The long distance fighting classmates of mine are groaning on the floor from where Mirio had taken them out. I'm still desperately trying to get out of the flashback with Dad just as desperate trying to get me out.
Shoto says making Dad look up slightly, "He got more than half of them in an instant. A student. But closer to being number one than most heroes."
Dad looks over at Shoto and says, "You're not gonna fight? You must be interested in taking the top spot yourself."
Shoto turns to Dad more and says, "I didn't even get my provisional license, though."
Dad looks back at me writhing on the floor slightly trying to get away from what is in my flashback as he mutters, "Well, he's certainly calmed down." Dad continues to try to get me out of the flashback as I whimper more the longer I'm in it.
Mirio says, "Think that's it for the long-distance fighters." Mirio turns to the remaining fighters which include Eijiro, Ochaco, Hagakure, Ojiro, Tenya, Koda, Sato, and Izuku. Mirio says, "All that's left are the ones who specialize in close-quarters combat."
Eijiro says, "I have no idea how he just did that."
Ochaco says, "It's one thing to be able to phase through stuff, but warping, too?"
Ojiro says, "He's unrivaled. Do we stand a chance?"
Mirio gets ready again and says, "Hold the flattery."
Tamaki mutters against the wall, "'Unrivaled'? Just that one word, and I can tell what level you're all at. Like how an ordinary person might think a pro's impressive, but lack the ability to figure out why. If you can't tell how much hard work Mirio has put in, then you'll never be able to match him."
Shoto now went farther away from Dad leaving him to help me out of the flashback while Shoto himself tries to get a better angle to watch Mirio.
Izuku says, "There's more to his Quirk than we're seeing." Tenya and Koda turn back to look at Izuku as Izuku continues, "Whether his true power is slipping through matter, or whether he's somehow warping himself through space...Either way he's still landing his attacks directly. We should be able to counter him, in the moment he's about to make contact. Even if we can't tell what he's doing, we should theorize with what we do know and use that knowledge to find a way to beat him."
Eijiro turning slightly says, "Yeah. You said it. House arrest didn't put a dent in your fightin' spirit."
Mirio runs forward saying, "Then see if you can figure out how to win."
I whimper louder as in my flashback Shigaraki had connected the way he wanted to and I didn't want to remember any of it.
My remaining classmates had watched Mirio running until suddenly he drops through the ground with his pants falling off again.
Sato says, "He went under!"
Izuku mutters looking backwards out of the corner of his eye, "I bet he'll probably come up..." Mirio comes up directly behind Izuku and Izuku mutters, "There!" Izuku starts his Full Cowling.
Mirio mutters to himself, "He wasn't surprised?" Izuku starts to kick as Mirio continues muttering, "He predicted this is where I'd be! Pretty smart."
Mirio puts his hand in front as Izuku kicks and Izuku's kick phases through him as Mirio says, "Watch this. An ultimate move! Blinder Touch Eyeball Crush!" Izuku shuts his eyes as Mirio's hand phases through Izuku's head. Mirio then uses a sneak right hook to hit Izuku's stomach causing him to groan. Mirio says while going into the floor, "I've discovered that most people try to launch a counterattack just like you did. So, naturally, I've trained to work around such moves. Nice try, though!"
Izuku falls to the ground as his Full Cowling disappears.
Tenya calls, "Midoriya!" Tenya turns around just in time to get a punch to the stomach from Mirio.
Eijiro having seen Tenya and Izuku get taken down says, "Damn!" Mirio comes from behind Eijiro and punches him in the stomach causing him to groan too.
Ochaco gasps as Mirio comes towards her and the remaining fighters.
Mirio takes out Koda with a punch to the chin.
Sato is next, with Ojiro following.
And lastly, Mirio takes out Ochaco and Hagakure at the same time.
Mirio does a pose saying loudly, "Power!"
Dad shakes me one last time and blows in my face only an inch away and I jolt out of the flashback gasping for breath and bury my face in Dad's chest as he holds me close. I stay in his chest shaking slightly. In that moment, I know I'm going to have to tell Dad sometime soon what happened to me when I was kidnapped. I hear Dad mutter, "Thank goodness you are finally out of that. You terrified me, my little phoenix."
Nejire laughs and says, "Hey, check out Togata, huh - He's gotten super powerful lately. Are you even watching?"
