And here's the third and final part of the Assessment Test!
As always, there is an Author's Note at the end, if you want to read it.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: This story will be slow going, and I tend to be a bit excessive with words. I apologize in advance if this bothers you.
I do not condone the use of drugs. I also do not own My Hero Academia.
"Now all we got left is the hit or miss challenge!"
...Aaand just like that, the happily relieved students descended into anguish, as their metaphorical bubble of safety and success went pop!
"There's MORE!?" most of them all screeched out loud as each of their faces warped in horror.
Every year that I've done this, I get the same exact results, every time. Ahhhhh, this will never get old, Vlad King thought merrily as he didn't fight too hard to control the rising smirk on his face. Sometimes, it's great to be a teacher!
"Here at Yuuei, we prioritize freedom so much that it's ingrained into all our courses. What that means for you guys," Vlad King paused, allowing his smirk to grow ever so slightly, "is that we teachers are free to adjust the courses as we see fit, with little to no repercussion. So, consider this portion of your quirk assessment test to be an original idea- from yours truly." The hero gestured to himself with one of his thumbs, not so much to gloat but nonetheless still proud of his own idea.
Before his students could begin to protest in earnest, he began to explain what the new challenge was all about.
"First, let me say this: if you do not want to participate in the hit or miss challenge, you don't have to. The choice is entirely yours, and I won't force you, nor will I influence your decision in any way."
"Next, let me explain what the hit or miss challenge actually is before you make the decision to participate."
With begrudging interest, the students all quieted down to listen to their teacher as he continued to speak. "As you may have noticed, some of you got progressively better during an event after each successful attempt. Conversely, there were others who struggled to get a decent score, almost to the point where they barely passed. This is because many of you have never had to use your quirks in a controlled environment with the express purpose of meeting a set clear and cut goal in mind. So, if we look at this objectively, your scores probably aren't where they could be."
"In addition, many of you were observed by your classmates as you performed your events, and in turn, watched your classmates perform as well. Some of you were even inspired by the new ideas and the sheer willpower demonstrated by your peers, which allowed you to utilize your quirk in even more unique ways. Take the ball throw, for example; after Awase-kun went, there were like, four or five of you who copied his idea. And because they did, they got themselves a pretty decent score." The teacher heard incoherent grumbling coming from the boy in question, but decided to let that slide for the moment.
"When all is said and done, what this means for you, my students, is that there are probably some of you that may have felt like you could have done better, if only you had done something just a little bit different…"
"Does anyone feel this way, right now?"
The hero nodded excitedly as the majority of the class raised their hands tentatively in agreement. "Exactly! Each of you could have done better, but because of the circumstances, you were not given the opportunity to try again. And that, my students, is what the hit or miss challenge is: an opportunity to prove that you have the potential to be better than what this sheet of paper," he raised the clipboard in his hands for everyone to see, "says you actually are. And this is how they work."
"First, anyone who wants to participate in the hit or miss challenge will be able to perform up to any two events again, barring the endurance run. Sorry, but... I'm not about to stand for another 15 minutes while two or three people, at the most, run around in a circle." He paused to listen to a few of his students snicker at his little joke.
Either he was warming up to them, or else they were bone tired and had lower standards. Either way was fine by him.
"Everyone has only one shot to get a better score than whatever your average was for that event. But here's where it gets tricky: if you get a better score than what your average was, you can keep that score for your average instead. But, if you try and fail to get above your average, you automatically fail that event."
At that, the students in front of him broke out in chatter, contemplating their high stakes choices. That was natural, given what he just told them, so he allowed for it to happen. But before it could get any louder, he raised his voice slightly, saying, "I'll give everyone about five minutes to decide on what you're going to do. In the meantime, let's go ahead and separate into two groups. Those who do not want to participate, go ahead and stand over by the sidelines of the ball throwing pit, please."
As the budding heroes began to move according to their whims, Vlad King watched on silently.
To him, this was the most important part of the exam because it brought out a bit of a student's character. It also revealed what kind of approaches would work the best for each of his students, which was almost as essential.
Would they chose to participate and risk failure, or will they play it safe and stay on the sidelines?
For those who chose not to go through with the hit or miss challenge, how did they fare before? Are they confident in their scores? Are they not motivated? Or are they just tired from the exam and can't go on any further?
For the ones who do participate, how will they fare? Will they conquer their fatigue and produce a worthy result? Will they ultimately fail, but go down swinging? Are they disappointed in their scores? Or are they just desperate for a better one?
These questions, and many more, go through the hero's head as he watches his students prepare for the last event of the day. He prepares himself to commit every action he sees to memory and to sort them out in his head according to their behavior later.
Basically, the Blood Hero, through many years of teaching and watching young adults, developed a way to group his students into five different categories. They were divided according to their actions and results, as a way to better help him train the young heroes to be.
The first category is simply for the perfectionists, or the over-achievers. They did extremely well on the test, and during the retakes that they didn't even have to do, they made their scores even better. These students need nothing more than a point in the right direction and a small nod of encouragement to keep them going. They would never disappoint to make fantastic heroes.
Then, there were the slackers- a group of testers who also did really well, but for reasons unknown, chose not to participate in the opportunity to get better. Most of the time, they just needed a bit of motivation to get them going; other times they may need to be trained into action. They were good kids who had the potential to be great heroes, but ultimately, they were just another victim of their own procrastination.
There were also the ones he called dreamers: people who shot for the stars but fell short, regardless of how they did in the base exam. Despite the fact that they fail in the challenge, Vlad King can't help but like them for the simple fact that they actually tried. Sure, they may need to fine tune a few things- such as getting better control, or becoming more physically capable in their own body- but as long as they at least put in the effort, they would be sure to soar to great heights. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that the dreamers would become fine heroes… after a bit of guidance, of course.
His favorite classification, the underdogs, were pretty self-explanatory- those who didn't do too well in the first place, but after they put in the effort to try again, their effort's paid off. They were the ones who would work and work until they achieved their goal, whatever it may be. They were the diamonds in the rough, and although they do take quite a bit of work to get them to shine, it was all worth it in the end. He may have been a bit biased, but Vlad King firmly believed that the underdogs could always become the best heroes, in theory and in practice.
And then... there were the ones whom he called bums... They were the hardest to train, because they chose to do nothing and did the bare minimum, even when the opportunity for advancement showed itself. They were the ones who existed in the middle of the pack, and no self-respecting hero can exist where there is no potential for them to grow. He wasn't particularly fond of bums, but… if he was able to beat out their bad habits, even he could admit that they made respectable heroes.
Vlad King was pleasantly surprised at the turnout- out of his twenty students, eleven had chosen to retake a few portions of their exam as nine of them stayed off to the side.
