His eyes wandered to the massive glacier still sticking out of the wall. Todoroki hadn't been able to muster the strength to melt it, so it was now a staff problem. His eyes glanced back at his teacher (friend?) when the man coughed into a fist.
"You did really well today, Izuku. Thank you for not accidentally maiming Young Yaoyorozu, I could tell it was difficult." Izuku nodded seriously. The girl was certainly capable, Izuku had learned. She was trained by her family if her status as a recommended student meant anything. The girl had been more resourceful and faster than he had expected. He hadn't realized that she had enough power to produce thick steel for the door. If he didn't climb out of the hallway's window and jump in through the less fortified window on the inside, he would have lost.
"She was tougher than I expected. If she had been a little more experienced, or Todoroki hadn't held back… I doubt I could have won so easily." All Might quirked a bushy eyebrow.
"So you admit you were holding back? How much of Full Cowl were you using?" Izuku nodded, flicking out four fingers from his clasped fists.
"About half. It was enough to dodge Todoroki's ice. Do you know if he has a limit to how much ice he can make?" He asked. Honestly, the only thing Izuku knew for sure about Todoroki was that he could make both fire and ice, but that he refused to use fire in combat for some reason. The idea made his gut churn. He had been putting in 150% effort into his training to be able to control his movement as he had, and the boy hadn't even given him the courtesy of using his full power.
Then again, Izuku had technically done the same.
But he hadn't needed to. All he needed was enough to outpace Todoroki's weaker attacks and rely on the lack of Yaoyorozu's information on him to outperform them. Izuku had mentally profiled them the second his head had cleared from being encased in the glacier attack and had learned something pretty simple.
Todoroki wasn't good at cooperation and Yaoyorozu wasn't good at leading. They both assumed the role of the protector of the other, which could be seen in how they both reinforced the building. It would have been better if they had balanced their skills better, Todoroki on defense, Yaoyorozu on the front lines. But no, they had overextended and Izuku took advantage of both of them.
The win felt so… hollow. He didn't have to go all out, to push past his limits to just barely scrape by with a win. The assignment had lost all its fun moments after he had entered the room. After that, it had been less like a real fight and more like chess. Managing his enemy's pieces and pacing himself as they slowly ran dry on pawns, and eventually their bishops and knights. It hadn't even been hard to take their king, especially when they didn't even move their queen.
Izuku almost slipped off his seat as he found large, skinny hands snapping under his nose. He glanced back at Toshinori. Whoops. He had lost focus.
"While I'm glad you're performing well, I would have hoped better for the students. My time… it is nowhere near where it once was. I'm afraid I might have to pass my mantle unto you sooner than I wanted, Izuku." Izuku felt something stir in his gut, reminding him of his strange dream (?) last night.
"You've been running on fumes for years, All Might. I would expect you to have been less careful, and having gone out in a blaze of glory months ago." Izuku said. He almost wanted to take back the blunt statement when Toshinori visibly cringed.
"When I had first given it to you, Izuku, I was limited to a mere eight hours a day. If I had pushed myself, I fear I might have burned through the power too fast. You remember how Nighteye reacted to me?" Izuku nodded. The entire event had been a clusterfuck of All Might and Nighteye having what sounded like a lover's quarrel to Izuku. He hadn't understood why the Symbol of Peace had been dragging him across the country at the time, but hindsight was 20-20.
"I've barely touched my hero costume in the past two months, my boy. I used to sleep in it." The pit in his stomach deepened a little.
"How… how much? What is even left for you at this point?" All Might smiled sadly at Izuku.
"Enough for one more battle, maybe two. But after that… All Might will die. But." The tall man leaned forward, his large hand poking Izuku in the chest. "That is where you come in! You-" The man doubled over into a small coughing fit, speckles of blood flying everywhere. Izuku awkwardly patted the man on the shoulder, offering a small handkerchief he had taken to carrying around for moments like this.
"S-sorry my boy. We need to accelerate your training, immediately. I contacted Gran Torino, and he had several ideas…"
"What the fuck do you mean, Shoto!?" Endeavor shouted, voice practically shattering the glass in the expensive home. Shoto Todoroki took a long, loud sip of tea before repeating himself.
"The Yaoyorozu girl and I lost our first Battle Trial." Enji Todoroki was literally steaming at the information but twirled his hand in a "keep going" motion.
"To a single student. Are you happy now?" He replied sarcastically. To almost everyone, he was composed and polite. His sister had drilled proper etiquette to him when his mother couldn't, and he had taken her lessons to heart. Except for his father.
