We back.

Izuku was in for a world of pain, wasn't he?

"Yaoyorozu and Todoroki, you're up!"

He watched as they made their way down. He hadn't even known they were in a team. If he hadn't needed to go to his room then maybe he would've known, but here he was: partnerless and facing off against two people who seemed to have it out for him.

"Why always me?" Izuku muttered as he twirled one of his chakra rods in anticipation.

"Come on, Midoriya!" Uraraka cheered from up above and she was joined with a few whistles and cheers of support from the others.

At least he had some of the class on his side. That had to count for something, right?

After what felt like far too quickly and yet also far too long, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu were standing across from him. They had been conferring the whole time keeping their gaze firm on him. Izuku would be working double-time to stay away from these two.

In short, it was a terrible matchup. Todoroki could bombard him with ice and fire from afar and Yaoyorozu could also attack from range considering she could make guns, cannons and all sorts of gadgets.

He just had to anticipate what they'd do.

He knew a decent bit about Momo and how she operated, but he had barely anything on Todoroki. All he knew was that Todoroki used fire from his left and ice from his right. He also seemed to favour his ice over his fire if Aizawa-sensei's assessment showed anything.

Then again, Todoroki had started the campfire last night so maybe he only used it when appropriate? It's not like any of the tests needed him to use his flames except for maybe added propulsion during the sprint race? Then again, that could melt the ice and mess things up...or burn the person behind him...

Izuku wasn't sure he'd have such restraint this time around

As for Momo, she could make all sorts of things to make his life tricky, but it was hard to nail what her exact fighting style was. It's not like using cannons and guns were her go-to moves, right?

...Right?

It didn't matter, though. Yaoyorozu had a good eye on her and was very smart. The same certainly went for Todoroki—as a recommended student it was a given. So if he were them—

"Todoroki and Yaoyorozu versus Midoriya," Aizawa-sensei said and he raised his arm before slicing it through the air.

"Begin!"

—he'd start out with a long-range attack!

Immediately, Izuku was under (not) fire as a fast column of ice soared at him. Izuku had activated the Fatebreaker at 100% and dodged the speedy attack. A black blur streaked through the air and Izuku deflected it with his chakra rod. Immediately, the object exploded into a large cloud of smoke.

Yaoyorozu...

The smoke cloud enveloped him and immediately Izuku lost sight of his opponents. Instead of panicking, Izuku began to move backwards as he heard the crackle of one of Todoroki's ice columns. He burst out the back of the smoke cloud and it was no moment too soon as Todoroki's glacier wiped out anything that was left in the cloud.

The ice wasn't transparent so Izuku couldn't see his opponents, but lucky for him, this meant that they couldn't see him. Izuku could use that to his advantage. Izuku glowed with chakra as he moved out from behind the ice and charged Yaoyorozu and Todoroki.

Yaoyorozu was on Todoroki's immediate left and wasn't trying to close in on him at all. Instead, she was holding a launcher of some sort. He was sure that Yaoyorozu knew how to fight up close so they must have wanted to trap him using her Quirk instead.

Izuku was proven right as Yaoyorozu fired a series of nets with her launcher. The nets unfurled while in midair and covered a wide area. They also had weights and would be a massive pain to get out from under if he was caught. So, the solution was clear.

Don't get caught.

Izuku's joints creaked with pain as he began to weave through the nets with some difficulty. He was forced into doing some awkward twirls and flips, but ultimately he began to make progress. Izuku flipped out of the way of a net before Todoroki fired another wide range ice attack.

At the same time, Yaoyorozu threw a few matryoshka dolls into the sky. Izuku barely had time to process what they were before they burst apart. A flurry of caltrops rained down around him hemming him in as Todoroki's attack closed in.

The net result meant that Izuku was trapped with nowhere to go...on the ground, of course. Izuku jumped high into the sky and there was a blast of frigid air as Todoroki's attack rocketed past down below him. As Izuku rose he could see that Todoroki's ice attacks hadn't melted or dissipated.

In fact, they were taking up the majority of the field and making it nigh impassable for him. So all of those attacks had been calculated? If Todoroki could afford to spam attacks like this then Izuku would have eventually been caught. He would have simply ran out of room— in a massive field. It was ridiculous.

Did Todoroki come up with the plan?

Izuku's question was answered immediately as Yaoyorozu made a sort of sweeping motion with her hand. Izuku's landing spot was right in the centre of that arc and he had a feeling that Todoroki was probably charging up an especially powerful ice attack.

Well, if the gloves were off...

Izuku spun his body in the air. His core muscles were set aflame from the manoeuvre as his feet bounced off the ceiling sending him faster to the ground. Neither of his opponents had been expecting that and it gave him valuable time. Without hesitation, Izuku channelled massive amounts of chakra to both his feet.

The raging storm beneath his skin made his whole body tremor and twitch. Everything was a blur as Izuku rocketed towards the ground at speed. He was headed for a moderate gap between Todoroki's ice structures, but there was no worry there.

Todoroki had already shown to not be able to manipulate already existing ice structures and so it was perfect. Izuku's core complained again as he flipped his body upright and into a cannonball. Yaoyorozu had launched what looked like bolas to him, but they were far too slow to catch him.

Izuku fell into the gap between the ice structures and pushed his legs out towards the ground in a double foot stomp. Immediately releasing the torrent of chakra into the ground with a roar, as sharp lances of pain powered through his legs and body.

"Paradigm Shift!"

Immediately following his exclamation there was a low thump before a deafening shattering. Izuku shielded his face with his arms as the equivalent of a bomb went off in the arena. His armour shielded him from flying debris and ice as his attack devastated the battlefield.

The hail of ice and rock lasted for a few more seconds before it died down. Izuku had instinctively gone to his knees after his attack and once he rose to his feet he was delighted to see he was now in something of a crater. Improvised move that really hurt his legs: Paradigm Shift was a success. And a better improvised name than Cherry Blossom Impact.

