Here's Chapter 29! I know it was a long update time, but I was really busy with studying, so that took up a lot of my time, then it took a little bit more for me to get back in the groove. But still, I'm back, so I hope this chapter will satisfy you readers! And F.Y.I, there's an additional segment in Chapter 28 about the Body Improvement Club for people to read in order for the things in this chapter to add up, so reread the previous chapter for this chapter to make more sense.
It was a slow and lethargic morning. The halls of U.A. High were filled with young students all making their way to classes with droopy eyes and slightly dischiveled hair. Among the students walking through these halls was the very short and infamously perverted student of Class 1-A, Minoru Mineta.
The young teenager walked through the hall with a very slight scowl on his face. For Mineta, things were not going as he'd wanted them to go with his class: when he'd managed to make it in to U.A. High, Mineta was more excited than he'd ever been about anything in his life. U.A. High was the school where all the top heroes graduated, where all the eyes of the world were focused and where all the ladies kept their eyes on. He thought that even making it to U.A. itself would've been enough to boast about and get the new girls he'd meet in his class to fall for him, but sadly, things did not go as he'd wanted them to. Unfortunately for him, most of the girls in his class would never really bother talking with him or even giving him the time of day, and he couldn't understand the blatantly obvious reason why.
The short student didn't want to be ignored like that! He wanted the girls of his class to love him, so he could get the chance to touch them! And he thought that being a hero would give him the opportunity to get a better standing with all the ladies! So what was missing?
Mineta took a glance at another fellow student of Class 1-A passing by, the strongest member of their class, Kageyama. Mineta was one of the few people who'd seen Kageyama get angry and one of the first to see just how powerful he really was. He held a great deal of respect for the esper, since he was the one who saved his life from Nomu and the other villains that day. He was already at the level of All Might, and that was something else Mineta admired. At the same time, Mineta was super envious of his classmate: he had an insanely strong quirk that let him get super far in the Sports Festival and got him a lot of attention from others. He was already super popular with a lot of his classmates and had a way better standing with them than Mineta ever did. Hell, he even managed to get the praise and attention from cute girls in other classes, the prime example being Itsuka Kendo.
"Hey Kageyama!" Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Mineta glanced forward and saw the very same ginger-haired girl from Class 1-B approaching the esper with a bright expression. "I noticed you weren't at the Body Improvement Club practice yesterday. I was really hoping you'd show."
The esper awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "Oh yea, sorry about that. Something came up at the last minute, and I couldn't make it. But don't worry: I'll be there this afternoon."
"Great!"
"There you are, Kageyama!" As it so happened, the rest of the female members of the Body Improvement Club were walking together in class when they spotted the bowl-haired psychic standing in the hallway. They all began to crowd around Kageyama, causing the esper to feel some heat rise to his face. "You'll be coming to practice today, right, ribbit? I didn't expect you to not show up for just the second practice."
"Don't worry, I won't miss today's practice."
Ochaco's face began to brighten up, and her lips curved into a wider, more excited smile. "Deku showed us all the pictures you sent of you and Hawks! Those were so cool!"
"Yea!" the ginger-haired girl added, her expression mimicking Ochaco's. "I swear, the one with you, Tokoyami and Hawks sitting on a couch-shaped cloud watching t.v. was hilarious! Midoriya said you shaped those clouds with your quirk, right?" The esper nodded. "Man, that's so neat!"
"Pretty cool way to spend an internship with the number three hero, I'd say," the frog-like girl added.
"A very enlightening and thrilling experience it must've been, I'm sure," Yaoyorozu said before looking at her watch and noticing the time. "Well, class is going to be starting in five minutes. I'd rather not be late."
Itsuka Kendo grinned and held her fist out towards the bowl-haired teenager. "Well, see you this afternoon. You better not be late." At first, Shigeo was too shocked by this friendly gesture to reply to it, but he smiled warmly and returned the fist-bump. It seemed that Kendo had grown to be quite friendly with Shigeo. The three girls from Class 1-A smiled at the friendly exchange between the two, and all of them made their way to class. The esper was about to go along with them, but he stopped when he turned his head and found his classmate Mineta staring at him with a very dramatic and envious face, his pupils bulging to ridiculous sizes.
"M-Mineta, are you alright? What's wrong?" he said, "Do you wanna talk or something? If you do, we can talk over here for a little bit." The esper decided to take a few paces into an adjacent and empty hallway. Like his other classmates, Kageyama was not very fond of Mineta's perverted nature and his attempts to look at their female classmate's undressed, though he did not hold any particular contempt or unwillingness to converse with him because of this. The short student hadn't expected any sort of conversation to come from this, but since they were there anyway, he decided to just as well come out with what he was thinking.
"Kageyama, you're SO lucky, man. You've got the attention of all the pretty girls in class." Mineta's statement caused a brief flash of heat to ignite in the esper's cheeks at what his classmate was implying. Unlike back in Salt Middle School, he didn't feel like being popular here was the same thing or as important because the students in this school all had powers and he was still being praised for those powers, which was why he didn't find it to be a big deal when the girls from Class 1-A were talking to him. They were just friends, after all.
Mineta gazed at the floor while his expression began to sour. "I wanted to be a hero so I can get girls to love me, but it hasn't been working for me." Mineta wasn't sure why he was coming out with this truth to Kageyama: maybe it was after seeing the many times that the esper had been open with his thoughts and emotions when talking with his classmates, but the short teenager felt like it was ok to confide with him this personal desire of his.
