappears is rather constant... he would just have to take advantage of that small period of time where Togata is underground and can't see where he is.
Togata popped out of the ground, surprised that he couldn't see any green, before Midoriya started falling. He aimed a kick at the older boy, but Togata managed to notice it in time and slipped back into the ground, popping out a fair distance away. But Midoriya just wanted to test something, and Togata's actions proved that he was correct.
If he phases through everything... that probably means that sound, light and air passes through him as well. He can't breathe, he can't hear, he can't see anything. His senses are completely negated. That means his quirk has a time limit, which is about two to three minutes, assuming he doesn't have special training to hold his breath, which is doubtful.
Togata phased into the ground again, and reappeared right in front of Midoriya, attempting to poke him in the eyes, but unlike most people, who moved away from the attack, Midoriya leaned forwards, attempting to bite Togata, before the older boy shifted his stance in midair and used his other fist to punch Midoriya's stomach. Midoriya raised his leg, using it to block Togata's attack, and Togata slipped into the ground again.
Midoriya growled, and stood still, trying to figure out where Togata would pop up from. If Togata couldn't breathe while using his quirk, then he could use that to his advantage. It was harder, since Togata could chose to only make parts of his body permeable, but as long as Togata kept his chest permeable, then he wouldn't be able to breathe.
Togata burst out of the ground again, right underneath Midoriya, but much to his surprise, Midoriya remained in place, letting the taller boy phase right through him. Togata moved away, but Midoriya just followed, ensuring that some part of his body was constantly overlapping with Togata's upper body. Togata turned his fist impermeable, and tried to hit Midoriya, but Midoriya managed to block the attack with his leg. Togata made his fist phase through Midoriya's leg, turning it impermeable once he made contact with the boy's stomach, but the strength from the punch was already greatly reduced due to the lack of momentum, and Midoriya was able to tank the punch easily.
Seeing as he had no way of actually hurting Midoriya, Togata was forced to slip into the ground again. Midoriya mentally calculated the angle that Togata would pop out of the ground, and promptly moved, changing his position. Togata popped out of the ground again, only to realise that he was, once again, forced to phase through Midoriya due to his momentum, and had no other choice than to retreat back into the ground. Midoriya just repeatedly moved so that Togata was forced to overlap his mass with him, not even giving the taller boy a chance to take a breath.
Hado watched the fight nervously; despite being quirkless, Midoriya was somehow able to come up with a way to prevent Togata from attacking. Hearing that Hado was no longer being noisy, Amajiki also turned around to watch the fight, surprised that Midoriya was able to give Togata a run for his money. The rumours about the boy from the pro heroes were right; Midoriya was a terrifying opponent to go against. Not only did he know about Togata's quirk, but he was starting to figure out how Togata used his quirk, and was quickly finding ways to turn his quirk against the older boy.
After a few rounds, Togata was honestly starting to get a bit worried. Midoriya was somehow able to predict where he was going to pop up, and wasn't giving him any chances to attack. That wasn't the main problem; the real problem was that between phasing through the ground and being forced to overlap with Midoriya up on the surface, Togata had been holding his breath for a long as he could, and he was running out of oxygen. He had spent the last year training with Sasaki to master his quirk and apply them in creative ways in order to initiate surprise attacks, but he hadn't really had time to train himself to hold his breath for so long.
With all the time Midoriya spent chasing the taller boy around, some of the students managed to recover enough from Togata's punches to their guts to sit up and watch.
Togata finally couldn't take it anymore, and popped out of the ground, forcing himself to turn permeable as he overlapped with Midoriya, repelling himself backwards as Midoriya held his ground. He tried to take a deep breath, but in that split second, Midoriya jumped in, swinging his foot at the out of breath Togata. His foot made solid contact with Togata's chest, as Togata was desperate for air, and the greenette harshly kicked the older boy into the ground, cracking the ground beneath the blonde as his back made contact with the ground.
Midoriya was about to attack again while Togata was vulnerable, but Aizawa looked at his watch and called out,"That's enough for today. I don't want anyone going to Recovery Girl today."
"That's smart." Sasaki muttered, "By forcing Mirio to continuously phase through him, Midoriya managed to turn his quirk against him. Mirio still has a lot to learn. I'm going to train him in holding his breath."
