Huh.
Sometime during Aizawa-sensei's speech, Kendou had begun to make her way towards him. As it was, she was now in the midst of his class. She was in casual clothes which made her stick out all the more as everyone else was in their gym clothes— most of which were not in good shape.
"You haven't answered my question yet," Kendou said and for the first time, he noticed the water bottle in her hand, "When are we gonna spar? That kick has got me amped up! Do you think I could take that—"
"No."
"—because I think I could!" Kendou finished as if Izuku hadn't said anything at all.
He sighed and rolled his eyes which seemed to only make Kendou smile wider. He was aware of a few eyes on them, but he ignored them for the time being. He'd probably stare too if someone had just kicked a ball over a kilometre away.
Speaking of which, his foot felt like a million ants were crawling under his skin. In other words, he had to get back to his room and ice it.
"I'm always up to spar with you, but I still need to unpack," Izuku said as he sat down on the floor and massaged his foot even going as far as to take off his shoe, "Plus my foot isn't feeling all that great after that kick...so I-uhhhhhhh."
Izuku trailed off as he looked back up at Kendou who was taking a drink of water. Instead of drinking directly from it, Kendou was pouring the water into her mouth which would have been fine, but she wasn't particularly good at it.
Trails of water traced down her cheek and around her neck before dipping down into the collar of her shirt. Izuku felt his throat dry up even though he wasn't feeling particularly thirsty. Kendou's shirt lifted a bit higher to reveal her sculpted abs which—
"Sorry to cut in like this, but could I have some of that? I'm dead on my feet..."
Jirou had appeared from nowhere (not literally of course Izuku had just been distracted by abs...no wait...by how absolutely tired he was? Yup, that was it!) and she looked to be particularly tired. To be fair to her, pretty much everyone looked to be pretty knackered.
The exceptions to this, excluding Izuku, were Bakugou who was obviously glaring at him, but more notably Todoroki looked as if he'd just gone on a short stroll through the woods. He seemed to be in far better condition than Izuku despite having placed fourth.
Admittedly, Izuku hadn't been paying much attention to the boy, but maybe he should have been.
Especially since he was staring at Izuku right now.
His gaze was different from the burning fury of Bakugou or Yaoyorozu's deep and analytical black eyes. Both of them were watching him as Kendou passed her bottle from a relieved Jirou and onto Sero and Ashido. No, Todoroki's stare was blank and frigid and unfeeling.
It was pretty unsettling.
Izuku forced himself to ignore the stares of the other members of the top four of his class. He put his shoe back on and tied his laces before standing up. There was already a few people beginning to walk back towards the dorm and Izuku looked around for Iida and Uraraka, but they were nowhere to be seen.
"You're looking for Uraraka and Iida, aren't you?"
Izuku turned to see Asui standing near him. He jerked back in surprise at her sudden appearance. Asui, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed by his abrupt reaction. Izuku was frozen still until Asui spoke again.
"You're being weird."
Well, this was off to a great start.
"Sorry about that, Asui," Izuku finally said as he rubbed the back of his head, "You kinda just popped out of nowhere. You really surprised me, there...Where are Uraraka and Iida?"
"First of all, please call me Tsu, not Asui," Asui said (although it was closer to a croak) and out the corner of his eye, Izuku saw Kendou's head snap towards them, "And as for Uraraka and Iida, I saw them go after Aizawa-sensei. I think Uraraka had a question for him and Iida knows the way around the school already."
"Oh, thanks Asui—"
"I said call me Tsu," Asui said rather vehemently her expression darkening just a bit.
Izuku could only nod frantically and he muttered something halfway between Tsu, Asui and sorry. Thankfully, he was saved from further embarrassing himself as Kendou pulled on his arm.
"Let's go," Kendou said as she began to pull him along, "I sacrificed my water bottle to your class so you better make that up to me."
Izuku pulled his arm free as they joined the crowd of students making their way back to the boarding house, "How should I do that?"
Kendou smiled.
Oh, no.
"Kick me as hard as you kicked that ball!" Kendou all but screamed her tone way too eager for something that could (would) kill her, "Where the hell did that come from? You're probably one of the strongest people here, right? I know you destroyed that zero-pointer, but—"
"I did that too, carrot top!" Bakugou said appearing from nowhere, "So, stop praising Deku! He isn't even the strongest from our shitty old school let alone a place like this! That's me!"
Kendou's face had settled into a deep frown as she stared at Bakugou. Izuku saw her hands clench and he moved himself to cover her view of Bakugou. It barely did anything, though. Kendou unclenched her hands but she was still glaring over Izuku's shoulder right at Bakugou.
"You need to cool it, Bakugou," Kirishima said joining the conversation and pulling Bakugou away, "Didn't he just beat you in Aizawa-sensei's test?"
Surprisingly, Bakugou allowed himself to be pulled away, "He got lucky! Besides I beat him in the entrance exam that's what really matters!"
"Do you always speak this loud?"
"I can speak as loud as I want, stupid hair!"
"My name's Ejirou Kirishima..."
"I don't care!"
Kirishima didn't seem too fazed by Bakugou's acerbic nature as he stopped pulling him away and turned to look at Izuku, "That girl was right, though! That kick was awesome! We can partner up for tomorrow if you want? You look like someone who can throw down— a real man!"
"What?! You want Deku? I'm right here! We were in the same fucking venue!"
Kirishima didn't acknowledge Bakugou's outside of picking his ear clean with his pinky. This caused quite a few laughs amongst the group they were walking in. People were laughing at Bakugou...this was weird. Really weird.
"I, uh—"
"Sorry, Kirishima, but you gotta find another partner! I called dibs!" Ashido said as she cut Izuku off from responding
"What? When?"
"Right now! Dibs!" Ashido replied before turning to Izuku, "Hey! My name's Mina Ashido and you're Izuku Midoriya, right?"
"Uh, yeah—"
"Great! So how about we partner up? That kick was so cool! I bet we could make a really good—"
Before Ashido could finish speaking, something latched onto Izuku's leg and let out something between a whine and a screech.
"Midoriya, no!" Mineta said as he held onto Izuku's leg tightly, "Don't fall for Ashido's charms! An alpha like you is better than that pink hussy! Pick me instead! I came last and you heard what sensei said! I could be expelled!"
"Who the hell are you calling a hussy, you little brat?! And what does that even mean?"
"Alpha?" Izuku said under his breath as Ashido ripped Mineta off his leg with frightening ease. How strong was she?
"Hey, Midoriya!" came a few voices all at once.
Oh, please no.
Izuku turned to the voices and froze.
He tried to speak but before he knew it he was swarmed by requests from others in his class. Jirou, Hagakure and even Satou, who had done rather well, all began to walk towards him with something scary gleaming in their eyes.
