A/N: Most of the previous chapter has been rewritten and a scene was added. I recommend you check it out first! (It's not necessary though)
Chapter 58: settling things
"Todoroki, Bakugou, Midoriya, Shikogane, a minute."
Save for the four in question, all students packed their belongings and left the classroom, not without throwing them some concerned glances. The teens walked up to their teacher's desk, most of them surprised. Izuku had a vague idea; February was about to begin and with it, a certain date came closing in.
"I assume you've been contacted by your agency?" Aizawa-sensei stated and Shouto confirmed, "Yes. They called us in for Wednesday."
That's not what he means, Izuku thought. The pro hero studied them and as soon as his eyes met Izuku's, the teacher seemed to know what he was thinking.
"This isn't about your regular attendance. You're all doing well enough academically that I'm not worried about that."
He was worried about something, then?
"As you might know, in about three weeks, the city of Onderon is holding a special event to celebrate their successful reconstruction and to commemorate the many victims of the tragedy a few months ago. Many top tier heroes will attend and hold speeches, including Endeavour."
Shouto looked surprised. His father wasn't one to hold speeches so he would probably just attend for show, but his son genuinely didn't seem to know about anything.
"There is a high possibility he wants you to attend, Todoroki, and therefore has to take all of you."
"What's the deal with that," Bakugou grumbled, as aware of the situation as the rest of them.
"Given the current situation, I am against that, and the principal agrees."
"Sensei-" Todoroki began, but was interrupted by their teacher. "Dragon is still on the loose and working on something, if we trust our sources it is highly likely he is hiding somewhere in the city. As your teacher, I cannot expose you to danger like that, especially not you, Midoriya."
Izuku didn't say anything. It was usually him keeping the conversations going but not this time. He still remembered everything that happened in Onderon, the moment his life turned upside down. The Moment he met that man for the first time.
"Oi, Deku, say something!"
Izuku sighed. It wasn't an easy decision to make. "Sensei… If we get any say in that… I would like to attend the event."
None of them expected that. Even Aizawa frowned at him. "I'm sorry, but I can't let that happen. You need to keep a clear head. As a hero, you can't let your personal feelings get in the way of your work."
It wasn't just a question of personal feelings. Whether he was there or not, Dragon would try to get to him sooner rather than later. And Izuku being in Onderon would give them the advantage of knowing exactly Dragon would try something. Aizawa had to be aware of that. There was a high possibility Izuku would be used as bait at one point, and it seemed the pro wanted to prevent that at all costs.
"My decision is final, and your mother will surely agree. That is all." The teacher got up. "I wanted to inform you before you get your hopes up. Whatever they say at the agency, you know U.A.'s position on the matter."
None of them was ready to leave like that, all of them unsatisfied with the answer. The girl of the group spoke up, "But sensei… You can't actually keep Shouto-kun from attending, can you? Endeavour is his father and legal guardian, therefore his word means more than yours, especially as the current number one."
Izuku held his breath. They… They wouldn't let Shouto go there all by himself, would they? They couldn't let him go and keep the rest of them here?
"I fear you're right. But rest assured, the principal is trying his best to talk some sense into your father, Todoroki. Let's not forget the public safety commission does have a say in the matter as well."
Things were becoming more and more complicated.
"Now, go on, I'm tired." Aizawa didn't wait for their reaction. He pulled the yellow sleeping bag from underneath the table, stepped in, and pulled the zipper up. It was time for them to leave.
Bakugou snorted angrily. If anything had been lying on the ground, he would have surely kicked it out of the way, not caring that they were still inside the school building. "Who the hell do they think they are?!"
"The most prestigious school for heroes, the number one hero and the most powerful law enforcement agency of Japan?" Hikari suggested, drily.
"I fucking know that scarface!"
"Then don't ask." The bickering started once again. Izuku frowned at his feet, sunken deep into thought.
"I won't let you go there all by yourself," he concluded, turning to Shouto, "I'll find a way." Heterochromatic eyes stared at him. He felt a soft punch in the shoulder.
"It's settled then?" Hikari crossed her arms. "We're going back to Onderon?"
