Chapter Thirtyeight - Izuku and Mei
After his first couple of days in the Hero class, Izuku knew that he would need to study hard if he was to pass the upcoming Final Exams. As if knowing his potential struggles, Momo Yaoyorozu had invited him to go with some others to her home for a study session.
"I-I think I have other plans, sorry," Izuku had replied. He had noticed Iida grabbing extra study materials and knew what he must be up to, approaching him when class ended and the weekend was set to begin.
"Ah Midoriya, I'm heading off for the day," Iida stated. "Have you got any plans for studying this weekend?"
Izuku shook his head. "I haven't… Were you heading to the hospital to give that girl our school work?"
"Shirui? Yes, as the class representative I've made sure she keeps up despite missing out on class," Iida confirmed.
"I see… Um, then—"
"Iida!" Izuku was interrupted from a cheery voice, and turned to see Uraraka approaching them. "Oh! Deku!"
"Deku…." Izuku was a bit taken aback by being called the nickname that Bakugo had always called him suddenly. It meant something along the lines of a "useless person" and stemmed from Bakugo twisting the kanji of Izuku's name to make fun of him.
"Oh, sorry— I've heard Bakugo call you that a lot," Uraraka said with a smile, clasping her hands together. "I thought it was pretty cool!"
Izuku blinked at the girl. "R-Really? Why?"
"Well, isn't it like 'Dekiru'...? So, it means you can do anything and everything! He must really respect you!"
That's the opposite of what Kacchan uses it for! Izuku thought, chuckling nervously as he wasn't sure if he should correct the girl.
"Well… M-Maybe don't start calling him 'Kacchan', at least," Izuku stated, knowing it surprised the other students how he referred to Bakugo.
"I won't! I bet he'd try to blow me up!"
Izuku smiled with the girl. She was very cute and happy-go-lucky, which might've made it hard for him to even try to talk to her back in his Middle School days. But now his experience with girls was much more personal, so it was very easy to talk to the ones in Class A, especially thanks to their varied personalities.
"Ah, you wanted to come as well, Uraraka?" Iida nodded to her. "You already had to go last week though."
Uraraka nodded. "Of course! I've got some treats for Shirui!"
Iida nodded and gave a thumbs up. "She needs to recover as much energy as possible, so I hope they're healthy treats!"
"Umm… Sure!"
"Great! Will you accompany us, Midoriya?"
Izuku thought about it for a moment, gazing out the nearby window. It had been on his mind for the past couple of days, how he felt like he had taken someone else's seat, both physically and psychologically. Everyone in Class 1-A seemed to really respect Shirui. From his new classmates, Izuku learned exactly what had happened during the assault on USJ:
The Villains had arrived in order to kill All Might, but the Hero wasn't there, likely due to his injury inhibiting his abilities, though only Izuku knew that. During the assault, Aizawa-sensei had apparently held off dozens of villains by himself, until a really strong one came, one strong enough to even fight All Might.
From the descriptions, Izuku knew it was just like the creatures from the night the Hero Killer struck— A Nomu. Apparently Aizawa would have been seriously injured, but Shirui jumped into action and saved him using her Quirk.
A Quirk that allows you to enhance other peoples Quirks, Izuku had thought. That's amazing….
Aizawa's Quirk didn't allow him to erase mutation-type Quirks, as those were a part of a person's physical being, but when Shirui touched him and activated her Quirk, he was able to cause a negative effect in the Nomu, making his very absorbant skin ripple and faulter, allowing Aizawa to escape—
But this came at a cost, as the villain's leader, named Shigaraki, attacked and managed to ruin half of Shirui's face and her arm. From what it sounded like, his Quirk let him destroy anything he touched, and from only a few moments of grabbing her, he did a lot of serious damage.
Soon after, All Might and the other teachers had arrived, including Power Loader whom had left Class H, unfortunately leading to the Support class' villainous encounter as well. The teachers fought off the League of Villains, and only Shirui was left with severe injuries. Though Aizawa would never admit it, everyone in Class A believed that he changed a bit that day, after being saved by a student and failing to protect her.
Now, Izuku had a chance to go see that girl. He felt like he needed to confront the bad feeling in his stomach of guilt as he sat at what was once her seat.
"Yeah, I'd like to go," Izuku stated with a nod.
"Alright then, we should be able to go and leave before the sun sets," Iida stated, turning about-face and leading the way.
Musutafu General was the hospital Ameyoshi Shirui was staying at, and was located a little ways across town from U.A. Originally, the girl had been treated in U.A's nearby personal hospital ward for severe injuries to Heroes, until her condition had bettered and she could be put into a more normal setting.