Izuku began to feel overwhelmed by the situation before his saviour intervened.
"Hey!" Kendou screamed above the noise of everyone else, "Let the guy rest before swarming him! You all still need to pack and eat and if I'm being honest... none of you smell...fresh."
Almost as one, Izuku and his classmates became very aware of just how unfresh they smelt. Thankfully, her words seemed to work and after a few earnest apologies from everyone— including a wink and thumbs up from Mineta, Izuku and Kendou were left alone as everyone rushed up.
They waited for a sizable distance to form before they began to walk back to the dorms. Grateful for the interruption, Izuku turned to Kendou who was looking a bit too happy with how well her words had worked.
"Thanks for that," Izuku said breathing a bit easier now, "That was getting out of hand."
"You're welcome. It reminded me of the people at the gym who lined up to get beat down by me," Kendou said completely seriously, "That includes you, by the way."
"I've beaten you in fights, though... Plenty of times!"
"Yeah, but none of those was me going all out! Like in a boxing match or something!" Kendou said flexing her arms, "You want to take me on yet in a boxing match?
He'd rather team up with Bakugou than do that.
"I'm not crazy enough to take you on in boxing," Izuku said to Kendou as the dorms came into view, "Besides, I need to be in tiptop shape for tomorrow's exercise...and I need to find a partner. That would be easier without looking like one big bruise..."
"Pick whoever you want, you'll probably do well no matter what," Kendou said before she paused and her face soured, "Just promise me you won't pick the kid with purple hair."
"The kid with the—Oh, you mean Mineta?" Izuku asked and Kendou nodded stiffly, "Why not him? He probably needs my help more than anyone here."
Izuku wasn't sure what he expected Kendou's answer to be and he certainly didn't expect it to be so glorious.
"He kept following me around at the Entrance Exam!" Kendou muttered, "On the bus there, throughout the exam itself and on the bus back! He kept saying something about protecting me— why are you smiling?"
"W-What?" Izuku's voice broke apart as his smile grew, "I don't know what you mean!"
"So why are you smiling?!"
"...Hey, look it's my dorm! Race you to my room!"
Izuku sped off and barely a second later, he heard Kendou chase after him screaming bloody murder. He barely got his shoes off and indoors slippers on in time before spotting where his room was. Kendou's shoes were taking a lot longer to take off which gave him time to find his name.
Hmm, the fifth floor wasn't bad. Being alone with Todoroki wasn't bad per se, but the guy did kinda scare him. Izuku could only spot Hagakure as one of two girls on their level on the girl's side before he saw Kendou burst inside. Her eyes were wild as she scanned the room before her eyes settled on him.
"What the hell did you do?!"
Izuku made to open his mouth before smiling and just running away. He'd probably get punched by her for pulling a stunt like this, but it was just the boost he needed after finding out he was in the same class as Bakugou and that he seemed to be a marked man.
Plus, pissing Kendou off rarely needed a reason.
It was just that fun.
"Ow!" Izuku rubbed his arm as he sat down on his bed, "Did you have to punch me so hard?"
"Yes, I did!" Kendou said panting harshly, "I almost fell down the stairs after hitting a bunch of floating clothes. That invisible girl should carry a hazard sign with her or something. Maybe a cowbell?"
Izuku almost let out a snort, but he bit it back when Kendou glared at him almost daring him to say something. The fading pain in his shoulder serving as an indicator of what would happen if he said anything.
Never mind the fact that it should have been very easy to spot Hagakure since floating clothes were, you know, floating clothes. Maybe Kendou would have to invest in some glasses in the near future...
"I heard that," Kendou said and on reflex, Izuku scrambled backwards, "You actually fell for that? Now, I really wonder what you were saying. Care to share?"
No. Just no.
"So where do you want us.
to start?" Izuku said as he picked up a box, "Clothes? Figurines? Weapons?"
The boxes were all very helpfully labelled. Izuku's mother had a bit of a field day when he had mentioned taking all the kunai with him and Kendou had been way too excited about it. Probably more so than he had been.
Neither of them knew he was going to hang up what were pretty much gold ingots.
"I'd say clothes first then weapons then figurines," Kendou said as she scanned the room, "You probably want your collection away from your arsenal, right? Something about your kunai being near posters doesn't sit quite right with me..."
"Good point," Izuku said and he scanned all his boxes before shrugging, "Let's start with the clothes then."
Kendou had already opened a box and he was about to help her when a question popped into his mind, "Wait, what about all of your stuff? Will you need help unpacking?"
"Thank you for asking, but I'm already done," Kendou said as she put a shirt away, "A girl in my class can shrink things and make them lighter so it was actually pretty easy. I helped a few of the others when she got tired, though. Everyone has their limits."
That was true. It was just that people like Izuku and Kendou (and Bakugou he had to admit) chose to ignore their limits.
"Woah, that's so cool," Izuku breathed out at the nugget of information, "That's a really cool Quirk. How is your class? Are they nice?"
"They seem alright I guess," Kendou said with a shrug, "A few of them are quite loud, though. They're almost as loud as that blonde guy who I'm pretty sure wants to bite your head off."
Ah, nuts.
"You mean K-Kacchan?" Izuku asked trying and failing to keep his voice steady, "He's like that with everyone. Nothing to get worried about, really."
"Really?" Kendou asked one of her brows arched, "So did he get annoyed with whoever else beat him in that ball toss test or was it just you?"
"Well—"
"And did he get mad when everyone else was getting praised or was that reserved just for you?"
"Not really, but—"
"He doesn't even call you by your name and judging by how much of a dick he is, I doubt whatever he calls you is anything nice. What was it again? Deku?"
Something about hearing that name from Kendou cut through all the arguments and defences he had planned for this. He knew Bakugou and he knew Kendou. They were both hotheads. Kendou would lose it if she found out just how...complicated his and Bakugou's relationship was and still is.
Hell, she had looked all but ready to attack Bakugou when they were walking back up.
Izuku let the trousers he was folding fall to his lap as he sat down on the bed. His gaze was pinned on the floor as he weighed up what laid ahead. Between being Kage, Bakugou being in his class and also trying to fly under the radar yet also excel he had a rough road ahead of him.
The flashes of Bakugou's words and actions were like knives to his soul. What had he ever done to Bakugou to be treated so cruelly? Both before and after he had gotten chakra, Bakugou had been mean as all hell to him. Izuku couldn't remember the last positive thing Bakugou had ever said to him.
And for some reason, despite it all, Izuku still saw Bakugou as the epitome of the drive and passion and strength one needed to become not just a Pro, but to go all the way to the top. His biggest torment was somehow also one of his biggest motivators.
And that would've been enough to get him down, but as always there was more.
Kage.
