CHAPTER 42: SMILE
Izuku sighed as he got out of his limousine. He stared up at the entrance of U.A. With the threat he made to the principal after the fall of Allmight he honestly never expected to have to come here ever again. Izuku was surprised that they were even having a cultural festival. He thought that the commission would have shut that down because of the threat that the League of Villains still posed.
'That rat must have pulled some strings to get this.' Izuku thought as he placed his sunglasses on. Why was he doing this again? He looked back into the seat of the car to see Eri in a red and white child's dress. That's right. That blonde fool Mirio Togata thought that this would be a good idea.
The other day, after he explained to Eri how quirks were not a curse and showed her a demonstration, the hero Lemillion decided to step inside and make his introduction. Eri seemed pleased to see the person who almost died trying to save her was safe, but had yet to show a truly positive show of emotions. Mirio was also glad that she was safe. After greeting her the poor fool attempted to get the young girl to smile. He said that they all wanted to see her safe and smiling again. Much to both Izuku and Togata's shock they found that Eri had forgotten how to smile.
Izuku didn't hold any hard feelings for Mirio, in fact he found the older boy to be quite admirable and heroic. However his idea to bring Eri to U.A's cultural festival in attempt to cheer her up give her back some of the childhood she missed thanks to Chisaki, while with the best intentions, Izuku felt might be a mistake.
They just got Eri out of an awful environment, he didn't think surrounding her with more people, people that Izuku knew he couldn't completely trust, was such a good idea. Unfortunately that look on her face when Mirio explained all the cool things that would be at the festival. That look of curiosity and hope was not something the gauntlet user could deny.
A few phone calls later, Midoriya and Eri were given permission to attend at Mirio's request. Izuku also made sure to get permission for a few extra guests as well. He didn't want to have to attend this thing alone.
"Alright Eri. We're here." Izuku held his hand out for her to take. Eri took his hand and quietly followed him up to the school's entrance. Another limo pulled up and out stepped Ochako aka Angel, dressed in a white long sleeved shirt, sleeves rolled up, black plants and shoes.
"Sorry I'm late." She apologized. Uraraka wanted to have lunch with her parents that day, but also wanted to come with Izuku and Eri later. Something about saying hello to her friends.
"Actually you're right on time." Izuku was glad that she made it. Todoroki didn't have any friends at U.A and wanted to spend time training with Dabi, much to the pyromaniac's displeasure. Iida also wanted to train on that new treadmill that Mei Hatsume designed and built for him, so he elected to stay back at the base as well.
"Hi, you must be Eri." Uraraka smiled down at the little girl who hid behind the green haired boy's leg.
"She's a little shy." Izuku surmised. "This is a very good friend of mine Eri, she won't hurt you."
"H-Hello." Eri stuttered out, taking a brave step out from behind him.
"Nice to meet you too. You can call me Ochako." She then turned her attention to the older boy.
"You know you didn't have to dress so formally." Unlike Izuku the brown haired girl was dressed casually.
"I like the suit." He replied with a shrug.
"Come here." Uraraka walked right into his personal space and undid his poorly done tie, loosening the top button before tossing it into the back seat of the limo. Eri watched the whole interaction curiously. Even a girl as young as her wondered if they were more than friends. "There that's better."
"Ahem." The sound of someone clearing there throat interrupted them. All three of them turned to see Shota Aizawa standing there at the entrance with the pro heroes Hound Dog and Ectoplasm standing behind him. "If you two are done, we can perform the security check."
"By all means, go right ahead." Izuku stared back him with an equally disinterested glare. Ectoplasm stepped towards the group with a handheld metal detector. He did a sweep over all three of them. "Checking for weapons?" He raised a brow at that. "How ridiculous. As if I would carry a gun or a bomb when I have the most powerful weapon in the world strapped to my left arm." He chuckled at U.A for their overly cautious methods.
"Speaking of which. We're going to ask for you to leave that with us." Hound Dog growled out, gesturing towards his gauntlet. Izuku took a few dangerous steps towards the towering hero. Aizawa nearly whipped out his capture scarf at the intimidating aura that Midoriya gave off.