Though as Izuku arrived with the other two students, he realized the situation was anything but 'normal'.
"W-Why is there so much security?"
Izuku looked around at all of the people in suits and shades outside and inside the building, looking like cliche' secret agents. There were a couple near the entrance, some acting casual in the hospital waiting room, and a couple more on the way to Shirui's room on the third floor.
They recognized Iida and Uraraka, but stopped Izuku and made him show his U.A student badge, before letting him through with suspicion in their voices.
"She's been watched closely, in case the League of Villains ever decided to come for her," Iida explained. "After all, she faced them head-on and survived an encounter with their boss."
"I-Is this all U.A's doing..?"
"Mostly Aizawa-sensei," Uraraka replied with a giggle. "Shirui doesn't have any parents or anything, so it's like he's acting like her over-protective Dad for now!"
"Aizawa-sensei, as a dad?" Izuku chuckled as he thought of the usually disheveled man.
They came to a door labelled "307," and Iida put his hand on the door handle.
"Excuse us!" With his call, he slid the door open and marched inside. "We've come to bring you your study materials!"
"Oh! I was wondering when you guys would swing by," came an unfamiliar, raspy voice from inside. Izuku followed Uraraka in, and laid eyes on the girl for the first time as she was sitting up in her hospital bed.
Ameyoshi Shirui was a slender pale-skinned girl, with slightly messy scarlet-red hair going past her shoulders and emerald-green eyes. On the right side of her face was the bandages masking her healing face, and her right arm was also heavily bandaged, just like Izuku had assumed from what he heard of her injuries.
"Shirui! I brought some snacks," Uraraka exclaimed as she approached the girl.
"Now that's what I've really been wanting," Shirui said with a chuckle. "Chocolates I hope?"
Iida huffed with disapproval at Uraraka, who laughed nervously.
"Uhhh yeah, b-but they say chocolates good for recovery!"
"I don't know about that," Shirui replied, before looking past the girl and seeing Izuku standing there. For a moment, they stared at each other, before Shirui turned away and frantically began to mess with her hair. "J-Jeez, you can't just bring someone new when I'm like this!"
Uraraka put her hands together in an apologetic gesture. "Sorry! This is Deku— I mean, Midoriya! He's the new student in our class!"
Shirui stopped messing with her hair and turned to Izuku, looking a bit surprised. He smiled a bit and gave a slightly awkward wave.
"H-Hi…"
"The Quirkless guy," Shirui said bitterly. "For real?"
Izuku gasped a bit. "Y-You know about me…?"
Shirui smirked. "Of course! I had plenty of time to watch the Sports Festival on TV and lament that I'm stuck here!"
"It's unfortunate," Iida told the girl as he set down the books and notes nearby. "I believe you would have done well!"
She laughed and waved a hand in front of herself dismissively.
"My Quirk is totally for Support only, so I doubt it… But then again," Shirui trailed off and looked to Izuku again. "You did beat the hell out of Todoroki."
"Y-Yeah," Izuku rubbed the back of his head nervously, recalling the fight. "It wasn't like it was easy, I lucked out a bit—"
"So they couldn't find anyone cool to take my place huh," Shirui interrupted him, speaking to Uraraka.
"Well—"
Iida threw a hand down in front of the girls, stopping them from saying anything further.
"Midoriya is a very good friend! I would trust him with my life," Iida insisted. "He deserves to be in the Hero course as much as anyone else!"
Shirui was surprised by Iida's words, looking from him to Izuku, before she burst out into laughter.
"Wow… I've never heard such praise from our stiff Class President," Shirui said through her laughter, before holding her bandages face. "It hurts to laugh this hard!"
"Be careful," Uraraka said worriedly. "Do you need anything?"
Shirui managed to stop her laughter, shaking her head, still smiling.
"Nah, I'll be fine," the girl insisted. "Thanks for coming… It's good to see someone who's not just here to ask questions or take blood or something."
"You're being released soon, aren't you?" Uraraka smiled and got excited. "We'll have twenty-one students in Class A! We're so lucky!"
"I don't think I'll be out in time for the practical of the Final Exam," Shirui said with a sigh. "But by next month I should be good to go!"
Izuku wasn't sure what to say during the encounter. He mainly watched Shirui and Uraraka talk while Iida offered more serious points of conversation. Eventually, when he was lost in his thoughts, he suddenly realized everyone was staring at him.
"H-Huh…?"