He was in too deep to stop being Kage. He enjoyed it. A lot. Even though it was super illegal. Making an actual, positive difference gave him a rush that he couldn't quite get enough of. The praise from the media was nice, admittedly, but in the long run, it was rather insignificant compared to seeing and knowing that his actions made things better.
It was a bit more than that though now.
There was something foul in the air and it was seeping into every corner of Izuku's life. Famous and revered heroes like Native and Death Arms were involved with heinous monsters like Muscular and Dabi. Even a few weeks ago, Izuku would have thought it impossible that any hero would even think of let alone actually working and helping villains.
Now, he wondered if every hero did it.
The only people who knew and could do something about it were Izuku and Sumire. After all, if heroes were corrupt then who could he trust? Were Native and his crew the exception or the rule? Even if he did go to a hero, would they believe him? Or would he have to reveal himself as Kage to hammer it home?
In his heart, Izuku knew that many heroes were good and trustworthy and there were many who could and would help. In his head, though, he now knew it was likely that they would turn him in. Especially considering the bad press he had (unintentionally ) brought upon someone as beloved amongst heroes as Kamui Woods.
In truth, the only person Izuku could be absolutely dead certain was on the right side was All Might. And despite being a teacher at UA, Izuku was pretty sure he'd be lucky to get even a moment of All Might's time.
All these thoughts and more swirled in Izuku's head forgetting where he was and who he was with. His brain ticked and whirred away, but it ground to a halt as a warm hand settled on his forearm. Izuku looked up at Kendou her brow set in a deep furrow.
"What's wrong, Izuku?" Kendou asked her eyes boring into his own, "You just fell quiet for a while there. Was it about Bakugou? Sorry if I overwhelmed you there. I should've realised it made you uncomfortable."
Kendou sat down next to him and her grip on his arm just grew a touch stronger, "He just made me so angry. All I saw was red and my ears were ringing...I was so ready to punch his lights out until you got in-between us. I thought I got over this, but I'm still the same old Itsuka..."
Izuku frowned. Same old Itsuka?
"What do you mean 'got over this?'"
Kendou pulled away from him and it was odd to see her almost shrink in on herself. He could feel the fading warmth of her hand as Kendou took a deep breath before letting out a shaky sigh.
"This was before we met," Kendou began as she fiddled with the shirt in her hand, "I'd never been the most popular or anything at my old school. I tried to make friends but something always chased them away. I'd be too crazy or too doting or too mannish or too girly. The list goes on..."
"The worst was when I thought someone was actually warming up to me and that they liked me. Actually, liked me liked me, but then they were just doing it on a bet," The inflection on the last word sent a dagger of anger and hurt and empathy through Izuku.
"It only got physical the one time," Kendou continued in that cold and dead tone that was unnatural on someone so bright, "A girl used her Quirk on me. She could amplify whatever emotions people were feeling at that moment through touch. It worked with anything, really. Hands, feet...her lips."
Izuku's stomach twisted.
"She used that on me to make me feel really happy before bringing me crashing down," Kendou said palming a fist in her left hand, "Thing is she expected me to be sad and instead I got mad..."
"What happened?"
"She kissed my right hand like they always do in those romantic movies. She had always been like that. Very touchy-feely with me. I lov—liked it a lot," Kendou said finally looking up at Izuku, "She then said, 'You didn't actually think I liked you, did you?'"
Kendou blinked and her eyes seemed to shimmer with something, "I got so angry. I was sick and tired of being pulled and jerked around. Her face was right by my hand that she was holding. I know now that she was using her Quirk to amplify my pain so I used my Quirk too."
Izuku flinched a bit involuntarily as he recalled just how heavy Kendou's hits were. If she were angry and heartbroken on top of being a fantastic martial then—
"I broke her jaw and dislocated her shoulder after punching her away," Kendou finished dropping her gaze down, "In the end, the other girl moved schools, but I was even more of an outsider at school. My parents were sued but they ended up winning...but only after my mom sold her favourite motorcycle to pay for fees."
That didn't sound right. The Hero Commission was meant to deliberate and assist those unable to pay for themselves in Quirk-related incidents. Quirks were dangerous and accidents happened all the time. It was a law passed by the current administration not too long ago so why—
"The Hero Commission had done nothing to help despite it being a Quirk-related incident and my parents almost lost everything we had. Some sort of technicality about the statute of limitations and us being kids," Kendou said as if reading his mind, "About 70% of Quirk accidents happen because of kids so I guess they made that law so they wouldn't lose too much money. After that, I pretty much gave up on trying to make friends..."
He could tell there was more she had to say.
"Until..."
"Until I began to train you," Kendou said and Izuku almost lurched back a weird feeling forming in his chest, "I do like everyone at the gym, but you're different. I mean, first of all, you're not twice my age..."
Kendou's joke caused the pain Izuku was feeling to ease up. He felt something of a peculiar kinship with Kendou after hearing how her school life somewhat mirrored his. The more time he spent with Kendou, the more he was surprised that she wasn't popular as all hell.
And it was all because of something out of her control. His thoughts on the matter were the same as when they had a similar conversation at Kendou's gym.
The kids at her school were just too blind to see how awesome Kendou was. It wasn't even like him where he'd been Quirkless. She'd been jerked and pulled around all for what? A sick sense of humour?
It must have been worse when the girl Kendou had been with had said such harmful words. Izuku was a bit shy, but he wasn't dumb. What kind of monster would date someone just to spite them? And what kind of people would alienate her even more despite Kendou's reaction being a result of the Quirk of the girl who had just broken her heart?
"Izuku? You're glowing blue," Kendou said suddenly and Izuku realised he had activated the Fatebreaker out of anger, "Are you okay?"
Was he okay?
"I'm really sorry that happened to you," Izuku said letting his chakra flicker out, "You know that you're awesome, right? My school life wasn't all that great either, but if it all led to where I am now with you then I'd say it was worth it."
Izuku's hand had been resting on the bed and he grabbed Kendou's hand. Her hand felt warm in his and it was almost as if he'd been plugged into a live wire as a weird sensation shot through him.
It wasn't just him who was surprised by his sudden bout of bravery/insanity. Kendou seemed to take a deep breath in at the unexpected contact, but thankfully she didn't seem to be all that bothered by it.
Almost as if he was being nudged by a force unseen, Izuku began to channel minute amounts of chakra into Kendou. If he could liken it to anything, it was most similar to medical ninjutsu, but it didn't seem to do much other than warm Kendou's hand up.
"I—I think you should give your new classmates a chance," Izuku said meeting Kendou's wide almost starry gaze, "What happened to you was awful and it really, really winds me up that that happened to you. But as your best friend, I w-want what's best for you and I think opening yourself up more will only help you."
"It's kinda scary, t-though," Kendou's voice hitched as a particularly strong pulse of chakra flowed into her, "What if they don't like me? What made you keep hanging around me?"