"Told you so. When it comes to using people's quirks against them, Izuku is the best." Nezu proudly smirked.
"True. I'm not surprised; he was a former vigilante, wasn't he? He must have developed those skills in order to take down more tricky villains." Sasaki spoke up, as Nezu replied, "Yeah. But he's also done his research on Togata. You saw him, he specifically asked for Togata's hero costume so that he wouldn't flash anyone by accident."
Sasaki nearly laughed, and settled for an amused smirk, "Yeah, that happened a lot during training. You had no idea how much Bubble Girl was screaming when he used his quirk by accident while out of costume."
"That must have been hilarious by your standards." Nezu chuckled, before looking down at the green haired boy proudly.
"I've honestly never seen you so proud of anyone before." Sasaki smiled, watching where Nezu was looking, "Your boy really means that much to you."
"Of course." Nezu grinned, "Come on. You wanted to work with Togata on One for All, didn't you."
"Anyways, you kind of get it, right?" Togata grinned.
"We just got punched in the stomach without really knowing what was going on..." Shinsou groaned, clutching his stomach in pain. That was definitely going to leave a bruise.
"Did you think my quirk was strong?" Togata asked.
"It was too strong!" Sero complained.
"That's not fair! Think about me too! I can't even use my quirk!" Hagakure whined.
"You can slip through things and warp! Are you a hybrid like Todoroki!?" Ashido asked.
"I'm not a hybrid." Todoroki muttered.
"In the end, Midoriya was the only one who could even do anything!" Kaminari sighed, and Togata smiled, "Nope! I only have one quirk!"
Lies. You have two quirks, but you only used one.
"I know what his quirk is!" Hado grinned, "Hey, hey, can I say it? Can I? Can I? His quirk is Permeation!"
"It's Mirio's turn now..." Amajiki muttered.
"That's right! My quirk is Permeation! What you guys called a warp was an application of that!" Togata started, as Hado pouted and tugged at Togata's uniform. "Sorry about that." Togata sheepishly apologised to Hado.
"How exactly do you warp?" Shinsou scratched his head; he was actually genuinely curious. Sure, his quirk was nothing like Togata's, but if Togata could use his quirk to warp, then surely he could find another way to apply his quirk too, right?
Togata hummed, before pointing at Midoriya, "You! You seemed to have some idea of what's going on, you explain it."
Midoriya nearly flinched as all the attention was on him, and he instantly froze up. He tried to force himself to say something, just so that he could get the attention off himm but he couldn't even open his mouth. He just settled for signing, with Shinsou translating for him.
"He activates his quirk through his entire body and is able to slip through the ground. When he releases his quirk, his mass is unable to overlap with the mass of the ground, so he's most likely getting repelled, which results in the high speed at which he seems to move at. As he's always running or making some kind of movement before going back underground, he calculates the angle where the ground is repelling him in order to attack and move around, so it seems like he's warping."
Togata's jaw almost dropped. He knew that Midoriya had figured out something about his quirk, but he didn't think that the boy was that accurate.
"... it's like a buggy game..." Ashido muttered.
"So he can avoid all attacks and move wherever you like in an instant. It's a very strong quirk..."
"Nope! I made it a strong quirk!" Togata grinned.
"But Midoriya managed to hit him..." Kirishima scratched his head, before turning to Midoriya, "How on earth did you do that?"
"When he activates his quirk throughout his entire body, he phases through everything, including light, sound and air. He can't breathe when his quirk is activated, nor can he see or hear. When you stay still, he can predict where to attack and adjust his movements and angles, so that moving around can stop that since he can't see your new position or hear your movements. Also, as he has to hold his breath, by constantly forcing him to be phasing through something at all times, he runs out of air and is forced to become impermeable in order to breathe."
"That's correct! While my quirk is activated, my lungs can't take in oxygen. Even if I breathe it in, it would just go through my body. In the same way, vibrations go through my eardrums and light passes through my retinas. I pass through everything, as so, I can't feel anything." Togata admitted, "I'll just fall since I have mass. That's it. Even if I want to go through a wall, I activate my quirk everywhere but in one leg, then I release in the other leg and land on it, activate it on my other leg and go through. Even for simple actions like that, there's a bunch of steps involved."
