Chapter Eight: Festival For Who?
"Don't concern yourselves with me." The dark haired teacher of class 1-A instructed as he stalked his way to the front podium of the classroom. The man looked like a mummy, bandaged from head to toe and probably still healing from his injuries after the USJ.
Tenya Iida had just asked if the teacher was faring well, to which the man only replied with his prior statement. It wasn't of any concern to the students how he was doing or not, though the concern was appreciated, it was irrational and unprofessional.
The day came where the students would arrive back at school to continue their normal learning, and Izuku was already feeling completely exhausted by it. He sighed as the man slowly walked to the podium, preparing himself for another god awful speech to introduce the class.
"UA's Sports Festival is fast approaching. Now you may be asking, 'Why are we doing this right after the USJ,'? Well, that's exactly why we're doing it. To show those villains that they can't stop us from operating like normal." Aizawa stated, his eyes peeking through the bandages over his face. "Think about the benefits of the Sports Festival because you'll be scouted by pros the entire time. Just don't act like idiots, and you'll probably do fine. Most of you at least."
The man then opted to leave the room and head back to the nurses office to receive further treatment for his injuries. Izuku rolled his eyes at his teacher's excuse to take a nap in the nurse's office, but relented the free time to quickly swivel around in his seat and cross his arms over Kyouka's desk, laying his head upon them.
"So, are you ready for the Sport's Festival? Seems exciting, yeah?" He questioned, watching the girl scribble idly in a notebook. Kyouka shrugged before putting her pencil down and locking her gaze with the greenette in front of her. More noticeably the hat on his head.
"I guess so. It's our chance at pro heroism... Say, what's your reasoning for wanting to be a hero? You seem to really have the drive to save people, but it makes me curious." The girl questioned, laying her head on her desk as a means to be at proper eye level with the boy.
"A deep question right off the bat, really?" Izuku questioned, chuckling softly as she reached over and removed the greenettes beanie. Pouting as she did so. "I guess it's mainly just the want to prove the world wrong. Change the standard by being the best damn hero in the world. I want to make people hopeful for a brighter future, something I never really had."
Kyouka put Izuku's beanie on and stared at the boy, "Huh... That's a really good reason, Midoriya." She said, tilting her head slightly. The greenette shrugged and quickly snatched his beanie back.
"Don't touch my hat without permission. So what about you?" The greenette questioned, placing his hat atop his head as the girl in front of him pouted once more. She had it only for awhile, but wearing his hat was fun! "What reason does the multi-talented Kyouka Jirou have for wanting to be a hero?"
Kyoua glared at the boy and lightly smacked him upside his head. "Don't patronize me. I guess my reasoning would be that I wanted to dedicate myself to saving others. I wanted to be someone that could bring a smile to people's faces, and while music is a passion of mine I just really wanted to be a hero instead."
Izuku stared at the girl, his face showing surprise. She had a noble reason for wanting to be a hero. It honestly gave him all the more reason to admire the girl, and have that much more respect for her. They both wanted to give people hope and make them smile, that's what all heroics should be about in Izuku's mind. That's what every hero should strive for; being the light in the dark for people.
"Our reasons aren't that much different then…" Izuku said, raising his head from Kyouka's desk. The girl soon followed suit and quirked a brow at him, only to see his smirking, cocky face. "That just adds to your appeal. You're cute, and noble. Real girlfriend material."
Kyouka blushed, "D-Don't just say that you prick! Quit messing around!" She shouted, jacking the boy straight in the neck, causing him to fall out of his seat. The commotion drew in the attention of a certain pink-skinned girl, who watched the two teens with pure joy at their flirtatious display.
"I dunno, I think he was serious, Jirou-san." Mina Ashido spoke, drawing the attention of the two teens. Izuku suddenly popped up from the floor with a grasp on his chin and nodded in agreement, causing the purplettes face to change to a red hue.
"Th-That's…- Wait, who even asked you!?" Kyouka shouted suddenly, pointing a finger at the new addition to the conversation. The pink girl grinned and chuckled at the girl's embarrassment.