It was hilarious in a strange way that they had circled back to what kicked this conversation off.
"My Quirk never came in until very late on and my classmates, including Bakugou, never hesitated to treat me like the trash they thought I was...and I believed them too..."
Subconsciously, Izuku squeezed Kendou's hand. The conversation was a bit too raw and for a moment he couldn't continue talking. That lasted until Kendou sensed his unease and gave him a reassuring squeeze.
"I've told you some of this before, but if it'll help you then I'll repeat it as many times as you need," Izuku said his voice a few notches above a whisper, "You're one of the main reasons I'm standing here in UA. You gave me high-quality training for free and you never belittled me for not being quite as awesome as you are...not seriously at least..."
Kendou gave a little huff at the joke, but his words still seemed to resonate within her. A part of Izuku was still absolutely freaking the hell out that he was holding Kendou's hand in these circumstances. It was exhilarating and scary and he was gonna keep talking before his face exploded from all the emotions running through him.
"Even at Aizawa-sensei's test, Kacchan seemed pissed that I was doing well and maybe a little better than him," Izuku said frowning a bit at the memory, "I'm kinda used to it, but it still bugs me a bit... I felt way in over my head with that last test and then when you showed up, it was like I could breathe again."
"Oh, come on—" Kendou tried to push him away with her other hand, but he caught that one too. Again, he channelled his chakra into her and this time he could see the calming effect it had on her.
"I'm serious, Itsuka," Izuku said as earnestly as he could, "That's the effect you have on people and not just me. Why do you think people at your gym always challenge you and never me even though I'm one of the few who can actually beat you? You just have the sort of energy and aura that lifts and motivates and drives the people around you."
"That's something only the best of Pros have," Izuku continued even as Kendou looked away, "If you got me to the point where I am now then making friends will be easy for you. I'm more worried about how you'll make time to lose to me in spars, really..."
"I'm not taking the bait," Kendou said glaring at him before her gaze melted, "...but thank you... A lot of the people in both our classes seem really cool and I guess I was avoiding trying to make friends with them..."
Izuku nodded, but he flinched back as a deep frown settled on her face.
"That doesn't mean I won't take my pound of flesh from that Bakugou brat," she said with no small amount of annoyance, "He was looking at you like you killed his puppy... and so was that Todoroki kid."
Izuku raised a brow.
"I guess Endeavor's kid is about as warm as his father...Get it? Because Endeavor is actually cold even though he has a fire Quirk? Do you get it? It's layered."
Izuku sighed.
"Oh come on! That was great!"
Izuku thought it was a phenomenal joke, but showing weakness was a fool's move. Besides, Kendou had said something more important behind that terribly terrific joke.
"He's Endeavor's kid?" Izuku asked as he thought back to Todoroki, "He only used a little of his Quirk, but he came fourth. It was some sort of Ice Quirk. It looked pretty strong, but I wonder how having Endeavor as his father affected it? Maybe—"
"Stop that!" Kendou interjected making him twitch, "Look, my classmate just heard rumours that Todoroki's Quirk isn't a joke. He's in on a recommendation and if he came fourth while barely using his Quirk then that makes him the real deal."
"If so then that's just another person I have to beat to the spot of number one," Izuku said with an ease that surprised himself, "What else is new?"
Izuku was half-joking about what he had said and he expected a reaction from Kendou, but instead, she was looking at him rather intensely. Her skin seemed a bit red—maybe from the sun or heat even though the temperature was pretty moderate— and her eyes bored into his.
"Izuku?"
"Yes?"
"You do know that you're still holding my hands, right?"
Oh. Oh. Oh, no!
"C-Calm down," Kendou said not sounding all too calm herself, "After the talk we had, this feels...awe—nice. Could we stay like this for a bit longer? I need more details of your day and especially that blonde loudmouth's beef with you?"
Izuku tried to see if Kendou was trying to pull a fast one on him. Hmm, he could probably counter a slam or throw from this position if she tried something. That being said, Kendou seemed genuinely interested and a bit nervous.
Maybe she thought he didn't trust her enough to speak about Bakugou? That wouldn't do. He didn't like going over his past, but this was for a good cause. Besides, how could he not open up after Kendou had done the same with what were undoubtedly painful memories?
"Okay, I'll tell you," Izuku said with a sigh, "Are you sure you're comfortable with this?"
Izuku squeezed both of Kendou's hands to make his point and she nodded almost immediately.
"I am. It's n-no big deal.," Kendou said as her eyes flickered all over the room, "It's how it always goes in those movies, right? Hand-holding and confessions?"
Izuku's mother had watched a bevy of those types of movies on their TV. Unfortunately, no amount of experience with them made up for actually experiencing it in real life. Plus, he was pretty sure no one in them had ever channelled chakra into anyone for any reason.
"My Quirk's been active this whole time and I can't really shut it off," Izuku confessed and Kendou seemed less surprised than he expected her to be, "It doesn't feel weird to you in any way?"
"Your hands feel like a bunny wearing boxing gloves made out of sunshine," Kendou said and there was a beat before she added, "It feels pretty good... I might need you to give me a massage someday. Now, onto the story!"
Normally, he'd have addressed the...unique metaphor Kendou had used, but the massage part made it easier to just ignore it and keep moving.
"R-right! Well, I'll tell you how I first met Bakugou. Our mothers were and still are the best of friends and—"
Izuku began from the very start all the way to the present state of his and Bakugou's chequered past.
Normally, it was painful to think about it and he would usually never dare to speak about it, but somehow right here and right now, it was the easiest thing he had done in a long while.
Staff Village
Today was finally over.
Shouta, if you asked anyone and that included himself was not the most active person. He had a stash of sleeping bags all over the school, after all, and in his opinion that was perfectly fine.
Being awake meant blinking. And while blinking was nothing for other people, when you had as bad a case of dry eye as he did, you would probably want to do it as little as possible too.
Unfortunately, he still had to report back to the other staff. UA was overall pretty laissez-faire with everything, but for the teachers to be strong they all had to be on the same page. So, sharing stuff was still the norm.
By the time he reached Midnight's on-campus home, he could already hear Mic making a lot of noise. There was nothing to be done about that. He had tried all sorts of earplugs but none of them had ever worked well enough.
That's just how loud Mic was.
Shouta knocked on the door that was ajar and to his dismay— he was the last to arrive. It wasn't surprising, the test had gone quite a bit over time and so he had to cancel the distance run so he wouldn't make his colleagues wait.
However, this meant he couldn't take out the sleeping bag he had stashed in the cushion that—Vlad was currently sitting on.
He. Was. Cursed.
"Eraserhead is in the building!" Mic boomed from his seat near Snipe and Cementoss both of whom didn't even flinch at the volume of his voice, "How did that test of yours go?! We've been waiting!"