While many others would've likely berated or chastised Mineta for such a vain purpose for being a hero, Mob viewed his goal with no such disdain or disgust. Just the opposite, Shigeo could actually understand exactly where Mineta was coming from.
"Wow. You and I actually have a lot more in common than I thought." Mineta's eyes bulged open, and he glanced back up at Shigeo in surprise. "When I was in middle school, I also wanted to be popular in order to get a girl to like me."
Mineta let out a short gasp as his mouth gaped open. Kageyama actually cared about being popular to get girls to like him too? But more surprising, was Kageyama implying that he wasn't popular in middle school? Him of all people?
"Wait, you mean you weren't one of the popular kids at your school, even with your super awesome quirk and wanting to be a hero?"
The esper shook his head. "That's right. At my school, people didn't care about how powerful my psychic abilities were or what I could do with them. In fact, you could say that I was just a loser." Mineta's entire body jerked back in shock: Kageyama was actually a loser at his school? It was that bad for him?
The esper's eyes began to focus on his classmate with a strong fixation and gaze, and he lowered his body in order to meet Mineta's eye level. "Mineta, you have to understand something: having a strong quirk doesn't make you popular, and just being a hero isn't going to make you popular either. I've learned that it takes more than power in order to make yourself more appealing. That's the reason I've been working hard to improve myself, so even without my powers, I can prove that I'm still somebody."
Shigeo's eyes began to soften, and the corners of his lips began to curve slightly downward. "And if you really want to get girls to like you, then you have to start treating them with respect." Mineta drew in another stifled gasp at the harshness of the esper's commentary. "You keep trying to get too close to them or to get looks at them whenever they're changing. You're not giving them the respect and privacy they deserve to have as regular people, and none of them appreciate that kind of disrespect."
The young student opened his mouth to fervently reject Shigeo's points, but no words came out. Such an obvious fact being laid out to him in this manner struck a deep chord, especially coming from a person Mineta admired for his strength and commitment. Mineta's hands closed inward, and felt his eyes shift away when confronted with this harsh but undeniably true reality about himself. "...then what can I do?"
"It's easy." Mineta's gaze went back to Shigeo, and he was taken aback by the soft smile on his face. "My master taught that the truth behind one's charm was just being a good person. So that's all you need to do: work hard towards improving yourself, become better." The bowl-haired student placed a hand on Mineta's shoulder, and the short student's eyes were shining brightly with emotion.
"Really? It's just like that? You really think I can become better?"
"Of course. After all, I changed, and if I can change, then I'm sure you can too." The two students stayed in those positions for a few more seconds before the esper got himself back up. "Now come on. We don't wanna be late for class."
With his mind too busy processing what Shigeo had just told him, the only response Mineta could give was a slight nod of his head, and the two silently made their way to Class 1-A. As the two of them walked through the hallway, Mob began to reflect on what had just happened and really what had transpired in the past week. Shigeo had begun to talk to more and more people to impart upon them wisdom and get them to change, and with each conversation, he felt he was getting better and better. He'd learned how to improve his craft and more successfully convey the messages he wanted to give after observing the way his master spoke to his clients and to the other Scars, as well as the moments when All Might gave him vital wisdom. The esper smiled: thanks to all the ways that Mob had developed and changed, he was now able to help his friends and enemies change themselves as well. It was the gift that Stain had spoken so highly of, and it was a gift Mob would continue to use whenever he could.
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Walking just a few feet behind Shigeo, Mineta continued to digest everything told to him. He never imagined that Shigeo would have a similar desire to himself, nor did he ever imagine that Mob would ever view himself so unpopular that he'd call himself a loser. And the way he tried to get popularity and get girls to like him was just through self-improvement and strengthening one's self. Honestly, whenever Kageyama talked to the class and expressed his thoughts, Mineta had never really paid much attention to what he was trying to say: the only thing he was really focused on was how much attention and praise he got from their classmates, especially the girls. He never really delved into what those words meant or the messages they carried...
While thinking of the way that he admired Kageyama, Mineta's thoughts focused on the other classmate he admired, the other friend who had proven himself: Midoriya. That day, during the U.S.J. attack when the two of them and Tsu were surrounded by villains on all sides, Mineta was absolutely losing it. But not Midoriya: Mineta could tell that his friend was just as scared of the villains as he was, his body trembling with fear, but even when experiencing that fear, he still came up with a plan and managed to overpower the villains. Midoriya had gained not only Mineta's respect, but the respect of many of his classmates, and after having talked to Kageyama, Mineta was beginning to understand what made them so cool.
The reason why all their classmates looked up to and respected both Kageyama and Midoriya wasn't just because they had cool powers or fought villains: it was because they'd shown how cool they really were on the inside through their actions, through their words and through their philosophies. The picture was beginning to grow clearer in his mind. But if their methods really were the way to get girls, then how could Mineta follow their example? What could he do...
Mineta had little time to ponder the answers and continue his self-reflection before entering the classroom. As soon as the two students entered the room, they noticed the way that several of their classmates, most notably Mina and Toru, were all crowding around Todoroki. Mineta peered his head up to see what all the fuss was about, and gasped when he saw the scar on Todoroki's face was gone.
"Oh my god, your burn mark's gone!" said Toru.
"You were already the hottest guy in class, but now you're even MORE attractive!" blurted Mina, "How did you do it?"
Todoroki took a quick glance at Shigeo, whose face was currently in a neutral expression. The young teenager vividly remembered a conversation the two of them had, shortly after leaving the mental hospital.
