AN: Animeguy1101 - He could try, but someone would have the faster metabolism and digest it first.
Flashyyyyyy - There will be some mild Katsuki bashing, but I am not going to go out of my way to dunk on him. It is more like 'Season 6 Izuku has bigger things to deal with then pre-S1 Katsuki'
Fencer29 - Izuku is starting at the new school in January, so he's starting 1 semester ahead of Ochako. When Inko found out what happened at Aldera she decided not to wait until the year was over before he transferred.
And you are right that Nezu would know about the vestiges at this point. Even if Ochako didn't mention them, Izuku would have brought them up in a mumble-storm when he inevitably rambled about the state of OFA before he travelled back in time.
Kakarifers - Now that we are past all of the info-dumps, hopefully this chapter feels better in terms of dialogue / action.
Despite it being early in the morning, Izuku was full of energy.
He was getting ready to catch an early train to visit Nabari for Ochako's birthday with his mom. When he told his mom that he wanted to visit her on the 27th, she agreed immediately. He thought that was the end of it until he found out that she had talked to Ochako's mom, and the two of them decided to make it a surprise for Ochako.
"You don't have to worry Izu, we have plenty of time to catch the train!" Inko gently scolded him.
"I know! But I can't help it!" Izuku protested as he was gently placing Ochako's presents into his backpack.
As she watched, Inko couldn't help but smile when she saw her son's enthusiasm. It reminded her of when he was younger, without a care in the world. The past few months had been rough for her as she learned just how much she had missed, but seeing him now made it all worth it. She silently reaffirmed her vow to be the best mother she could be for him.
The two left their apartment and made their way to Tatooin Station, where they boarded a train for Nabari. Once Izuku was settled in and saw their arrival time, he pulled out his phone, calling Ochako.
She picked up on the first ring. "Hi, Midoriya!"
"Happy Birthday Uraraka!"
"Thanks!" From her tone of voice, he could tell she was smiling on the other end of the line.
"Do you have any plans for today?" Izuku asked, seeing his mom giving him a sly look from her seat.
"Enjoying my break day!" Ochako laughed on the other end, and Izuku joined her. "My parents have reservations at a sushi restaurant for dinner, and then we are planning on walking around town to enjoy the snow!"
"That sounds nice," Izuku responded. "Are you going to hang out with anyone today?"
"No," Ochako replied, a hint of sadness in her voice. "I wish."
Izuku smiled knowingly. "Would you feel better if I called you later?"
"Yes! I would love that."
"You can tell me all about your day then!" Izuku responded enthusiastically.
"Sounds great!"
Izuku heard a muffled voice on the other end of the line, and Ochako responded before she spoke again.
"Looks like mom just made breakfast, so I need to get going!"
"Sounds good!" Izuku responded. "I guess I'll talk to you later then?"
"Looking forward to it!"
Inko broke into a smile as he hung up the phone. "So she doesn't suspect a thing?"
Izuku shook his head. "Not at all!"
"Well, she'll be in for a nice surprise then!"
The rest of the trip passed uneventfully as Izuku watched the city disappear, turning into the snow-covered countryside. While the trip was peaceful, Izuku was ready for the day when he didn't have to travel four hours by train to see Ochako. Hopefully, between his training and starting at a new school, the next three months will pass as quickly as the last three.
Ochako was lying on her bed, reading the new astronomy book that her parents had given to her for her birthday when she heard the doorbell ring.
"Chako, can you get that?" She heard her mom call down the hallway.
"Sure thing!"
Curious, she pushed herself up and walked to the door, opening it to reveal Izuku and Inko.
"Surprise?" Izuku said, almost shamefully.
Rather than speak, Ochako lunged forward, wrapping him in a hug. "You came!"
Izuku wrapped his arms around her in response. "Of course! I would have told you sooner but our moms conspired against you."
"We're used to quiet birthdays out here," Miu announced as she came up behind Ochako. "So when Ms. Midoriya told us that her son wanted to visit, we wanted to keep it secret."
"Can we at least come inside?" Inko asked the two children standing in the doorway.