"And how do you nerds plan on doing that, huh?!" Bakugou rolled his eyes, clearly thinking of himself as the only sane person around. Encouraged by the girl's words, Izuku smiled at him, albeit a bit grimly. "I don't know yet, but if they think they can stop Dragon from coming after me, I have some bad news for them."
"Either way." Hikari halted. "I'm off. Don't plan something without me."
Izuku grabbed her by the sleeve. "You don't have extra classes anymore."
She stared at him, the gears in her head turning. Her brows furrowed. For a moment, Onderon was completely forgotten.
"Wait, so, we… We just go back to the dorm?"
"Yes?"
The idea seemed unimaginable to her. "But… What do you do with all that free time?"
He never really thought about that, it just seemed so normal?
It was weird having time off after school. Hikari planned to work out for at least a bit later. She had gone through some news articles, watched a video on how to grow potatoes for some reason and saved a few memes, they even were already finishing up on their homework and there was still time… Maybe she could finally start reading the historical novel she got a while ago. Satisfied with that outlook the girl pulled the scrunchie from her wrist and gathered up her hair. Having gained back enough control she thankfully didn't need help tying up her hair anymore... At least that had been without the glove Recovery Girl gave her. The scrunchie got stuck on one of the seams, almost snapping from the tension until darting halfway across the room, right into Mina's face.
"Sorry!" Hikari squeaked, bolting to her friend. The horned girl rubbed her nose.
"If that had been intentional, I would congratulate you."
"I'm really sorry," Hikari repeated, thankfully accepting the green velvet streaked with golden threats. Mina eyed it with interest. "That's a very beautiful hair tie you got there!"
"Thanks? It, uh, it was a present."
"Huh?" The pink skinned student rose her brows with interest. Hikari simply shrugged and risked another attempt, not willing to ask for help just yet. Curling her fingers was hard, the glove offered too much resistance, resulting in it getting stuck again. Frustrated, she bit into the cuff, ready to tear it off her hand, when warm hands wrapped around her half-finished ponytail. They made sure to brush in all the strands she had missed before skilfully tying the scrunchy around. Despite the growing frustration, she let it happen.
"Thanks." Hikari turned around, sending Izuku an apologetic grin. She didn't want to rely on his help anymore, at least not when it was about tying her own, stupid hair up.
"Sure thing." With his answer, the interaction was done. Hikari faced Mina again and announced, "I'm gonna go get something from my room. Sorry again, I'll aim better next time."
Izuku smacked his notebook on the table, waved at Shouto who had arrived with him but went up to his room, and tapped the back of his pencil on the empty paper. An elbow bore into his shoulder.
Izuku startled, out of the corners of his eyes he saw Ashido slily grinning at him, her head propped up on her hand, using his shoulder as a base.
"A-Ashido-san…?"
"A present, huh?" He had no idea what she was talking about. The girl went on, "You really can't keep your hands to yourself, can you?"
It was slowly dawning on him. Ashido had been watching them for a while, dropping certain comments at times but never stated anything explicitly. Until now. A traitorous blush crept up his cheeks, but that didn't stop him from denying it, "Wha-What are you talking about?"
"Aw, come on, Midoriya, you're not even trying to be subtle!"
"Wait, what are we talking about?" Kaminari barged in and before Izuku could stop him Ashido shrugged. "I don't know, why don't you tell us, Midoriya?"
He almost choked on his own salvia. The small group surrounding him fell silent. In that moment he wished so badly One for All had been a teleportation quirk instead, he was not ready for that conversation. He was still working out his own feelings, only having realized what was going on a few days ago. Ashido threw up her hands.
"Come on, guys! He's like twice as obvious as Kaminari!"
"Hey!" The mentioned complained, ignored by all of them. At the corner of the table Aoyama giggled and winked at them. As it turned out, he was incredibly perceptive and surprisingly sympathetic. Izuku rubbed his forehead. "It's not-"
"Like that?" The pink skinned girl finished. "Suuure, you stare at all of us like that when we sit next to you. And I bet Bakugou likes when you send him those smiles." She snickered, causing the heat to take over the rest of his face.
"That's not- I'm not staringat her-" He held his breath, immediately realizing he said too much. Ashido playful punched him in the arm. "Aw, what a lady-killer you are!"