After having had a very nice, engaging and thoroughly enlightening conversation, the two friends bid the mother of Shoto farewell. "Make sure you two get home safely," Rei said, "And Shigeo, it was an absolute pleasure to meet you. I hope you can come visit again."
"Sure thing," replied Mob, "It was very nice to meet you as well." The two exchanged affectionate smiles with one another, and her son gave her a final wave, but before they finished leaving and Shoto finished closing the door, Mob held it open, for he was reminded of something he'd completely forgotten to mention to Shoto, and he honestly felt rather idiotic for not having mentioned it sooner.
"One last thing: this will sound like a bizarre request, but when other people ask you how your scar was healed, can you say that Recovery Girl was the one who fixed your scar? It's fine that you know, Mrs. Todoroki, but please don't tell others that I was the one who healed your son." Shigeo had talked it over with Recovery Girl beforehand: possessing a "quirk" that could do so many different things would be seen as too unnatural ad would draw some unnecessary attention: though everyone already knew Kageyama could use his powers in multiple different ways, having the power to heal with a quirk would likely make several people grow curious and possibly investigate the reason for Kageyama's strange quirk. Kageyama had chosen to take that risk and help his friend, but he still wanted to make sure that as little information about this was revealed.
The two Todoroki's gave the esper questionable looks: for someone so truthful and outspoken, to be asked to be kept a secret seemed very uncharacteristic. "But how come?" said Shoto.
Shigeo found it difficult to articulate the right words that could properly express his reasoning. "I'd just prefer to have this ability be private so I won't get any big attention; I can't really explain it better than that."
After having been so open about his thoughts and emotions, to be asked to keep a secret for Shigeo was unexpected for the two Todoroki's. "Is it alright if we tell the rest of our family? They'd certainly want to know, especially my daughter, Fuyumi."
The young esper stared at the ceiling and awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. Demanding things from others wasn't in Shigeo's nature, and his gentle heart still made it hard for him to be forceful. He'd never even intended Rei to know about this secret, but had been so caught up in the happiness of seeing his friend's scar healed and the sudden request from Shoto to go visit his mother that he'd somehow allowed it to slip his mind. Rei could see the difficulty the esper was having in asserting his will and decided to make a personal compromise.
"Well, if that's what you really want, then the two of us will keep your secret," Rei said, "I believe we owe you that much. Is that fine with you, Shoto?" The dual quirk-wielding teenager nodded his head in agreement. The esper's conflicted expression disappeared, and a sense of relief washed over him.
"Thank you both."
"It was Recovery Girl; she asked me to come into her office yesterday to try and heal me with a supercharged shot of her quirk to experiment with some training she did, and it worked."
"How cool!" The red and white-haired teenager nodded, his eyes momentarily going to his psychic friend. Todoroki still couldn't help but wonder the reason why Kageyama wanted to keep his healing powers a secret. Well, he could see why Kageyama wouldn't really want excessive attention, since his speech at the sports festival made it abundantly clear he wasn't good with large crowds or public speaking. Even so, a small part of his mind couldn't let go his mild suspicion...
Shoto's thoughts were cut short by the arrival of their homeroom teacher, and all of the students crowded around the newly healed teenager briskly rushed back to their seats. Well, it didn't do much good to dwell on it now: after all, he was still extremely grateful to Mob for healing his scar and his inner turmoil, so it seemed somewhat unfair to hold any major suspicion towards Mob.
The bowl-haired teenager quickly glanced back at Todoroki while a small smile creeped up on his face. Mob was really happy to have been able to help Todoroki in this way, to heal the horrendous damage that had been caused to him that day and to also relieve his mother from the guilt of causing that damage. With this power to heal, there was so much good he could do with it, so many people he could continue to help and heal. In fact, there were still a few people on his list that he wanted to fix as soon as possible, so hopefully he'd get around to doing it this afternoon...
The day had come to an end, and the students of Class 1-A were all heading out of their class. For a good majority of the students of Class 1-A, they were on their way to the next practice of the Body Improvement Club. This time, Kageyama was the first one to arrive for the practice and waited as the rest of the members took their time to get themselves ready for today's practice.
Many of the members began filing out to the meeting point, eager to start the next day of practice, but among the people who were filing out, he was surprised to find Iida among the classmates wearing his gym uniform.
"Iida? You want to be a member of the Body Improvement Club?"
"I joined the club yesterday when you weren't here," he replied, "I found the practice to be quite exhilarating and strenuous for my body, which only serves as a testament to the effectiveness of the exercise schedule you've planned out." The corners of Shigeo's lips began to go up: coming from someone as methodical, high-demanding and stringent as Iida, such a compliment meant very much to the bowl-haired psychic.
"And Kageyama, Midoriya showed us the pictures you took with Hawks," Kirishima interjected, "It must've been pretty fun to make those poses while flying in the sky."
"Huh?" Todoroki's eyebrow lifted up in confusion.
"That's right, you weren't here to look at them. Midoriya, show'em what I'm talking about." The green-haired teenager did as Kirishima said and pulled out the photos on his phone. As Todoroki looked at the random poses Mob had taken alongside Hawks and Tokoyami, a soft chuckle of amusement escaped his lips.
"Nice," was the only thing Todoroki could come up with. Kageyama began to count the heads he was seeing and saw that everyone was present.