The entire battlefield looked as if Mount Lady had punched it with the full force of a Detroit Smash. The formerly flat space was now completely uneven and there were rocks and ice shards of varying size spread across the field. The whole arena was pulverised.

"What the hell, Midoriya?!" Kaminari yelled at him from up above, "I need to fight on this field later, you bastard!"

He would apologise for that later. It was necessary to slow down Todoroki's ice attacks and the uneven ground was a good enough starting point—he hoped. That was only step one of his plan, though. Todoroki was buried under some massive ice shards and he seemed to be unable to escape.

One down.

Izuku looked through the billowing dust and when he spotted a metallic and rectangular object, he smiled. One to go.

"I've got you now," Izuku muttered under his breath as he powered up and he was upon his target immediately brandishing his chakra rods, "Yaoyorozu!"

His chakra rods smashed into the side of the scratched shield and it crumpled underneath the force of his strikes. The shield was pushed towards him, but Izuku sidestepped it as he charged a scruffy-looking Yaoyorozu.

He was about to connect with a strike with his right when Yaoyorozu created a metal rod and used it to deflect the strike. She hadn't even pulled it out of her body yet! Izuku dodged a strike from Yaoyorozu's staff and it was so quicky and snappy it would have definitely put his lights out.

Izuku blocked an overhead strike using his rods in a cross guard. This gave him a front-row look at Yaoyorozu. She had a few small cuts on her face and larger scrapes and bruises littered her body. Izuku's guard held firm against her assault and Yaoyorozu twirled her staff around before lashing out with another strike.

Izuku got there before her and parried the blow before he connected with a glancing blow to her thigh. Yaoyorozu's face flashed with pain as she whipped her staff towards him and on instinct, Izuku lashed out with his other rod. There was a sharp splintering sound and for a second Izuku thought Todoroki had launched an attack, but that was wrong.

"He broke her staff! Keep going, Midoriya! Pound her into the ground with your rod!"

Yaoyorozu flipped away as she made some space between the two of them. She looked at her broken staff in surprise. Mineta was right, he had broken her staff. Izuku wasn't sure what the significance was as Yaoyorozu tossed her staff aside. She made a brace of shurikens and threw them all at him with shocking speed and accuracy.

"Woah!" Izuku exclaimed before deflecting and dodging as many shurikens as he could. He had to use his chakra rods and the Fatebreaker to their fullest extent to survive the onslaught before it was over, Yaoyorozu had made another metal staff and charged him again.

This time Yaoyorozu attacked in such a flurry that Izuku's guard was unable to keep up. The Fatebreaker's boost began to wane as it ate away at his body. He definitely still had the physical advantage, but like with Kendou, there was a skill gap that he couldn't quite bridge. And that gap only continued to grow as time went on. The staff ploughed into his face and stomach and elbows and knees over and over, but Izuku held onto his rods as he parried and blocked whatever he could.

A quick blow from the staff slammed into his jaw Izuku's vision swam. He felt blood pool in his mouth as white-hot pain radiated from where he'd been hit. Was that bone? Izuku stumbled as the heavy blow discombobulated him. Yaoyorozu mercilessly unleashed another vicious onslaught. A powerful strike caught his left wrist and Izuku dropped the chakra rod in that hand.

"Parry this!"

His armour was absorbing some of the force, but the strikes were just so heavy. To make things worse, Yaoyorozu was going for all the parts his armour didn't cover. Ah, so this was probably why Yaoyorozu had gone for a metal staff. It hurt. Panicked and pissed, Izuku lashed out with a wild strike that connected with her thigh—the same one as earlier— and it put her down to one leg.

"Seven minutes remaining!"

Aizawa-sensei's announcement seemed to ignite something in them both. Momo, in a display of her grit, shook off her dead leg and rose to her feet. So cool... but also not important! Izuku decided to go on the offensive as he shook the pain off and attacked his injured opponent. Unfortunately, Yaoyorozu still had a leg up on him and was able to attack first.

A heavy strike slammed into his side—the side he'd dropped one of his rods. Izuku felt his lungs expunge any air in them, but he fought through the pain as he had a sudden brainwave. He trapped Yaoyorozu's staff to his side and Izuku readied his remaining rod—as well as a localised 100% boost.

"Hah," Izuku grunted with effort as his chakra rod smashed Yaoyorozu's staff into pieces. His arm burnt with pain and he just managed to keep his hold on his chakra rod. There were exclamations of surprise from everyone watching — Yaoyorozu included— as yet again he shattered another one of her weapons. It was Yaoyorozu's momentary shock that allowed him to press on.

Metal shards flew between them as Yaoyorozu gave him a naked look of surprise. Izuku lashed out with an eager strike, but in a cruel twist, his leg spasmed violently. Ugh, damn overuse! He should've been more decisive with his fights, today! Using the Fatebreaker as much as he had—at full blast, mind you— meant he was now suffering from his earlier mistakes.

Izuku had slipped on some rocks and ice and all the built-up power in his strike was lost immediately. This allowed Yaoyorozu to catch his weapon arm with practised ease. In a very Kendou way, Yaoyorozu twisted his wrist disarming him handily. His rod clattered to the ground below.

"Hah!"

Yaoyorozu's roar of effort reverberated in his ears as she adjusted her grip on him. Izuku's world spun before he was slammed into the ground with Yaoyorozu just above him. She'd pulled off a fantastic takedown with pretty much only one good leg— that was awesome, he had to admit. Her face was inches away from his and like him, she was covered in sweat and blood and grime. A tired frown grew on her face as she panted heavily.

"I win."

"You're really good," Izuku gasped out as his competitiveness rose within him, "But I'm not done yet!"

Kendou would never let him hear the end of it if he lost. Even though, he'd beaten Kendou that very morning—that was it!

It was a dirty, dirty trick, but Izuku had to win. He just hoped Yaoyorozu could take hits as well as Kendou could. Yaoyorozu had his arms pinned above his head and with a burst of strength, Izuku broke free—

*CRACK*

—and smashed a headbutt into Yaoyorozu's surprised face.