"Sure." Izuku finally spoke, giving a friendly smile. Uraraka along with the three teacher's eyes widened in shock as he reached for his infinity gauntlet as if to take it off. "Oh wait." He stopped. "Would you also like me to give you my main base's secret access codes, or perhaps the location of the Titan shutdown system?" Izuku spoke with the thickest of sarcasm. "Get real." He mockingly smacked Hound Dog on the arm as he walked past the beastly hero.
Eri quickly followed, wanting to stay close to him. Uraraka gave her former teachers and apologetic smile as she passed, trailing behind the two. Aizawa wanted to say something, but they had other matters with securing the school grounds to attend to. Plus he knew Midoriya wouldn't start any trouble. He was only here for that child and nothing else.
"Hey you guys made it!" Mirio appeared to be waiting for them. Izuku approached the third year.
"The annoying security check aside." The gauntlet user rolled his eyes. "Lead the way."
"You three are going to love this. Class 1-A has been practicing all week." Mirio explained as they walked. The older boy led them to a small concert theater where many other U.A students were gathering. The four of them ended up somewhere in the middle of the crowd. With Mirio placing Eri on his shoulders so she could see better.
Izuku silently watched as the room went dark and the curtains opened. The lights on stage came on revealing class 1-A, some holding instruments, others looked to be back up dancers of some sort. Personally he thought that the future heroes shouldn't be wasting time with such frivolity when they could be training, improving, and honing their skills. All that talk about going beyond, 'Plus Ultra!' they said. Yet here they were playing around like they were a band. At least the other hero schools took things more seriously.
He thought that, but when the show went on Izuku was honestly impressed by how entertaining it was. He actually had to resist waving his arms up like the rest of the crowd, he had too much dignity for that. However Ochako and even Eri could participate as much as they wanted. He turned and watched Eri who seemed anxious at first, but as the show continued she started to get into it.
It was then that Izuku saw something miraculous. Eri's lips upturned into a smile. An actual honest to god smile. The most heartwarming smile he had ever seen. Even when Izuku saved her, even when he told her that Kai Chisaki was gone for good, she never once smiled. Caught up in all this excitement and positive energy that class 1-A was what finally did it. Izuku was truly grateful to the hero students for this. Maybe having a festival and concert was a good idea. Perhaps he misjudged things.
"Did you like the show Eri?" Mirio asked as he set her down on her feet. The show was over and the crowd began milling out talking about how awesome class 1-A was.
"It was amazing." Izuku, Ochako and Mirio smiled as the little girl went on a tangent about much fun she had.
"So what would you like to do next?" Izuku asked as they left the area with the other students. He barely noticed the wide birth they were giving him. All of U.A knew who he was and what he could do and no one wanted to get on his radar. He could honestly care less though. They walked around the festival trying the various foods and playing some of the games.
Much to Izuku's annoyance Mirio Togata challenged him to the obstacle course. At first the gauntlet user turned him down, having nothing to prove. However Mirio replied with some good natured playful taunting. Izuku knew he didn't mean anything, but his instinctual reaction led him to four words. 'Oh it is on!' Taking off the jacket of his suit he handed it to Uraraka and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt.
No quirks were allowed during the games, so Izuku couldn't rely on his gauntlet and Togata couldn't use permeation, so it was a contest of who was more athletic. Unfortunately a third year hero student proved to be much more adept physically. While Izuku wasn't a skinny pushover like he was in middle school, his own muscular body couldn't keep up with Mirio's larger well trained more impressive one. At least he made the older boy work for that win, coming up just behind him at the end of the obstacle course. Eri seemed to enjoy the friendly competition, so his pride taking the hit was worth it. After that game they went on to see the show that class 1-B was putting on. Some poorly written mashed together production based off multiple movie franchises.
'Ripping off western cinema. How original.' He thought to himself. Throughout their little performance Izuku kept having to suppress a snort at how ridiculous it was. There was a moment where he almost started laughing out loud, but was stopped when Ochako gave him a gentle elbow jab in the arm that conveyed the simple message, 'Don't be rude'. Though after the show even Mirio was silent for once, not knowing what to say. Eri seemed to like it, then again children don't know the difference between good and bad theatre, so it was fine.
After the beauty contest, the four of them went back to the trying out the different games set up around the campus. Izuku stopped and turned when he felt Eri ceased moving. He noticed she was looking at something at one of the stands. Following her gaze, he saw that she was staring at a white stuffed unicorn, one of the prizes that the game offered. The little girl absentmindedly reached for the small horn on her own head.
