Chapter 5: Lessons Learned
Summary:
From Battle Trials to Quirk counseling, it's time to see more of what Izuku's capable of!
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
As fifteen minutes passed, All Might announced "VILLAINS WIN!" across the P.A. system. Izuku and Momo looked at each other.
"That went pretty much exactly as you predicted. That was amazing," Izuku said approvingly.
"Well, you were able to offer a few strategies as to how both teams could be victorious. I merely used that and what I knew of our four classmates to guess how they would react," Momo blushed at the praise.
Ochako was standing next to them. Part of her was feeling jealous, but somehow, that sixth sense she'd been feeling occasionally told her that she shouldn't worry. Izuku was just making a new friend. And Momo was just as lonely as Izuku was. Neither of them was used to praise, or talking to a peer strategically like this. And… she also knew, KNEW that the friendship she had with Izuku wasn't fading. He adored her just as much as she did him, and it wasn't going to end just because someone else meant something to him…
As she wondered where this insight was coming from, she was pulled from that train of thought by her own partner, Ibara. "I pray that we do not face them in the coming trials. And, if we must, I pray for the strength to survive such an ordeal."
Ochako couldn't help but nod, "Yeah, they're both scary smart."
The two teams walked in. Tenya had his head down. He'd been the only student in this round to be captured. Kyoka frowned, but she maintained her aloof persona. Pony was grinning as she trotted in, humming Queen's "We are the Champions". Yui was as expressionless as ever.
"To begin with, congratulations to all four of you!" All Might boomed. "You all performed fantastically. This was your first combat scenario, after all, and you all managed to give your best performances without hurting your classmates too much. Now, we have the question of who among these four was MVP for this exercise. Anyone want to venture a guess?"
Several hands were raised. All Might called on Tsuyu, "It has to be Kodai-chan, ribbit. Her Quirk allowed her to shrink the bomb and hide it from sight, removing one of the Heroes' means of winning the exercise. She also used her enlargement to clutter up the hallways and keep Iida-chan from using his speed, ribbit."
"It is true that young Kodai was instrumental in ensuring her team's victory. Does anyone have any dissenting opinions?" All Might asked. Only Izuku and Momo raised their hands in answer. "Young Yaoyorozu?"
"The MVP was clearly Jiro-san," Momo said, chipperly. Kyoka, in response, dropped her aloof persona and now looked flabbergasted. "The hero team suffered from an incredibly bad Quirk matchup. This was further complicated by the narrow corridors preventing Iida-san from utilizing his speed to its full capacity. The villain team had numerous opportunities to win quickly and decisively.
"However, the villain team suffered from a lack of communication. Tsunotori-san is still learning Japanese, and Kodai-san's terse nature and inexperience with nonverbal communication left the two of them unable to properly coordinate. The hero team was not fighting a team of two villains, but two individual villains. While the villain team did not suffer much from this communication barrier, it did hamper them, such as when several of Tsunotori-san's horns were caught in the wall of debris that Kodai-san was enlarging.
"The heroes, on the other hand, were well coordinated. They were able to communicate and make contingency plans. Jiro-san was able to overhear them moving the bomb and realized that Kodai-san had shrunk it, leaving them to plan for the villain's capture. While Iida was able to break through the various barriers, he suffered from tunnel vision, allowing Tsunotori-san's horns to ensnare him in capture tape before he realized it. Jiro, however, was not merely alert but skilled in combat. She had managed to evade Tsunotori-san's projectiles and nearly incapacitated Kodai-san with her sonic attacks. If the exercise did not have a time limit, there's no doubt she would have been able to capture the villain team."
Izuku was nodding along to his classmate's lecture, as the rest of the class stared in awe. Izuku was the only one familiar enough with All Might to realize he was also in awe.
"Ahem," All Might awkwardly segued, "I couldn't have said that better myself! You are correct that young Jiro is the MVP for this round! However, you should all take two lessons away from this exercise! Firstly, barriers to communication make your task more difficult, but they are not insurmountable. Secondly, it is possible to do everything correctly and still fail your overall task. That is an unfortunate fact of life, but it is not one that we Heroes take lying down!"