"Alright, so for today, we'll-"
"Hold on!" The members of the Body Improvement Club widened their eyes at the sound of that voice. They turned their heads, and sure enough, the person running towards them with his gym uniform was Mineta. "Are you guys still open for new members? Cuz if you are, I'd like to join."
A wave of shock spread through many of the students: the idea of commitment and self-improvement did not correlate with someone as lustful, cowardly and inappropriate as Mineta. The short teenager observed all of the surprised and nominally uneasy faces staring at him and decided to explain himself. "What you said to me really gave my brain a kick in the ass with what I've done, the things I've been wrong about. It's why... I wanna be stronger! Better! So if you'll let me, I wanna work toward that goal and reach my dream the right way!"
After having had spent the day mulling over what Kageyama said, Mineta came to understand how wrong he'd been in his approach. As Kageyama had said himself, having a strong quirk and being a hero wasn't enough to make you popular: it was the actions they took, the person one chooses to be that gets attention. Both Kageyama and Midoriya had shown this to him each in their own ways. That meant that in order for Mineta to get girls, he'd have to start making some massive changes to make himself more appealing. And so, he'd decided to take some other inspiration from Kageyama and improve himself by strengthening his body, which was the prime mission of the Body Improvement Club.
Mineta forced back a small chuckle. Not only would the club be a great chance to become physically stronger, but as a small side-bonus, it'd also give him some more personal time with the girls of his class, and if he was really lucky, he'd get to see them cool off by loosening their gym uniforms. Sadly, it wouldn't be so easy to completely change Mineta's personality through just a single conversation: his ultimate goal of getting girls to love him was still forefront in his mind, and the lecherous side of himself was still there. What had changed, however, was how much he'd allow that side of him to dominate his personality and the way he'd approach his end goal.
While many of the other classmates were confused and still slightly wary of Mineta's presence, Shigeo's face began to brighten up like a light bulb. Being the kind and forgiving soul he was, Mob could see the newfound determination in Mineta's eyes and his desire to improve himself as a person, qualities that reflected his own determination when he first decided to join the Body Improvement Club. The esper recognized his classmate as a kindred spirit, and approached him with a joy in his steps.
"Well, then as the captain of the Body Improvement Club, I'd like to welcome you aboard. It's great to have you."
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The esper held out his hand, using some of the same words that Captain Musashi had used when he first accepted Mob into the club. Mineta's mouth fell open before his face became upturned and he eagerly met the esper's handshake.
The optimism and positivity with which Mob was radiating managed to diffuse among the rest of the students, and whatever slight wariness or uneasiness they held quickly disappeared; for some, particularly Izuku, their faces lit up with the same pleased and proud expression on Shigeo's face.
"The same goes for you, Iida." Mob wouldn't dare forget to acknowledge the other new member of the Body Improvement Club. "Knowing that the class representative approves of the club and is a part of it feels pretty great. I'm sure you'll add a lot to the club."
A sense of joy and pride swelled up in Iida's heart, and he chopped his hand through the air. "I will do what I can to contribute and support all the members of the club. I trust in your leadership and knowledge in the area of body strengthening and self-improvement."
The esper's eyes focused on the open path in front of them. "Since you're new to the club, Mineta, we always start practice with a five kilometer run, and during our run, we always repeat the club's mantra: Body Improvement, Fight On!"
With a brisk pace and a smile on his face, Shigeo began the long distance run for the Body Improvement Club and shouted the mantra which the members eagerly repeated. The young esper took a quick glance back at his fellow comrades and saw each of them with the same excited, jubilant expressions ready to tackle the coming challenges. The passion of self-improvement and the idea of cooperation among classmates and peers had brought them all together, and Mob couldn't wait to see how much farther it would take them.
The club had finished their daily exercises. Each of the members were very sore; they were still relatively new to the rigorous standards of the Body Improvement Club exercises, and even the two heads of the club who'd spent almost a year undergoing such muscle-straining exercise could still feel some burn in their muscles. The first day of the club was especially no picnic for Mineta: someone of his small stature and someone who never put too much effort into physical training found it difficult to keep up. Not only that, but the girls were still wary of him, and when spotters were being chosen for some of the exercises, they had all quickly done their best to stray away from Mineta. Though the first practice was not what he'd expected, Mineta was still determined to push through and truly embrace the motto of the club by fighting against the pain and internal struggle.
All of the club members had already finished putting their school uniforms back on, their sweat staining their shirts and pants. The only two remaining members were the president and vice president respectively, and it was precisely the chance that Mob was waiting for to test something else he'd been wanting to do for the past week.
"Wait, Midoriya. Put out your right hand." The green-haired fanboy quizzically glanced at his friend, for his face was beaming with a sense of excitement that he'd never seen before. The training that Mob had put into his healing was about to pay off, and after having done extensive research into the anatomy of the hand alongside Recovery Girl, the esper was confident that he could do this. "I haven't told you about this yet, but I've been training to learn a new ability. This ability lets me use my psychic powers to send signals to the body to heal itself, so it can do things that Recovery Girl's healing quirk can't. Actually, I used the ability yesterday to help heal Todoroki's scar."
"Really? But I thought he said Recovery Girl was the one who fixed his scar."
"That was what I asked him to say; Recovery Girl thought it was best that no one start asking questions about my healing since she knows my secret."
"What? She does?" Izuku was taken off-guard by these revelations, "When did she find out?"
"Did I really forget to mention it to you? Recovery Girl and Mr. Aizawa found out that I don't technically have a quirk after they did an x-ray on my foot after my fight with the Nomu. But don't worry: both of them promised to keep my secret."