Taking a glance off to those who chose not to participate, he had to fight the urge to roll his eyes when he saw both Tokage and Honenuki conversing with the other slackers and bums off in the sidelines of the ball pit. Figures. Not only are my two recommendation students supposedly of less standing than the ones in 1A, but they're also both slackers as well. Dammit it all. And I was going to make them class representatives too…
Taking a quick glance at the others, he was also slightly surprised to see Kamikiri and Yanagi amidst that group as well. Both of those students did spectacular in their assessments, so the hero found himself idly wondering why they chose to stay on the sidelines this time around. Hmmm... Kamikiri-kun seems to have a lot of confidence in his abilities... he probably thinks that he doesn't even need the retries, which to be fair, he doesn't... and Yanagi-san looks fine... a little tired, but fine... is she resting from overusing her quirk, or is she taking preemptive measures to prevent overuse? Or... does she simply not care?...
Shaking his head to rid him of his distraction, he turned to the eleven others who were awaiting their second chance as they quietly stretched, drank water, and chatted. Again, taking a moment to glance at who would be trying for a better score, he was pleased to see that both Shiozaki and Kendo would be participating, as he figured they would. I might make them the class representatives instead…
What pleasantly surprised him though was the sight of another stock of green hair, in the back of the group, awkwardly doing stretches with a messed up hand.
Vlad King was experiencing mixed feelings with the young man; one the one hand, he was excited to see what else this boy could do, now that he had been given a proper pep talk. After all, with just his fingers, he dominated the ball throw for both the first year classes (with the exception of the young girl who got an infinity score, which, to be fair, was numerically impossible to beat).
However, he was also just as uneasy of the after effects created by his quirk usage. Again, while the boy was able to dominate the ball throw with just his fingers, said fingers had been consequently blown to hell and back… he was just glad that Recovery Girl's quirk was capable of healing his body, even from that state...
It... didn't help that Vlad King felt just a little bit responsible for that outcome. He knew there was going to be some quirk recoil, but good Lord... not like this...
But, he would not stop the kid from performing: the kid knew his body, and any experience that this boy could accumulate would only help him out in the future.
At least... that's what he told himself.
Regardless, it was time to get on with the task at hand.
And with that, they started backwards, working from the ball throw back to the 50 meter dash.
When the hero announced that the re-dos for the ball throw were first, nearly everyone- subtly or not-so-subtly- glanced at Izuku. It took him a few moments, but when he realized that he had become the center of attention, the green introvert frantically waved his good hand around as he held the messed up one close to his chest; red-faced from all the attention (and pain), he stuttered out that he wanted to re-do a few other tests instead.
With obvious disappointment, everyone proceeded to carry on as Kendo stepped up to bat first for this redo, followed by the Kodai, Rin, and finally Fukidashi.
Kendo pulled a page out of Izuku's book, and enlarged her hand right at the last second to maximize her power and minimize the drag; as a result, she added an additional 62 meters to her best throw.
Kodai did the same thing she did in her first attempt, only with an additional extra step. Before, she had simply shrunk the ball to the size of a golf ball and had thrown it a respectable range. This time, she untied her shoelaces and began to slowly make a barrel hitch around the shrunken ball. When she was done, she tested the knot's strength briefly before she started to swing it around above her head rapidly, like a sling or a bola. She let go as soon as she felt the ball had enough momentum, and got more than triple her original score as a result, for a total of 129 meters.
Rin did something completely different than his previous attempt. First, he threw the ball as far as he could while his whole body erupted into tiny scales. Right in the middle of its flight, he surprised everyone when he began to shoot his scales at the ball in rapid succession, jerking it forward with every hit he made. His scales were firing off so rapidly that it almost sounded like sub-machine gun fire; his accuracy and precision were incredible, given for how small his scales were, and how the continual change of distance and the slightly jerky movements made it difficult to aim. Eventually, the ball began to get out of the impressive range of his scales, resulting in him improving his best score by a solid 42 meters.
Fukidashi went last, and after a few throat clearing attempts he began his throw. He screeched out "WHAC-aaggh! hagk!" with as much force as his voice could muster, but coughed as the last of the word escaped his mouth. The word materialized suddenly before him in the form of a deformed baseball bat, and swung at the ball with a great amount of force... but unfortunately, the cough hindered his re-do, and the ball landed just shy of beating his average score by 4 meters. Expressing his frustration with shaking fists and a shifting face that read '...dang it!...' he made his way back to his peers, where a few of the nicer kids began to cheer him up.
As Fukidashi's attempt finished up, everyone began to head towards the grip testing station.
Where, for better or worse, things started to get interesting.
Tetsutetsu went first, proudly claiming he was going to crush his old score with ease. And through sheer grit alone (as well as a few popped blood vessels), he managed to get a score about 30 kilograms higher than his best attempt.
Kodai was next, and once again she performed smarter, not harder. First, reused the shoe lace she had previously used in the ball throw and began to tie a taut line hitch all the way around the handle to even out the pressure around the sensors. Then she shrunk the gripping device to be small enough to accommodate the shoelace to its fullest, while enlarging the shoelace just enough so she could pull a little harder on it. She then placed the device under her shoe and, utilizing the strength of the knot, pulled upward until the device had successfully recorded her score, which she had almost doubled with ease.
And then... it was Izuku's turn.
Even though his nerves were still getting the better of him, and even though he knew that everyone was now watching him closely because of the scores he had achieved in the ball throw, he focused the best he could on the task before him. Now that he had a taste of what it was like to focus his power with (somewhat) decent results, he could better apply the methods he had researched earlier this afternoon.
And for this event, he needed- no, he wanted- to apply all three of the methods that he had used before, as well as the imagery training that All Might had given him.
He knew it was an ambitious goal for someone so inexperienced... but after that pep talk with his teacher, he knew he had to at least try.
If he was going to be the next symbol of peace... if he was going to be the strongest hero, who brought a smile to everyone's face... then there was no way he could continue forward as he was now.
Not without a little bit of risk.
So with a deep breathe, he closed his eyes and began to squeeze on the handle with his non-broken hand, silently thankful that he had the foresight to not use it in the ball throw.
First, with Tiger in mind, he began by squeezing all he could with his natural strength, from shoulder to palm, letting his arm reach its natural limit before anything else could happen. When he heard the numbers begin to slow down their counting, he knew it was time to use his quirk.
With another deep breath, he felt his whole left arm come alive with the power of his quirk, and he began to furiously focus on the imaginary microwave in his mind, determined to not let the wattage exceed what he wanted. To do that, he put the microwave on the lowest setting he could, desperately jamming that button again and again and again with his imaginary finger to keep his power from rising.
It was hard... difficult, even... but somehow, he was managing.
So far... so good…
Luckily, he was deaf to the gasps and mutterings of the crowd around him; right now, he could not afford to be distracted, especially since he could already feel his whole arm tingling with extremely volatile power.
Then, he began to implement his research on Edgeshot- instead of wasting energy on the whole arm, he was going to focus everything he could on the parts of his hand that were gripping the device. He felt One for All respond to his will, and his grip tightened with renewed energy. His entire hand and wrist were starting to throb and creak in agony, but he grit his teeth and hastily redoubled his efforts on jamming his imaginary finger on the lowest setting of his imaginary microwave.