"Well, it's not my fault you two were so loudly flirting over here…" She replied, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head. Kyouka's jacks came to coil in embarrassment before she felt an arm drape over her shoulders.
"Cut her some slack, she's not used to the attention. Oh, but we did go on that date the other day…" Izuku said, recalling the day prior where the two of them spent the day out on the town having fun, and eventually ended with Izuku essentially spilling his guts out to her. It was a nice time, and they'd continued to get along as usual, with the new addition to Izuku offering to take her out on his spray painting outings.
Kyouka, however, was reaching her limit of embarrassment. Add onto the fact that Mina was smiling like an idiot at the information that they went on a date and the world felt like it was crashing down on her. She had had enough!
"It was not a date!"
"I'll catch you later, apparently All Might wanted to meet with me." Izuku stated, placing his beanie atop her head. Kyouka nodded in understanding and walked off with Mina to hangout for lunch. She adjusted the beanie atop her head as they waved the greenette off to do whatever he needed to do.
"See ya, Midori." Mina replied, doing a two-finger salute to the boy as he left. She noted that he had curly hair like her, which would be great fuel for later. Mina then turned to the purplette beside her, and decided that now would be as good a time as any to get some answers out of her. "So Jirou… How did you two meet?"
Kyouka fiddled with the hat atop her head and looked down as they waited in the cafeteria line. She reminisced about being saved by the greenette, and even encountering him in the middle of the night atop the roof of her favorite music store. "I guess the first official time would've been late at night in front of a music store… But as for when we first spoke to each other it was probably before the entrance exam. Would you believe me if I said I almost fell and he caught me?"
Mina giggled at that and nodded, "Makes sense. So I assume after that you two hung out more?" She questioned, causing the girl to nod. This was just perfect! It was like a love novel was happening right before her very eyes!
"Y-Yeah, he just kinda stuck by me… And I know sometimes he can be annoying, but he's really nice and earnest. Y'know he's kind of surprising. He may seem like he doesn't take anything seriously, but in reality…" She started, tugging on the beanie that laid atop her head with a smile. She looked back on the boy's smile the day prior after he had essentially spilled his guts to her. "He's very thoughtful. There's a lot more to Izuku than I expected."
Mina suddenly squealed and got up in the girl's face with a sly grin on her face. Kyouka was confused at first and quickly realized the mistake that she had unfortunately made. Lunch was going to be a disaster and she could already feel it, and it would all be thanks to her hearing Kyouka call Izuku by name.
"You called him by his first name! So cute!"
The bell rang, indicating the start of classes as Izuku walked through the door at the last minute, quickly rushing to his seat. The boy sat down and exhaled a sigh of relief as his hat was carefully waiting for him on his desk, warranting a quiet "Thanks" from the boy.
Izuku placed the hat atop his head as their Math teacher, Ectoplasm, made his way into the classroom and prepared for his lesson. The man was slow due to his prosthetic legs, but he'd get the job done. Though that did give the class enough time to chat among themselves.
Kyouka leaned forward and quickly whispered to the boy as they waited for the lesson to begin, "So what did All Might want?"
Izuku shrugged, "Just thanked me for saving his butt. He's really not as high and mighty as one might think." He replied, leaning back in his chair as Kyouka turned back to face the teacher and the lesson began.
Izuku looked back on his meeting with All Might. He hated lying to Kyouka, but as he promised All Might, he couldn't tell a soul about One For All. The greenette reminisced on the conversation, All Might's words ringing through his ears as he did so.
"I want you to tell the world, 'I AM HERE'!"
How exactly was he to achieve this? He had just gotten a new quirk, and was still getting used to the smoke one for Christ's sake! Izuku would have to train like hell and come up with new ways to beat people like Todoroki, or Bakugou. Especially Bakugou. His animosity for the blonde would never vanish, and he would soon prove that he was still better than that dumbass Pomeranian.