The teenager quickly nodded before focusing his eyes on his scarred hand. Though the permanent damage to his hand was not as traumatizing or damaging to him as Shoto's scar, it was still a reminder of both his failure at the sports festival and proof of how much more training he had to do. But perhaps worst of all was that it was a constant source of pain for Kageyama, having to see him with any permanent damage at all, not to mention Izuku's mother, who was also extremely worried when she first saw what had happened to him.
"Now stand still." Shigeo placed both his hands around Izuku's and closed his eyes. He channeled his psychic energy into his hands, instructing the muscles in Izuku's hand to reconstruct themselves. The fanboy gazed in awe as Shigeo's hands began to glow a rainbow color and his hand was enveloped in this light. They remained in this position for several seconds until Shigeo opened his eyes. When he took his hands off, the esper felt giddy with joy when the ugly scars that ran across Izuku's hand had now vanished.
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"Thank god," the esper said. Izuku could hear just how heavy the sound of relief was in Shigeo's voice, and while it was nice to see that his hand had been fixed, that sound of relief meant more to him than a repaired hand ever could.
"Your powers really are amazing," said Izuku, "I never thought you'd actually be able to use them in such a unique way."
"My next step is going to be healing Iida's brother, Ingenium. I'm going to need some more training, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to repair the damage that Stain caused to his spine and let him walk again. After that, my biggest hope is that I can heal All Might." Izuku's eyes gaped open in surprise.
"Once his insides are healed, then his body can go back to the way it used to be, and no one will have to know about his current form." The green-eyed teenager saw the logic behind Shigeo's thought-process and a slow smile of relief spread across his face. If it really worked, than All Might's legacy could remain untarnished, and the number one hero could be remembered in history only as the shining symbol of peace.
"Thank you, Kageyama, for fixing my mistake," he said.
"If you can help it, just please try not to overuse One For All like that again," Mob replied, "I'd really hate to see you heavily injured again."
"I'll try my best!"
The esper cheerfully nodded, and the two friends made their way to their homes. As the two disciples of All Might walked through the barren halls of U.A. High, the esper emptily gazed at his hand. This power to heal, it did much more than heal wounds: it healed hearts, gave those close to the victims of injury an overwhelming sense of relief and joy in knowing that their loved ones were fixed. He'd seen just how large the impact was with Rei, and he could not wait to see just how ecstatic Iida would be at the thought of his older brother being able to walk again. With just a little bit more training, the fantasy of Ingenium returning to the hero industry would become a reality. It would only be a little longer...
In the apartment, the bowl-haired teenager was rigorously focusing his energy into the self-inflicted wounds he'd made on his body. Though All Might had protested the idea of Shigeo purposefully hurting himself, after hearing about his reasoning and resolve, the hero reluctantly allowed him to injure himself through different means. The esper's schedule was already busy, having to balance the extra time for the Body Improvement Club while also managing his schoolwork, the extra morning workouts he, Midoriya and All Might would partake in, and now the sparring sessions he had with All Might. In order to allocate more time towards his healing and reading up on the anatomy of the human body, Shigeo had decided to momentarily put a hold on his sparring sessions; that time was now spent either in Recovery Girl's office or in his room focusing on his healing.
Lounging on his couch while lazily eating a bowl of popcorn and watching a movie, the number one hero noticed that it had been quite some time since he'd seen Kageyama come out of his room. "Guess it wouldn't hurt to check up on him." All Might paused the film he was watching and entered the psychic's room.
"How goes the healing training, Kageyama?"
"It's going great!" The bowl-haired teenager's rainbow aura was surrounding the deep cut he'd made on his arm, which managed to heal itself in less than five seconds.
"That's some remarkable improvement," the hero said, "A week ago, it took more than twenty seconds to heal a wound like that."
"It's all the training I've been doing and the lessons I've been taking with Recovery Girl. I'm getting a better feel for how to send the energy signals to the body." The esper failed to realize that it was also due to his remarkable psychic abilities and adaptability, something that allowed him to pick up and easily replicate new powers or occasionally enhance his powers on the spot. "In fact, I think tomorrow's gonna be the day that I try to heal Ingenium's spine."
All Might approached Shigeo and placed his hand on the esper's shoulder: he knew that Mob had already worked his magic on Todoroki and Midoriya and helped them remove the painful scars of their past. "Then tomorrow will be the day that the Turbo Hero: Ingenium can patrol the streets of Hosu again." The esper looked back at the number one hero with a firm look in his eyes and gave a confident nod. Only one more day until Iida could witness his big brother stand back up again!
"Wow Tenya, you've sure got a big appetite this morning."
It had been almost a week since he'd joined the Body Improvement Club, and Tenya Iida was sitting alongside the rest of his family in the Iida household, where they were all enjoying breakfast together. Sitting beside the blue-haired teenager, his mother took note of the larger portion he'd served himself. "In fact, now that I think about it, you've actually been eating bigger portions for the past week now."
"Well, I have to in order to keep up with my heightened metabolism and the extra calories I'm burning with the Body Improvement Club."
"That's right, that new club you joined," Tenya's father interjected, "And how has that been going?"
"It's been going extremely well. Kageyama's exercise plans are laid out extremely well to ensure that each muscle group is worked to the limit, and the long-distance runs have increased my stamina, something that'll undoubtedly help me increase the duration and efficiency of my quirk."