I turn toward Tamaki when I hear him say, "Mirio's been strong ever since we were little kids. Problem is...He needs to learn how to hold back."
I'm not surprised at all to see all of my classmates groaning on the floor with the exception of Shoto since he didn't attack.
Mirio says with Tamaki and Nejire beside him as I stand up with Dad's help, "I tried to make it so you wouldn't see my willy. Sorry if you got a peek. But, anyway. That's a taste of what it's like to fight me."
All my classmates shiver while holding their stomachs and Izuku says, "We all just got punched in the stomach without ever knowing what was going on."
Mirio says, "Right, so, whaddaya think? Isn't my Quirk strong?"
Sero waving a fist in the air says, "Yeah, it's too strong!"
Hagakure says, "That's not fair! Mine's nothing in comparison."
Mina says, "How can you slip through things and warp? Do you have two powers like Todoroki does? Or like Cara with multiple?"
Mirio says, "Nope. Just the one. That's why Cara here can defeat me."
Izuku gulps and says, "Just one."
Nejire raises her hand with a high-pitched noise in front of Mirio, "Ooh. I know! I'll tell you what his Quirk is." Nejire turns to Mirio saying, "Hey, hey, can I say it?" She turns back to the class continuing, "Permeation! Cool, right?"
Tamaki says, "Hado. Let Mirio explain his own power."
Mirio jerks a thumb towards himself saying, "Yup! I've got a sweet Quirk that's called Permeation. What you guys thought of as a warp was, you guessed it, simply an alternative application of that power." Nejire pulls on Mirio's clothes making him look at her and say, "Oh, sorry, Hado."
Izuku stepping forward says, "So, how exactly do you warp, huh?"
Mirio says, "I activate my Quirk in my entire body. Then, I can pass through anything I want, no sweat. Everything! That includes solid ground."
Ochaco gasps and says, "So, that was you falling through the floor of the gym?"
Mirio says, "That's right, I went deep underground. And then, whenever I release my Quirk while I'm falling, something super strange happens. Apparently, things with mass can't overlap. That's call physics! So, I get repelled upward! Think of it this way. The ground spits me out, and I fly up into the air. That's how my warp works. By adjusting the direction I'm facing or the pose I'm holding, I can change the angle I come out at, so I can aim at different spots."
Mina says, "That sounds like a buggy video game."
Mirio laughs and says, "Hey, that's pretty funny!"
Tsu says, "You're able to avoid any attacks. And you can move when you want in an instant." She puts a finger to her mouth continuing, "Awe! You were born with a really strong Quirk."
I step up and say, "Not true. Mirio has worked hard to get where he's at just like everyone else has."
Mirio nods at me and says, "Cara's right. My power's only strong because I made it that way. While my Quirk is activated, my lungs can't take in oxygen. Even if I breathe in, the air'll just pass through."
Izuku and Ochaco gasp.
Mirio says, "In the same way, my eardrums don't work. And light can't go through my retinas. I can pass through everything. But that means I can't feel anything when I'm in that state. Even though I have a body, I can't stop falling. I could probably keep going down forever. Does that make sense? That's why, if I wanna go through something like, say, a wall. I have to concentrate really hard. I'll activate everything except one leg. Then I release the other leg and land on it. And then the first leg is the last one to go through. Even for a simple action like that, there are a bunch of little steps involved."
Kaminari looks back at Mineta saying, "Oh, man, if I were in a hurry, I would mess that up every single time."
Mineta says sweating, "Seriously, if you can't feel anything, how are you supposed to move?"
Mirio says, "Growing up. I was always behind, as you might expect. In no time, I'd dropped to dead last. I dropped my pants a lot, too." Mirio raises a hand and continues, "In order to get to the top with this Quirk, I couldn't just hope that things would get better. I had to think! I learned to make combat decisions! And picked up a few new tricks. But above all, I learned to predict what would happen next. And what made those predictions possible in the first place was experience. Just like Cara is as good as she is, is because of her working in the field with practical experience. I based my predictions on what I'd learned. This was kind of a roundabout way to get the point across, but that's why I wanted to fight. To show you through experience rather than words. In our work studies, we're not treated as guests like in our internships. We're regarded as one of the sidekicks, or even as a pro! That can be super scary. Pros can get hurt. And sometimes they end up watching people die. But every scary and painful thing you go through is an important experience that you can't get inside a classroom, even at UA. I transformed the experience I got in my work study into power. That's how I got to the top spot! And...it's why I think they're worth it, even if you're scared. Y'with me, first years?"