All Might removed two other balls from the box, "For round two, Team A will serve as the heroes, and team E will serve as the villains!"
Momo clapped her hands together in anticipation, "Ah, splendid! Let's prepare, Midoriya-san!"
Izuku could only nod as they walked towards All Might and received their headsets and floorplans. Team A, consisting of Itsuka and Fumikage, looked out at their classmates. All of whom looked at them with sympathy.
When the two teams left, Denki sighed in relief and wiped his forehead, "Better them than us!"
"Kaminari-kun, that's very rude!" Iida chopped, as Kyoka poked him on the temple with one of her jacks.
"Ow! Well, we were all thinking it!" Denki retorted.
No one disputed him.
"What a mad banquet of darkness," Fumikage grumbled as he and Kendo both approached the building.
Itsuka blinked, "I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you mean by that?"
"It's just something Fumi likes to say when situations get bad. Or good. Or, really, just any situation, really," Dark Shadow interjected, popping out of Fumikage's cloak.
"Be silent," Fumikage told his Quirk, sighing, "Have you any insights as to our plan of attack? I can imagine they will have filled the building with traps thanks to Yaoyorozu-san's Quirk."
"Yeah, that's the most likely situation," Itsuka nodded, putting her hand to her chin. "It would be a bad idea not to exercise caution at all, but at the same time, we have only fifteen minutes to find the bomb or subdue them. We can't afford to waste time checking for the inevitable traps. We should probably sacrifice caution for speed."
"I don't necessarily know our opponents' plans, but if I may hazard a guess?" Fumikage pointed to the top floor on the map. "This room would be my pick to plant the bomb. The top floor would be the most difficult for us to reach, and its central location prevents us from spying through the windows or entering directly through them."
Itsuka looked at the floor plan and nodded, "That's a decent idea. We should try that first, but as a backup, let's look at the fourth floor room right below it. They could anticipate us trying to go through the roof."
"We cannot plan for every contingency, or assume that they have anticipated all of our plans and developed counters for all of them. They are clever, not omniscient," Fumikage looked towards the building. "Though we must also prepare to face the monsters within their own den."
Itsuka blinked, but said, "You mean fighting them, right?" When Fumikage didn't contradict her, she said, "Well, we know that Midoriya-kun is really strong and he's only going to get stronger, but that doesn't always translate to knowing how to fight. I've studied martial arts, so I know I have experience in hand-to-hand brawls."
"And Yaoyorozu-san is intelligent, but she lives among the elites. Dark Shadow is a feral beast, a force of nature. I will prioritize her in battle," Fumikage intoned.
"So, we'll try for the roof first," Itsuka noted on the map, "There's a fire escape here. Sound good to you?"
Fumikage nodded. Dark Shadow popped out, "I'mma check for movement on the top floors!"
"Good call," Itsuka agreed. "We can't approach the building, but let's see if we can't get some clues…"
Unfortunately, their vantage point didn't help them much, even with Dark Shadow stretching as far as his link would allow. Soon enough, All Might told them to begin, and Team A made their way to the fire escape. Fumikage directed Dark Shadow to grab the ladder and pull it down…
Only for the sentient shadow to cry out in pain, wreathed in electricity once it made contact with the metal. The Quirk whimpered and retreated into Fumikage's body. Fumikage grunted and curled inward.
"Are you okay?!" Itsuka came over, concerned and checking for injuries.
"We'll be fine," Fumikage said as he recovered. "Dark Shadow took the brunt of it and she is more resilient than I am." The shadow poked her head out, looking miffed but no worse for wear.
"She?" Itsuka asked, then shook her head. "Not the time. So they electrified the ladder. All right, plan B…" she enlarged her hand. "Fastball special?"
Fumikage nodded as he hopped into her hand. Itsuka then threw him towards the roof with all her might. Dark Shadow gripped the edge of the roof and pulled Fumikage safely onto it, then stretched down and grabbed Itsuka, pulling her up.