"Ouch!"

"What the hell, Midoriya?! You should have gone for her—"

Izuku put his classmates' comments aside as he shoved Yaoyorozu off of him. Her hands were clutching her nose which was dripping profuse amounts of blood. Izuku tried to ignore the aches in his body as he activated the Fatebreaker. However, it was all too much and Izuku collapsed to his knees in blinding pain.

Damnit! He was so close to a win, there! Okay, he could still win this. His forehead protector kept him fine and it would've really rattled Yaoyorozu. Izuku slowly rose to his feet his face still set in a painful grimace. Even with the Fatebreaker completely off, it was actual torture to move.

It was one of the only times he'd ever overused Fatebreaker and now it was biting him in the ass. Sharp lances of pain punctuated his every move, his every step as he jogged towards Yaoyorozu. To her credit, Yaoyorozu was now ignoring her bloody nose as pink light glowed in her hands. She was trying to create something.

He had to stop her!

Izuku groaned in pain as he began a painful sprint towards Yaoyorozu. His knees almost buckled with every step he took and his vision swam white and black. He made it just as Yaoyorozu finished her creation which was—a shuriken?

Yaoyorozu reared her arm back ready to whip it at him and it was that motion that drew Izuku's attention to the tag on her collarbone. Of course! He could just take her tag! He'd been so wrapped up in beating her "properly" that he'd completely ignored a valid way of getting the job done.

Izuku threw his hand out in a grab just as Yaoyorozu threw the shuriken towards—his tag. Had they both forgotten about the tag? That was deeply disappointing on both their parts. Still, though if Izuku could just grab hers then a double KO would be fine with him.

He just hoped that the shuriken didn't end up killing him.

Yaoyorozu realised his intentions too late as she cottoned onto his plan. Her shuriken missed Izuku's tag by a hair's width before it bounced off his armour without a scratch. His tag was still attached and that gave Izuku the impetus to make his move. His fingers closed around the bottom of Yaoyorozu's tag and he was about to pull it off when—

Cold.

Pure, unfeeling, unadulterated cold wrapped around Izuku. His desperate lunge was cut off as Izuku's hand would not—could not move any further. Izuku looked at his body and he sighed at the sight of a layer of ice covering his entire body.

The ice had also frozen the thread holding on his tag and it held up for just a second before his tag fell. A stunned Yaoyorozu caught it out of the air confirming his defeat and Izuku sighed in defeat. He turned his head to the right and sure enough, he caught sight of Todoroki.

Todoroki was buried under some truly massive ice blocks. It was impossible for him to move and yet he'd managed to get his hand free. It was that hand that had conjured the icy prison Izuku was now in—the ice trail leading from it more than enough evidence.

"I forgot about Todoroki!"

"Unlucky, Midoriya!"

"What a dirty move, I like it!"

"I mean Midoriya did headbutt Yaomomo so..."

"Quiet! Yaoyorozu and Todoroki win," Aizawa-sensei said as he called the end of the fight, "Todoroki, are you okay to continue under there?"

"Yes, sensei," Todoroki said with a grunt of effort, "I just need to melt my way out of here."

Izuku blinked as he heard those words. Todoroki could use fire. Why hadn't he used it? It would've made their team's strategy a lot easier. Todoroki's ice attacks couldn't really limit Izuku's dodges the way fire could. All Todoroki would have to do was pivot his arm and the flames would follow.

His ice had a bit more of a set path even if the range of those attacks was still impressive.

Izuku was torn away from these thoughts as Yaoyorozu walked up to him. She had a pronounced limp and there were many bruises peppered all over her body— courtesy of their fight. Worst of all, her nose looked a bit crooked. Okay, a lot crooked.

It wasn't the first time he'd seen her in rough shape, but he wasn't the cause of her injuries at the Entrance Exam...

He wasn't sure what to expect, but he was surprised when she created a large spray bottle. As if unaware of her injuries, Yaoyorozu began to hose him down with a liquid— hot water. Her intentions became clear as Izuku was now able to move and feel again as the ice melted.

There was a bit of pain as his limbs throbbed in pain from the sudden temperature change. But it was preferable to being an ice statue so Izuku got over it. With the adrenaline from the fight gone, Izuku was now beginning to feel all the aches and pains of the day building up. One of the worst ones was the spot on his jaw where Yaoyorozu had hit him with her staff.

He was so cold, too. If only he could use that fire chakra warming thing he had come up with earlier today. Unfortunately, he doubted anyone wasn't looking at him so that was a no-go. The warm water Yaoyorozu had used to melt him out was already beginning to cool which was just an awful sensation.

"Ugh," Izuku said as he cradled his jaw, "Thanks for defrosting me...and sorry for headbutting—"

Man, it hurt to speak.

"You don't have to apologise, " Yaoyorozu said and her voice was a bit nasal, "It was a good move. Considering how hard I hit your jaw with my staff, I should be the one—".

"That's really not necessary, " Izuku was the one to cut her off this time, "I've had my teeth punched out quite a few times. It's only thanks to my dentist that I still have all my teeth. You didn't even knock any of them out so it's all good."

Izuku glanced towards Todoroki who was still melting his way out, "You guys worked so well together. And you're really good at all ranges. Was it your plan to trap me?"

"Yes," Yaoyorozu said and she winced before continuing, "It was the best I could come up with considering Todoroki's feelings about his Quirk."

Could she be talking about Todoroki's non-usage of his fire? So, it was a conscious choice of him not to use it. That left Izuku a bit flummoxed. On one hand, they should always be giving their all in everything that they do. It was almost an insult to other heroes and also to civilians to slack off.

On the other hand, what leg did Izuku have to stand on? He wasn't using all of what he was capable of either. So could he really criticise Todoroki for doing the same? Probably not.