"I said," Shirui began, "I'm taking my desk back when I get back!"
"O-Oh…" Izuku wasn't sure what to say to that, but the girl smirked shortly after, so he chuckled and added, "I-I think Mineta would like that…"
Shirui scowled. "Right, don't remind me…"
They laughed, and it quickly came time for them to go, as the sky was turning to orange with the waning sunlight. Iida told her goodbye and left first to inform the guards outside something Aizawa had told him to say. Uraraka gave the girl a hug before heading off, and Izuku was left there last.
"I-I hope the rest of your recovery goes well," Izuku said with a bow to the girl.
"Man, you're really formal," Shirui commented, "I'm glad someone is there to fill my shoes at least. I hope you're helping to keep everyone in line."
"I guess so… Class A sure is unique," Izuku said.
"That's an understatement," Shirui said with a snicker. She then looked over towards the window, gazing out at the sky. "I'll never take it for granted again…"
Izuku looked towards the window as well. "What do you mean…?"
"Being around so many friends… It's all I've got for a family," Shirui stated, running a hand along her cast-covered right arm. "Hero work is dangerous… So you shouldn't ever leave any room for regrets, because you never know what'll happen to you tomorrow, ya know?"
Izuku nodded. He thought about his brushes with death. He had been in that very situation when he ran in blindly to attack the villain Kurogiri, nearly losing an arm or worse. Then when facing the Hero Killer, Izuku had suffered injuries and pain well beyond anything he had ever experienced before. Things could have gone horribly for him in either scenario, if nobody else was there to help him.
"I get it," Izuku said. "I-I'll watch over them til you return!"
He gave a deep bow, and Shirui chuckled.
"Thanks…"
With that, Izuku gave a smile before turning and leaving, slowly closing the door behind himself, leaving Shirui alone once more.
No regrets…
Shirui looked down at the bag of treats Uraraka had brought, remembering a time about a year ago that she regretted very much, involving a certain girl she hadn't seen since.
Himiko...
~Mid-Chapter Break~
Name: Ameyoshi "Amy" Shirui
Age: 15
Birth Date: August 27th
Quirk: Quirk Empowerment - By making skin contact with a person, she can expend her body's energy to enhance their Quirk. The exact effect is different from Quirk to Quirk.
Personality: Protective, Straight-Forward, Kind, Thoughtful.
Favorite Foods: Japchae and Kimchi
Power: 1 / 5 E - Speed 2 / 5 D - Technique 3 / 5 C - Intelligence 4 / 5 B - Cooperativeness 5 / 5 A
Izuku had a lot to think about after parting ways with Iida and Uraraka and heading back home. When he arrived to his apartment, he ate his dinner without saying much and retreated to his room, forgoing studying for the time being to rest.
As he laid in his bed, Izuku looked at his phone. He now had most of his fellow 1-A students' contact information, and could see a group text going on about studying and slacking off. He chuckled a bit.
Class A is really something… He thought. But it wasn't long before he went back to what Shirui had said. You never know what'll happen tomorrow huh…
It was clear that Hero work was dangerous, even as a student, but Izuku thought he had it all under control for now. But he felt like something was gnawing at him about that fact, like perhaps he did have something he'd regret if something bad happened to him.
He pulled up a certain number and began to send a text:
"Mei, are you still up?"
It wasn't long before his phone vibrated.
M: "What kind of question is that?!"
M: "Are you gonna lecture me like usual Mr Hero Man?"
Izuku smiled and replied:
"Do you want to study together this weekend?"
M: "You sure? I don't know if I know much hero stuff!"
M: "besides the stuff you always talk about"
"That's fine, I need to see y—"
Izuku quickly smacked his backspace button and retyped that last one before sending it.
"It's okay, I'll see you at noon at the workshop?"
M: "Okay! Bring snacks or Ill prolly die here!"
"Got it! See you then"
With a sigh, Izuku set his phone down and laid on his left side, a habit he got into due to his injuries.
What's this weird feeling in my stomach…
Izuku's stomach felt tight, as if full of worry. He decided to ignore it for now, and forced himself to go to sleep early for the day tomorrow.
The next day, Izuku arrived at Mei's workshop with some takeout, surprised to find the garage door already opened, something the girl never really did.
"Mei…?" Izuku stepped inside and went to the back, finding the girl hunched over one of the work desks. "Something important?"
There was suddenly a zap! and the girl jumped back, nearly bumping into Izuku and making him drop the food.
"I did it! Aha!" Mei removed her goggles and smiled to Izuku, grabbing one of the waters he had brought and downing a bunch of it. "Thanks Izuku!"