As they approached the door into the building, Fumikage said, "I ask you to test the waters once again."
"No problem!" Dark Shadow replied, moving to the door. She tentatively grabbed it. "No shocks this time. And… hey, it's unlocked!"
"Wait!" Fumikage called out too late, as Dark Shadow swung open the door. In response, an extremely loud noise and a burst of searing light emerged as a flashbang grenade attached to the other side of the door detonated.
Dark Shadow fled into Fumikage's body once more, as the two members of the Hero team recovered from the blinding light and disorienting noise.
"Ugh. You all right?" Itsuka asked.
"A child of the darkness is burned by the light," Fumikage intoned, attempting to sound deep but coming across as childish. "Still, I can proceed."
"Right," Itsuka looked into the stairwell. She sighed. "Ball bearings on the stairs. They greased the stairs too."
"A symphony of pain. The railings?" Fumikage asked.
"Also greased, but that can work in our favor," Itsuka enlarged her hands, grabbed both guard rails, lifted her legs, and slid down the stairwell. Before she lowered her legs, she noticed what looked like a bear trap on the floor. She kicked it out of the way and gestured for Fumikage to follow.
Dark Shadow gripped both rails and propelled the boy and shadow down. The shadow slid down with an overjoyed "WHEEEEE!" before they landed.
The two of them carefully opened the door to the top floor, covering their eyes and ears as best they could in case of another flashbang. This time, there wasn't one, but they still remained cautious as they entered the hallway.
The hallway filled with high-intensity flood lamps.
"This is wrong. I am supposed to revel in the dark," Fumikage said as Dark Shadow slunk into his cloak, unable to come out into the incredibly bright light.
Itsuka squinted and enlarged her hand slightly to block out the light. She sent out another, but hissed as her fingers came close, "They're burning too hot for me to smash them up as is. We'll have to find something to use as a weapon…" They began moving towards the room they were assuming the bomb was when they heard slow clapping.
As they rounded a corner to a long hallway, Izuku leaned against the wall. His face was obscured by his mask and respirator shaped like a smile. "You have done well to get this far, Heroes. Surrender, leave now, and you can spare yourself the humiliation of your loss."
Luckily, his costume hid the nervousness on his face. The vestiges were coaching him, but they couldn't hide the mirth they felt towards the situation.
"We aren't letting you get away with this!" Itsuka cried out, enlarging her fists.
Izuku lifted himself off the wall, "A pity." Green lightning danced across his body as he reached into his pocket and threw a handful of ball bearings their way at high speeds.
Itsuka swiped with one enlarged hand, generating a gust of wind in hopes of blowing the projectiles off course. It merely slowed them down. She blocked the ball bearings with her other hand, which stung but did not seriously injure her.
As the first salvo was blocked, Izuku threw another flashbang directly at them and sped away. The noise disoriented the Hero team, but they quickly recovered.
"Kendo-san!" Fumikage cried, elbowing a hole into the wall, "Pull out some drywall or a stud! If he approaches again, we can use those to disable the lights!"
Nodding, Itsuka did so, enlarging her hands, ripping out a portion of the wall. She then tore one of the wooden beams from the wall and tossed it to Fumikage. They then rushed in the direction Izuku went.
Soon, the two of them were in a room with Izuku and Momo. Momo looked tired, but she was still in the fight. The floodlights were as bright as they were in the hallway. And, they noticed, they were in the same room as the bomb.
Or, rather, three identical copies of the bomb.
As soon as they entered the room, Momo had a shotgun drawn on them and blasted Fumikage. The beanbag rounds hit him square in the chest, but his cloak provided enough coverage for Dark Shadow to take the impact. Dazed but mostly uninjured, Fumikage took his piece of wood and set about destroying the lamps.
Which is when he learned that Momo was prepared for that, having created a metal staff from her body, poking him in the side and sending him falling into one of the bombs.