Ochako began blushing as she pulled away from Izuku. "Y-yes, sorry!" She stepped back, making room for Izuku and Inko.
"We got a hotel in town, so we won't have to worry about leaving early," Inko explained, as Izuku set down a pair of bags on the landing. "It will be nice getting out of Mustafu, even if it's only for a day."
"Well, I'd say you're welcome anytime," Miu responded. "But you know the offer's only good for three more months."
"Oh, I'm sure you'll want to escape, once you've settled in," Inko said playfully. "It will certainly be different from life out here."
"From the sounds of it, UA plans to keep us busy enough that we won't have to worry too much about that!"
As the two ladies talked, Ochako saw her mother guide Inko down the hallway towards the kitchen where she was working on a mochi cake for tonight. Once they were out of earshot she turned back to Izuku.
"So this is what you meant by 'talk to you later?'"
Izuku looked sheepishly at Ochako. "Sorry I didn't tell you, but your mom was insistent."
Ochako shook her head and smiled. "It's ok! I love my parents! Just after my last birthday in the dorms, it felt lonely going back to our usual tradition."
"Oh, yeah. I can understand that."
Izuku thought back to the informal party they held for Uravity, who was moved to tears when she saw the modest pile of gifts from her classmates, the repurposed Christmas decorations, and the large cake Sato had made for the entire class. His birthday happened before they left for the forest training camp, so he didn't quite understand what she was feeling, but he was sure that would change next year.
"C'mon, we can talk in my room!"
Ochako grabbed Izuku's hand with both of hers, and that was when he noticed something different. Looking down, he saw that she was wearing a pair of black artist's gloves with pink accents on her hands. He gave her a questioning glance.
"It was one of my parents' presents! I'll explain in private."
With a nod, Izuku let her guide him back to her room, where she closed the door. Izuku meanwhile, set his bag on her desk and carefully removed a notebook from it, careful to not disturb the presents.
"Artist's gloves?"
Ochako began blushing. "So um, remember how I said my quirk changed after I received One For All? What I didn't tell you is that I had some trouble controlling whether I was going to use Zero Gravity or Heavy Gravity. After a week and several crushed desks and chairs at school, we decided it would be safer if I wore gloves when I wasn't planning on using my quirk." She looked away from Izuku. "It would have been really bad if I used Heavy Gravity on a person by accident."
"That explains some things." Izuku mused to himself. "You always seemed to have more control over your fingers than Uravity did, and were less accident-prone."
Ochako felt her face heating up. "Y-yeah."
Suddenly she felt Izuku's hand on her own. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's just different. For me, that is!"
Ochako turned back towards him and smiled. "Just like I still can't get over your short hair?"
Izuku gave her a pout. "I don't know how Analyst kept his hair longer, it is already hard enough to control!"
"But it's so fluffy!" Ochako exclaimed. "And if you grew it out it would be even fluffier!"
Izuku laughed awkwardly. "I think I'm going to just keep it short."
Feeling better, Ochako smiled at Izuku as she grabbed the astronomy book off her bed. "Let me show you what else my parents got me!"
Ochako sat down on the floor and waited until Izuku sat down beside her before she popped the book open.
As they were walking through Nabari, Izuku couldn't help but watch Ochako's face. She kept looking around, eyes filled with a sense of wonder at the sights.
"You're acting like you've never been here before." He said quietly.
Ochako looked at him and blushed. "S-shut up! It's been a while. I forgot how pretty Nabari can be in the winter."
Izuku took a look around, and he found himself agreeing with her. The area of town they were walking through was less developed than Mustafu, and everything just felt slower somehow.
"It's so quiet and peaceful here. I forgot what that was like."
Ochako nodded. "Same! With… everything that happened, it's kind of nice to remember."
Izuku smiled at her. "I know what you mean. What we went through - I would do it again if it means people can have this."
Ochako glared at him, her finger poking his chest. "You deserve this too!"
Izuku raised his hands defensively. "W-what about you?"
Ochako looked like she ate a lemon before she finally relented. "I guess we both deserve this?"
Izuku nodded. "The therapist told me I need to think more about myself. And I need to make more happy memories. To help offset the bad ones."