"You said Kageyama was the leader of this club, right?" Tenya nodded at his father. "How interesting that he'd start a club like that. He definitely made quite an impression during the Sports Festival, though we didn't get to see how his final match since..." All the family members immediately lowered their heads, and the mood around the table quickly soured. Nothing had been the same ever since Tensei lost his legs: knowing that he'd been forced to retire from his work in the hero business and would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, it was an extremely large pill they'd all had to swallow.
"We're all going to go visit Tensei this afternoon, right?" Tenya asked.
"That's right, so once you finish your practice with the Body Improvement Club, be sure to go to the hospital as soon as possible," said Tenya's mother. The young teenager took a glance at his watch, and he immediately shot out of his chair. "I only have five minutes to reach the train! I musn't be late!" Tenya took a few more quick bites of his food before he grabbed his backpack and rushed out the door. Sprinting out his house and into the street, the spectacled student saw the image of his brother in the hospital and grimaced. He then imagined Tensei sprawled out on the ground in a pool of blood with the Hero Killer standing over him with his blade drawn and blood dripping down the tip. This imagery caused the fiery anger in his stomach to burn to life: this was all Stain's fault. He was the reason that his older brother couldn't work as a hero anymore. Stain's decision to surrender and his apology to Iida meant basically nothing to him, and there was no way that could ever be enough for Iida to forgive him.
Tenya tightly clenched his fists and felt the vein in his forehead throbbing. He had to control this hatred: he'd already seen the dire consequences of letting it run loose, but that didn't mean he'd remove it from his heart. How could he?
The day had passed by rather quickly for the blue-haired student, and nothing particularly eventful had taken place during any classes. After the last class, Iida had gone to the Body Improvement Club practice, where most of the day's exercises consisted of squats and other lower-body workouts. During the practice, the other members would sometimes collapse or start panting because of the pain of the exercise, but every time this happened, another member would stop them from falling, give them a smile and encourage them to keep pushing on. This was precisely the cooperation and assistance that Kageyama had spoken of before, and Iida could tell it was already having a substantial effect on the morale of the members.
The practice had managed to lift his spirits, but once it was done, the young teenager's inner cloud of sadness returned, for now he was going to go visit his brother in the hospital. The mere sight of his brother in the hospital bed was enough to make his blood run cold. It just hurt him so much to see Tensei in that state...
Tenya quickly packed his things and started a brisk pace towards the hospital, but his path was suddenly blocked by Shigeo and the school nurse. The teenager wasn't expecting to see such a duo walking together through the halls.
"Kageyama, Recovery Girl, is there something I can help you two with?"
"Iida, are you busy right now?"
"I was on my way to visit my brother at the hospital."
"Great! Then we stopped you just in time." Tenya quizzically stared at the two of them. Recovery Girl responded to the young boy's confused expression.
"The two of us'll be going with you to visit your brother."
Mob's face split with an extremely wide smile. "Iida, I think I can give your brother his legs back!" With the training he'd done on himself, Shigeo was now ready to try and take his healing to the next level, albeit with some minor assistance from Recovery Girl.
It was as if someone had knocked Iida in the face with a baseball bat. It took a few seconds for Iida to regain his voice, but when he did, it was only barely louder than a whisper. "...what?"
"It's the truth. I've been training to use the energy created by my quirk to be sent into the body to repair any serious damage. It's what I did for Todoroki and Midoriya."
"But... I thought they said Recovery Girl was responsible for fixing their scars."
"Well, we just said that so Kageyama wouldn't get any big attention," Recovery Girl said, "He's not very good with large crowds and public attention. No offense, dearie."
"If... if what you're saying is really true, then..." The momentary paralysis that had kept his body frozen vanished, and the teenager sprinted through the halls, mimicking the same energy with which Shoto had run the week before. "We need to go right now!" The esper immediately ran after him, using his telekinesis to lift Recovery Girl.
"Sorry about this, Recovery Girl, but he's in a pretty big hurry, and I don't think we can slow him down," the esper said. The school nurse let out a hearty laugh, fully understanding the sort of excitement the spectacled student would be feeling at the prospect of seeing his brother walk again, and knowing that they couldn't wait. Sprinting through the hallway, Iida felt like he could take laps across the entire planet. If Kageyama could do what he said he could, if his brother could really be able to use his legs again, then the hero Ingenium could go back to saving and inspiring people like he always did! Even the slimmest chance of this was enough for Iida to latch onto, and it was why there wasn't any time to waste!
In the Hosu General Hospital, the sun was beginning to set, creating an orange tint that reflected off of the many glass windows. On one of the top floors in one of the best rooms of the hospital, the turbo hero Ingenium was casually conversing with his family. Besides his paralysis, he still hadn't fully recovered from the surgeries performed on him and the other damage Stain caused to his core and other parts of his body, making mobility difficult. In spite of the terrible damage sustained, Tensei did his best to keep a lively mood in the hospital room and maintain a casual conversation with his parents, asking them about his younger brother and what he'd been up to at U.A. High. The former hero learned about his brother's new exploits with the Body Improvement Club, as well as some minor information about the leader of the club.
"Tenya's really committing himself to a school life, huh?" Tensei said, "Well, it's great that he's making good friends. Who knows if he'll need their help in the future."
"Tenya shouldn't take too much longer to get here," Tensei's father said, "Once he does, he can tell you more about what sort of training he's done with that new club of his!"