"If that were me, I'd mess that up if I'm in a hurry..." Kaminari muttered, "I don't think I would even be able to move if I couldn't feel anything."
"That's right! As expected, I was always behind! In no time, I'd drop to dead last. I dropped my clothes too! In order to get to the top with this quirk, I couldn't just stay behind!"
Togata poked himself in the forehead, "Predictions! I had to think faster than those around me! Sometimes I had to be tricky! Above all, I had to be able to predict what would happen! And what made those predictions possible was experience! I built my predictions on what I knew! Some of you already have this kind of experience, but you can't just be reliant on those people in order to fight; you need to be able to build up those skills by yourself, so that you can protect yourself and others!"
Togata proudly continued, "It ended up being kind of long, but that's why I wanted to fight you all! I wanted to show you through experience instead of just words. In our work studies, we're not guests; we're treated as one of the sidekicks and as pros! That's really scary! Pros will sometimes end up watching people die, but those scary and painful things that you'll go through, all of them are first-rate experiences you wouldn't be able to have at school! I changed the experience I got during my work study into power, and took the top spot! That's why I think it's something you should do even if you're scared, first years!"
Some of the students started clapping, and Kaminari commented, "True... I did feel more like a guest during the internships."
"They didn't really let us do anything too dangerous." Jiro replied.
"So that means that's not how it'll be during the work studies, huh?" Sero muttered, as Iida spoke up, "Now that we've gotten our provisional licenses, we'll be treated like pros once we're on the scene. We have to be prepared for that!"
"Right! We can to UA because we wanted to be pros!" Hagakure exclaimed.
"We'll be going back now. Say thank you." Aizawa ordered, and everyone bowed and thanked the third years, before Aizawa ordered everyone to go back to the classroom to grab their things, before heading back to the dorms.
"Hey, was there any point in us being there?" Hado asked, "Do you know?"
"I'm glad I didn't have to do anything... let's be thankful to Mirio." Amajiki muttered.
"Hey, want to go out for ice cream?" Hado asked, going back to pester Ashido, "We can bring the first years too! Some of them are so cute!"
"I'm staying here. There's still something I need to do." Togata grinned, "You can bring the first years, though. I think some of them are curious."
"Right. There's that too." Aizawa sighed, "Midoriya, stay back as well. The rest of you, get back to the classroom."
Midoriya looked up at the mention of his name, and noticed that Yagi had also entered the gym; it was probably something regarding One for All, which meant that Sasaki was probably going to come as well, given that Togata was interning under that hero.
"Eh?" Uraraka protested, "But Izuku didn't do anything wrong!"
"I didn't say he did anything wrong." Aizawa groaned, "We just need him for something."
"Then can we stay and accompany him?" Iida asked, but Aizawa shook his head, "No. Go back to class, and don't loiter around here. If I find any of you still here in two minutes, I'll give you detention, or put you on house arrest."
Hearing that Aizawa wasn't going to budge at all, the students sighed, and Midoriya signed, "Don't worry. I'll be fine."
"Right! We'll take care of him!" Togata grinned, ruffling Midoriya's hair, but the green haired boy didn't look too happy about that. Shinsou promptly yanked Midoriya away from Togata, before patting the greenette on the back, "If you need anything, just call us, alright?"
Midoriya wasn't going to call anyone if he needed help, but he just nodded to placate the taller boy, before Aizawa got fed up and chased the students out of the gym.
"Ah, Izuku. Good work!" Nezu grinned, emerging from another door from the other side of the gym, with a taller man with green hair with yellow highlights, as well as glasses, following behind him.
"Sir!" Togata exclaimed, "You saw everything... I... I'm sorry..."
"Don't worry about it, Mirio." Sasaki smiled, "You did well."
"This is Sir Nighteye, the one that Togata interns under." Nezu nodded, and Sasaki stuck out his hand. Midoriya shook his hand, albeit hesitantly; at least, with Nezu around, he knew that the pro hero wouldn't try anything.
"This is about his quirk, right? The quirk that he got from All Might?"