Yaoyorozu winced again as she tried to walk towards Todoroki and Izuku caught her as she fell. There was a bit of fumbling before Izuku managed to support her from the side—his arm was around her waist and hers was around his neck. The height difference (amongst other things) made it a bit awkward. Not to mention, Yaoyorozu was giving him a scarier look than any he'd gotten from Aizawa-sensei.

"Midoriya and Yaoyorozu," Aizawa-sensei called down to them, "Both of you go to the infirmary. And before you complain Yaoyorozu, you have symptoms of a concussion. Take the rest of the day off. I'll vouch for you so don't worry."

"Your belongings will be returned to your rooms, later today. The class will be running some debriefs on each fight after this next one. Yours will have to wait."

Being this close to Yaoyorozu, Izuku could see the displeasure on her face. Her arm around him was tense, but she didn't dare disagree and just gave a curt nod. The truth was Aizawa-sensei was right. Yaoyorozu was leaning rather heavily onto him and he doubted she could walk on her own.

"Kaminari and Mineta, the two of you are against Todoroki! Stop giggling and get down there."

Giggling about what?

"I can walk on my own," Yaoyorozu whispered right into his ear making his cheeks burn up, "You don't have to do this."

Holy whoa, she was close to him. His body felt like it was burning where they were touching as they hobbled out the arena. The infirmary was quite a ways from their position so they were in a for a long walk. Where were those damn robots when you needed them?!

"I-I'd let you go, but then you'd probably fall to the ground," Izuku said and his own body ached with pain, "At least carrying you keeps me moving forward. If it were just me, I'd probably have waited for a robot."

"Are you hurt?"

"Yeah," Izuku let out with a dry laugh, "I've been put through the wringer a bit. Especially by you and Kacchan— you guys were really tough. Plus, my body hurts when I overuse my juts—Quirk. Overuse my Quirk."

"I can create a robot that—"

"You seriously don't have to," Izuku said tiredly as they hobbled along UA's manicured paths, "It's nice of you to offer, but it's okay. Besides, what would you do with it later? Isn't that wasteful?"

"No," Yaoyorozu mumbled as she wiped her nose, "I repurpose most of my creations."

Seriously? That was cool. He'd never thought about it,

"How did you break my staffs?" Yaoyorozu asked and Izuku stopped walking out of shock, "You did to my shield too...and your escrima sticks didn't even get a scratch on them."

"My Quirk makes me strong so that's probably it?" Izuku said a bit hesitantly as Yaoyorozu's inquisitive gaze bored into him, "What type of metal did you use? Maybe that was it?"

It was the truth, but not the whole truth. As strong as he could be, he doubted using normal wooden sticks would have been as effective. And apparently, Yaoyorozu seemed to realise this too.

Yaoyorozu sighed, "If you didn't want to tell me, you should have just said so. I've just never seen an alloy so lightweight and yet so sturdy."

Izuku wasn't what to say to that so he just kept quiet. This conversation was going south fast. It had been okay for the most part, but as always it was veering into an uncomfortable line of talking.

He had no idea how to salvage, but the world seemed to shine upon him.

"Stairs?" Yaoyorozu said and she tried to lift her legs before wincing, "I don't think I can make it to the top."

"I'll carry you...on my back!" Izuku added a bit hurriedly, "I could try fireman's but your nose is bleeding so..."

It wasn't even worth mentioning bridal style.

"O-okay," Yaoyorozu said as she weighed things up, "Let's just do this."

This was fine. Totally fine. He could carry her like this no problem. He just had to make sure his hands were on her costume and not on her...skin...

Izuku took in Yaoyorozu's outfit properly for the first time. There was not a whole lot to it, in all honesty. He guessed the skin exposure was to create from all over her body, but that wasn't really useful in this situation.

He just had to man up. He'd faced down criminals that used guns. This was gonna be easy. He was almost sure of it.

"Okay, get on."

It was not the most elegant thing to watch, but eventually, Yaoyorozu had gotten on his back. Her arms wrapped around his shoulder and his arm went under her thighs. Her thighs which had NO coverage—

"C-Comfortable?"

"Y-Yes."

Izuku used chakra to increase his grip on her before he soldiered on. This was terribly awkward and Izuku was grateful that class was still in session. This was a terrible, terrible situation, but even so, Izuku could spot one benefit.

Neither of them felt like talking anymore.

"Do you want me to hold an ice pack against your jaw? It's looking a bit swollen."

Well, for the most part.

"...That would be nice."

UA looked rather different at night.

Everything was dark and tinged with some moonlight. The buildings looked beautiful regardless of the time of day, but at night, Izuku felt as though, the internal forest of UA was just sublime. Izuku wished he'd had his phone on him so he could take a photo, but he'd left it back in his room.

Izuku had been amongst the first to be discharged from the infirmary— even though it was his second visit that day. Recovery Girl had looked somewhere between exasperated and pissed that he was back just a few hours later. The only upside was that apparently Yaoyorozu icing his jaw had reduced the amount of work necessary.

She hadn't mentioned anything about him carrying Yaoyorozu in, but she hadn't needed to which was almost worse. He had no idea if she remembered that they had been placed together after the Entrance Exam, but she probably did. Probably. Izuku wasn't all that memorable, in fairness.

Thankfully, he'd been discharged before Bakugou and Yaoyorozu. Both of them needed to rest before Recovery Girl could do her magic. Yaoyorozu had passed out not long after he'd put her down which was scary. Thankfully, Recovery Girl had told him it was fine. Yaoyorozu needed rest to recuperate anyways so it was fine for her to take her unscheduled nap.

Recovery Girl had taken care of his injuries on the spot which left him feeling absolutely beat. There were empty beds he could've slept in, but Izuku had taken the noble path of opting for his bed back at the dorms. The last thing he wanted was to wake up and be trapped in Yaoyorozu and Bakugou's crosshairs. It was obvious why he wanted to avoid Bakugou and for all he knew, Yaoyorozu had only been cordial because of her concussion.