He smacked right against it. For a second, Fumikage hoped that this was a win, and that Momo had made a fatal mistake. That notion was immediately disabused when he tried to move and realized he was now completely adhered to the decoy's surface. Momo then wrapped the capture tape around him, which was superfluous considering he was unable to free himself. However, All Might had not announced Fumikage was captured until the tape was on his body, so he supposed that it wasn't an insult.
Itsuka, however, had been in a spar against Midoriya, having dropped her improvised weapon and began fighting Izuku with both fists flying. As she had guessed, he wasn't as skilled as she was at combat. His punches lacked the form of a martial artist. He was, however, surprisingly good at dodging her blows. Still, he managed to get in a few solid punches and tanked a few of her hits before she heard that her partner was out of the game. Thinking quickly, she picked up the drywall and shoved it at Izuku. A single punch from the boy turned it into dust, but Itsuka managed to notice that one of the decoy bombs was behind them, and that the dust was sticking to it.
Grinning, she shoved Izuku off to the side, slamming him into Momo, as she ran towards the last remaining bomb. Her enlarged hand went out to grab it.
And she immediately got stuck.
The second of shock as she tried to move her hand, or at least move the bomb, was enough for Izuku to fling the capture tape towards her, wrapping it around her waist.
"Young Kendo has been captured! Villain team wins!" All Might announced.
Izuku got up, then helped Momo, who was as red as her costume. The two of them produced spray bottles and began to dilute the adhesive around the two teams.
"All Might-sensei, do you need us to disable all of our traps?" Momo asked, a bit tired.
"... No, we're going to use a different building. Just retrieve the actual 'bomb', if you would."
Once Itsuka and Fumikage were freed, the sticky substance completely dissolved, Izuku and Momo led them out. After disabling a few more traps in the hallways and the stairs, they made their way to the fourth floor, their second choice of a possible hiding spot for the bomb.
There were three copies of the bomb here as well, but Izuku walked past all three of them and punched the wall behind them. The wall turned out to be a fake, and once he'd broken it down, he lifted the actual prop bomb and brought it outside.
"To begin, all four of you performed excellently," All Might said proudly. "Obviously, the villains were able to secure the win through careful planning and preparation, but the heroes were no slouches! Both young Kendo and young Tokoyami proved themselves cunning and able to adapt as the situation changed. They knew that the situation was dangerous, took risks, and worked to evade and overcome their opponents' tricks and traps. That they did not succeed is of little matter if there is something that can be learned from this."
"Indeed," Fumikage stated. "I learned that I am too reliant on the tools provided to me by the darkness. Cast into the light, I was left adrift. I will need options for if I am thrust into such a situation again."
"Excellent!" All Might exclaimed. If Fumikage's wording was odd to him, he didn't show it. "As heroes, you are often thrown into situations where using your quirk might be dangerous, or impossible, or if your Quirk is weakened somehow. In a classroom setting, we can chalk that up to a bad matchup. In the field, the consequences are much more severe.
"Now, for the villain team, both of you worked together flawlessly. A bit… too flawlessly…" The class sweatdropped at All Might's observation. While the villain team was working to set up, All Might whispered way too loudly as he wrote a note to not place Izuku and Momo on a team again.
Ochako felt a tinge of jealousy at that statement, but that was squashed by the sheer feeling of embarrassment coming off of the duo in waves. It was so intense that she let out a giggle instead.
"Still, there can be only one MVP, and it is young Yaoyorozu," All Might stated. Most seemed to agree, Izuku nodding along.
"W-what?" Momo realized she was stammering and contained herself, but she was still in disbelief. "But Midoriya-san was the one who came up with the plan to succeed in the first place! He was the one who thought to trap the doors with flashbangs so that we would know from which direction our opponents were coming. He even had high-calorie protein bars available when I was running low on fuel for my creations!"
"Err, having the protein bars on hand was just a habit I got into while training that I never dropped," Izuku scratched the back of his head. "And the plans I made revolved entirely around you and your Quirk. You were able to produce all the materials we needed to make that plan successful. You had the plans for the flashbangs and flood lamps available, you knew of an adhesive strong enough to immobilize the hero team, and you had enough strength and stamina to face Tokoyami in melee combat. While he was weakened by the brightly lit room, you were also weakened by the sheer amount of materials you created. You definitely were the MVP here."