He was not made to withstand that teasing. "Guys-"
"Seriously, Midoriya?" Kaminari leaned closer at the other end of the table, almost knocking his elbow into Sero's face. For some reason, Izuku was glad that neither Iida nor Uraraka were around yet.
"I-" he began, unable to outright deny it despite wishing he could. Gaining romantic feelings for one of his friends was not something that was supposed to happen. Even if it looked like she liked him back, they had enough things to worry about, and he certainly didn't want the whole class to know.
"I'm not judging, man," Kaminari held up his hands, "I'm just surprised! I mean, she's pretty chill and that fight against Todoroki was kinda hot, but I'm not really seeing her doing all that feeling-stuff."
Well, she didn't break down in front of you or cradle you in her arms when you had a panic attack, Izuku snapped in his head but instead defended himself, "It's… It's not like that! We just work together really well!" It sounded shallow.
Ashido patted him on the back. "Of course, pal. Whatever you say. Keep on working together, then."
Izuku dropped his gaze back to the notebook in front, hoping that was the end of the conversation. He stared at the blank pages. Aware of the eyes still on him he was unable to focus. It was no use. Already feeling another comment on the way, he clapped the notebook shut and rose to his feet. He would have to continue up in his room, far away from their prying eyes and any thoughts regarding the matter.
Puddles, the last reminders of snow, had frozen overnight, creating hard and dangerously slippery surfaces. Izuku almost fell before even reaching the front door of the agency, he wasn't particularly keen on finding out how jumping around the city would feel.
Be more careful with your quirk, Aizawa's words rang in his head. Hastily snapping the belt buckle on his way back up, Izuku pondered if he could minimize the time it took to put on his costume. He couldn't exactly wear it underneath his civilian clothes and burst out of them every time an emergency occurred like Endeavour, he neither had the technology nor the financial capacity for that...
The four interns arrived at the reception in full gear. The number one was already out and Burnin had been tasked with looking after them until they met up with Endeavour, meaning they were going on a relatively uneventful patrol. Bakugou barked something Izuku didn't pay attention to, too occupied pulling at his lower lip and dissecting his hero suit, until he saw someone rolling up to them in a wheelchair. Kacchan fell strangely silent.
It was a man in his early thirties, most of his body was bandaged including parts of his face, and what was visible seemed strangely distorted. Burned. A shiver ran down Izuku's spine. Could it be?
"Good morning, young ones." It definitely was him. "I'm glad to see you all in good health."
"Nokobiri-san...?" Izuku forced the name over his lips, suddenly having trouble breathing. The pro hero, the retired pro hero, smiled. Some patches of dark stubbles grew on his head, but it wasn't enough to call it hair, and he didn't have eyebrows or lashes either. Izuku gulped.
"I'm sorry I'm not quite as handsome as I used to be," the hero joked, "but I'm still able to see my child grow up. And as I've heard, most of that is thanks to you." He looked at Izuku, then Shouto, and back at Izuku.
"I know it must be a shock seeing me like this, but you're brave kids. I came here to settle some things and because I wanted to thank you."
The U.A. students didn't say anything. They couldn't.
"Heads up," he turned to Hikari, "I'm glad it was me and not that young man over there." He nodded at Bakugou, who could only stare back. "I've had a good life, I fulfilled my dream. And I can still live the rest of my life in peace, somewhere where it's much calmer than here."
The girl didn't look at him. Her face was turned to the floor. "I'm sorry…"
"You made the right decision. I don't blame you."
Her head shot up. Izuku could see she was close to shedding tears but fought them back down. Instead, she bowed and choked a forced, "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Seeing young people like the four of you reassures me that Japan is and will be in good hands. Keep on working hard and doing your best. I will cheer on you."
Izuku fought back his own tears. Heroes don't cry.
The streets were busy as usual. Many uniformed students were on their way back from school, faces glued to their phones, cars drove by hoping to avoid traffic peak hour. Earning a few confused glances, Hikari made her way against the tide. A small girl stared at her, eyes full of wonder. The hero in training forced a smile onto her lips and waved.