Alarm bells began blaring to life in Izuku's head, and he knew it was time to put what he had observed from Tokage-san into action. As fast as he dared, he gradually shifted all of One for All's remaining power downward, from his shoulder to his biceps and triceps, then from his forearm to his wrist, until finally, he forced it all into the entirety of his hand; every part of his left arm, especially his hand, protested vehemently as he did.
Unbeknownst to Izuku, as he continued to shift his power, his body began to respond at a microscopic level as tiny cracks and tears in his bones and muscles were being made with increasingly more frequency and intensity. The further along the power was forced, the more it felt like pressure was being built up in his hands.
The sensation it created… kind of reminded him of rolling a tube of toothpaste from the end, to make sure known of it was wasted before it was thrown away. As his mind hesitantly brought up that image, the flow of his power got easier to control. Or rather, it became slightly easier to shift his power around than it had been before.
Slightly.
Never before had he really been thankful for his overactive brain, but he definitely was now. Especially since he realized that, in order to get the results that he wanted, he needed to focus desperately and evenly on these two images, these two sensations.
Before his bones began to break, he took a final, steadying deep breath. The flow of his power in and around his hand increased just a touch more while he continued to compress it all to one point, his mind working overtime as he played out the imagery in his mind over and over again, praying for the device to just give him his damn score already. I can do this… Just squeeze and breathe… egg in the microwave… roll the toothpaste… egg in t-
CRACK! CRUNCH! SNAP!
Immediately, the sound of groaning metal and broken circuitry assaulted his ears, and he was startled out of his focus.
For most anyone else, being startled out of a task that demanded concentration typically meant that they only just lost that concentration. Save for a few specific instances, such as a neurologist performing brain surgery, losing concentration just simply isn't that critical.
But Izuku was a special case. He had a habit of focusing so intensely that he would forget the world around him, just for a moment. And because of his skittish nature, he would often overreact to whatever had startled him out of his focus.
At the moment he felt the hard metal and plastic crack in his hand... at the moment he heard the crunch of machinery... he instinctively reacted as he usually did: with panic.
And as his panic rose, his power reflexively spiked with it, and all the carefully controlled measures he took suddenly became meaningless in the face of his extraordinary power.
In his panic, he accidentally flooded his left hand with a liberal amount of One for All- not necessarily 100% of his power, but definitely more than what his hand, and in turn the device, could handle.
The effects were immediate; he cried out in agony, dropped the handheld item with a thud, and brought his newly injured hand shakily to his chest as he fought back tears of pain, his body subconsciously folding in upon itself as he slid to the ground on his knees. It felt like he just simultaneously broke all of his hand and wrist bones at the same time, in multiple places. But…
The pain wasn't anywhere near as bad as it was in the fingers of his other hand. Nor was the pain as bad as the time he had faced the zero pointer. To compare the ache, it was like his right hand had been dipped in a vat of corrosive acid while his left only had a really bad sunburn, and Kacchan had decided to repeatedly hit his hand with a wooden spoon. Both really hurt, but in extremely different ways.
The entire hand was bright red and purple. His palm, fingers, and wrist had swollen to twice their size, and he could feel every nerve ending as if it each were its own separate bonfire… but it appeared that his new injuries were less concerning than whatever had happened to the fingers of his right hand. Biting his tongue to keep himself from crying out anymore in agony, his senses finally cleared enough to become aware of the shadow before him and the noise around him.
His classmates were excitedly chattering about something, but before he could decipher any of it the great shadow that belonged to his teacher cautiously leaned forward to examine his hand. "Everything alright, Midoriya-kun?"
"I-I'm f-fine, sir," came the pained response of the young man.
As the hero stared intensely at the kid- who was refusing to look him in the eye- he realized that the green haired boy was trying to look for something. He realized what it was when the kid slowly reached out with a shaking hand. The hero quickly bent to pick up what remained of the object at his feet before the boy could further injure either of his hands, and found the display screen forever stuck on the final score it had recorded before it had succumbed to the power of the boy's quirk.
As he took in every detail of the destroyed grip tester, with the circuitry and the sensors spilling out of it like it had gone a few rounds with a hydraulic press, he saw movement in his peripherals; turning his head, he saw the kid hunching down lower as he forced himself into a kneeling bow.
"V-Vlad King Sensei, I'm so s-sorry! I s-swear I-I didn't mean to break it, it just s-sorta happened! I'm, I'm s-so s-sorry! F-forgive me, S-Sensei, please!" the boy blubbered out with his face low to the ground.
The hero could only watch in amazement; this kid had probably just broken every bone in his other hand, and he was worried about a 50,000 yen piece of equipment? The grown man could only shake his head as he too knelt down and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. Izuku stopped his excessive apologizing when a surprisingly gentle voice made his ears sharpen to the words the hero was saying over the lively chatter of his peers.
"Relax, kid. You did good. These things happen a lot more than you think, and the support course is always more than happy to repair the stuff we use. If you like, you can stop and I can send you to Recovery Girl's office-"
"No! Ah, I-I-I'm sorry, I mean, uh, no-no thank you, Sensei. I'm… I'm good." The young man spoke through gritted teeth as he finally looked the hero in the eye with a teary, determined gaze; clearly, he was not good. "I'm allowed to redo one more event, r-right? So, for now... I'm good."
Looking at Midoriya, the pro could hardly recognize him. Right now, his timid nature had been pushed to the side, and in its place was a wildfire that had ignited the depths of his soul; it was the look that someone had when they refused to back down, the look that dared any in his path to try and stop him. And dammit, Vlad King couldn't find it in himself to get in his way; in fact... he wanted to see what else the young man could do.
Desperately, the logical part of his brain tried to reason with him, saying that he was probably high on endorphins and those hands of his needed treatment. But the other, louder, more excitable part was screaming to give the young man the push he needed to move forward.
He knew he was going to regret the words that would come out of his mouth before he even said them.
"Alright, kid. You can redo one last event. But afterwards, you're going straight to the nurse's office! Got it?"
"Yes sir!" As the kid then tried to stand, he had placed one of his hands down on the ground out of habit to steady him. That turned out to be a mistake as he yelped in agony, his hand withdrawing and his body losing balance. He was caught by the hero's reflexes and was lifted unsteadily up onto his feet. Stammering out a thanks, the hero dismissed it with a wave, and yelled for everyone to head to the upper body event station.
As he turned his attention away from the students to the broken device in his hands, he idly noted how most of them weren't even listening. After a moment's hesitation, some started to head to where they were told to go while some continued to stay right where they were, only starring in stunned awe; a few had even taken the initiative to quickly move towards the green haired boy. But at the moment, Vlad King didn't care as his focus was solely on the broken display of the testing device.
913.4 kilograms.
These devices were supposed to be able to withstand up to 1000 kilograms... but obviously, that truth was a bit stretched. He'd have to bring this up to Nezu Sensei, when he had the chance.
913.4 kilograms.
And Vlad King was fairly certain that this wasn't even at his full power, given how different his injuries were to the ones he had from the ball throw.
He looked up at the kid, watching as he walked to the next event, surrounded by a few of the other kids in his class, where he was clearly out of his element.
And Vlad King couldn't help but wonder…
What the hell did I sign up for when I agreed to take him in?...