Yaoyorozu would probably try to grill him on his chakra rods and maybe, his "Quirk" too...so yeah Izuku was kinda grateful that his injuries were so minor in comparison to the others.

He had gotten off rather lightly compared to the other. Only Kouda had left earlier than him and it was a bit of a rough realisation once he figured out he'd sent three people to the infirmary on the same day... No wait, it was actually four. He and Kendou had done a number on each just this morning...

Was this going to become his thing? Sending people, and then eventually himself, to the infirmary? That didn't sound like fun.

That being said, compared to everyone else, Kouda's now-fixed jaw wasn't that bad of an injury. Iida and Bakugou had probably taken the worst damage today. Yaoyorozu and Kendou were about the same more or less...and ironically he'd taken about the same amount of damage from them.

Except instead of fracturing his arms, Yaoyorozu had fractured his jaw. Still, though, that was nothing compared to what Iida and Bakugou had gone through.

Iida had been sent to the infirmary courtesy of Bakugou and he was fine— shockingly. Apparently, that armour of his was no joke. Bakugou hadn't really held back when he had exploded that gauntlet of his to beat Iida. If it had been someone like Jirou or Hagakure (what was her costume anyway?) then it probably would've been ugly.

The same went for him and his finger flick of doom. The advice Togata had given him had been the key to beating Bakugou. It was a bit violent, but considering what Izuku had done to 1-B's garden it was as good as he could hope for.

...Of course, he still had no idea why Bakugou had hesitated right at the climax of their duel. The fights were still vivid in his mind and Izuku remembered Bakugou's inaction in clear detail. Izuku was going to lose. Bakugou had trapped him into a frontal clash and there was supposed to be no path to victory and yet—

"Your eyes...why are they—"

—he'd won.

What had Bakugou meant by that? After waking up from his nap, Izuku had studied his eyes for fifteen minutes before concluding that they were still the same as forever. A bit of a reckless and foolish idea had then come over him.

Unless...Perhaps he was supposed to channel chakra to his eyes?

The Scroll had mentioned two eye-focused techniques in passing detail— Dojutsu was the name. He didn't know the names of either one, but he did know that they were family-based. In fact, it was said that many abilities were kept within families. Only some of these abilities could be used by a certain family exclusively.

For the most part, families were just stingy with their signature techniques.

And that was fair enough. He'd already seen Sakura electrocute an old lady to death. In self-defence, mind you, but still. If apparent allies could just switch on you with little remorse then sharing techniques probably wasn't the best of ideas.

In any case, Izuku had decided against channelling chakra to his eyes. For now. He didn't know nearly enough about his eyes to try it in any effective way. It was supposed to be safe to move chakra around your body, but Izuku couldn't take the risk...not until he'd finished his meeting with Sumire that was. Besides, he still had to figure out those chakra strings before adding more to his plate.

"Okay, this should be far enough," Izuku said as he was near a simmering body of water. He put his student tag down underneath some rocks and went through a few handseals before he was enveloped in smoke.

It was a weird sensation to use the Transformation jutsu. It didn't hurt, but there was always a bit of an adjustment period. He assumed that the smoke was supposed to help him come to grips with his transformation.

It was something that was very necessary as once the smoke faded, the world exploded into colour. Birds could see a wider spectrum of colours than humans could which wasn't all that fun for Izuku. It was a headache trying to process it all, but somehow he managed.

Izuku let out a stream of chirps as he fell to the ground, but a few flaps of his wings and he was off into the air. He flew through the foliage as he gathered speed and altitude and soon he was sailing high up into the air. From there, it was just a matter of flying towards Sumire's apartment.

It was very, very weird and disorienting, but after uncountable Body Flickers, he handled nausea quite well. There was a definite feeling of dysphoria that he couldn't quite shake—which made sense. He was a human in a bird's body. As cool as it was, it was still deeply terrifying.

And that was without taking the height into account...

Still, though, Izuku had eventually made it outside Sumire's apartment and thankfully the window was open. He stayed on the ledge and peeked inside. It would've been awkward if he'd flown in while Sumire...was indecent. Thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case.

Unfortunately, Sumire was passed out on her couch.

"Sumire," Izuku tried to say but all that came out was a whole lot of birdsong. It seemed to have the same effect, though, as Sumire woke up with a start. She looked around a bit confused until she spotted the bird on her windowsill.

Sumire's face was blank as she stared at him and Izuku stared back confused. He tilted his head at her in a very not-bird way. Was she trying to figure out if he were an actual bird? Surely she'd remember that he told her to leave her window open so he could—

"Ah! Get out!"

—and now there was a shoe flying at him.

After all of that, Izuku had dropped his Transformation and Sumire had apologised for her...outburst. And asked him to get her shoe. He'd refused.

Sumire let out a sigh as she sat down and offered Izuku a cup of coffee which he gratefully accepted. Sumire's TV was on, but it faded into the background as they got settled in. Coffee wasn't usually his thing, but he needed the boost. Aside from today being a pure pain, he had to deal with the other half of his life.

Hero student by day and detective vigilante by night... It sounded cooler than Izuku felt it was.

"Okay, let's remind, ourselves of what we know," Sumire said as she took a sip out of her mug before putting it aside for her laptop, "Just to have our stuff in order."

"First of all, we know that the site you discovered and got your powers from has valuable artefacts that people want. Villains and heroes. And so far we only know they're special because they seem more durable. Probably because of the catra?"

"Chakra," Izuku corrected as he took over, "Also, many high-profile hero agencies were working together to both ship and then protect these artefacts at the Iwatani Storage Facility."

It went without saying that such a collaboration was unusual — or at the very least under-reported considering the ramifications of such a team-up.

"And yet despite all that protection, criminals got into Iwatani and stole items. Items that they tried to give to heroes. Heroes who apparently hired them for exactly that task."

That was a good enough summary of everything and yet Izuku felt they had barely scratched the surface of this thing. After all, even for chakra metal or Miraculum, it was deeply worrying that some heroes would be willing to just go off the deep end there.