I hear Izuku mutter, "Turn experience into power."
Most of my classmates clap and Ojiro says, "He even gives pep talks like a pro."
Momo says, "I can't believe he went through all this for us, even though he could've just explained it."
Kaminari says, "So, these really are different. I did kinda feel like I missed out on stuff in my internship."
Jiro puts a hand on the back of her neck saying, "Yeah, they tried not to let us do anything too dangerous."
Sero says, "Guess it won't be that way during work studies."
Tenya says, "Now that we've got our licenses, we'll be treated like pros once we're on the scene."
Ochaco nods facing forward.
Sato says beside Eijiro, "We gotta prepare ourselves for that."
Eijiro puts his fists together saying, "It's just what I wanted."
Hagakure says, "Yeah, this is great! All of us came to UA because we wanna be pro heroes, right?"
Shoji says, "That's true."
Aoyama says with a pose, "C'est la vie."
Tokoyami says, "We have to keep climbing."
Koda says, "And be Plus Ultra!"
I see Shoto nod beside me and he mutters, "I need to get my provisional license soon. Or I'll be left behind."
Dad says to the class, "Let's get back to the class now. Say 'thank you'."
All my classmates say, "Thank you very much!"
I nod and say, "Hope to see you three soon as it's been too long." I watch as the three of them leave.
Mirio, Nejire, and Tamaki walk away from our class.
Nejire says, "Hey, so, do you think we got the point across? Maybe not?"
Tamaki says, "I'm just glad I didn't have to do anything. Let's be grateful to Mirio."
I watch as Izuku looks at his hand and mutters, "At first, his Quirk was something that held him back. But still. He made the most of his power. He got as much experience as he could and learned how to predict people's actions. He's not standing at the top of UA because he was born strong. He worked incredibly hard to get to that point. Mirio Togata, third year."
Tamaki, Mirio, and Nejire all walk back to their class after having gotten dressed in their uniforms. Nejire says, "Hey, so...We thought you hurt some of them on accident, you know? But no one was, injured, so I think you did a good job. Way to go, Mirio. A-plus."
Mirio says, "It was pretty close though, a few times. And they saw me naked. Just glad I didn't have to face Cara."
Nejire says, "Yeah, but did anyone surprise you? I wanna know. C'mon, spill."
Mirio looks down at the gorund and says, "Well, I mostly defeat people using the element of surprise. It's my basic strategy in a nutshell. But that problem child analyzed my first round of moves, and then predicted what I'd do. He reminded me a lot of Cara in that way." Mirio looks forward continuing, "I bet Sir would love to meet him!"
We get back to the dorms and I go back to my normal and go up to the roof but after the flashback during class it was a lot harder to convince myself to not jump.
Down in the main area, Bakugo screams, "Hey! If you've got trash, then bring it over here, right now!"
Eijiro runs with a bag saying, "Bakugo! Thanks!"
Bakugo says loudly, "Sure!"
Tokoyami puts a hand up with a bag in the other hand saying, "I have some as well."
Bakugo says loudly, "Hand it over!"
Kaminari holding up a bag says, "Mine, too!"
Sero doing the same, "And mine."
Mineta dragging a bag bigger than him says, "This is heavy."
Sato says, "Thanks, man."
Aoyama says, "Merci!"
Ojiro comments, "Yeah, thank you."
Bakugo yells, "You bastards, it's like you've been hoarding this for weeks!"
Mina just smiles with a group of girls and says, "Togata's story of how he went from last place to the top was so killer, wasn't it?"
Hagakure beside her says, "Yeah!"
Tsu says, "I'm really looking forward to getting into a work study now."
Ochaco looks up and says, "I hope we get the chance. I think they're still figuring out what to do with us first years."
Momo having gotten her hair out of her ponytail and playing with it says, "I suppose there's nothing we can do until Mr. Aizawa gives us the go ahead." All the sudden, Momo looks around and asks, "Where's Cara?"
Ochaco says, "You know I haven't been seeing her around a lot especially since the provisional licensing exam."
Momo says, "I'm going to go look for her."
Ochaco says, "I'll come help."
Tsu says, "Me too."
