Chapter 3: Meeting Mirio
It was just a regular day for Joey, school was over and he and Eri were spending time with their friends Jougo and Rukia before they were picked up. "It must be really cool, getting to see all the Heroes at U.A. and watching them train," Rukia was saying, her muddy face all smiles. "It is sometimes," Eri said, "But mostly they're all done with that stuff. Usually, we just hang out with everyone in the Main Room and do normal things like watch TV and play games." Jougo piped up, "That sounds boring. I mean don't they do anything cool there?" Joey then said, "Sometimes my sister will spar with some folks. I think she's fought with almost everyone in their year by now, Class A and B. She says she wants to start a martial arts club, if she can get enough people interested."
"Oh yeah, that's true," Eri said. The one-horned girl stood up and started throwing punches and kicks, "Marie-nee-san is almost as cool as Deku-nii-san! She's all kinds of strong and knows all kinds of cool fighting moves!" Eri went for a high kick and managed to stick the landing, and the other three kids applauded. "Man, I wish we could go to U.A. with you guys," Jougo said as he scratched his head, "I'd get all the girls autographs, like Creati, Pinky, Froppy, Uravity, maybe Midnight too." Rukia turned to the purple haired boy and said, "You're just a little pervert aren't you Jougo?" Jougo blushed, "N-no! I just think that they're cool is all."
"HEEEEYYYY! ERI-CHAN! JOEY-CHAN! IT'S TIME TO GOOOO!"
The kids were interrupted by a loud man's voice and Joey asked, "Who's that?" Eri jumped up happily, "It's Mirio-nii-san! Come on!" Joey quickly grabbed his backpack and lunchbox while Eri grabbed hers, "See you later guys!" Joey and Eri quickly told their friends, and then Joey was running to keep up with the excited Eri. They ran to see a tall, muscular young man with blonde hair and blue eyes. "Mirio-nii-san!" Eri excitedly screamed as she jumped up into the young man's arms. "Eri-chan!" Mirio said as he lifted her up and spun her through the air. Sheesh, I know that he helped save Eri, but this guy is like a bottle of sunshine, especially compared to Midoriya…
"You must be Joey," Mirio said as he walked over while Eri rode one of his broad shoulders. "Hi," Joey said. Mirio took a knee and offered his hand, "GO ahead and climb on board, Aizawa-sensei and Kayama-sensei are busy with a meeting, so they sent me to pick you up. It's all settled at the front office, so we can head on out whenever you want to." Joey nodded and climbed up Mirio's muscular arm until he was sitting on the opposite shoulder from Eri. Mirio carried them out on his shoulders, and the two of them waved goodbye to their friends as they passed them. Once they were out of the school building, Mirio said, "Alright guys, hold on tight. I haven't gotten my cardio yet today, and I think this will make for some good training."
Joey quickly grabbed Eri's hand as Mirio took a hold of the children's legs and then took off running. Joey was astonished by the young man's speed as he ran through the sidewalk, while Eri was laughing like he was a carnival ride. People on the streets all turned to watch the seemingly crazy guy carrying two kids as he ran through the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding people and accidents the whole way. The entire time, Joey held on like his life depended on it, and Eri just enjoyed the ride. When they finally reached U.A., Mirio set them down and wiped some sweat off his brow, "Whew! You're growing up pretty fast Eri-chan. Soon you'll be carrying me around!"
Eri just laughed and flexed her arms, "Marie-nee-san has been showing me how to exercise!" Mirio laughed at that and cheerily said, "Hey, since we're here, why don't we go meet her? Eri told me that she's a great fighter, and I'm always interested in meeting great fighters." Joey just nodded, "Alright, but if you spar her and she wins, don't whine that you got beaten by a girl." Mirio just laughed at this, "I think that if that happens, it's a good learning experience."
The three of them headed inside and saw Marie was on the couch listening to some music. "Hey Marie," Joey said. "Hi, Marie-nee-san," Eri greeted her. "Hey, Joey, Eri. Who's your friend?" Marie asked as she took her headphones out. "This is Mirio-nii-san, he helped Deku-nii-san save me!" Eri said as Marie got up and Mirio shook her hand. "You're blind…they didn't tell me that," Mirio said, "But they did tell me that you're really strong." Marie laughed and then transformed into her werewolf form, "I manage just fine with my nose and ears." Mirio nodded, "Oh yeah, I can see that. Mmmm… MAN! Now I really want to test you out! We should go a round!"
Marie smiled, and transformed back into her normal form, "Sure thing, Senpai. Let's head to the gym." Marie grabbed her cane and led the way to the gym. As they walked, Mirio commented, "It's great to see a new face. Eri-chan told me about how you've been exercising with her too." Marie nodded, "Well yeah, I think a girl should be able to take care of herself. And we're here!" Marie walked into the gym, where Midoriya, Iida, Bakugou, Sato and Kirishima were already working out. "Togata-senpai!" All the boys, except Bakugou, greeted him. "Hey guys!" Mirio greeted, "Just stopped by to drop off Eri-chan, and I met our new student. I wanted to test her out."
"The mats are over there, Senpai," Iida pointed, "I can judge your sparring match if you want." Mirio said, "Thanks, Iida-kun." Mirio took off his shoes and socks and shirt, and Marie did the same, showing her black sports bra. "Wow," Mirio said as they got on the mats and took their positions, "You look like you could give Mirko a run for her money." Marie smiled, "I'm hoping to surpass her one day." Iida then spoke up, "Alright, everyone ready?" Mirio nodded, "Ready." "Good to go," Marie said. Iida chopped the air and yelled, "BEGIN!"
Mirio shot at Marie like a missile, but the girl narrowly dodged his punch and went for a kick. Mirio blocked the kick and threw another punch, Marie narrowly dodged it by millimeters. Marie went for her own punch, but Mirio blocked it and Marie's follow up kick. And so it went, both of them moving so fast that Eri and Joey were struggling to keep up with it. "Keep going Marie!" Joey cheered as she ducked under a kick and tried to trip Mirio up, only for Mirio to jump over her sweep. "You got this, Mirio-nii-san!" Eri cheered. Both of the sparrers were ducking, blocking, and dodging each other almost flawlessly.
However, after five minutes of intense back and forth, Marie finally made a mistake and tripped on her own feet. Mirio saw his chance and bellowed, "POWWWWWEEEEEEERRRRRRRR!" Like a cannonball his fist blasted into Marie's solar plexus and she fell to her knees holding her stomach. Marie coughed and tried to breathe. "MARIE!" Joey yelled, only for her to wave him aside. "I'm good," she said, "But yeah, you win, Senpai." Mirio was breathing heavily as he helped her stand up and lean on a wall so she could breathe. "You're real good, Marie-kun. You almost had me a few times," he complimented her. Marie shook her head, "Nah, I barely kept up with you. If you still had your Quirk, I wouldn't have lasted ten seconds." Mirio patted her back and told her, "Keep working hard, Marie-kun. That goes for the rest of you guys, alright?" "RIGHT!" the other U.A. students agreed. "I gotta go, it was nice meeting you, Joey-chan, Marie-kun. Let's do this again sometime." "Sure," Marie said with a smile and a thumbs-up, "I'll be better next time." Mirio smiled at that, "Looking forward to it. See you later, Eri-chan." Mirio got dressed and gave Eri a hug before he left.
"He's awesome," an awestruck Joey said as he watched him leave. "I told you, didn't I?" Eri told him. Joey just nodded as he watched Mirio leave, wondering what kind of Hero he would have been if he still had his Quirk.