"What did you find about Backdraft?" Izuku asked as he peered at Sumire's laptop, "He was the one to put out the fire at Miruko's nightclub— which you obviously saw. His agency is way too far away for him to have gotten there so quickly."

So, Backdraft must have known that Dabi would use that exact route to escape.

"There wasn't even a fire in the general area that night," Sumire said as she clicked through reports at a rapid pace, "The only one was at Iwatani—which is far closer to Backdraft's agency. So, he was just lying in wait with his sidekicks to give himself an alibi and not be near the scene of the crime."

That sounded about right, but it still felt like there was something missing. Izuku held off on drinking his coffee until it clicked in his head.

"Can you check his approval ratings?" Izuku asked and Sumire tapped away with lightning speed, "Check it over the period from my debut as Kage until now."

"Seriously? Okay."

A few seconds later, they had in front of them. Backdraft had been on something of a surge upwards and would have probably made it into the top 200 the way he was going. However, after Kage's debut, he flatlined and then after some more time began to fall. Rapidly.

It was a death spiral, really. In fact, the only thing that ended up saving the downward spiral he was in—

"Was putting out the fire that night," Sumire said as she finished his sentences, "You were talking out loud, but whatever. You're right. And look at these dates. Over here, was that massive team-up between big heroes. Over here, was Best Jeanist stopping a building collapse and all of these ones here are your biggest operations."

All of them had massive drops.

"I heard on the news that general approval ratings for heroes had been falling," Izuku said as he recalled the news segment from a while back, "Just not amongst top heroes...because they're always going after big fish and handling major operations."

"Starlight News, right? That whole spiel of how Kage and other vigilantes do normal work for free, right?"

"Yeah," Izuku nodded and he frowned, "It has me conflicted. I'd like to think all heroes are in the business out of a want to help, but status and money are obvious draws too."

In a way, Izuku wanted that too. He wanted to be an inspiration much like All Might, but that came with other fringe benefits that were hard to ignore. He could afford to let his mother have the most comfortable retirement possible, set up programs to help Quirkless students and who knows what else.

And of course, he could live comfortably, but that wasn't his goal nor was it what he looked forward to the most.

"Is it wrong of me to want compensation for what I do?" Izuku asked Sumire as he voiced his concern, "There's obviously a lot of money in hero work, but is it wrong for me to want it?"

Sumire gave him a good long look before she smiled a bit sadly, "It's not wrong. You're working for free, right now. Risking jail time and permanent injury or worse all just to help people. There's nothing wrong with being compensated for your efforts. There are few people who could do what you guys do. Scarcity drives your value up."

Sumire's smile then vanished, "Of course, you're one of the heroes who actually cares about the people. I think heroes should be held to a higher standard. It's why I do what I do. I find the guilty and bring them forth into the light. Sure, thanks to you, my website and income have grown beyond any and all expectations, but that's not really why I do what I do."

Sumire yawned as she stretched her body out. There were more than a few cracks as the kinks in her body were slowly worked out. Once she was done she put her hand on his shoulder and perhaps her first true smile of the night came through.

"I can't dodge bullets or transform into monsters or bend the elements," Sumire said her eyes unblinking—and they never really did blink come to think of it, "This is my way of putting bad guys away. Even just one article can spotlight attention to something heroes are not dealing with— consciously or not."

"Is that what the Stain investigation is about?"

Everyone had heard about Stain by now— largely thanks to Sumire. She'd never gotten a picture of him, but she'd drawn connections between the recent killings of Pros to thrust him into the public eye. From interviews with sidekicks to coroner reports and eyewitness details, Sumire's tracking of Stain was far more impressive and detailed than her reports on him.

Though, it may be like that because Stain wasn't even trying to hide which in itself was worrying.

It was a good thing that Sumire hadn't met him directly, Izuku felt. If she had ever gotten a picture of Stain that meant she would've seen him right in front of her. And who knew how he'd react in that situation? He clearly wasn't the most balanced individual around, after all.

"Yes," Sumire said as her grip on him tightened, "Hardly anyone seems to want to go near him. He's gone after Pros that were rather formidable even if some of their solve rates weren't the greatest..."

Sumire blinked before turning away and writing something down on her notepad. Izuku tried to get a peek, but Sumire turned away fully from him. He craned his neck to try once more, but again Sumire moved it out of his view.

"Stain is my case," Sumire said as she put the notepad away, "We are dealing with this. You're already doing more than enough, Izuku. I will not let you do more."

Izuku was at once touched and a bit put out, "Why? Is it because I'm a kid—"

"No," Sumire said immediately, "You're more of a grown-up than many heroes I've seen in action. I'm just working with another source on this one and I'm not trying to overwork you, okay? I can't let you be the cure-all to my cases. You're doing so much as is. Let's just focus on this case, okay?"

She had another source helping her with the Stain case? Interesting. He wondered if that source had also helped her get some intel on the Stain case. As it was, Sumire was the journalist quoted the most whenever the Hero Killer came up.

It was a bit jarring to realise that the coffee and confectionery addict was something of a bigshot in Japan's journalism scene, but life had been crazy. What was one more thing to the pile?

"...alright," Izuku said and he pushed all thoughts of Stain away, "Let's check Death Arms and Native's approval ratings."

The results were eerily similar. Since Kage's debut, both Death Arms and Native had failed in a rather public way. Death Arms losing a fight and Native screwing up a hostage situation. And they had both had cratering approval ratings ever since. It was sad, but at the same time, it was almost to be expected.

The three heroes had never really strived for excellence and kinda just did enough to get by. Their case numbers were low for those in the same ranking bracket as them which could only mean their approval ratings were what kept them in about the same league as their peers.

This was now impossible due to the shift in perception towards heroes that had been going on for a while now. And lo and behold, Death Arms and Native had been spotted fighting the robbers at Iwatani Storage Facility and had apprehended a few villains whilst other heroes had let the ones with valuable cargo go.