"Mom! Dad! Brother!" The members of the Iida family all heard Tenya's loud voice rapidly approaching them. They turned around, but were surprised to find two others who had accompanied him.
"Oh, the rest of your family's here?" Shigeo said, as he would have preferred as little people knew about his healing power as possible.
"Well, we were all going to visit Tensei anyway, and I think they should be here to see it happen. Besides, I'll make sure they keep your secret."
"Tenya, who're the two people you brought? Is that Recovery Girl?" As an alumni of U.A. High, Tensei was already familiar with the long-time faculty member of the prestigious hero institution, though since he never saw the Sports Festival, he had no idea what Shigeo looked like, so his identity was a mystery to Tensei.
"Hello Tensei," the school nurse replied, "It's been quite a while."
"And that's Shigeo Kageyama..." the mother of the Iida family said. The esper decided to be formal and respectfully bowed toward Iida's family.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all," he said.
"So you're Tenya's friend, the one who started that club that focuses on bodybuilding." Tensei similarly followed Shigeo's respectful approach and decided to speak in a casual manner while giving the esper a regular smile, "From what I heard, you're also a really capable student who made it really far in the Sports Festival."
"Tenya, why did you bring your friend here?" the father said, doing his best to make sure his tone wasn't rude or to imply that the psychic's presence was unwanted, "Did he want to meet Tensei?"
"No, it's not that! Kageyama... said he could fix brother's spine!" A wave of gasps were released from all the members of the Iida family. Seeing the shocked looks on the family members, Shigeo decided to come forward with the truth. Though it was unexpected, the esper wasn't going to stop just because the rest of his family was there. Besides, he also knew that they'd want to see this moment for themselves, the moment where Tensei got his legs back.
"That's right." The young esper took several small steps toward the bed-ridden hero, taking in the severity of his condition and his broken body. The top of his head was covered in bandages, while there were also bandages placed in areas near his upper arms and shoulders. "A terrible thing happened to you, Ingenium, something that forced you into retirement and something that should never have happened." Shigeo placed his hand on the bed railing. "I know that all of you have been suffering greatly, seeing a member of your family lose so much. That's why I came here today: so I could make that pain go away, so you could see Ingenium stand on his two legs again."
The room was silent for several seconds: the Iida family was being hit with so many new facts, so much information they were having to process at once, the idea that the permanent fate of retirement Tensei was destined to follow would suddenly be altered by this friend of Tenya. After the initial shock of hearing this proclamation from the esper, the mother was the first who recovered her voice. "If you're really telling the truth, then... please do whatever you can for my Tensei!"
The esper firmly nodded. "For this to work, I'm gonna be flipping you onto your back, since I need to know directly where I'll be sending my energy." The teenager lifted his hand up and used his powers to gently rotate Tensei's body 180 degrees. Mob then lifted up the hero's hospital gown to see the site of the wound, though it was covered by some bandages. The esper slowly removed the bandages to expose the wound, and he felt a wave of nausea hit him. Ingenium's back was horribly discolored, with blade marks spread horizontally across the lower part of his back. "Recovery Girl, please see if Ingenium has a chart that says the kind of injury he has and what part of the spine was damaged."
"Of course." The elderly nurse immediately went to work and looked around the life-support machinery and other cabinets until she found the medical file on Ingenium's injury. "Let's see... it appears that the damage his spine received was to the thoracic region. Stain damaged the thoracic vertebrae from T9 to T11, and each of those vertebrae are listed as a fracture-dislocation. Here's the x-ray." Recovery Girl waved the x-ray of Ingenium's damaged spine in front of the esper. "You can see the cracks in the vertebrae here and here, and notice the crooked position of the T10 vertebrae. This dislocation in particular is what damaged the spinal cord so badly."
"Since the spinal cord acts as a nervous system that sends electrical signals to the rest of the body, that means the damage to the spinal cord is preventing the electrical signals from being sent from the brain down to his legs. So all I have to do is send signals to the body to repair the broken vertebrae and reconnect the severed nerve endings so the electric signals can start flowing again." Recovery Girl felt a swell of pride inside her heart: this boy had been taking their sessions very seriously, and this showed it. The school nurse walked up to the hero and ran her fingers along the exact locations of the vertebrae, slightly above the wound site, in case Mob wasn't able to exactly pinpoint them.
"These are the three vertebrae that were damaged, so that's where you must focus your energy." The esper placed his two hands on the hero's spine and took a very deep breath in an attempt to calm his rising nerves.
"Alright Ingenium, here it goes." Everyone in the room felt their breathes catching in their throats, their hairs standing on end and sweat beginning to form with tremendous anticipation and uneasiness. Tenya felt like he would quite literally burst from the seems: just please let this work. The esper closed his eyes and began channeling his energy. The rainbow aura flared up around him, and his hands were now densely layered with this thick energy. Shigeo knew he would need a lot more energy than usual if he wanted to repair such extensive damage, so he couldn't hold much back. He grunted as he channeled more energy and the density of his aura continued to increase while he repeatedly showed himself the images of the spine repairing itself to hone the signal and properly instruct the body how to heal itself.
For more than twenty seconds, everyone in the room waited in dreadful anticipation, and every second felt longer than the last. At last, the terrifying wait was over, and Mob's aura quickly died down. The psychic slowly removed his hands, backing away while the Iida family all desperately crowded around to see if it had really happened. When the hands were lifted, the family saw no wound. It was as if it had vanished.