They look for a while trying to find me but all 3 girls end up coming back to the common area not being able to find me. Momo had even knocked on my door but no response came. The girls go knock together on Shoto Todoroki's door hoping maybe he can help find me since we were dating. Shoto looked in my room but nothing.
Shoto looking at the floor in my room says, "Someone go inform Mr. Aizawa that Cara's missing."
Tsu says, "I'll go."
Ochaco says, "I'll go with you."
Momo says, "We'll continue searching the floors to the main floor and if we don't find her we'll meet you in the living area downstairs."
Both Ochaco and Tsu nod before going down to Dad's room to inform him that his daughter was missing.
Tsu knocks on the door to Dad's room and after a minute Dad in his black short sleeve shirt and dark grey almost black sweatpants appears and asks, "What do you need?"
Ochaco gulps but Tsu is quick to say, "Sir. Momo, Ochaco, and I have been looking for Cara but we can't find her. We got Todoroki to look in her room because knocking had no response earlier but she's not in there either. We've looked everywhere for her."
Ochaco says, "We're afraid she's missing. She hasn't been with us in a group since before the licensing exam."
Dad comes out of the door tucking his phone in his pocket and shutting the door saying, "I was afraid something like this would happen. She's been off lately."
Dad with Tsu and Ochaco meet up with Momo and Shoto in the living area having not been able to find me and together the group continues looking for me as the sun continues setting.
Izuku thinking back to class when Dad had said, "You've learned about what a work study is from the Big Three. But it hasn't been decided yet whether or not you'll be allowed to do one. That won't be talked about until the faculty meeting. And if we're going to approve this, we'll have to think of how we'll handle the media. That's all I can tell you for now."
Izuku, back in the present, in his room with the setting sun mutters looking at his phone, "I need to take some initiative. I can't just sit and wait."
A phone rings and then Gran Torino answers and says, "Yes? What can I help you with? Huh? Work study? Wait, who is this again?"
Izuku says, "I was wondering. Will you be taking anyone for the program, Gran Torino?"
Gran Torino says, "Oh-ho-ho. Finally remembered who I am, huh, big shot? Sorry, kid. I'm working on something else right now, I can't help you out. Oh, wait. I know who you are. You're that useless successor who failed at the sports festival."
Izuku yelps.
Izuku remembers Bakugo saying, "You have All Might's power. But even using his strength, even after making it your own - somehow you still managed to lose to me."
Izuku says into the phone, "It's because I've been so useless that I want to make sure I'm doing whatever I can to get closer to being number one!"
Gran Torino says, "Way to make something obvious sound cool, there, sport. But why don't you go ask your master about it instead of calling me? He is supposed to be devoting himself to teaching now that he's retired, right?"
Izuku says, "But...Mr. Aizawa said we should use the connections we got from our internships."
Gran Torino says, "You can, sure, but that doesn't mean you have to go that route. Don't you think that All Might can introduce you to a bunch of new people? First one who comes to mind is his former sidekick."
Izuku gasps.
A sidekick barges into Sir Nighteye's office that night saying, "Sir! I have news!" She gasps and then says, "You're low key today, aren't you?"
Sir Nighteye turns to her and says, "Let's hear the report, and make it quick."
The sidekick stands at attention and says, "Yes, sir. One of the persons we're investigating is on the move. Overhaul. The head of the Shie Hassaikai."
Where Overhaul is, Chisaki who is also known as Overhaul coughs and says, "This is your base? Looks pretty unsanitary."
Twice says, "Huh? Like we'd show you where our main base is. This one's just a meeting place."
Chisaki says, "Ridiculous. The air's practically made of dust here. It's gonna make me sick."
Twice says, "Join the club. The guys inside have been sick for a while."
Sir Nighteye asks, "And what do you think he's doing?"
The sidekick says, "It appears he's made contact. With the League of Villains."
Sir Nighteye stands.
Twice says with Overhaul following him, "Hey, guys! I'm back! And I brought that dude! He said he wanted to talk to you, so, here we are. He's quiet, but pretty cool. He seems like a real creepy."
Chisaki coughs again.
Shigaraki narrows his eyes looking at him and says, "Well, now. You brought us a pretty big catch, huh, Twice?"
Izuku mutters on his balcony, "Just like we were one step closer to becoming real heroes. So, too, were the villains moving even deeper into the darkness. The entrusted successor. And the successor released into the wild. Soon, they would meet."