Hikari wasn't having a bad day. She wasn't even having a bad week, more like a bad life. She got through most of the day quite well until she slipped and was unable to catch up to the pro hero and her three friends anymore. Dejected, she sent them a quick text informing them that she was at her limit and going back to train with Glitch. They didn't answer but since no one came looking for her, they must have seen it but were too busy to answer, already on the next villain's heels. Weren't they lucky with their quirks.
Hikari took a turn and entered the business district flooded with expensive cars and men in suits with golden watches around their wrists. No one spared her a glance.
Then there was that thing with Nokobiri. He said he didn't blame her, but that didn't stop her from blaming herself. If only she had created a shield instead of pushing Bakugou out of the way she could have prevented the bullet from hitting anyone.
Izuku had laid a hand on her back for comfort. No one thought much of it, it was a nice gesture, he himself definitely didn't have any ulterior motives, but Hikari… She was trying her best to act normal. And it worked most of the time, well enough she forgot about it for the biggest part of the week, but sometimes, when he smiled at her, it came back full force. After the joint training when they sat on the porch… She had thought about kissing him. Hikari had known for a while that she was harbouring certain feelings for the boy, heck, she even told him about it during the holidays, but she never considered they ran that deep. She had read enough books and watched enough movies to know where this was going. And she didn't like it. She didn't have time for that teenager stuff, she didn't want it to ruin their friendship, and he was basically married to heroics anyway. Having to deal with Dragon and multiple quirks was hard enough, he didn't need any more distractions, especially not in the form of a friend having a weird, annoying crush on him. Although, thinking about it, Ochako very obviously had a thing for him as well…
One more problem arose. Hikari slapped her own, now healthy cheeks. She had paid Recovery Girl a visit last night, not wanting people at the agency to see her face like that. They didn't know about the joint training exercise and luckily Endeavour didn't seem to know about her fight against Shouto. At least not yet. She didn't want to know how the number one would react after hearing that she kicked his son out of the game.
Food, she needed food. That would cheer her up. The girl turned sharp left, her way out of the business district and right into a small alley, her favourite shortcut. There was a small grocery store on the other side where she could satisfy her needs before returning to the agency. Wanting nothing more than to get there as quickly as possible, she didn't pay much attention to the man leaning against the wall next to the dumpster where the alley split into two. At least not until he pushed himself off and blocked the way with his tall frame.
"Excuse me? Can I help you?" Hikari tried to stay polite. She felt weirdly uneasy.
"I think you can," the man replied. His voice was higher than anticipated, smooth like silk. The girl narrowed her eyes and inspected him. He didn't look suspicious, just like your ordinary teacher or maybe a bit like an inspector with his white shirt, the plain blue trousers, and the brown trench coat. He didn't seem particularly strong or trained, she could easily take him if he tried something funny, even without her quirk.
"And how is that?" The girl pressed, widening her stance slightly. The man smiled, his expression still not showing any malice. Maybe it was nothing. He pulled the brown leather gloves off his hands.
Touch based quirk, her mind screamed in alert. Okay, maybe this could go wrong. She was exhausted, turning around and leaving the alley would probably be the wisest decision.
"Don't even think about it. You didn't expect me to come alone, did you?"
A low thud. Steps closed in from behind and to her left, blocking each path. There was still one way, up, but for that she would have to use her last reserves to activate her quirk.
"You didn't answer my question. How do you think I can help you?" Hikari tried to stay calm and stall for time. Out of the corners of her eyes she saw a dark figure approach, dressed completely in black. That one gave off a far more dangerous aura. She needed to get out of here.
The man in the trench coat stuffed the gloves into his pockets. "Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you, if you comply, you'll walk away without a single scratch. All I need is some intel."
"And what makes you think I'd tell anything to suspicious men in dark alleys?" Breathe, the agency is only five minutes away. Going up the roof seemed like the best idea right now. If she gave it her all, she would make it back in no time-
"Jeez, you're so full of yourself. Do you think we didn't consider you might have an ace up your sleeve?" A voice mocked from behind. A familiar voice, all too familiar. Hikari whirled around, eyes wide, staring at the teen emerging from the shadows in disbelief.
"To-Tomomo?"