Perhaps he'd have to take time off from the other aspects of his life. He wanted to show that he would destroy the competition. But what would the pros watching say if they see him using two quirks? What would they say if they found out about him using villain quirks to be a hero? He'd be shunned by hero society forever, never to accomplish his dreams and become a hero.
"...riya… Midoriya. MIDORIYA!" A voice called out to him as he snapped back into reality. It was his teacher, Ectoplasm, trying to get his attention as he seemed to have spaced out for quite some time. "I understand that these topics may be difficult but please keep your muttering to a halt while I'm teaching. You're distracting your classmates."
Izuku looked around the room to see that everyone was staring his way, aside from Bakugou. Of course he was muttering. "Yeah, sorry. Sports Festival's just got me in my thoughts lately."
"Understood. Keep your thoughts on it to yourself until the end of class." Ectoplasm instructed. Izuku nodded and looked down as he exhaled. This whole thing was starting to stress him out. He had expectations to meet, and he wanted to make himself that much greater as a hero.
"Right…" He replied, allowing the man to instruct the class as usual. Not many of the other students could understand what Izuku was talking about, but Kyouka, having the godly gift of good hearing, heard exactly what was on the boy's mind. He was battling with himself again over his quirks, and worrying on how to get stronger.
'Izuku…' She thought, her expression shifting to one of worry. The boy turned his attention back to the class, and the day continued as normal with Izuku remaining painfully silent. Soon the day came to an end, and the class began to pack up their things, with Izuku and Kyouka being the first to leave. As the two opened the door to leave, they were shocked to see a large crowd of other UA students in front of the 1-A classroom.
"Alright, what the hell is this, can you get out the way? People have places to be, y'know." Izuku stated as he glared at the students around him. A few of them backed off due to the greenettes intimidating aura, and smoke that emanated from his body, but suddenly a lilac-haired man with horrendous bags under his eyes stepped forward.
"So this is the infamous 1-A… You lot don't seem like much." He stated, pretty much towering over Izuku and staring at the rest of the class that had gathered behind the greenette. Izuku sighed, now really wasn't the time to put up with these kinds of people.
"If this is your means to declare war…" The greenette stated, suddenly vanishing in a quick smoke dash behind the lilac haired boy, slamming him straight into the ground. The crowd around them gasped, and even the fellow 1-A students were shocked. (Aside from Bakugou who smirked a bit fiendishly).
The lilac haired boy turned his head to glance up at the greenette whose body was literally smoking, and his glare pierced through him like a tiger getting ready to attack its prey.
"You should just sit this one out." He concluded, releasing the man from his grip and walking off. Kyouka quickly rushed to the fellow purplette and helped him up, something was seriously wrong with Izuku. He didn't just attack people like this.
"I'm so sorry, he's not usually like that! The Sports Festival's probably weighing on him…" She stated as the boy pulled himself to his feet, staring at the greenette walking away in awe. Sure he had just attacked a fellow student, but what really shocked him was the fact that he held back. Izuku held back; he had no intention of hurting the lilac-haired boy.
Kyouka swiftly bowed her head and dashed for Izuku who continued his slow walk out of UA. She finally caught up to him at the stairwell, and the girl socked him as hard as she could in the back of the head.
"What the hell were you thinking!? Attacking the other students, what is wrong with you, idiot!?" Kyouka exclaimed as the greenette rubbed the back of his head, hissing in pain as he did so. "Seriously, you're not acting like yourself. What's wrong?"
Izuku sighed and looked down. The downside of having someone so very close and personal to you was that they began to learn your habits, from when you were feeling your happiest, to when you were feeling your lowest. Though perhaps it was his own fault for letting her get so close. Though it wasn't like he regretted it.
"I…" Izuku started, before whipping his head down to the ground. He ripped off his beanie and scratched at his hair as he groaned in annoyance. It was hard to let out the words he so desperately wanted to say. "I just got a lot weighing on me. I-I've got expectations to meet during the Sports Festival, and I'm going to have to train extremely hard to get a hold on this neon thing. I-I'm sorry for losing it, but-"
Kyouka cut the boy off by wrapping her arms around the boy in a comforting hug. "You don't need to say anymore, I get it. Just try to take it easy okay? Don't overthink things, you'll go out there and do your best. That's all that matters."