Momo was shocked, but the praise was tempered by the absolute sincerity she could feel from Izuku. The synergy they had throughout the exercise was phenomenal. So, she gracefully bowed in acceptance of her status. The class applauded.
"Now, for our next round! Team H will be the heroes, while Team B will be the villains!" All Might announced.
Ochako and Ibara were up. As they passed by Izuku, Ochako held out her fist. "Wish me luck!"
Izuku bumped her fist with his own. "You won't need it," he said with a smile.
It turned out that, yes, Ochako desperately needed it. And unfortunately, she didn't have it.
The class wasn't expecting much from the villain team. Toru and Kinoko were ranked 19th and 20th in the Quirk assessment, but that test turned out not to be as good a judge of potential as Aizawa seemed to believe. Because while Mushroom wasn't a Quirk suited to help its user in a gym class, it was phenomenal when used correctly in combat.
After inoculating Toru to her Quirk's fungal spores, Kinoko had begun spraying the area with mist to humidify the building. With Toru's help and the building's own dilapidated nature, every available surface became covered with mushrooms.
It hadn't taken long after the hero team entered for mushrooms to start growing across their bodies, draining them and slowing them down immensely. Ibara's vines had an extremely poor reaction to the fungi, and the hero team was quickly immobilized and captured. Kinoko was swiftly declared MVP and Momo set about creating a fungicide to treat them.
Ochako felt torn. The quick loss to the villains was humiliating, but having Izuku fuss over her was nice.
The fourth round had Tsuyu and Eijiro as the heroes, Tetsutetsu and Denki as the villains. Predictably, Eijiro and Tetsutetsu became embroiled in "settling this like men", going all out against one another in hand-to-hand combat. With the class's defensive muscleheads locked down fighting one another, Tsuyu went to find the bomb. When she found the bomb, and Denki guarding it, the blonde boy instantly attacked her with a blast of electricity. The frog girl responded by hopping out of the room at full speed. She was able to evade getting directly hit, but the power surge throughout the building was probably going to start a fire. She returned to the bomb room to find Denki gibbering with a blank look on his face. Tsuyu quickly touched the bomb, lassoed Denki with her tongue, and leapt out the window, telling her teammate to evacuate immediately.
Luckily, Eijiro and Tetsutetsu managed to escape before the building was set on fire. Unfortunately, they had to wait for Denki to recover before the after-action report could be delivered.
The last round helped to mitigate Ochako's frustrations. The villain team F consisted of Reiko and Setsuna, who were prepared for a serious fight. Unfortunately, hero team I consisted of Mina and Koji, and Koji took inspiration from Kinoko's unstoppable onslaught. And ten minutes of prep time was enough for Koji to make a lot of friends.
As soon as All Might started the exercise, the building was swarmed by an army of hundreds of rats. Reiko and Setsuna were brave and had powerful Quirks, but when faced with an army of rats covering the walls and ceilings., when Mina called out for them to surrender, they took it.
Koji walked over to the bomb, the carpet of rodents parting for him as he did so. Mina, like most sane people, chose not to enter the building. After All Might declared the hero team the winner, the rats dispersed into the simulated city and Koji bowed deeply in apology to the girls.
"Gotta say, Koda, that was pretty spooky," Tetsutetsu said in the locker room after the trials.
Koji looked downcast as the steely boy said that, but Eijiro said, "It was, but you managed to pull off a win without throwing a single punch or hurting a single person! Pretty manly of you!"
"Oh, no doubt!" Tetsutetsu amended, "Spooky doesn't mean bad! I mean, that's Tokoyami's whole thing! Komori-chan was spooky too, and it was also badass!"
Fumikage solemnly muttered, "Revelry in the dark." Koji looked back up at them and smiled warmly.
"It pains me to think that the villain groups won most of our exercises," Tenya said solemnly. "It seems counterintuitive for a Hero school."