Shouta looked around the room. Mic and Vlad looked eager to hear him speak but surprisingly so did Cementoss and Ectoplasm. Even Midnight and Power Loader were leaning forward in anticipation.
Instead of humouring them, though, Shouta chose to sit down next to Recovery Girl. She gave him a warm smile before turning back towards whatever it was she was doing with those needles. Knitting? Crocheting? Practising how to stitch flesh back together?
"Now, now," Principal Nezu said from his perch on Cementoss's shoulder, "You know how this meeting goes. We start with the higher grades and work our way down. Snipe, your class is in its third year now. What can you report?"
"Not too much," Snipe began tilting the hat he always seemed to wear, "Well, Mirio seems to have taken a massive leap forward. He always had the drive, but somehow he seems more determined than ever before. I think the work-study is doing him and his classmates some good. It's something we should be looking at for everyone else, in my opinion."
"Mirio?" Vlad asked once Snipe was done, "Who is that again?"
"You forgot?" Mic asked with a wide smile on his face, "Maybe you should pump some of that blood to your brain because I don't think a single person who saw the Sports Festival last year will forget him."
Midnight laughed and almost immediately Shouta sighed. He knew what was coming.
"He's the boy who got naked on TV," Nezu said a bit too cheerily, "It was very fun dealing with all the complaints and issues that had brought up. It's not like broadcasting a naked teenage boy would cause that much drama or anything."
"I do not intend to distract from the purpose of the meeting, Sir," Cementoss said as if sensing Nezu was about to go off about that flashing incident again, "However, I see that our newest colleague is not here. Would it not be wise to wait for him?"
Somehow, the conversation had taken a more unsavoury turn than a naked teenage boy on worldwide TV.
"It's no bother. All Might just has some administration issues that he has to handle," Nezu said in answer to Cementoss' question, "The Hero Commission were not too pleased about All Might's sudden choice to join our school."
"Those suits are just trying to cramp our style!" Mic said and for once it was something he could agree with, "They're like a radio channel that takes no calls! They never listen to what heroes have to say about anything— apparently not even All Might is immune to that."
And yet again, the conversation had taken another unsavoury turn. Shouta didn't like how All Might seemed to live off the media attention, but in truth, there was no person more deserving of the number one spot. And the world could do with more of his painfully positive attitude. The one downside of All Might was vastly outweighed by his other numerous positive traits.
On the other hand, he had absolutely nothing positive to say about the Commission. They danced to the tune of those they deemed important. That wouldn't be so bad if they were a private organisation instead of a powerful section of government and law enforcement.
If he were being honest, the Hero Commission attracted those with a lot of thirst for power, but not a lot of hunger for making positive and actual change. The majority of Pros couldn't publically comment negatively on the Commission.
They'd soon find their agencies suddenly relocated to a far-off city with low crime rates and media visibility. After that, it was extremely difficult for those agencies to stay open for too long until eventually heroes would close shop and join another agency— furious, but cowed.
Of course, heroes didn't have to open an agency and were free to work on their own like how he did. However, that didn't come with a government grant or support company discounts and all those other stuff so it wasn't really something most heroes really did.
The situation with the Hero Commission wasn't all cut and dry, though. Shouta knew his dislike for politics skewed his views, but many, many heroes adored the Commission. If anything, those who didn't like them were the minority.
This line of thinking was getting him down so Shouta coughed, "Could we move on? I could use some sleep after that test. This class will be the end of me."
And yet even as he said that he had to fight to not smile at the gold mine of potential he had on his hands.
"Now, now, Aizawa," Midnight said as she leaned forward in her seat, "Don't leave us hanging like that. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we'd like to hear all about it. Your class has quite a few...bright spots."
Vlad snorted, "I can't believe I let you trick me into taking three recommended students so you could have the first pick of the lot..."
"You thought Shouta-san wouldn't pick all the headaches and just go for the more agreeable and manageable students," Ectoplasm said his tone just a tiny bit mocking which made Vlad groan.
"You almost cried seeing him take all the golden eggs...or at least most of them. Your class is really good too!" Mic said before smirking, "Although, I'm pretty sure I did warn you against making a bet with Eraser—"
"That being said," Ectoplasm continued, "I do find myself intrigued about your class, Aizawa. You have the girl with an illusion Quirk, correct? What is your opinion of her so far? I feel as though my guidance could be—"
"Forget her! The double genius is who you should all watch out for—"
"The number one from the Entrance Exam seems—"
"Class 1B has someone who could match up to all of them—"
A sharp whistle quelled the room almost immediately and Aizawa was grateful for it. Recovery Girl settled down as if she hadn't done anything and finally peace was re-established. Nezu took that moment to speak.
"Since you all seem to care so much about Class 1-A," Nezu began with a bright smile, "Perhaps, Shouta can tell us how the test went."
Everyone's eyes turned towards Shouta and he sighed.
"Fine."
He told them everything. From start to finish, leaving out nothing. Not scores, performances nor the dynamics he had noticed. The one thing he had left out was Midoriya's cheerleader that had appeared right by the end. Of course, no one needed to know what he said to Midoriya about the girl. He'd keep that one for later to torment Vlad with.
He hadn't been interrupted at all and when he was done, he wasn't surprised to see his colleagues looked even more engrossed than they had before. He stretched his arms out before muttering one word.
"What?"
"Quite the plan you've got brewing there, Shouta," Nezu said the first to break the silence, "Bakugou is extraordinary for his age and he seems to have a rather tempestuous relationship with Midoriya who is just as extraordinary and quite the mystery too..."
Of course, he caught it.
"Plan?" Mic said unsurprisingly slow to the races, "What plan?"
"He's pitting his class against each other," Midnight said before adding, "Or to be more accurate his top students against Izuku Midoriya. His Quirk is so different from what we've seen let alone those kids. It's only natural that he'd intrigue and inspire those around him...as well as rattle those who are used to being number one like Bakugou, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. You're a bit of a prick."
Midnight, unsurprisingly, was not slow to the races.
"The problem is virtually none of those students could hope to beat him," Recovery Girl said taking a sip of her tea, "Beyond the top 4, it would be futile. Plus, this seems to be rather unfair on the kid himself. He seems sweet and shy. Not what you'd expect given his skills."
"I have my reasons," Shouta said curtly, "Can we move on to the other classes now? Most of you will get to work with 1-A soon enough so I don't really feel like explaining it all. Just trust me."
That was enough to settle the matter without much other than a few curious gazes.
Good.
They had figured out that he was using Midoriya as a sort of catalyst, but that wasn't it. Despite what they had said earlier about all his students, the biggest enigma was easily Midoriya. They were just too polite to admit it. Midoriya's Quirk really intrigued him and it had taken all of Shouta's willpower to not use his Quirk on Midoriya.