"Like this?" Ochako asked hopefully.
"Yeah."
"He told me the same thing," Ochako admitted. "That we need to remember this feeling, and that we deserve it too. We can't just live in the past. It's not fair to either of us."
They continued in silence for a bit before Ochako spoke up again. "I don't want to forget this feeling again. No matter how hard it gets, I want to remember this feeling of peacefulness."
Izuku smiled at her and nodded. "How about we help each other remember?"
Ochako gave him a bright smile, before nodding. "I'd like that."
They finally arrived at the sushi restaurant. By all accounts, it was a modest affair, but Ochako didn't care. Even after All Might gave her family financial stability, they remained disciplined about money and viewed dining out as a rare treat, reserved for special occasions.
After dinner, it was time for cake and presents. Once they returned to Ochako's home, the five of them arranged themselves in the living room, before Izuku handed Ochako a pair of wrapped boxes. The first one contained a limited edition Thirteen statue that was nearly impossible to track down. Ochako smiled as she saw it. Of course, if anyone would be able to find it, he would.
Izuku blushed. "Since I'm a regular at all of the hero-focused stores in Mustafu, they are willing to help me find rare items from time to time."
Ochako felt her face turning red. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did, dear." Her mother told her, and Ochako couldn't help but squeak in surprise.
"Thank you, I love it!"
Ochako then turned her attention to the second, much smaller box. She carefully unwrapped the package, opening the box to reveal an envelope inside.
"Open it!" Izuku encouraged her, waiting for her reaction.
Ochako opened the envelope and removed its contents. Her face immediately lit up in recognition, and she jerked her head to look at Izuku. "These are-"
"Yep!" Izuku nodded. "Three tickets to the planetarium in Mustafu! I-I'm sorry you won't be able to use them for a while, but we chose a date after you will have moved and are all settled in."
"But there are only three tickets," Ochako said, disappointed.
"For you and your parents?" Izuku added helpfully.
"What about you two?" Ochako looked between Izuku and Inko.
"We didn't think it was right to include our tickets in your present. Of course, when I ordered the tickets I ordered five." Inko smiled.
"Wait, you did?" Izuku asked.
"Oh, I guess I must have forgotten to mention that to you." Inko chuckled.
"Yay! Thank you!" Ochako jumped at Izuku and hugged him. She knew it was selfish of her, but she had always imagined going there with Analyst.
Izuku returned her hug. "Happy Birthday, Uraraka."
After that, Ochako's mom brought out the cake that she had made for dessert, and everyone dug in.
As the evening was winding down, it was nearing time for Izuku and Inko to leave.
Izuku and Ochako returned to her room to retrieve his bag. As he grabbed it, he began pulling something out.
"Actually, I have one more gift for you."
"You already got me so much!" Ochako protested. "Between the tickets and the statue, not to mention the cost of your trip!"
Izuku smiled. "Well, this one was pretty cheap, and it's practical." He offered.
As Ochako watched, he pulled a notebook out of his bag and handed it to her. Looking at it, she couldn't help but stare at the cover. Scribbled across the front of the pink notebook were the words Hero Analysis - Ochako Uraraka #1
"Open it," Izuku encouraged her.
Ochako opened the notebook and began flipping through it. Inside, she saw pages upon pages of notes about her quirk: applications, exercises, and theoretical uses.
"Izuku, what is this?"
Izuku couldn't help but blush as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, so I had an analysis notebook for our classmates, but I may have made a separate one just for Uravity? And since we still don't know if we can get One For All to work for both of us, I wanted to help you train your quirk in the meantime. Since well-"
"Because for all of my time at UA, my quirk was under the effects of One For All, so I never learned my limits without it."
"Yeah."
"But," Ochako flipped to a random page and waved her hand over it. "How? These are so detailed!"
"I spent a lot of time working on that notebook," Izuku admitted, blushing. "So I was able to recreate most of it from memory. I left in the suggested support items but didn't put in any suggestions for costume des-"
Izuku was cut off as Ochako grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. "Izuku, this is so- so thoughtful of you."