Footage of that fight was unavailable, but Izuku was sure he'd find Death Arms and Native allowing the thieves to run free. They'd probably mucked with the guard schedules or something to that effect. They'd hold a lot of sway over the sidekicks from various agencies— even if they weren't really heroes that went all out in their work.

After all, owning a successful agency and being recognisable was a massive sign of success and all three were like that. Particularly within the Musutafu region. It made Izuku think, though. If the three had artificially created conflict to boost their ratings—

"—Who else could be doing the same?" Sumire finished up and she didn't even chastise him for speaking out loud, "It's impossible to know really, but I'll try. Hero work is as lucrative as it is cutthroat. Greed and desperation can make people do crazy things."

"That would be a good idea," Izuku said as he stretched his limbs out and yawned, "Ugh, I'm so tired. School was so rough..."

It felt just a little odd to pivot to such a mundane conversation topic, but there was not much else for them to do currently. They had pretty much confirmed some shadiness on the part of the Three which was good and all, but it would take more time for all this to be resolved.

"Oh, right! Today was your first day!" Sumire said parking up, "How was it? Did you meet All Might? Did you do well with your partner...thing? You didn't get hurt, did you? Is Eraserhead a good teacher?"

That was a bit much.

"Off the record?" Izuku asked and he got a faux offended nod from Sumire, "It's been hell. And awesome. No, I don't think All Might is even there yet. I won most of my fights, but Kacchan and Yaoyorozu did a lot of damage to me. I had to go the infirmary afterwards, but only for a fractured jaw. And Aizawa-sensei is scary, but he does seem to care."

He'd expected Sumire to be overwhelmed by the word vomit, but she just gave a contemplative nod, "That's good. I guess Eraserhead isn't going to figure you out immediately. So everything's good except for the fractured jaw part..."

Izuku nodded, "Yeah, Yaoyorozu hit me with a metal staff so—"

"Wait, hang on," Sumire said cutting him off, "Yaoyorozu? Like the uber-rich Yaoyorozu family?"

Oh, right. Yaoyorozu's family was super famous, weren't they?

"Yeah," Izuku said dragging it out a bit, "What about it?"

Sumire gave him a disappointed look, "The Yaoyorozu family owns the island that Konoha is on! And they own the Iwatani Storage Facility too. So, that means all those heroes working together outside the public eye— they're all employed by your classmate's family."

Oh. Oh.

"She could help us get more details on the Miraculum craze," Sumire said as she began to walk around, "They're a disgustingly rich corporation so they've gotta know a lot, right? You just need to smooze her up and—"

"That's not gonna work," Izuku said as he cut Sumire off, "That's a little shady but it wouldn't work anyways. Momo and I haven't gotten off to the best of starts. We don't hate each other...I think? Well, I don't hate her, but she doesn't seem to like me much, if at all."

"Doesn't like you? Why doesn't she—"

"Plus today I head-butted her hard enough to give her a concussion—"

"...That would do it."

"She threw a shuriken at me so it's not as bad as it sounds," Izuku said before his brain clicked, "Wait, I should ask her to teach me! Then I can show her I'm not a bad guy!"

It would help combat his weakness at long-range if he could get really good at it. It wasn't a water dragon or a fireball, but it was a start. Plus, Yaoyorozu had figured out he was the Konoha Kid. So, him having kunai and shuriken wouldn't be too out there.

"That sounds like a plan," Sumire said before looking at the clock, "Alright, it's heading towards seven, now. It'd probably be best if you—"

They were cut off as the volume on the TV went way up. Izuku turned towards it. The shock and surprise from the randomly loud noise made a worrying sensation wash over him. And for a moment, Izuku thought it was just a simple matter of the TV being too loud.

He was wrong.

"We've got some breaking news here!" A now-familiar Masukomi Sousa yelled at the camera, "There has been a villain attack at a Cultural Festival here in Kyoto! Evacuations have been done and current number five hero, Edgeshot is engaging the aggressors!"

The camera panned to said fight and in all honesty...it wasn't looking all that good. Edgeshot's Quirk was a bit hard to understand, but from what Izuku could tell it allowed him to manipulate his body as well as those of his opponents through skin contact.

Understandably, Pros didn't go around publicising the exact mechanics of their Quirks.

With that being said, one of the problems with being a leading Pro is that often your fights get filmed. This meant people had access to even more of your fights in various situations and they begin to get something of an understanding of how you did things.

Clearly, the villains had done their research because Edgeshot was currently fighting and losing against a series of villains with all sorts of armour Quirks. Metal, diamond, rock and even water and wood.

Edgeshot twisted and moulded his body as he tried to break through the villain's Quirks, but it was to no avail. He may have been #5 but he was still just a normal human in terms of strength. His punches and kicks and grabs were ineffectual against the horde of armoured fighters.

"Edgeshot has reportedly been occupying the villains for twenty minutes straight, but he appears to be nearing his limits!"

Masukomi's voice grated against Izuku, but the reporter was dead right. Izuku had some fair experience with fights(which was quite the understatement) and so he could see that Edgeshot was beginning to flag. It began with Edgeshot missing his punches and kicks by more and more as well as the villains getting closer and closer to hitting him. Izuku's hands dug into the couch in worry and frustration as he hoped for some miracle.

It never came.

The first one was a heavy one. A metal fist ploughed right into Edgeshot's stomach— the blow so strong it bulged out the back of the Hero's stomach. Edgeshot flew through the air at shocking speed before smashing into a nearby stall.

He rose out of the wreckage and was about to activate his Quirk again when a coil of fire washed over his body. Izuku heard Sumire let out a whimper as they watched Edgeshot scream in pain. He rolled on the ground in desperation— fruitlessly trying to extinguish the fires.

Izuku hated this. If only he were close enough to this Festival. He could Body Flicker—

"Absolutely not," Sumire said as she cut him off, "Someone else will come to help him. I'm sure of it."