It was all to gauge what Midoriya was capable of and as it turned out—he was capable of a lot. As a teacher, he had access to the database and Midoriya's Quirk registry had multiple changes already. Understandably, since he had appeared awoken his Quirk late on, but even then Shouta knew there was more lurking beneath.
Quirks while amazing still obeyed the same rules. There were drawbacks, benefits, bodily adaptations and so on. If Quirks were a circle then Midoriya's was a parallelepiped. The immense strength, stamina and speed was one thing, but he also had borderline supernatural balance(which to be fair could just be hard work) and also instant healing(which could not just be hard work).
Midoriya just ate at some part of Shouta's curiosity and no matter what, he'd solve this as soon as he could.
Izuku Midoriya had his full attention
Izuku shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. He had tried to suppress it unfortunately his company seemed to realise it almost immediately.
"Are you okay?" Uraraka asked from deep in her big fluffy jacket, "Why didn't you bring a jacket down with you?"
"Kendou made me race her back to her dorm," Izuku said with a weak smile, "Also, I didn't expect all of us to get locked outside the house and be forced to socialise with each other..."
It was probably the fault of one of their teachers.
"...Fair point."
Despite the chilly weather, Izuku was feeling pretty upbeat about things. He'd had a rather moving conversation with Kendou, his room was neatly packed and now he was outside in the garden with his classmates eating pizza.
They were all sitting by a fire circle that had appeared sometime between them unpacking and coming back outside. Cementoss was probably the one who Izuku had to thank...Wait, he was sitting in a fire circle made by Cementoss! That was so cool!
An abrupt blast of warm air stopped Izuku from freaking out even more. The fire circle finally lived up to its name as a roaring flame sent its heat out to all of class 1-A. Izuku spied Todoroki dusting his hands off before returning to his seat next to Shouji and Koda.
They were all taking turns introducing each other and explaining their Quirks. This was all to help with partnering up since not everyone had shown what they could do and some people had forgotten what others could do which was very close to blasphemy for Izuku.
Things had been brought to a halt due to the freezing. Now, though things could continue and as fate would have it Izuku was the next one up.
People hadn't really been all that forthcoming with information which was understandable. They were facing each other tomorrow after all. Like Yaoyorozu had given an even more condensed explanation of her Quirk than she'd given him after the Entrance Exam.
She wasn't the only one. Todoroki hadn't even mentioned anything about fire ("I can make ice with my right hand") and yet Izuku could see that Todoroki's left palm was still smoking. Izuku looked towards the roaring flame and looked back only to be met with Todoroki's blank stare.
Okay, don't freak out just act like you were looking at the tree behind him.
"Midoriya, you're up!" Uraraka saved him by pushing him gently into the fire circle. Thankfully, she hadn't used all her fingers or he could have floated right into the fire.
That would have been preferable to having 19 pairs of eyes looking at him like he was a pink zebra with wings.
"I'm Izuku Midoriya and my Quirk makes me strong...fast too I guess. S-So, it's kinda different from Satou's Quirk..."
Silence.
"Fucking Deku."
"Bakugou, that sort of language is abhorrent!" Iida chastised as he yelled at Bakugou from across the fire.
"Mysterious," Tokoyami said his eyes closed as if he were sleeping, "I may require your assistance with moving something into my room tomorrow, Midoriya. It's rather large and may need to be forced in by someone strong."
"Tokoyami, " Iida said the fire gleaming off his glasses, "I will report you and Midoriya if any property damage occurs! There is a limit to what can fit through our doors and if you tell me what it is then I shall be able to either help you or stop you from damaging the house."
"It's a piano."
"That most certainly cannot fit through your door! Even if you forced it!"
"Anything can be forced," Tokoyami said as he opened one eye, "Like a human head through a six-inch drain pipe..."
Izuku blinked.
"Okay so I am not asking that guy to be my partner," Mineta said as he and perhaps for the first time since they'd met Mineta had said something that made complete sense.
"Hey, so when you say a human head through a drain pipe or whatever, " Utsushimi said looking over at Tokoyami, "Do you imagine it the skull pops like a grape or does it deflate and then all the gunk gets sucked up like—"
"'Kay," Uraraka said jumping up to her feet, "Let's not go down that road! Instead of heads being drained of gunk, how's about we talk about—uhhhhh— Hey! Look over there!"
Uraraka's poorly thought out interruption was saved as she pointed towards the main road. A fleet of robots had stopped in front of their house and were now moving towards. That wasn't even the weirdest part of it all. The robots actually seemed to be caring—
"Pizza!" Kaminari screamed as he vaulted over the fire circle, "Pizza, pizza in my tummy! Me so hungry, me so hungry!"
"...Is he always like that?" Izuku asked no one in particular but he received a response nonetheless.
" ...Unfortunately, yes," Jirou said as she sidled over the wall, "He's pretty strong—don't tell him I said that—but way more stupid. He told me he'd once hid under a tree during a lightning storm... Said he didn't get why that was a bad idea."
Well, then. Wait, but wasn't his Quirk an electric-based—
"Yeah, that's the worst part," Jirou said making Izuku realise he'd spoken aloud, "I think he knows better, now...hopefully...I just hope he doesn't make Yaoyorozu drop the pizzas or anything."
"Yeah, he'd have to pay for that," Utsushimi said appearing from nowhere, "Wow! How many boxes can she carry?! That girl is swole!"
True to Utsushimi's words, Yaoyorozu seemed to be going for the world record for pizzas boxes carried. She had more than ten stacked on either hand and she walked across the ground as if it weren't a particularly big deal.
Izuku was pretty sure he'd eat dirt if he tried that out without chakra. He had only seemed to have great balance because of the Surface Sticking. Yet, Yaoyorozu didn't look bothered in any sense of the word as she made it to the fire circle.
Izuku joined the others in helping her set down the boxes and there was a tense moment as Yaoyorozu made eye contact while handing him the boxes. Izuku tried to pull the pizzas boxes away, but Yaoyorozu's grip held firm.
"Who is your partner for tomorrow's exercise?"
What did she say?
"Uh, I don't have one yet," Izuku said feeling an awkward smile spread across his face, "I was busy talking with Kendou while we unpacked my stuff so I never really managed to find one... Do you wanna be partners?"
Yaoyorozu's face splashed with morphing shadows from the flames tightened just a bit, "I already have a partner. Find one soon. A good one."
A ringing phone broke what was, unfortunately, not even top ten in the weirdest moments he'd had at UA.
With that Yaoyorozu let go of the boxes and Izuku could only watch as she made her way around the house picking up her phone as she went. He handed the boxes off to Iida who seemed to have elected himself head pizza distributor. Soon, they were all digging into some phenomenal pizza that had practically appeared out of nowhere.