Izuku sighed, smiling as the girl didn't press him for answers. Her words brought comfort to his mind, and she was right. He was overthinking things, he would do great after all. He had an advantage over most other people in their class.
"Oooooh? What's this? So you two are dating!" A chipper feminine voice from behind them spoke, causing both teens to quickly separate and glare at the voice of their pink-skinned classmate, Mina Ashido. "You even let her wear your hat sometimes, and you thought you could hide it from me! The love expert!"
'More like an idiot expert.' Izuku and Kyouka simultaneously thought as the girl hopped down the stairs to join the duo. Izuku got a good look at the girl's legs- Not to perv on her or anything, but more-so taking note that she probably danced. 'Maybe she could help me…'
"Hey, Ashido. You dance, don't you?" Izuku questioned, shocking the pink skinned girl.
"Y-Yeah actually. How'd you know that?" She questioned, suddenly creeped out by the greenettes sudden knowledge of herself. Izuku rolled his eyes and pointed to her legs.
"I've been around breakdancers before. All of their legs are buff as hell, so I was wondering if you could show me a few moves." He stated, before a devilish smirk appeared on his face, scaring both girls.
"I've got a great idea."
"So you just want to learn so you can be fancy with your lightshow?" The pinkette questioned as the trio walked to the train station. Izuku nodded, humming in response as he scratched his hatless head. Kyouka had once again stolen his hat, wearing it proudly like a damn trophy.
"Essentially. I just want to learn some fancy footwork to help me develop a different style for using my neon abilities." He informed, staring up at the sky as the trio continued their walk to the station. "I had the bright idea to surprise the competition. So just send me some tutorials, you two aren't allowed to see it either."
Mina pouted, but nodded understandingly. Kyouka on the other hand was surprised that he was going to try and hide his training, though she knew that he needed an edge on his opponents and if they were to go up against each other, he'd need to keep the surprise.
"Well, here's hoping you can get good with it in time." Kyouka said as the trio reached the station. Izuku and Kyouka said their goodbyes to Mina as they had different routes, and now the duo went off to get on their own train. Jirou then tugged on the fabric atop her head, coming to the realization that she was still wearing Izuku's hat. "Oh, right. Here's your hat."
"Right. Thanks, Kyouka." He said, causing the girl to flinch. She forgot that she had given him permission to use her given name whenever they were alone. She still wasn't used to it, it really seemed like…
'It's like we're dating or something!' She thought as her face erupted in red, causing Izuku to look over and notice her appearance. He quirked a brow, but smirked nonetheless. She must have been embarrassed over the name usage still.
"That reminds me, Kyouka…" He said, causing the girl to jolt once more at the usage of her given name. His tone then turned serious, as he wanted his words to actually get across to her. "Thanks for being someone I can trust. If I reach the top three in the Sports Festival in a few days, I uh… I want to request something important from you."
Kyouka froze and saw him staring straight at her, that same damn smile from when they were on the roof of the theatre. Why did he have to be like that..? "W-What would be the um… The request..?"
Izuku smirked, and a million thoughts ran through her mind. Her face paled at the realization that if she agreed to this he could really do a whole lot of things. What if he asked for something embarrassing? What if it was completely unreasonable? What if it would leave her in a really bad situation?
"Judging by your reaction, perhaps I should wait a bit longer then." Izuku stated, entering the train which had miraculously arrived. Kyouka quickly jogged to catch up, and find a spot next to the greenette.
"O-Okay, but still. What was the request?" She questioned further, causing the greenette to snicker lightly as he shook his head and held a finger up to his mouth.
"That's a secret, Kyo!"
And that's chapter 8! God this one was quite troublesome...
This chapter we see Izuku preparing for the Sports Festival, and even getting some assistance from a strange pink friend!
It also seems that Kyouka may even be admiring Izuku in more ways than one, I wonder where that will go.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy and I'll see you for the next chapter!
Discord: /FD5yVaS22w