"D-d-did it work?" Tenya's voice was so soft that only his parents who were inches away could hear it. Now was the moment of truth, the ultimate deciding factor of whether or not the dream all of them had for Tensei had actually come true. For a few seconds, there was nothing, not the slightest movement from the hero's body. But then they saw it: at the bottom of his feet, they saw a toe wiggle. When they saw it, the Iida family felt their hearts stop. Did they imagine that? Did they really just see what they thought they saw? Yes, yes they had.
"I... can feel my toes." Tensei arched his head back to see if his toes were moving in the crazy directions that he was telling them to, and sure enough, they were. The hero then decided to take another step and ordered both his feet to rotate, and he let out a chuckle of disbelief. Tensei continued to chuckle, his eyes opening up and a smile creeping up as he now began to rapidly swing his legs back and forth off the edge of the railing like a child waiting to get his presents on Christmas Day. As the final test, the turbo hero firmly placed his two feet on the ground and did something he never thought he'd do again: stand.
"It worked! I can walk again!" The other members of the Iida family weren't quite sure how to describe what they were feeling. How could it really be put into words: seeing Tensei, a part of their family who they all loved so much and who they'd believed to be destined to life in a wheelchair, was now standing tall and walking alongside them once again? It was quite literally a dream come true.
Tenya was the first to feel the tears flowing down his face, though his parents followed his example and began their waterworks.
"TENSEI!" Overcome with the uncontainable joy of seeing his brother standing on his own two feet, Tenya wrapped his arms as tightly as he could around the hero's waist, sobbing like an infant while the two parents joined in and cradled both of their sons in an enormous family hug. The turbo hero closed his eyes and basked in the warmth and joy of his family's love, and it made him absolutely bursting with happiness to see just how relieved they all were to see him back to his old self.
Watching this open scene of emotion and happiness, Shigeo Kageyama honestly couldn't help but feel some tears forming in his eyes himself. "Is this what you feel whenever you heal someone, Recovery Girl?" The elderly woman gazed up at the young student and warmly smiled at the affection Kageyama was showing. "I don't know why, but it makes me so happy to see this. The only thing I've ever been able to use these powers to do is to hurt other people, but now, I've finally found a way that I can use it to help people and heal them. And now, this is the kind of happiness I can give to others."
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The Iida family remained in their firm embrace for more than thirty seconds before they opened their eyes and broke away from the hug. As they broke away, the younger brother of Ingenium turned to face his friend and stared at him with fat tears still rolling down his cheeks. Still run by his overflowing emotions of joy, the friend made a short and quick sprint and gave Shigeo another enormous hug, something that the esper was prepared for this time and more than eagerly accepted.
"Kageyama, I don't- I don't even know where to begin..." Tenya mumbled, "You saved my older brother."
The turbo hero was the next to speak up. "Shigeo Kageyama, you've given me something that I never thought I'd ever get: a second chance. Because of you, the Turbo Hero Ingenium can still live on, can continue to help and inspire citizens while giving hope to the community. Thanks to you, now I can redeem myself for my failure and start making my brother proud of me again."
"Wait, what do you mean "again"?" Tensei's eyebrows furrowed upward in confusion. "Iida's still proud of you. He's always been proud of you. In fact, there's nothing you can do that will make him more proud of you than he already is.
"I've seen the way he talks about you. In his voice, there's nothing but the deepest sense of love and respect for you. I have to admit, I'm actually pretty jealous of you. I have a younger brother too, and I WISH I could've been as big an inspiration to my little brother growing up as you've been to yours. You mean the world to him, and no matter what happens, that's never going to change. You'll always be his hero."
Tensei felt himself lose the breath in his lungs. His younger brother gazed back at him, now with a slight tint of red on his cheeks and some tears still pooled in his eyes. "I couldn't have said it better myself, Tensei."
The overwhelming emotions that had been stirring up inside Tensei had now reached the tipping point, and Ingenium couldn't stop himself as he too felt the tears spilling out uncontrollably.
"You have given us a miracle, Shigeo," the mother said.
"Know that you'll always have a friend with the Iida family," their father added, "And if there's ever a time you may need our support, you'll receive it without a second thought."
"Actually, if there is one thing you could do..." Now that the healing part was out of the way, next came the thing that Kageyama had mentioned to Iida before, "Since this is going to be a big story, when people ask, please tell them that it was Recovery Girl who healed you, Ingenium, not me. I know it seems like a weird thing to ask you, but I'd prefer not to have a lot of media attention surrounding me about this, so saying Recovery Girl did this makes things easier for me."
The Iida family gave each other the same quizzical looks that Rei and Shoto had given to each other when they'd been asked this by the esper, and like them, the family members chose to accept Mob's request.
"If that's really what you want, then we'll honor your request," Tensei replied, "That's the least we can do for you."
Mob let out another internal sigh of relief before smiling again. He'd actually done what he set out to do and managed to fix Ingenium's spine: he'd given this family hope and he'd once again managed to leave a positive impact with his words as well. This was the true power of his healing abilities, and now all that was left was to fix All Might, to give his mentor that same gift of kindness and positivity. Mob would work towards that goal no matter what it took!
Another person changed by Mob, and another person healed by him too! I thought the secrecy surrounding Mob's ability to heal is important, especially with Ingenium's spine, since it'd normally bring a lot of attention or questions about how a single quirk is able to be used in such a different manner, even perhaps some government investigation, or at least that's the way I looked at it. Hope people can see it that way too. Until Chapter 30, where the main story resumes and we see what the Final Exams will have to offer!