"What were you working on?" Izuku set the food and drinks down nearby.
Mei ushered him closer, and they peered at what was on the desk: It was a petri dish with a small sample of something Izuku recognized.
"The sludge villain…?"
"Yup! It totally worked at disabling Bakugo's Quirk, so I've messed around with it some more," Mei exclaimed excitedly. "It's hard to create more of the stuff but look at this!"
Mei grabbed some metal pliers nearby and brought them slowly towards the small sample. Before they touched, a visible spark shot out from the sludge, hitting the pliers and making a loud popping noise, much like when a person discharges the static from their body.
"W-What was that?"
"I dunno! I managed to make it absorb electricity instead of being an insulator to it," Mei explained. "Now it seems like it's growing more and more charged overtime… See?"
Upon closer inspection, Izuku could see that the sludge was slightly moving and vibrating unnaturally.
"B-But how did you manage that?"
"Something like thermal reforming— When it's mixed around rapidly in hot air, it becomes more susceptible to outside influence," Mei said. "Like giving it a shock!"
"Wow… You're really becoming a mad scientist," Izuku commented.
"Yep!" Mei smiled, taking it as a compliment and putting the lid of the petri dish on the sample. "But imagine if this can be used in your Hero suit, to absorb and reflect elemental Quirk attacks!"
As Izuku pulled up a chair and they sat to eat, he thought about that prospect.
"Well, I don't know what they'll do for my suit at this point," Izuku said solemnly. "After all, I wore it illegally…"
"Yeah, they got me for that too," Mei said as she slurped up a bunch of noodles. "But they still said they'd take my design and use it for the most part!"
"Oh? That's great! It felt really good," Izuku exclaimed. "I can't imagine they can do better than you did by yourself!"
"There's always room for improvements," the girl said as she put her face to the cup and slurped a bunch. When she stopped she let out a happy sigh. "So good!"
Izuku chuckled, the girl's face a bit of a mess. He handed her some napkins, which she proceeded to use while managing to completely miss some of the mess. With a sigh he grabbed it and helped wipe it from her face.
"There we go," he said with a smile. Though he then realized it was a bit weird and looked away while blushing slightly.
"You're such a good guy Izuku," Mei commented with a laugh as he looked a bit embarrassed. "Protecting the people from stains of all kind!"
Izuku perked up a bit at this, but Mei continued eating as though nothing was wrong. She shouldn't know about the encounter with the Hero Killer, so he figured he must be paranoid and continued to eat.
"Say Izuku, I've never asked but… Have you ever had a girlfriend?"
Izuku gasped and choked on some chicken for a moment before coughing it back up into the container, taking a moment to breathe before looking at Mei, incredibly flustered.
"W-Where's that coming from?!"
"Well you're pretty dependable and always looking out for others," Mei pointed out. "I'm pretty sure that's something most girls would want!"
Izuku shook his head. "N-No way! I never had luck talking to girls… I guess that's changed now, b-but… I've never thought about it."
Badum, Badum, Badum.
The boy wasn't sure why his heart was beating so hard. He looked at Mei and then looked away again instinctively, unable to handle the girl's piercing gaze at this point.
"Hmm, so that means you've never even kissed a girl before?"
Izuku shot up out of his chair, nearly spilling his food before setting it down and turning away, his hand to his chin in thought.
"K-Kiss… What is Mei talking about? Of course I've never had time to even think about doing such lewd things—"
"Hey hey, you're muttering again!" Mei chuckled, and Izuku sat back down, hiding his face in his hands. "Jeez, you act like Shiro didn't try to grab your butt every day."
"That's—" Izuku sighed. "Different…"
"Oh yeah?" Mei smirked and leaned in. "Why's that?"
"T-That's Shiro! That's how she is," Izuku exclaimed nervously.
"Ohh so if I were to do it…" Mei purposefully trailed off as she acted like she was deep in thought.
"H-Hey, what are you imagining over there?"
"Nothin'!" Mei laughed, and Izuku chuckled a bit as well. He tried to go back to eating and stared down at his food, before Mei continued with, "What should I do the next time you try and get yourself killed?"
Izuku looked up, a bit surprised. Mei still had a slight smile as she swirled some noodles around in the cup, gazing down at it… But she looked oddly sad to him.
"I only used to care about my babies, and, well… They still are my babies," Mei said. "But now I've got someone else to care about. So it's kinda weird now."
"I'm… sorry," Izuku started. "I—"
"It comes with Hero work right," Mei said, smiling up at him. "Remember, we totally faced danger together before, so it's not like I'm a stranger to it or anything."