"Am I happy now- you didn't even try, did you? You only used that woman's side of your powers, didn't you?" Shoto's teacup creaked a little under the stress his fingers put it under in that moment.
"Yes, I tried as hard as I could with her ice. He was a weird, but pretty powerful guy. I guess I just couldn't keep up-"
"Bullshit. You are still having your rebellious phase, aren't you? You need to learn to let go of such pettiness, so you can attain your true power and surpass All Might." The expensive china actually cracked in Shoto's hands this time, hot tea slowly rolling down the length of his arm.
"Pettiness? Says the only man on the planet who's spent his life trying to beat All Might for his own pride. That, is petty, father." Shoto practically spit the last few words. He refused to let his father's blatant hypocritical statements slip past them both. The man had literally created him to settle a grudge. A human. The "perfect quirk".
"I don't care what you think of me, as long as you reach your full potential, boy. Training starts in half an hour." This made Shoto pause. He had homework to do, he didn't have time to add more training to his schedule.
"I can't. I have English homework."
"Did I ask if you had English Homework? Training will start in half an hour, U.A.'s English class be damned." Shoto made a mental note to spit in the man's morning coffee tomorrow.
"And before I forget, I will be researching your little friend, Shoto. I will not have a low life surpass you. What was his name again?" He grit his teeth, annoyed at his father's stalker habits.
"His name is Izuku Midoriya, and he is not my friend."
For the next three days, Izuku and Shoto experienced very similar, yet very different lives. They woke up, assuming they even slept at all and attended classes as normal. Both of them were outsiders amongst their peers, and if anyone asked about their whereabouts during the lunch period, no one would be able to give them an answer. During Basic Heroics, both parties flew as high as they could, standing out in the process. It was hard not to stand out when half your face was a deeply scarred mess or when you had a perpetual smile on your face that never reached your eyes.
Shoto was no stranger to hard work. His father had been drilling him on the use of his quirk since it had manifested. He had pushed through the pain more times than he could genuinely count. His father had set an insurmountable goal in front of him and said "Start running!". He had pushed himself past every limit he had thought he had to just get to the starting line. He was certainly no stranger to hard work.
But Endeavor had certainly been putting him through the wringer. After his loss to Izuku, his father had tried beating the fire out of the defiant boy with constant sparring sessions, drills, and whatever else he could think of to get him to burst into flames. But he had remained strong to his promise and had only used his fire to heat his teacups for when the practice was all said and done.
Izuku was no stranger to hard work. It was the basis that all of his achievements could be attributed to. He had been fighting like his life depended on it to keep up with his quirked classmates for years and had eventually worked hard enough to surpass them.
But All Might had certainly been putting him through the wringer. Toshinori had been pushing him to use his maximum output, 8%, for far longer than he was used to. He'd hold Full Cowl for dozens of minutes to an hour at a time. Izuku had never tried to maintain exposure before because it had always given him a headache and a sore muscles. However, he now had easy access to Recovery Girl, and her power only took a little bit of his energy to heal sore muscles.
He was rapidly breaking down his muscle fibers, adjusting to the use of 8%, and then building those muscles back up again two to three times a day. Izuku felt exhausted. There was no way he could maintain this level of training for long. But Izuku had to admit, the exercise was working wonders. His Full Cowl had never felt easier to slip in and out of, had never felt more natural flowing through his skin, and he felt like he was pushing his ceiling more in the past few days than he had in the entire last month.
Izuku allowed his feet to drag as he took the final steps for his destination, Rumi Usagiyama's table. He didn't even glance at their faces as he dropped a large bag filled with binders of their homework for this week. His surroundings felt bleak and slow like he wasn't conscious.
Usagiyama immediately perked up, surprised at his sudden appearance. She easily slipped one of her own binders out, a bright smile flashing across her features as her eyes roved across its contents.
"You do good work for a freshie, Midoriya! Though my handwriting is a bit less sloppy… it'll do." Izuku nodded but didn't move. The bunny girl glanced at him curiously.
"What're you still doing here, kid? Scat." Usagiyama tried waving him off, but in his exhaustion, he didn't care.
"I did my part of the deal. Will you fight me?" He made a mental note about the girl as he saw her ears flatten slightly. It reminded him how animals reflect emotions when they were upset.
"Wadduya mean? Wait, were you actually serious?" She asked, a mix of disbelief and surprise seeping through her voice. It only just then occurred to Izuku she had thought he would have backed out, or was weak-willed.
"Yes. Did you think I would waste my time on your stupid homework that you could've done yourselves if I didn't expect something in return?" He asked, eyebrows scrunched disbelievingly. Did she seriously not believe him?