Izuku smiled as he wrapped his arms around Ochako. "You're already taking a risk by letting me have OFA first, I want to return the favor and help you as much as I can."
Ochako giggled into his shoulder. "Says you! It's all part of my master plan to claim OFA for myself."
Izuku laughed. "Well, even if you do get it, hopefully, you can find something useful there?"
Ochako smiled as she pulled away, nodding vigorously. "I'm sure I will!"
As the day wound down, Nezu retired to his office. Locking the door, he walked over to his desk, pushing a hidden button to activate the anti-quirk countermeasures.
He waited for a count of ten to give the machinery time to activate, before pushing a second hidden button. Nezu watched as part of the wall slid away, revealing a safe.
Walking over to the safe, Nezu went through the steps to unlock it. It was a complicated process, but he could never be too careful. His most important documents were contained within the safe, after all. Both personal plans, and contingencies for the school itself in case of any number of disasters.
But most recently, his attention has been focused on two notebooks, the knowledge contained within priceless, and the key to averting future disaster. He removed those notebooks from the safe, as well as a roll of paper.
While Mr. Midoriya had a wonderful idea of comparing the timelines that he and Miss Uraraka were a part of, the task was ideally suited to someone with an intelligence quirk, such as himself. He was able to go through the data, analyzing every detail the two future students provided him, looking for patterns. While many things remained the same for the two, many things were different, and those differences were key in understanding how to change events.
While the two had only provided faint details for the past three months, the upcoming year was where things became interesting. Not only were they able to provide details of several major villain attacks that were going to happen, but they also provided enough leads to launch several investigations, hoping to root out problems before they grew into actual threats.
Setting the roll of paper down, he gave it a push, watching it unfurl across the floor of his office. On the paper was a calendar for the entire year, with many dates circled, arrows drawn, and notes labeled important events. To the normal person, it may seem redundant to go over the information multiple times, but as time passes and events play out, it pays to revisit the timeline, and see what new patterns emerge with the additional information he has gathered.
Picking up the green notebook, Nezu skipped past the several pages, their dates in the past already, and found the page detailing upcoming events. Picking up a cup of tea, he began reading.
Izuku pulled out the clothing that will make up his new uniform and looked it over. The Montross uniform consisted of a pair of light gray pants, a white shirt, and a crimson tie. A black coat with crimson accents completed the look. He put the uniform on and then smiled at his image in the mirror.
It felt good, knowing that he was free from Katsuki, for a while at least. He still wasn't sure what would happen at UA, but that was over a year away.
He emerged from the bathroom and saw his mom was waiting for him. "How do I look?"
"Oh Izu, that looks wonderful!" Inko said, before wrapping him in a hug.
"And you won't have to worry about me!" Izuku smiled.
"Yes!" The look of relief on Inko's face was obvious. "I spoke to the Principal last week, and she seems very understanding."
While Izuku felt uncomfortable having attention drawn to his quirkless status, especially given what will happen in six months, he had to remind himself that things were different here. This school had policies against discrimination and took complaints seriously.
After saying goodbye to his mom, Izuku left for school, using his phone to guide him to the entrance of his new school. Once there, he found the faculty office, where his new teacher was waiting for him.
After going over the basics, his new teacher led him to his new classroom, 2-C. As his teacher was giving the formal introduction, Izuku stood there and looked at his new classmates. Much to his surprise, in the back corner of the room, he saw a familiar girl leaning against her desk, her purple hair and the pair of headphone jacks dangling from her ears making her easy to identify.
I didn't realize Jiro went to this school!
While he didn't spend as much time with the Hearing Hero as he spent with others, he would like to think they were friends. Maybe he could try talking to her later.
His thoughts were interrupted by the teacher calling on him, asking him to introduce himself. Smiling, Izuku confidently stepped forward and bowed.
"My name is Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you!"
During lunch, Izuku was sitting at his desk, furiously writing his observations from this morning when he heard three people walking toward his desk.
"So, what's so interesting that the new kid is talking about all of us already?"
Izuku involuntarily flinched.
Right, Jiro has enhanced hearing. She probably heard me mumbling.