As Izuku made his way towards the next event station, he found himself swarmed by a few of his classmates, each with their own unique expression plastered on their face. Had his mind not been so riddled with pain, he probably would have had a minor panic attack from the shock of knowing that people actually wanted to talk to him, and not knowing a thing about how to deal with it.
It didn't help that the first to approach him was the intense metal guy. (…Tetsutetsu-san, right?)
"MIDORIYA! HEY, WHAT WAS YOUR SCORE? YOU GOTTA TELL ME YOUR SCORE-"
Tetsutetsu had closed the distance between them pretty quickly with an zealous expression on his face. Right as he was about to get right into his face, Izuku had stumbled into a stop and a furry arm was thrown out to prevent the metal man from advancing any further. "Tetsutetsu-sama! Please, mind your manners!"
As the metal user began to argue loudly with the owner of the furry arm, and as Izuku tried to get around them, he heard a voice cut through the pain that was fogging his mind, coming from his left. "Hey bro, you alright? Can you move ok?"
Turning his head he was met with a boy who was slightly taller than him, sporting a single braid down the back of his head and wearing a serious expression as he watched Izuku move with apprehension. (His name was… Rin-san?)
Before Izuku could answer his question, he caught something orange or red moving from the corner of his eye. Turning to the source, he was surprised to find that his hands were being gently examined by a worried pair of teal eyes, which had somehow gotten right into his personal space without his notice (This is... Kendo-san!). The fact that he couldn't feel her hands lightly inspecting his and the fact that a girl was touching him didn't register to his rather clouded mind at the moment. Were his hands going numb, or were his adrenal glands working overtime?
"Oh my goodness… we really need to get you to Recovery Girl's office. Like, right now. Do you want me to walk you there?"
Shakily, Izuku shook his head. He was about to open his mouth when-
"MIDORIYA!"
Tetsutetsu had shoved himself between Hiryu and Itsuka and right in front of Izuku. As she was pushed to the side, it created sudden movements from the once gentle touch and Izuku felt his jaw clench as he almost bit his tongue off. Nope, he wasn't going numb- the pain was very much still there.
Tetsutetsu didn't notice, as evident by the enthusiastic gleam in his eyes and the wild grin on his face.
"MIDORIYA! WHAT'D YOU GET!? YOU GOTTA TELL ME! WHAT'D YOU GET FOR Y-!"
"Knock it off, you idiot! Can't you see that he needs immediate medical attention?!"
There was a loud slap as Itsuka knocked Tetsutesu's hands away from Izuku's shoulders. In his excitement, he had gotten a hold of him and had started to shake the poor freckled boy to get his answers. The scowl on her face was enough for Tetsutetsu to realize what he had been doing, and the change was immediate by the way he had changed from his excited yelling to his concerned tone.
"Aw shit, I'm sorry Midoriya! You good bro? You gonna be alright until the end?"
"I just said he needs immediate medical attention!"
As the two of them began to bicker before him, Izuku managed to grunt out in a determined voice, his hands slightly trembling from all the shaking that had just happened. "…Sensei… said I could do… one more event…"
The four who were near him spun to look at him right as the pro hero had yelled for everyone, once more, to get to the upper body event station.
All four of them had very different reactions. For example, the boy named Tetsutetsu could only look at the man before him, and his eyes started to mist over; at the same time, his smile became slightly tinged with emotion as he clenched his fist in admiration. This guy!... Both of his hands are busted a dozen times over, and he's still giving it his all! What a man!
The one who had attempted to restrain Tetsutetsu could only defer to the green haired boy in front of him with a nod of respect. Jurota knew a warrior when he saw one, and everyone knew their own body better than anyone else. If he said he was capable of doing one more event, then let him do one more event.
Hiryu only focused on the fact this guy looked like he was about to pass out from the pain he had to be feeling. He saw what happened when the guy had tried to get up from his knees a few moments ago; he wasn't eager for his hands to get messed up any further.
Itsuka was a completely different story, altogether. Her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when she had heard those words, and immediately she began to object. "Wha- no! Are you serious!? We need to treat those hands of yours!" She had attempted to gently, yet firmly, place her hand on his upper arm and was determined to make him listen to reason, but she was stopped by another strong hand. This allowed Izuku to walk on by towards the upper body event station with the Chinese boy following close behind him, his eyes watchful like a hawk.
She turned to look at the one who had stopped her, and was a little surprised to see that it was Tetsutetsu. He had a resolute expression on his face as he watched the green haired boy trudge forward, his eyes holding nothing but reverence. "Leave him, Kendo. When a man puts his pride on the line like that, all that's left to do is believe in him."
She yanked her arm out of his, a snarl gracing her usually kind features. "That is the most senseless thing you've said today, Tetsutetsu! His hands could be seriously messed up, and you're trying to stop me because of something as stupid as pride?!-"
"Kendo-sama," a deep, gentle voice spoke to her left. As she whipped her attention back to the source, she saw the large boy with fur and glasses gesturing for the two of them to follow him towards the upper body event. As the two of them jogged after Jurota, he continued to speak as they made their way to the rest of the group. "I am of the same mind as Tetsutetsu-sama, but I understand your concern. Perhaps you could convince Vlad King Sensei to let you bring Midoriya-sama to the nurse's office before he performs his last event?"
Itsuka didn't like it, but she grumbled along with that logic. Still, one thing bothered her. " Ok... But, Shishida-san, why are you agreeing with this moron?" She gestured towards the metal quirk user, who had begun to pick up his pace to get in line for this event. "You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders, so please, can you enlighten me as to why you aren't trying to stop the guy from hurting himself even further?"
They got to the event station, and both of them got in line as well. As they did, Jurota turned to look at her with a serious expression in his eyes. "It'd be disrespectful to coddle someone who has shown as much fortitude and willpower that he has today... even if the demonstrations were rather last minute."
Itsuka turned away in disgust and crossed her arms, sick of the fact that all of the boy's judgments seemed to be centered on some two-bit flimsy emotion or guy-principal. But then, she heard him continue in a quiet voice tinged with interest. "Besides… I'd like to see for myself what else he can do." When she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, she saw his fangs upturned into a small smile as he watched something with great interest. She turned to follow his gaze, only to watch their subject in question stare at the ground with a hard look, muttering about something or another under his breath.
As she turned her attention forward, a very tiny part of her mind couldn't help but agree with his sentiment.
Even though they were the ones who had physically went to go see Izuku after he had gotten his results, they weren't the only ones to have reactions to his incredible feat.
From those who were participating in the redemption trials, the boys who had stayed behind had begun to eagerly talk about what just happened. Manga, his recent failure temporarily forgotten, excitedly began to talk to Kojiro and Nirengeki; his wild hand gestures and morphing head reacted to what he was eagerly saying, making the hulking giant nod along with the same vigor. Nirengeki was only barely listening, but he nodded along to be polite- he was still in awe that the device, rumored to be able to withstand a metric ton of force, had actually been broken.