Izuku nodded, looking down at his food, lost in thought. He didn't notice Mei's hand til she had already reached over and put it on his. He looked up at her and they gazed at each other in the dimly-lit workshop for a few moments.
"I'll keep making babies to protect you, as long as you promise not to go out and die, okay?"
Izuku chuckled softly at that.
"I promise…"
After they finished eating, Izuku helped Mei tidy up a bit, and they got to work on some ideas they both had from the Sports Festival, which they hadn't had time to work on since that event.
It was a very relaxing day for Izuku, even if he became the test subject for potentially dangerous devices, because he was with the person he trusted most. The inseparable friendship was a great reminder of Izuku's humble beginnings. It reminded him that he couldn't have made it as far as he has without the wild pink-haired girl who crash-landed in front of him that fateful day.
It had been a while since the last time he and Mei had sat in her workshop and worked the daylight away, so by the time the sun had started to set, Izuku ended up falling asleep at one of the work desks, lying his head on his arms.
Mei noticed shortly after, checking the time on a clock nearby amongst the piles of scrap, then standing and stretching before she approached Izuku.
She grabbed the blanket he had draped over her that Christmas several months ago, putting it over him and kneeling down beside him. For a moment, she watched his peaceful sleeping face, before leaning in close.
"Izuku?" Mei waited a moment, and he didn't seem to wake, so she continued. "Izuku… I really, really—-"
"—loved playing with you! But… couldn't you have made it a little more fun?~"
Somewhere in the dark alleyways of Tokyo, a girl with ash-blonde hair styled into two messy buns stood with a bloodied knife in her hand. Her yellow thin-slit eyes, nearly resembling that of a cat's, gazed ahead at her handiwork.
A teenaged boy was shivering and convulsing a bit, trying his best to hold the wounds he had suffered, as he gazed fearfully at the pretty girl who had dealt them to him.
The girl smiled, showing her sharp upper and lower canines.
"I guess not everybody is as cool as my Stainy~"
The girl started to lift the knife, but footsteps could be heard from not far off.
"This way!" It was a man's deep voice.
"Oops, guess I should go!~" The girl smiled and waved down to the boy, before skipping away, leaving him gasping and trying to yell for help.
With Heroes making chase, the girl nonchalantly made her way through the alleyways, eventually coming out to the street, where a slender Hero dawning a blue towel-like mask and blue spandex jumped out to stop her.
"Stop right there—"
Suddenly though, a man reached out and grabbed the Hero's head, making him gasp as his vision and mind became fuzzy. The man then slammed the Hero's head into the nearby wall, making him fall to the ground, unconscious.
"Looks like you're at the end of your rope," the man said, taking a drag of his cigarette. He had slightly unkempt gray hair and rounded glasses. He smirked, showing off that his middle top tooth was missing. "I'm Giran. You wanted to speak to the League, huh?"
The girl's eyes widened and she smiled, bringing her hands together excitedly.
"Yes! I want to continue Stainy's legacy if I can," she said happily.
"Good," Giran said with a nod, as a limousine pulled up beside him. He opened the door for the girl. "Then I'll take you to them."
Shouts could be heard from the alleyway as more Heroes were coming, so the girl got in, and Giran followed quick, before they drove off. By the time the Heroes arrived to find their fallen colleague, the two perpetrators were already gone.
"I don't usually get my hands dirty, I'm merely a broker," Giran explained as he tipped the ash from his cigarette into a tray, gazing at the girl who was sitting across from him. "The League is looking for new recruits, people who are ready to crush this society, or something along those lines."
As he took another puff of his cigarette, Giran looked out the window as they drove through Tokyo.
"We've still got one more person to pick up, he's apparently in a similar situation," Giran said. He looked over to the girl and smirked. "So what got you this far, Himiko Toga?"
Toga smiled widely, showing her sharp teeth as she pulled out a vial of blood from her recent victim, sipping at it as if it were a delicious brew of tea.
"I'm just living my best life— I just wanna love, live and die my way. My normal way. I wanna be even more like the people I love~"
She leaned her head back, licking some blood from her lips as she giggled slightly.
"I wanna become Stainy~"
Giran nodded and chuckled slightly.
"Well, you fit the bill alright."
The limousine headed off to pick up their next candidate for the League of Villains. Soon enough, the evil group would come together and truly begin to manifest its power…
The Heroes were going to need every advantage they could if they wished to win the growing conflict.
To Be Continued
The Successor's Will