Izuku sheepishly looked up and saw Kyoka standing there, arms crossed. Standing next to her were two other students. One was a tall pale boy whose white hair was tied up in a short ponytail, staring at him with piercing red eyes. The other was a short girl with orange eyes and light brown hair tied up into a messy bob.
Looking at the three, Izuku was expecting hostility but saw that Kyoka appeared more curious than anything. He was silently thankful for spending a year with her, giving him the experience he needed to read her expressions, her lazy eyes often masking her emotions. He felt his face heating up as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well you see, quirks are a hobby of mine."
"Oh?" The tall boy asked. "And what does that have to do with us?"
Izuku nervously flipped his notebook to Kyoka's entry. Since he analyzed her quirk before, her page was the easiest to start. He turned the notebook around and held it up.
"A new class means new quirks for me to analyze?" He responded nervously.
He sat there, wondering if he had already ruined things before he got started at the new school. He remembered all of the times Katsuki made fun of his quirk analysis, and how he roped the entire class into it. While almost everyone in 1-A was accepting of his analysis, he was worried that they were the exception and that he had grown too comfortable around them. He silently prayed that he wasn't about to have a repeat of Aldera.
"Woah."
He let go of his notebook when he felt Kyoka grab it, allowing her a closer look. As Izuku watched, she began reading the page, with the other two students looking over her shoulders. As she read, her eyes grew wide, before she finally looked at Izuku again.
"You got all of that just from seeing my earphone jacks?"
Izuku laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "A lot of it is pure speculation and guesswork! Of course, I would have to sit down and ask you a lot of questions to see what I got right and -"
He was caught off by the short girl laughing. "Wow, you are almost as talkative as I am!"
"Nobody is as talkative as you are." The tall boy retorted.
Kyoka looked at Izuku and smiled. "This is actually really cool! Although you might want to get your mumbling under control. It's distracting."
Izuku blushed. "S-sorry. I've been trying but it's a work in progress."
"What does he have about me?" The short girl interrupted again.
"No-nothing yet!" Izuku responded, looking at her. "I didn't see any visible mutation so didn't have anything to go on."
"Aww! I guess you'll just have to sit with us so I can tell you about it then!"
Izuku looked at the other two. "Is that ok…?"
Kyoka looked at the tall boy and then back at Izuku, and smiled. "Sure new kid. I'm Kyokya Jiro."
"I'm Hikari Sunako." The tall boy introduced himself.
"And I'm Aika Shizu!" Added the short girl.
Izuku couldn't help but smile back. "If it's ok, I think I'd like that."
Kyoka held his notebook while Izuku gathered up his lunch, before standing up to follow the group. Once he sat down next to them and organized himself he opened his notebook to a new page and wrote Aika's name across the top of the page.
"So what is your quirk?" Izuku asked enthusiastically, his previous nervousness gone.
"I can make myself stronger and tougher when I sing!" Aika proudly announced. "And I'm going to become a great hero!"
Izuku looked at her in surprise. "You want to be a hero too?"
"Yep! Me and Kyoka here are gonna be great heroes!"
Aika wrapped her arm around Kyoka's shoulder and flashed a peace sign, while Kyoka gave her friend an amused sideways glance. Meanwhile, Hikari just smiled at his friend's antics.
Izuku suddenly felt excited. "And what about you?" He asked Hikari.
Hikari just shook his head. "My quirk just lets me make my hair glow different colors. Fun for concerts and parties, bad for heroics."
Izuku wanted to argue but simply nodded. Looking down at his notebook, he flipped to another blank page and started an entry on Hikari, noting down his quirk before he flipped back to Aika's page.
"So how does it work? Does it last after you stop singing? Does the type of song affect what happens to you? Does the volume of your voice matter, or could you whisper for the same effect? What about when-"
"Hey slow down! One question at a time!" Aika protested.
Kyoka and Hikari laughed.
"Congratulations new kid. It's your first day and you have somehow managed to outpace Aika."
As he looked up from his notebook at the three classmates sitting with him, Izuku couldn't help but smile. Maybe he didn't screw this up after all.
AN: See you next chapter, where we are going to jump to around mid-March, as the school year is winding down.