"UA sure is awesome for getting us Aldini's," Kirishima said in-between bites of pizzas, "This stuff is amongst the best in the country! They're on my list of best restaurants to eat at! Too bad it takes forever to even order from them."
"How the hell do you know that stuff, crappy hair?!"
"You're into food? Really?"
"Is that really so hard to believe, Mina? You shouldn't judge a book by its cover. You're not Bakugou..."
"What was that?!"
Izuku had to agree with Kirishima —on the food. It was, without a doubt, the best pizza he had ever eaten in his life. And despite it all, Izuku couldn't quite enjoy it all. The class was splitting off into smaller groups and judging by the sizes of the groups( and also what he could overhear), it was for Aizawa-sensei's test tomorrow.
Izuku didn't even have a partner and in sharp contrast to earlier, no one seemed willing to approach him. Hell, Uraraka and Iida had both decided to partner up after speaking to Aizawa-sensei after the test. This left Izuku between a rock and a hard place.
The only people who were alone was Izuku, Todoroki, and Yaoyorozu who had gone off somewhere on her own. Izuku ignored Todoroki's gaze as he instead counted the number of pizza boxes left.
"Hey, Midoriya! Where are you going?" Mineta all but yelled at him, "Going to eat some taco?"
"Yeah, some carrot-flavoured taco at 1-B?" Kaminari said before giggling and nudging Mineta next to him, "Get it?"
"You know it."
All this was said with wiggling eyebrows and weird giggles. Their expressions hinted at something that Izuku didn't even want to contemplate. They were both being kinda weird. The kind of weird you didn't even bother acknowledging.
"What? No, this is pizza," Izuku said as he held it up, "This is for—"
"O—M—G! Is that for me?!"
Izuku very nearly lashed out at a kick before stopping himself as Utsushimi (Camie? She had been just as vehement as Asui about people calling her by her first name) appeared from somewhere in a burst of something. It was almost as if reality warped and there she was.
That was her (really, really cool)Quirk—Glamour which was, well, not very much of a good name. Normally, the Quirk names of heroes were short and simple so people got what they could do immediately. Then again, Izuku wasn't really one to speak.
'Chakra' could mean a lot of things.
"You still here?" Utsushimi said snapping fingers in front of his face, "I'll be taking this pizza, then."
"Oh, wait!" Izuku said as he moved the pizza away from her reach, "This is for Yaoyorozu. UA bought all these pizzas for us and she should have some for herself. I don't think she took any..."
Utsushimi blinked before leaning uncomfortably close to him, "Is she your partner then? Trying to make sure your partner is all rested for tomorrow?"
Oh, right. He didn't have a partner for tomorrow's exercise. Either everyone had been scared off by Kendou or they had already found partners because hardly anyone had even mentioned partnering up to him.
There were probably a few left, but Izuku was having a hard time choosing who he wanted to ask. His brain conjured so many ideas for different people that it made it all but impossible to figure out who to ask.
Except for Bakugou, Yaoyorozu and Todoroki, that was. They'd probably never agree so there was no use even imagining what they could get done. It was a shame.
Izuku would have loved to work with either one of Yaoyorozu or Todoroki.
"She already has a partner. I don't think anyone had or will have the time to make food now so she should get some before it's all gone," Izuku said to Utsushimi who was still hovering in his bubble, "I don't actually have a partner. I still need to weigh up—"
"Hold up! You're not partnered?" Utsushimi exclaimed as she took a few steps back, "This is perfect! I'm not either so we can work together! Go give your girl some pizza and then we can work on strategy too! Okay bye!"
With that Utsushimi was long gone not hearing Izuku's reply at all.
"I didn't say anything, though..."
"Heh," Kaminari said not even hiding the fact that he was eavesdropping, "Women, am I right or am I right?"
"Yup," Mineta said with a grim face, "Can't live with them, can't speak to them without getting punched in the throat..."
"...Right," Izuku said before turning away and using just a smidge of chakra to speed up his escape.
Thankfully, they let him leave and Izuku was free once more. He rounded the house until he got to the back garden. As opposed to the front, the back garden had quite a few trees and ample flat space that all lead into a sprawling forest a bit further away. Finally, there were a few benches and picnic tables here and there dotted around the area. The grass was a vibrant green and very obviously well-maintained.
Perfect for slamming Kendou into.
"What did you say?!"
Izuku flinched when he heard Yaoyorozu's sharp voice. He whirled around expecting her to be near him, but to his surprise, she was actually by one of the further benches. She was pacing around having a rather animated conversation.
"The only reason I was late was because of you and mother, Tomiko," Yaoyorozu grit out fully unaware of his presence, "My belongings are not here because I had somewhere to be other than waiting around at my dorm. You knew that I would be busy at that time and you did not change the time. So why don't you just send the truck back?"
Izuku, despite being somewhat far away, could hear the person on the other side of the phone give a response of some sort. It didn't seem to do anything to help Yaoyorozu who seemed to tense up even more.
"Fine! Don't pay the move-in fees then! I'll carry it up myself!" Yaoyorozu huffed out before cutting, "She's acting as if she couldn't just pay the fee. Stupid—Midoriya?"
Midoriya froze as Yaoyorozu set her sights on him. He was rooted to the spot as he watched her stalk over to him. Her very being seemed to ooze annoyance as Izuku had overheard the last parts of what Yaoyorozu had thought was a private conversation.
There was no pointing in running, though. So, Izuku swallowed the ball in his throat and stuck himself to the ground with chakra as he looked up at Yaoyorozu. The height difference between them rather apparent. It was that as well her frown which was not doing any favours in helping him calm down.
Had she always been this scary?
"Sorry for eavesdropping!" Izuku said before Yaoyorozu could even get a word out, "I promise I didn't know you were still on a call! All I heard was something about your stuff not being here because you were busy and—"
Yaoyorozu frowned even deeper.
"Anyways, I came here to make sure you got some pizza!" Izuku said all but throwing the boxes into her hands, "They're awesome and you left without taking any! Plus, you must have drained a lot of energy after everything that you created at Aizawa-sensei's test, including the earplugs which were actually really good by the way! Couldn't hear a thing! So, uh—"
He was rambling, wasn't he?
"Here!" Izuku said finally, "I'm really sorry about overhearing! I can help you move your stuff in whenever they get here! I'm really strong. Oh, wait! Do you need something now? Clothes or blankets or something!"
Why couldn't he stop rambling?!
"I can just use my Quirk to make what I need. I thought you knew that."
Right. That was right. He knew that she could do that. Stupid! Now he looked like an idiot! They'd even had that supremely awkward conversation after the entrance exam—
"Midoriya," Yaoyorozu said and finally the carnival of crazy in his mind was brought to a screeching halt, "This is your place just as much as it is mine. I cannot be mad that you overheard what I said. Especially for such an...altruistic reason. Thank you. I was feeling rather...peckish."