"You like that?" Mirio blurted out, having also noticed what Eri was eyeing.
"It has a horn like me." Eri said. She'd never seen a pony with a horn before.
"Would you like one?" Izuku asked. He led her by the hand to the booth. It seemed to be a target shooting game run by a pair of students. "How do we win the unicorn?" He questioned the two boys.
"Five tickets get you five shots." The first said. "Get three shots in a row, you get one of the lesser prizes, get all five in a row and you can get any prize you want."
"Simple enough." Izuku pulled out a rather large roll of tickets that he purchased at the entrance. All proceeds went to charity since the school already had more funding than they knew what to do with. He bought one roll for himself so he could do whatever Eri wanted and he bought one for Uraraka for whatever game or show she wanted to participate in. "Would the top U.A student like to go first?" Izuku asked with a smirk.
"Sure." Mirio smiled back, confident to the challenge. Izuku handed him five tickets and stepped out of his way. "This will be a piece of cake, which we will have later after I win this." He tried to joke.
"Bad at jokes." Izuku mumbled under his breath. He watched as Mirio Togata easily got four out of five targets almost effortlessly. When he was about to get the last one the green haired teen very subtly used the reality stone on his gauntlet and with a single finger twitch just ever so slightly moved the dart off course, causing the older boy to miss the last shot. "Awe. That's a shame." No one saw that. No one but Uraraka who silently narrowed her eyes at Izuku in a disapproving yet playful manner.
'I know what you did.' Her eyes conveyed.
'What?' The gauntlet user noticed her look and mouthed the question. She said nothing, but gave him a look that told him not do that again.
"Man. I was sure I had that." Mirio sighed dejectedly.
"Let me give it a try." Izuku stepped forward, placing the tickets on the table. Looking at the targets and darts in his hand, his mind rapidly calculated how to get all five. In a span of seconds he got all five targets. "Mind over matter, brain versus brawn. Brain always wins." The gauntlet user smirked at his victory over Mirio. "I'll take the unicorn please." The student quickly got the prize and handed it to the director. Izuku passed it to Eri noticing it was almost half the size of her body. The little girl smiled and cuddled the stuffed animal to her body. The adorable scene moved all three of them.
'Heart…melting.' That was all Izuku thought as he fought the urge to clutch his chest. After a while Ochako disappeared having been pulled away by Mina Ashido to go hang out with her friends from U.A. Mirio took Eri to go on a ride, leaving Izuku to take a break by himself. Despite being alone, he knew he was far from it. Every security camera and hero on staff was watching his every move, he deduced. He didn't care. Even if he wanted to cause a problem, they couldn't stop him either way. Not that he had any bad intentions.
Green eyes then spotted a head of gravity defying purple hair, also sitting alone at a bench not to far from himself. He smirked at the familiar person and went to go join him. The boy noticed him approach and unlike the all the other students didn't panic or stare with fear and apprehension.
"Shinso Hitoshi. A pleasure to see you again." Izuku greeted him.
"Director Midoriya." Shinso replied. "I'm surprised you remember me."
"I remember every student I find interesting." Izuku sat down next to him without permission. "I noticed that you weren't in either of the hero class' little shows. They still haven't transferred you I see." Shinso clenched his fist, taking a deep breath to calm himself. It was a sore subject, which Izuku could tell, so he decided to press further. "Even after the sports festival? You made it farther than any of the general education students. Are they not even considering you?"
"They are." The purple haired boy corrected. "Aizawa-sensei has been giving me some private lessons and the support studio is making me something to compliment my quirk."
"Tell me more." Izuku leaned in, hungry for more information. The student with the brainwashing quirk went on to explain that Erasure Head was teaching him how to use a capture scarf, the same weapon that the underground hero wielded. He also told him about the voice changing device to wear around his mouth the support class was working on that he requested.
"Hm." Izuku hummed to himself in thought. "That's a very good start, but it's not enough."
"Not to sound rude, but what do you mean not enough?" Shinso looked at him with tired eyes.