The girls weren't talking at all as they simply watched on with various emotions. Ibara had a clearly worried look on her face as she kept trying to crane her head to get a better view of the boy, while Yui merely looked on quietly with a raised eyebrow, an intrigued look on her face. Kinoko stood behind everybody else in the re-do group, watching a small mushroom grow about five centimeters tall in the palm of her hand before she pinched the stalk and pulled it out. She nervously looked around to see if anybody had noticed anything, before she hid it in her small hand behind her back.
The boys who weren't participating had varying reactions to what they had just seen. Yosetsu, Sen, Shihai, and Kosei were all talking in a small huddle by themselves about the green haired boy with a powerful quirk. Kosei seemed to be the only one who was actually excited with what he was seeing; Yosetsu was simply freaked out by the sheer power the guy had as Sen remained skeptical over the guy's overall ability. Shihai appeared to be on the fence as he acted the devil's advocate to both Kosei and Sen. Juzo only watched on with interest, secretly hoping they would get to see a little more of that awesome power, but also really wanting the guy to come to his senses and go see the nurse.
But out of all the boys, Togaru probably had the most startling expression. He was looking at Izuku with the same ambitious air that a poacher would have when faced against a raging African elephant; it was an ambition that spoke of hunger, of wariness, of ferocity. He had eyes that only showed the desire to subjugate such a powerful being. His warrior instincts knew of the dangers of what facing something so powerful head on meant... but given the chance, he would willingly ignore it for the sheer thrill of the fight.
The girls were, again, slightly more subdued than their counterparts. Pony could only stare at the broken device with wide eyes, and Reiko seemed to only be focused on the boy's broken hands, observing them with morbid fascination.
And Setsuna was the only one with an unreadable expression on her face, as she watched from the sidelines, with her arms crossed on her chest. Her face contrasted from her mind perfectly, as it had become a jumbled mess after she had seen his latest display of power...
As unreadable as Setsuna's expression was, the gaunt predecessor's was equally priceless. His jaw hung comically limp as his brain attempted to figure out what his wide, vivid cerulean eyes had just seen. After a cough that made him spit up a little blood, he was shaken from his stupor, absently wiping his mouth as he continued to gaze in awe at his successor currently surrounded by his peers. As he watched the group of students move to the next station, his mouth curled into a wide smile of pride.
What the hell, kid?! You still can't fully regulate One for All, but you keep pulling off these last minute miracles! First, in the ball throw, you managed to maximize the power while minimizing the damage! And now here, you did the same thing but applied it even better! I think you even managed to keep One for All at your upper limit for a while, even if it was only for a few seconds! And then! You drew out an even higher limit, just for a moment! You are so...COOL!
An idea began to form in Toshinori's head. Is Young Midoriya further along than I anticipated?... this is good! I wonder... maybe, I can start him on that? Or, should I focus more on the other thing first?...
For the rest of the time, as Toshinori watched the assessment continue, he was brainstorming ideas of how to conduct his successor's training. Until, of course, his attention was diverted by the boy's next performance.
As soon as Vlad King had asked for any takers on a redo for the upper body event, Kendo had marched forward, her eyes still ablaze from the events that had just happened. Using her frustration to her advantage, Kendo finished the event with a score that put the other contenders to shame. As soon as she was finished, she went straight to Vlad King, and began to pester him nonstop for the rest of the hit or miss challenge, much to his dismay.
No one knew what they were talking about except for them and Shishida, who had given her the suggestion in the first place, and Tokage, who actually had a pretty good idea about what was happening. Anyone who took the time to look at the conversing duo during the rest of the exam would know that the only thing Kendo was accomplishing was making the both of them steadily more irate.
The other two contenders for the upper body event were Tetsutetsu and Shishida. Although both simply used their superior upper body strength to their advantage in their previous attempts, this time around, both of them were running on fumes. In the end, they both suffered the same fate, and their performances reflected their fatigue as they finally reached the upper limits of their incredible endurance.
While the event was in progress, Izuku stood in the back behind everyone who was participating in this portion of the exam. His eyes were focused on a point on the ground not too far from where his feet were, and he rapidly went through some of the data he had collected so far on his attempts to use his power. He was trying to come up with some theories on how to perform better in the future, but his thoughts were being scrambled with pain; turns out, the pain in his hands had not subsided in the least bit- he had only gotten used to it.
In other words, he was still in incredible agony.
The stray random thought kept mumbling out of his mouth every now and then as his eyes focused on nothing. He was too fixated on forcing down the hurt to really pay any kind of attention to his surroundings, and too invested with what he had just learned to give anything else a second thought. So for the longest time, Izuku didn't notice the little details that were different around him, such as how the guy with the small braid stood nearby, watching him carefully out of the corner of his eye. The whispered conversations and not-so-subtle looks from his classmates also didn't really register to Izuku, as well as the appearance of the small girl with honey brown hair, who had approached him tentatively and quietly from the side.
She gathered the courage to raise her hand and gently tug on his upper sleeve; as she did, Izuku's trance was finally broken, and he suddenly whirled to her with his eyes wide. She took a step back out of fright as a small squeak escaped from her lips, and immediately she regretted her decision. But... as she continued to stand in front of him, she felt her courage return when she noticed him trembling in pain, and it reminded her of why she wanted to see him in the first place.
"H-here," she whispered shyly. She quickly looked around to make sure no one was really paying attention, and offered him what was in her small hand.
Izuku only could only stare at the tiny mushroom, with a brown, dome shaped head and a white shaft, with nothing but confusion. He finally looked up at her as a small, "…huh?..." escaped from his mouth.
As the girl before him straightened up a little more, her bangs parted slightly to reveal one of her warm, brown eyes, complete with a black x-shaped pupil. She gave a small smile as she whispered to him like they were sharing a secret. "It's a descendant of Psilocybe Cubensis, but I call this particular one Happi-chan. She can help you out! B-but, um, o-only if you want her to..."
The girl withdrew in fright and tried to hide her hand when the boy beside Izuku leaned around him to peak at her creation. To her horror, he did see the mushroom; when he realized what it was, he looked at the little girl with a raised eyebrow, leaned forward, and spoke in a quiet voice only the three of them could hear. "Isn't that a magic mushroom?"
The girl began to panic, waving her other hand desperately in denial as her eyes began to tear up behind her bangs, unseen by the boys; hoping to quickly diffuse the situation, she whispered back as frantically and as quietly as she could. "N-n-no! H-Happi-chan isn't like that, I swear! I-I grew her specifically as a p-pain sedative- I p-promise, she isn't a b-bad girl!"
"Oh w-wow!" the green haired boy chattered softly, his dull eyes taking on a small light as his mind began to think of something else besides the pain he was in. "So you can alter the c-characteristics of the mushrooms you grow, i-including some of its chemical properties. That could really useful in a v-variety of situations-"
"Bro, just take the mushroom before she gets in trouble," hissed the other boy as he began to get an idea of where she was coming from. He eyed the other students casually to make sure none had heard either of their outbursts, even with as quiet as they were. Had he been just a little more attentive, he would have noticed that there had already been a few who had seen the small girl talking to them, and had come up with their own conclusions.