Her voice didn't waver nor did she stutter, but it still felt as though Sumire wasn't convinced of her own words. As if saying it out loud would speak it into existence, somehow. That help would be just around the corner and Edgeshot's respite was imminent.

It never came.

The flames dissipated eventually leaving Edgeshot on the ground and covered in numerous, massive burns. Edgeshot's costume was completely ruined and it was even fused to his skin in various parts. All of this was captured in perfect quality by the Starlight News cameraman.

"We apologise for the graphic images being shown, but this is what news is all about. Edgeshot has lost. Is this truly it? The very best he can muster? There are still many civilians here who are in danger. If the number five hero can not save these people then who can?"

"I hate that guy," Sumire groused as Edgeshot was forced into battle again, "He's supposed to be neutral. All this emotive language and bias...the whole news corporation he works for has been doing the same thing. Inciting the populace can never end well. They should know better...it really pisses me off."

Before Izuku could respond, Edgeshot got hit with another long-range attack— a bolt of electricity that forced harrowing screams from the man. The cries were so horrific that the escaping civilians stopped out of sheer fright. The few heroes that were also there seemed to stop evacuation efforts and instead rushes towards Edgeshot.

A storm of crystals was created from another villain and fired towards Edgeshot. Izuku was hoping again hope that Edgeshot could dodge it. His hope lasted right until two pink beams of light hit Edgeshot. Izuku traced the attack to an oddly familiar face and the camera lingered on that man's face long enough for a seed of worry to settle within Izuku.

Who was that guy?

That thought was discarded once it was clear that Edgeshot couldn't move— his whole body as stiff as a board. His face was blooming with panic as the shards zeroed in on him and Izuku tensed up as he prepared for the worst—

"Move back!"

—It never came.

A tall woman landed in front of Edgeshot her long black hair flowing behind her. In a flash of pink light, a massive riot shield sprung up between them and the crystal shards were stopped in their tracks. There was something familiar about the Pro and Izuku was struggling to get a good look at her.

The hero moved her shield aside as another volley of shards were fired at her. Instead of using her shield again, the hero threw her own volley of weapons— kunai. The kunai met the crystals head-on and shattered every single one of them. Immediately, Izuku could tell what they were. It was in the gleam of the metal and the sleekness of the design.

"Is that...chakra metal?"

And so could Sumire.

The hero's shield dispersed into pink sparks before reforming into a number of canisters. The canisters were fired by an unseen force and landed in the midst of the villains. There were a series of explosions as smoke washed over the group.

Within seconds, members of the villains began to keel over and pass out.

After just ten seconds, from a group of roughly 15, only one was left standing. That one being the vaguely familiar man with the paralyzing glare. The Pro who'd come to Edgeshot's rescue wore a red outfit with a golden decal. Tying everything together was a small infinity symbol emblazoned on her chest.

The Pro was about to press her advantage when she conjured a metal staff(that was also familiar), but from nowhere a black cloud manifested itself. The black cloud washed over the attacking villains for a few seconds before disappearing leaving nothing behind.

"Medics! Get this guy some help!"

The Pro's voice had an affability and sophistication that was hard to fake. As Izuku's heart rate began to drop, he was able to take in more of what had happened. There was a severe anoint of property damage as well as human casualties.

No deaths were shown on screen, but there were many people walking around with various injuries. It was sickening to see what happened and it pissed Izuku off that they'd gotten away. As Masukomi began to interview the newcomer and try to paint a picture of what had happened, Izuku turned to Sumire.

"I don't know who she is," Izuku said as a frown etched its way onto his face, "She's really good. Was this her debut?"

Izuku hadn't been paying too much attention to up-and-coming heroes so he had no way of knowing, really. Mt Lady's debut was the last he could remember.

"She didn't debut too long ago actually," Sumire said with something of a heavy sigh, "I actually do know her thanks to an ex of mine... Her hero name is Infiniti though she is really famous away from the hero scene too."

"It actually makes sense that she was the one to help Edgeshot. Her family helped his agency get to the heights that it currently is at, after all."

Wait, Edgeshot's agency had been sponsored by—

"That's Tomiko Yaoyorozu— not only is she the fastest-rising hero of the year, but she is also the daughter and heir-apparent to the head of the Yaoyorozu Corporation."

So, that's why she was so familiar. She reminded Izuku of his Yaoyorozu— Momo. The weapons they created, the tone of voice and even the colour of their outfits. Izuku blinked.

"The only reason I was late was because of you and mother, Tomiko."

He remembered hearing Yaoyorozu say that while on a heated phone call. The distaste and unhappiness in Yaoyorozu's voice had been quite unlike her— even in all the awkward chats they'd had Yaoyorozu had never sounded so...bitter.

It was the only explanation that made sense, though.

Tomiko and Momo were sisters.

"I think I have to speak to Yaoyorozu," Izuku said as he watched Tomiko pick up her Miraculum kunai, "There's no avoiding it now."

It could be dangerous and paint him as a shady character, at best and expose his investigation at worst, but there was nothing else for it. That wasn't enough to convince himself, though. He, fruitlessly, hoped for himself or Sumire to make a convincing argument against probing for more information from Yaoyorozu.

It never came.

Author notes:

Hey Guys! Finally back with another chapter! Things have been so crazy, but we finally got it out.

If it wasn't clear or said before, Yaoyorozu is gonna be important to the storyline. Other than that, the tapestry is unravelling a bit and Izuku loves headbutts.

I read all your lovely reviews and comments while I'd been buried under work and I'm so happy to get this one out before the end of the year. It's been about one year since I began this fic and I'm still stunned by all the people following it. So, thank you to all of you guys!

I've started a Re:Zero/BNHA fic where Izuku gets isekai'd to Re:Zero in place of Subaru. I'm really excited for it so check it out if you're interested. It's called Zeroed.

Happy holidays and I'll see you guys on the other side of New Year's Eve. Stay safe!