"As I said, you're looking in the right direction with that voice changing device, but I think you should go even further." Izuku's brilliant mind already went through all the possibilities and potential that his brainwashing quirk could do. "Don't waste time with such a complex capture weapon. You should focus more on trickery and deception like with the voice changer. Learn how to throw your voice like a ventriloquist. Tell nobody how your quirk works, not even your friends, colleagues or loved ones. You need to be like a magician and tell no one your secrets. Have disguises, alternate identities. You could be a dozen different heroes and nobody would know." Shinso's eyes widened at the long winded analysis about how he should be using his quirk and the kind of hero he could be.
"How the hell?" The general course student wondered where all this came from.
"Oh. I'm extremely good at quirk analysis." Izuku explained simply. "I've been doing it since childhood and used this talent a lot during my time as a villain. Made quite a lot of money at it in fact." He thought it was funny that a skill ignored and under appreciated by heroes and civilians in society, was in fact cherished and highly valued by villains. How ironic.
"Um…thank you for the tips…I guess." Contrary to his apathetic tone he was enormously grateful for any advice he could get his hands on. He was already so far behind the hero students.
"Look. Aizawa is the homeroom teacher of class 1-A, so I'm guessing those private lessons don't happen as frequently as you like." Izuku spoke as he reached into the pocket of his jacket. "If you want more focused training and state of the art support items, come to the city office of my department." He handed the student his card. "Tell them you're name and that you know me. I'll personally arrange whatever you need." Shinso looked down at the card in his hand.
'Knights of Balance.' The hero training program of the HRD. "I'll…I'll think about." He sounded interested, but a bit hesitant.
"That's all I ask." Izuku smiled at him. "Think about it, consider your options and come to me if you decided you want more than what this school can do for you. I see a lot of potential in you Shinso Hitoshi and would like nothing more than for you to properly flourish and become all that you could be" With that he bid Shinso farewell and went to go catch up with Mirio and Eri.
Later that evening after everything was over it was time to leave. Eri despite her time here being over was still smiling and happy.
"Don't forget your new friend." Izuku using the reality stone picked up the stuffed unicorn that she dropped and made it trot over to the girl as if it was alive. Eri grabbed her precious gift and held it close so as to not drop it again. "Thank you Togata. This was a real treat and I'm glad you suggested it." The gauntlet user held his right hand out for him to shake. Mirio was never intimidated by Midoriya like many others, so he eagerly took the offered hand, returning the gesture.
"Your welcome." Mirio beamed at him. This only further proved his belief that there was good inside Izuku Midoriya. He wasn't all just dark ambitions and cruel intentions like everyone thought. Maybe that future Sir saw could be prevented after all. There didn't have to be a battle.
ELSEWHERE
About a mile from the city office of the HRD. In a dark, dank alley a windowless van sat parked in the shadows. The vehicle stayed unseen and unnoticed by the city around it.
"The security is tight." The voice of a young girl spoke from within, the clacking of a keyboard following her words. "The system is almost impenetrable."
"Almost?" The voice of an older man said.
"Yes there is a window of opportunity." The girl explained. "We'll only get one attempt, so we'll have to pick the right moment."
"Well done my dear." The man praised. "We can infiltrate the department office and escape without Director Midoriya being none the wiser."
"Are you sure this is a good idea Gentle?" The girl didn't sound too on board with this plan. Director Midoriya and his department was not someone to be trifled with.
"Of course La Brava." He said enthusiastically. "We're about to attempt something that even the bravest villains wouldn't dare try. After this our names will go down in history." The man theatrically proclaimed. He was so sure of his success.
I originally didn't plan for this, but so many of you were on board with the idea. I guess some good fun is okay to lighten things up a bit after that horrific murder a few chapters ago ;) This chapter should have been out last weekend, buuuuut…I really really wanted to play that new Resident Evil Village game. I love horror games, especially the RE franchise. Sorry
Tried to throw in some sweetness in there. I had this cute idea of Izuku using the reality stone to make the stuffed unicorn dance for Eri that made it into the chapter. Though there was a bunch of cute fluffiness that had to get chopped out, because I'm saving it for future interactions between them.
I wasn't really too on board for doing a filler chapter, so I had to include somethings that move the story along as well. That Shinso bit wasn't supposed to happen yet. Originally I was going to have him leave U.A and seek Izuku out on his own. This interaction now happens a bit early than intended, but I think it still works fine.
I'm on vacation right now. Which means I'm having drinks, which means I probably missed more stuff than I usually do in editing. Sorry aboot that
Anyway thanks for reading.