He grinned, his cold blue eyes piercing her. Clad in some sort of black tactical suit with a few too many weapons for her liking strapped to his limbs, he looked far more intimidating than she remembered.
Fuck, this is bad. Now she was in real trouble. If Tomomo was here, these men were most likely working for Dragon. But why Dragon? Why her? Why here, why now? The trench coat guy said they needed information… Had she been targeted? Had someone noticed she used this exact shortcut every time and gave that information to the villain? Wait, what if they wanted something from Midoriya? She couldn't let them get to him-
"I wouldn't struggle if I were you," Tomomo went on, "maybe I'll let you go unharmed as Coldhands said."
The trench coat guy was Coldhands, the villain who kidnapped Inko. This couldn't get any worse.
"Or…" He fished something out of his vest, a small container looking like a hybrid between a bullet and a syringe filled with a neon orange liquid. "I assume you know this one? We sadly missed your classmate, but that other hero was enough for a demonstration."
Anger boiled inside of her. Hikari clenched her fists and bared her teeth. Was that really Overload? She had no other choice; seemingly adjusting her glove she pulled the screw out of her digital watch and darted towards the other previous Seishin student, startling all of them. She needed to get that bullet and get out of here before he could use it, be it against her or anyone else.
The heroine Glitch had been surprised when a teacher from U.A., none other than the underground hero Eraserhead, reached out to her. It seemed a bit odd that a teacher would give one of his students a tracker, but she went along with it. If U.A. deemed that necessary, it had to be. What she never expected was the alarm on her phone actually going off. She stared at the map flashing up on the screen for solid twenty seconds before realizing why it was there and what the red, pulsing dot meant.
It was less than five minutes away, and it was too early for Endeavour to return, which could only mean one thing.
Glitch cursed, alarming some of the sidekicks training in the gym and stormed out of the room. Maybe it was nothing, but she still made sure to text her colleagues before bolting out of the building and heading into the direction of the alley. Better safe than sorry.
The fingers were removed. Hikari crushed hard into the asphalt, still feeling their touch boring into her temples. She felt sick. A bit further down she heard Tomomo loudly cuss, desperately trying to find the bullet that dropped into the dumpster during the fight. Served him right.
The girl pushed herself to her knees but the world around her was spinning, there was no up or down, no left or right, the ground beneath her seemed to move. And her head, oh her head felt like it was going to explode. He had been in there. She felt violated.
At last her body couldn't take it anymore and she threw up whatever was left in her stomach.
Nightmare, the man completely dressed in black, stepped out of reach and walked to the other side of the alley, where Coldhands lay sprawled out on the icy floor. At least she had knocked one of them out.
"I'm so going to kill you for this," Tomomo hissed, still unsuccessful. Hikari had to do something. Was no one coming? Didn't her panic button work? Aizawa-sensei would never ignore her call for help. She forced herself up, but her vision was immediately taken over by blackness. She fell back to the floor.
"I wouldn't move if I were you," Nightmare warned her, "my quirk is not supposed to be used this way. Don't know if your brain can cope with that."
She had to move, but her body didn't obey. Her face and neck were numb where Coldhands had touched her. Not enough to rob her off her consciousness because Nightmare's quirk apparently didn't work if she was out, but enough to paralyze her. Tomomo had left a few ugly bruises during their fight but not nearly as many as she gave him. His left wrist had to be twisted if not broken. Still, if he found the Overload bullet… She was going to die.
It was cold. Her head hurt so much. Forming a single coherent thought required too much focus. One of the last things she remembered was a well-known voice echoing through the narrow alley, "Hey there, gentlemen. May I ask what the fuck is going on?"
A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews and welcome to our new followers!
Yamajiji: Thank you for the review! I'm only profiting of Horikoshi here but yes, Shinsou deserves it!
DragonshadowRyukage: I thanked you so many times it's starting to feel a bit weird, but once again, thank you! xD I hope the new version of the previous chapter turned out a bit better.
And yes, let's hope for the best in 2021! Maybe I'll finally get to finish this fic :'D At least once season 5 is out my understanding of class B will be better. They will make another appearance towards the end after all. (No more spoilers)
Again, I LIVE for long reviews and good critique, your words will always be appreciated.