"Yep. I was serious, seniors outclass freshmen in practically every way. I thought you might be clout chasing." Her ears shifted back into a relaxed position. She glanceda at her friends a few times, a silent conversation passing between them. Izuku supposed it was only possible due to having been training together for three years, but he couldn't help but feel a little negative tickle in the back of his mind that he didn't have anyone truly like that.
He trusted Katsuki completely, but he knew his explosive friend couldn't read his mind. These girls, who he didn't even know the name of, weren't special. They didn't stand out, weren't infamous amongst the graduating class like their friend. Of course, he recognized them from past sports festivals, but he was pretty sure they had never made it to the third event. But they still had something he didn't, and it made him a little uncomfortable.
Eventually, they all nodded at the same time.
"I'll give you a chance. On one condition." Izuku felt the ghost of a smile stretch across his tired lips.
"Oh? Let's hear it."
"I want you to win the Sports Festival. Sweep it." Electricity shot down Izuku's spine, his posture straightening. Something about it just flipped all his switches. The tired grin on his face turned skin tight, his lip scab breaking. Images of a gold medal flashed through his mind's eye as he leaned closer to Usagiyama, who was watching the boy intrigued, but apprehensively.
"Done."
To anyone who would be watching the table from the outside, Izuku might look like the creepiest man alive. Standing awkwardly close to a group of very pretty upperclassmen girls, smiling like an idiot and bleeding out of his mouth, he looked like a stalker that had finally worked up the courage to talk to his crush. The only issue was that Izuku was schizophrenic and had never taken medication a day in his life.
Rumi Usagiyama flicked out a finger, pushing the boy away from her with only her pointer. She found the weird boy's smile oddly infectious, and couldn't help her own smile as it crept up on her. Both of her friends didn't like either developments.
"Big talk, but I guess that's only fair from someone who beat up two recommended students." Immediately, all three teen's heads swivelled to look at her, Izuku's smile faded.
"What, Rumi?" One of the friends asked. She gave them a disbelieving eye.
"You mean you haven't heard about it? In this kid's first Battle Trial he had some piss poor luck and got matched with his class's recommended students. He didn't even have a teammate, but he was able to out do them both. This kind of rumor has been out for days- why're you guys looking at me like that?" Both girls were practically pouting at the bunny girl, to her confusion.
"There's no rumor going on around about this kid. You were easedropping on teachers again, weren't you." Usagiyama's eyes widened a bit, before she put her hands in front of her face.
"N-no! You know I don't do that kinda thing anymore-"
The girl couldn't continue defending herself when a piercing security alarm started blaring across the lunchroom. Izuku's eyes flicked across the room, seeing several students flinch at the sudden sound. Usagiyama in particular immediately yanked her ears down over her head, trying to block out the piercing sound.
"Please remain calm, Students. This is a level 3 security breach. Please exit calmly and swiftly to the frontal exit, please." Present Mic's voice boomed over the loud speakers, or maybe it was just him talking normally, Izuku couldn't tell. He looked to the two friends who were staring in concern at their friend, shocked at the security breach. One of them looked at him and mouthed something that looked suspiciously like this has never happened before.
Realizing Usagiyama wasn't moving, he grabbed her by one of her arms and hauled her to her feet. It was a little awkward, since she wouldnt uncover her hand's from her ears, but he did his best to drag her down the hall towards the nearest entrance. Her friends immediately caught on and helped him pull her out of the closest door and get her into a place where the security alarm wouldn't make her unequivocally disabled.
Who knew good hearing didn't do well with loud, piercing noises that even made his normal ears cringe? That seemed like an awkward oversight of U.A. since he knew there were more students with sensitive hearing.
But what really got his gears turning was something he had seen outside one of the many wall-sized windows U.A. had of the gorgeously maintained entrance. While he was sure a level 3 security breach was quite serious, for the life of him all he could see were normal, bothersome reporters pouring into the premises.
To Izuku, it didn't look like a villain invasion in the slightest. Disappointed for him, but relieving to everyone else. It was just some bothersome people with cameras getting their noses in somewhere they shouldn't. But if that was really the case, then…
Why was the gateway completely obliterated?
AN: this chapter didn't really have much action but it had some important things to say. Thanks for all the great feedback for last chapter, and for almost 200 follows already. For those of you who are only here for the action, get ya butts ready. USJ is coming.
Any opinions about the story so far? Negative or positive, I don't care. (I do). I get the same dopamine rush from the numbers ticking up all the same.
Review!