Izuku only hesitated for a moment before he took the tiny plant from her hand, wincing horribly as he did, and ate it in a single gulp; the taste was a little bitter and the texture was a little slimy, but overall it wasn't terrible.
As he swallowed the mushroom, she quickly began to whisper a few facts about her so-called 'Happi-chan'. "Happi-chan might make you a little dehydrated, so make sure you drink plenty of water, ok? I grew her to be fast acting, so her effects should kick-in in a little bit, and they should last long enough to finish the exam. And, uh, she- she should have only pain-relieving chemicals… b-but just in case, you might feel some t-tingling… all over your body. I'm really, really sorry if that happens… And, uh, she-she shouldn't have anything that could alter your mood or create, um, uh, bad… you know… experiences… I-I'm so s-sorry, I've only t-tried this a few times b-before... I'm not t-too good with the chemical part of my quirk, just the physical part…"
"It's ok, I'm not good with my quirk at all," Izuku said thoughtlessly before he clamped his mouth shut, red in the face all over again; it appeared that the pain made him a little looser with the mouth, which earned him an unheard snort from the other boy and a quiet giggle from the girl. "B-but thank you… K-Komori-san?" the girl before him nodded timidly, and he continued, "Thank you for your help! And, wow... I can already feel the effects!"
True to his word, he did indeed begin to feel a pins and needles sensation all throughout his body… and maybe a little bit lightheaded...
But… his hands weren't throbbing anywhere near as bad as they were before. It wasn't full relief, but it was definitely better than it was, and he would happily take it.
With that, she gave a small, yet relieved smile, her kind eyes showing through her bangs briefly again before she quickly turned on her heel and scurried over to the next event station where everyone else was heading. Taking a few more breaths, he began to follow in her footsteps, with his shadow in tow.
Said shadow spoke quietly to him as they walked, and because Izuku wasn't affected as much by pain than before, he actually jumped a little when it happened. Boy was he thankful for that little mushroom in his stomach right now. "Did that actually work? I didn't think any amount of painkiller would be enough for… that."
"Y-yes! It did. T-the pain is, uh, still there, but it's been dulled down a lot. And uh… thanks. For… you know… I, uh-"
"Don't worry about it man," the other boy simply shrugged as he looked at Izuku from the corner of his eyes. "Don't worry about it at all. For a while there, we all thought you were about to pass out any second. I don't think anyone would have wanted that, ya know?"
Izuku nodded appreciatively. "Still though… Thanks for your help… Rin-san?" The boy only nodded in response as he turned to give a modest smile.
"Don't mention it… Midoriya-san."
In the next event, only three people wanted to try to redo their crunches: Komori, who looked like she had recovered a little bit from her encounter a few minutes prior, Shishida, who was still visibly upset with his last redo, and Shoda, who looked calmest out of the three of them.
Apparently, Komori and Shoda had similar ideas in theory and execution for getting a better score this time around, and it worked out well for the both of them.
Komori decided to regrow the mushroom beneath her back to be larger, and slightly more tilted, and then surprisingly, she grew mushrooms on the tops of her knees. When she performed her event, she looked like a pinball bouncing rapidly between two bumpers.
Even though most of the people watching didn't understand, Shoda was doing something fundamentally similar, using his quirk in a way that made his movements seem to be as in sync as a metronome.
As for Shishida… it appeared that he had scraped the bottom of the barrel. In the end, his score was less than what he had for his average.
During the crunches, Izuku had yet one more visitor. He was lucky that Happi-chan had taken just a little bit of the edge off his nerves in addition to his pain; otherwise, he would have drawn the attention of everyone in the area with his startled noises and sudden movements.
"How are your hands feeling?"
Izuku whirled around to look at a girl who was slightly taller than him, with hair and eyes that matched his own. Her gentle, angelic face was full of concern as she examined the hands before her as her own idly played with her thorny hair.
"T-they're good! I-I feel better now that K-Komori-san-"
"-gaaaave you some, uh, nice words of comfort, right?" Izuku glanced at his shadow, who was giving him a pointed look, and Izuku quickly agreed with a couple vigorous nods of his head.
"Y-yeah! Her, uh… nice… words of comfort made me, uh… forget! Yeah, forget about my pain."
Lying had never been Izuku's forte; the other boy's dumbfounded expression as he stood behind Shiozaki was all the evidence anyone ever needed if they were ever unsure.
Thankfully, the girl didn't seem to pay them any attention. Instead, she was too busy mentally scolding herself as she gazed upon his hands. I wanted to become a hero to help people and to spread good will, and yet… all I did was stand by and watch as you suffered… I didn't even think about doing anything until I saw Komori-san reach out to you… I'm so sorry for hesitating, Midoriya-san; I should have helped you out the moment I saw your hand after the ball throw…
Gently, she took his left hand- the one he had just broken- with both of hers, speaking softly so that only the two of them, plus Hiryu, could hear. "I… am ashamed that I didn't offer my assistance right away, like what Komari-san did." Both of the boys froze, unsure of how to respond as Ibara turned her earthly green eyes to meet Izuku's. "If you let me, I would like to bandage and brace your hands, to provide at least the basic support and protection you need until you're able to receive medical help."
Izuku numbly gulped and nodded since his mind was still in a haze (OH MY GOD A GIRL IS HOLDING MY HAND! WHAT DO I DO?! WHATDOIDO?!), and with a soft smile, Ibara willed a few strands of her hair to begin gently wrapping themselves around the broken appendage, her own hands working in tandem with a surprising tenderness and familiarity. It was a peculiar sensation- Izuku had expected to feel nothing but the thorns of her hair, but instead, it felt like his hands were being wrapped in leaves.
As if sensing his confusion, she addressed him casually as she continued to focus on her task. "I have complete control over the physical characteristics of my vines. I'm fairly certain you didn't want your hand covered in thorns, so I made my vines as smooth as I could. After I'm done wrapping your hands, I'll make it so that you won't even feel the thorns at all as the interlock themselves into place."
"That's amazing, Shiozaki-san! What… what else can you do with your quirk?"
As she continued her first aid treatment, they continued to make small talk about the girl's quirk. It would only be in hindsight that Izuku would realize that he had successfully talked to a girl without hardly any trouble. (Granted, Happi-chan had a pretty big hand in this… but it was still progress in Izuku's book.)
Surprisingly, Ibara had also enjoyed their conversation; as she talked to him, her heart (others would call this a gut instinct, but she thoroughly believed that humans felt with their hearts) began to realize that the boy was a decent person with a good soul, and she had always enjoyed conversing with like minded people.
Soon enough, she was done with his left and began to hesitantly work on his right. Her already pale face seemed to drain what little color she had left in them as she took the time to fully take in the incredible damage this hand had been subjected to. Try as she might, even with as slow as she dared to move her vines and as carefully as she could move her hands, Izuku would still flinch horribly from time to time. It made her heart lurch at her incompetence; she truly hated to inflict pain on good people, regardless of how unintentional it was. As she performed first aid the best she could, she began to recite a little prayer in her head. She prayed for His Mercy, for Midoriya-san's full recovery, and to humbly ask Him to guide his efforts so that this could be prevented in the future.