Did she always speak so formally? She had better grammar and vocabulary than any teacher he'd had at Aldera. It would be odd on most people their age, but it actually suited her.
"No problem! I wanted you at your best for the test! I know how much your Quirk can take out of you!"
And just like that Scary-Yaoyorozu was back.
"I do not need you worrying about that," Yaoyorozu said standing as she stood straighter, "Worry more about finding a partner instead of what you believe my weaknesses are. I do not want any excuses for when you lose to me."
The grass crunched as Yaoyorozu walked away and Izuku almost let her walk before he turned to face her.
"Yaoyorozu," Izuku whispered but it was enough to make her stand still, "I know you're good, no, you're great, but I'm not planning on losing to you or anyone ever. You can believe that."
Oh, damn, he was speaking to her like she was Kendou?! What if she whipped out a cannon tomorrow? He couldn't use medical ninjutsu to heal from that...right? Right?
Hmm. Questions for later.
"Uh, respectfully of course," Izuku added in a hurry and he expected Yaoyorozu to say something, but instead she continued to walk away.
He watched as she made her way back to the front of the house, but then his phone rang. Izuku yelped at the sudden noise before picking it up. He hadn't even had the time to see who it was before giving a hurried greeting.
"Hello?"
"Well, damn kid, I didn't expect such a frosty reception...you didn't happen to turn into a glacier, did you?"
Ugh.
"That was so awful it makes me embarrassed to know you," Izuku muttered into the phone, "I might just start calling you Utsutsu instead. I've demoted people before..."
"Go ahead," Sumire said before yawning, "I'll tell the world Kage is actually a foot shorter than in reality. I can see it now: 'Elusive vigilante actually teen with height issues!'"
Izuku frowned.
"That's not why I did that, Sumire. You know that! You know that."
"Of course, of course," Sumire said teasingly before sighing, "I hate to do this, but we need to speak about the serious stuff. Are you able to speak now?"
Izuku glanced back towards the house and, to his relief, he could see some of the bedroom lights turning on. That meant Aizawa-sensei must have unlocked the house. Unfortunately, that meant it was probably approaching his curfew.
"I am, but probably not for long," Izuku said with a sigh, "I could probably go up to my room and we can talk there? People will probably be asleep since we have Hero Training tomorrow and no one would want to let their partners down. You can throw our sensei in that too actually. Our sensei is—well, he's Eraserhead. "
"...oh."
"Yeah," Izuku breathed out as he sat down on the grass, "Probably the worst one I could've gotten. He definitely knows his stuff so there's that, but—"
"But it probably won't take long for him to erase your Quirk and put two and two together when it doesn't work."
"Exactly."
"Chin up, the height difference will throw him off for sure. I think," Sumire coughed at the end clearly lying through her teeth, "Uh, have you at got a partner at least?"
"Yeah. She chose me as I was getting something for someone."
"Someone's popular. Are your classmates alright?"
"Yeah except for the ones who seem to have an issue with me."
There was a loud shatter from one of the windows which caused Izuku to look up. A rabbit dropped down from one of the windows and landed perfectly. It looked at Izuku before turning and hopping off. Izuku looked back up and met the gaze of Kouda who looked out his window in a panic before quietly raising two fingers behind his head.
"Your rabbit?" Izuku asked drawing a nod, "He went that way."
Kouda saluted before running off. Sumire had been listening throughout and instead of addressing whatever had happened on his side, she asked something more important instead.
"How's Operation Bird going along?"
"Good. I should be able to get out after the training we have and meet you," Izuku replied before pausing as he heard voices.
"Are you sure it went this way, Koda?!"
"How did it get strong enough to bust through your window?! Did that idiot Kaminari shock it or something?"
"I'd never do that! Why are you so mean, Jiro?!"
Koda must've asked the others for help. Great.
"That's good to know," Sumire said before yawning, "Well, I'm beat. We'll speak more tomorrow, okay? Good luck with your training."
"Thanks, Sumire. Goodnight," Izuku said before hanging the phone up.
He could hear his classmates searching for Koda's rabbit and so Izuku decided to join in. He was the one who had seen where it had gone, after all. That would probably help Jiro find it if she hadn't already.
Izuku walked out the back garden and alongside the house when something white caught his attention. He thought it was the rabbit until he sure it was just a piece of paper. He picked it up and out of idle curiosity he unfolded it.
In his defence, a signature on a receipt doubled as an autograph, right?
The paper turned out to be a receipt of some sort. It took only a second to identify the logo on it.
"Aldini's Pizzeria," Izuku read and he almost had a heart attack when he read the price, "500 000 yen...who could even afford—"
Izuku trailed off as he finally read the client name. Instead of it being that of a Pro or perhaps their alias. Instead, it was a name that was very familiar and yet completely out of left-field.
"You rock, Yaoyorozu!" Kirishima shouted from the front of the house, "Hey, Koda! Yaoyorozu found your bunny! How'd you find it? With that fancy gear on your ear?—"
[Client: Momo Yaoyorozu]
The rest of what Kirishima said was lost as his volume sank to a lower level. It didn't matter to him much at that moment, though. Why would Yaoyorozu not say anything about buying the pizzas? She probably knew that everyone knew that she was loaded.
It was something he'd have to ask her. For whatever reason, there was something about Momo that drew him in...plus he could maybe ask her about Konoha and the agencies stationed on that island.
It could be helpful information, after all.
Suddenly, Izuku's phone lit up with a message.
A very welcome one at that.
[Kendou: Do you wanna spar before school tomorrow morning? I'll come over to yours. I wanna beat you in your backyard. ]
Izuku snorted at the provocation.
[Me: You're on. I'll be up by 5:30 AM so we can have enough time to get ready by the time I beat you in your backyard.]
Izuku hit send and then promptly ignored the storm of messages that followed. With all the uncertainties and changes that UA brought upon it was actually a godsend that he had someone familiar and reliable to fall back on in Kendou.
Plus, he might be able to get a better handle of Tsunade-shisou's strength for the assessment. He had to get a better handle on it or else Aizawa-sensei would probably get mad at him for 'holding back'.
Sending Kendou careening into, or even, through a few trees was just a side benefit.
Author Notes:
Hey, guys! I know it's been long, but man life has been hectic. Anyways, this chapter is finally out. I had a lot of fun with this so I hope you guys do as well. There is a ton of action lined up for the next chapter so buckle up for that one. Hearing from you guys over the past few months has been really great and I'm glad so many of you picked the story up even though it hasn't been updated in a while so thank you all very much.
I don't think I've said this yet, but Legacy has passed 1000 followers on FFN which is amazing to me. I never thought so many people would be interested in this, but here we are so thank you!
Discord server: discord. gg/ Ty68TdCDu6 (remove spaces)