Right as Jurota finished his turn on the crunches, Ibara had finished her treatment. Before he knew it, Izuku had himself a finely, and tightly, bandaged hand, complete with its own securing mechanism.
With Ibara's and Kinoko's help, Izuku was beginning to look and feel a lot better. He gave a thankful bow to the gentle girl, who bowed back with a relieved smile, before she turned to follow the rest of the class to the side to side agility test. The two boys followed close behind, and Hiryu began to finally relax just a little more as he watched Izuku move with greater ease.
The only contestant for the next event was Bondo. He took a few minutes to prepare himself before he actually did the test, but what he pulled off was pretty interesting. First, he formed a lot of his adhesive into two box-like shapes, drying them mostly so that they could keep their form. Once they were mostly dry, he stepped onto the blocks and tested them out hesitantly by doing a few jumps; his little hops were boosted in the way that was reminiscent of jumping on weak springs. Liking his results, he went on ahead to proceed with his redo, and got himself a much better score this time around- and that was with his few extra stumbles in the beginning.
The long jump redo caused quite a few stirs among class B, as both Shiozaki and Midoriya had planned to retake this one, as well as Bondo and Shoda. As the participants were lining up, with Shiozaki in the front of the line and the green haired boy in the back, he did his best to focus on the task at hand.
That... was turning out to be a harder task than anticipated for two reasons: the dull throbbing in his hands reminded him of what was to come afterwards, and like before in his earlier attempts at this event, his mind began to plague him with the memory of his last super-powered jump.
He was so distracted that he didn't even realize he was up until Vlad King had called out to him; he was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't register the fact that the other three were already done with their attempts. With a start, he began to go through the paces of the jump, trying to visualize the sensations he wanted while utilizing the techniques he had learned.
But his brain had other plans, as all it apparently wanted to do was remind him of how he had plummeted from several stories up in the air. Try as he might, Izuku just couldn't focus to save his life. A little more than frustrated, he glanced up to see Vlad King watching him warily, and he forced himself to ask, "Sensei... would it be alright if I do the 50 meter dash instead? I, uh… think I'd do better on the run..."
The hero, unbeknownst to the young student, was also thinking of the aftermath of the entrance practical (Thank God he has some common sense).
Out loud though, he replied with a simple response. "Of course, Midoriya-kun. If there are no more volunteers for the long jump, then I need everybody to head on over to the 50 meter dash so we can finish this assessment. We're almost done everyone! Almost done!" He added on as he heard the various moans, groans, cheers, and whoops of his students.
As everyone made their way to the last event, the hero couldn't help but appreciate how one young man could stir up his class like this… even if it was through an unconventional and extremely unsafe way. However, the pro didn't truly know the depths of his students rousing.
Of course, the majority of the students were disappointed that they didn't get to see his jump, but were mollified knowing that they would get to see his run. The prime examples of this were Tetsutetsu, who would not shut up about was Midoriya's amazing power and grit, and Kamikiri, who couldn't wait for the day that the two of them would face off, and was observing him closely for any advantage he could get. The other, less volatile people of 1B- such as Fukidashi, Tsuburaba, and Tsunotori- were simply exited to see what he could do next.
On the other hand, a good portion of the students were apprehensive of what was to come. Kendo led this particular charge, as she was still trying to get her teacher to listen to her concerns with shockingly annoying results, especially after both of them had seen Shiozaki and Komori offer their assistance. Shiozaki simply wished for the boy's safety, and Komori only hoped that her little creation was still doing her job.
In that group, there were many people- including Rin, Shoda, Kodai, and Shishida- who only had the trace of a frown as they periodically glanced towards the boy in question with slightly narrowed eyes. They weren't so much as worried, as they were wary of what was to happen, because there was no way that any outcome involving the green haired boy using his quirk could be… 'fine'...
And then there was one person whose face had remained expressionless, her brain a jumbled mess of facts and contradiction. The normally chatty young woman had been unusually silent since Izuku's last performance and her usually perceptive malachite eyes were tinted a few shades darker as the storm within grew. Her body turned on the autopilot as her mind went over everything she had cataloged so far about the boy who sat next to her in the classroom.
Something was not adding up, and she couldn't figure out what it was for the life of her. This boy was an introvert, plain and simple, with so much anxiety and insecurity mixed in that he was the textbook definition of a wallflower... So what the hell was up with this crazy power of his?
His habits and characteristics did not equate to the power that resided within him. In this society of the powerful, no one could ever grow up with a quirk this extraordinary and not have people lining up to lick their boots. And yet, here he was, as skittish as a baby deer and as fearful as a rabbit.
Growing up, this boy should have been respected and admired, and probably even feared as well. And yet… it was like he was the one who did all the admiring, all the respecting, and definitely all the fearing. But, why? It… it didn't make any sense…
Why… why was he like this? Was it because he was scared of accidentally using his quirk? No, that couldn't be right, there was no doubt in her mind that he had to consciously focus to use it in the first place.
Was he scared of the quirk itself? Scared enough to limit his uses? Maybe… that might explain why he was trying so hard to look for answers in his notebooks... But then why would he want to be a hero in the first place, especially if he was too scared to use his own quirk?
And speaking of notebooks… it was now so obvious why he was desperate for any means of control, since his was simply nonexistent. She had thought he was attempting to hone his quirk, not build it from the ground up. As horrible as it sounded... watching him do his events was like watching a four year old learning to use their quirk for the first time ever.
Was he a late bloomer? As rare as they were, the oldest kids to be recorded for quirk manifestation were between the ages of 7 and 9. But even if he was in the outlier, being a few years behind everyone in turns of development shouldn't put him this far behind everyone else.
Did his quirk develop a different nature than what his doctor had theorized? That happens occasionally too, since quirk sciences are still considered uncharted territory… but surely someone as curious and as smart as him would have most likely figured out all the details of his quirk by now if that were the case...
How did his quirk even work in the first place? It looked like a simple augmenting/power-up type, but clearly there was more to it if it left his body beaten like a piñata whenever it was used.
Wait, how did he even pass the entrance exam in the first place? Surely, he had to use it during that time, which meant he had to be hospitalized-
Setsuna forcibly closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose as she deeply inhaled and exhaled a few times, trying to calm her irritation from the lack of information she had and the contradicting evidence that was before her. She… simply didn't even know anymore. And she hated not knowing. It was like every question she asked became two, and every answer she found was meaningless and inconclusive.
As she opened her eyes again, she found them drawn to the boy who had thrown a monkey wrench into the well-oiled gears of her mind. Currently, he was practicing coming out low from a standing runner's stance.
This was... truly a first for her; she had no idea what to think about the boy named Midoriya Izuku. More than frustrated with herself, and a little with him (a small portion of her mind knew she was being petty, but she didn't care) she turned away from him with a huff to watch the other contenders perform the 50 meter dash. But before she could, two thoughts entered her mind.
First, she had been completely wrong, again, about the green eyed boy; whatever had happened in the classroom earlier was no fluke, and he truly was an anomaly. She couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
And second, whatever he planned to do for this event was not going to end well for him, if his hands were any indication.
There were three people performing for the final event. The first two, Komori and Fukidashi, succeeded in their attempts to get a better score than their average.
Komori had put everything she had to rapidly grow the fungi under her feet the entire way and had beaten her best time by .23 seconds. She promptly collapsed on the ground afterwards, but not before another large mushroom sprang up from the ground to cushion her fall.
And Fukidashi, after having downed about a liter of water to prevent his throat from drying up, had screeched "neeeeEEEERRROOOOOMMMM!" as loud as he could, the words rapidly being created and accompanied by the sound of a race car as it propelled him across the 50 meters. He beat his best time by a solid 1.38 seconds before he succumbed to the soreness of his throat.
That last person to do the event, and consequently, the last person to perform that day, was Izuku. Nervously, he got into position, immensely grateful of the time he used to prepare himself for this event, as well as for the bandages provided by Shiozaki and the… medicine created by Komori. With his injuries more or less taken care of, he had used the allotted time to focus recreating the sensation he had experienced in his hands during the grip test onto the soles of his feet. It was difficult… but he had it down well enough for him to do this test.
Or… so he hoped.
But now that he was all alone on the starting line, his nerves began to bubble up to the surface once more. Vaguely, he heard the teacher tell him that he could start at the blow of the whistle, but his mind was currently elsewhere. Part of him was super aware of the multiple pairs of eyes hungrily watching his performance; the other part seemed more fixated on the dull throb of his hands through his bandages and medicine, predicting his future just like a fortune teller could.
He had to remind himself that he was doing this for the sake of learning control.
From his standing runner's position, he crouched low, keeping his hands close to his body to prevent them from rattling everywhere. His breath was ragged, both from the light jostling of his broken appendages and from the anticipation of what was to come; he felt his nerves and heart lurch in tandem, a whole symphony of chaos occurring in his body at once. He had to time this perfectly, otherwise-
No. Stop it. Squeeze and breathe… roll the toothpaste… to your toes… egg… in the microwave…
And then the whistle blew.
He lunged forward out of his running stance, keeping his body as low to the ground as possible. He knew he couldn't fire off his quirk on the first step; he just didn't have the skill to do it without seriously crippling himself. So, he used this first step to propel himself forward, and to prepare his body and mind for what was to come.
With the second and third step, his body slowly began to rise into a running position. His strides were starting to lengthen as his mind shifted into high gear, only focusing on the exact time to use his quirk.
On the fourth step, he began to feel the rhythm of his run. Hoping that his research on Tiger would apply to this situation, he took a gamble and began to build up the power in his raised leg. He knew it would be impossible for him at this point of time to try to simultaneously control his power output like he did with the grip test as he sprinted, so he just opted to use all 100% of his power.
With his power activated, his mind furiously began to focus everything he could onto the sole of his foot, just like what he did with Edgeshot's tips. The power began to concentrate exactly where he wanted, and he felt his pant leg begin to crumble away as it got swept up in his power.
And as his foot was coming down, he copied Tokage-san's technique as he imagined rolling the tube of toothpaste, forcing every bit of remaining One for All down in one smooth, quick motion. From butt to thigh, to calf, to foot, he shifted all the power he had generated onto his sole.
And on the fifth step, he released everything in one fluid motion as his foot slammed onto the racetrack.
All 100% of his power, concentrated onto the sole of his foot.
Four things happened all at once.
First, just like before in the grip test, Izuku was unaware of all the changes that were happening within his body. Even though One for All was only briefly activated in his thigh, there were a great number of tiny cracks and tears along his femur, quads, and hamstring. Similarly, when Izuku forced all the residual power of One for All onto his sole, cracks and tears were created at an alarming rate with startling intensity until everything had condensed once more at its destination. In his final moments before impact, Izuku began to compare this sensation to when the cap was still on the tube of toothpaste as it was rolled from the end; in other words, it felt as if once the cap was taken off, everything would just come bursting out all at once.
Second, the asphalt of the track caved and cracked under the sheer force of his footstep. Everything in a one and a half meter radius from the point of impact was reduced to rubble in an instant.
Third, Izuku was propelled forward at a speed he did not expect, and for a distance that he had not considered. At the same time, his propulsion created a gust of air pressure so intense that it staggered everyone in the area, including the pro hero who had been watching him diligently. Everyone was so staggered that they were distracted long enough to not notice the fourth and most important outcome in this series of events that had happened in the span of less than half a second.
And that fourth outcome was courtesy of all of Newton's three laws of motion in effect.
Izuku, who had no idea that he would be in this predicament, found himself thinking only one thing as his eyes barely processed the fact that he was hurtling at incredible speed towards a solid cement wall that should have been, if memory served him right, well over 250 meters away.
Oh cr-!
Author's Note Time!
Sorry about the cliff hanger. I promise I won't make too much of a habit out of it.
So, I hope you guys liked class B in this chapter! I decided that I was going to have a small handful of them at a time in the spot light, so if you didn't see your favorites from 1B get any love, I promise they will have their screen time in the future.
Just in case there are a few of you who might have had a problem with how I had Komori use her quirk, please allow me to explain my reasoning.
First, let me say this: I DO NOT CONDONE THE ACT OF DRUG USE. IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND YOU ARE A TEENAGER OR YOUNGER LIVING WITH YOUR PARENTS, DON'T. DO. DRUGS. Wait until you're an adult, with the money to pay for them, and life starts to get shitty- that's when they actually become useful!
Sorry, bad joke. But seriously, don't do drugs.
I get it's not really specifically stated whether or not she could actually control the chemical properties of her mushrooms, but I do believe she can control their physical properties (size, weight, color, growth rate, etc.).
And personally, I've always thought that while she may not be as smart as others (specifically Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, Kendo, etc.), I do think she is crafty in her own way and may have experimented with minor, innocent chemical changes as she grew up. Like, seeing if she can make a shiitake mushroom taste like a pineapple, or seeing if she could remove the poison from a mildly poisonous mushroom, just to see how it tastes.
Also, canonically she loves everything about mushrooms; I don't think it's too far of a stretch to think that she would have some experience creating some cross species mushrooms just for kicks. She always came off to me as a really nice person, so I think if she saw someone in pain (like Izuku) she would try to help the best way she could. And pain relievers do wonders for the body.
On a side note... Yes, Izuku got a little buzzed. Komori is inexperienced with controlling the chemical properties, after all. Happi-chan ended up being something like 50% pain relief, 35% fast acting, and 15% fun times. And given the fact that he only had one tiny mushroom, it basically equated out to what I described, which honestly, isn't much. (Not... that I have any experience...). Now, had he not been in so much pain, things might have ended up a little differently.
Also, you guys can relax: Izuku will not become a stoner of any kind: he's trying to be the number one hero, remember?
Guys, seriously, you are all awesome! Stay safe out there in the crazy world we live in, and I'll post as soon as I can! Thank you for your support!