"Well, maybe don't think of it as heroes and villains?" Izuku suggested. "Maybe consider playing the villains as practice for defending an objective the way that the heroes were trying to secure one?"
Tenya shot up in response, "That is perfect! An excellent perspective, Midoriya-kun!"
"Um, guys?" Denki said, having recovered fully from frying his brains during the exercise. "I was checking around the room, and it seems like someone made a hole between the girls locker room and ours and covered it with a poster."
The news of that sunk in. Tenya turned around, "That is reprehensible! We must report this immediately!" His arm chopped for emphasis.
"Err, yeah," Denki agreed halfheartedly.
"You don't sound too thrilled by that course of action," Fumikage said, a little angrily.
"I mean, yeah, it's the right thing to do!" Denki said, backpedaling. "But, still, I mean on the other side of that wall are thirteen of the hottest girls we've ever seen!"
"Yeah, but we have to respect their privacy!" Eijiro said.
"Peeping isn't manly!" Tetsutetsu agreed.
"That isn't the kind of darkness I can revel in," Fumikage said, remaining on-brand.
"I can hardly believe that you would entertain such a notion!" Tenya cried out.
Neither Izuku nor Koji said anything, but their expressions clearly agreed with the others.
Denki sighed, "Guess I'm the lone degenerate here. I mean, yeah, it's scummy to actually do it, but I didn't think I was the only one who was tempted…"
Izuku gulped. He wasn't exactly thrilled to speak up about this, but Denki was looking really down on himself… "W-well, you're definitely n-not the only one of us who's tempted. I mean, y-yeah, our classmates are all b-beautiful. But it's more important for them to feel safe. We don't want any of them to hate us."
Everyone nodded, Eijiro and Tetsutetsu shedding manly tears. Denki sheepishly laughed, "You're absolutely right Mido-dude. Bringing it up was the right call. I'm just glad I had enough impulse control to not peep. I'll let a teacher know ASAP so they can fix it."
There was widespread approval as the boys of 1-A finished changing.
On the other side of that wall, Kyoka had one of her earphone jacks at the hole in the wall, both to more clearly decipher the conversation after accidentally overhearing Denki, and to stab any eyes that might possibly try to steal a peek. Her other jack was plugged into one of her speakers, amplifying the conversation she was overhearing to the other girls.
"At least most of them are good people, ribbit," Tsuyu said. "Though Kaminari-chan is a bit iffy."
"The sin of lust is strong within him," Ibara said, with some disgust. "Still, as Midoriya said, no one is free of sin and immune to temptations. It is somewhat admirable that he was able to keep them in check."
"That's a pretty low bar to clear, though," Kyoka deadpanned.
"True, but a lot of guys keep tripping on it," Setsuna said.
Kyoka frowned as she considered it, "Well, he did let everyone know instead of just peeping himself. I guess that counts."
"Yeah, I'm just glad that my horn buddy Kiri drinks his respect women juice," Mina said cheerfully.
"Same with Izu-kun," Ochako agreed.
That had Momo thinking. When the girls were leaving, she hung back towards Ochako, "Uraraka-san, can I ask you something?"
"Sure thing, Yaomomo," Ochako replied cheerfully.
Momo smiled. That nickname that Mina gave her was so wonderful. She had friends! It was so nice to finally have genuine friends! "Well, I was curious about Midoriya's Quirk… do you think that there is a mental component to it?"
Ochako frowned in consideration, "I'd wondered about that. I mean, we've been really good friends since the entrance exam, but it's like I've known him for YEARS. Sometimes it's like I have these guesses about him and they always seem to be correct."
Momo nodded, "Since we were partnered, sometime after I heard him discuss how I might be able to improve my costume… I could hear something in my head. I'm not sure what, but after that, I too felt like his emotions were an open book. Well, more than they were beforehand."
Ochako blinked. "Huh. That's interesting. 'Cause after that, I was starting to feel that sort of thing about you as well."
"Me?!" Momo exclaimed. Then she blinked, "That actually makes sense. I was focused on the lessons so my attention was elsewhere, but I could sense your emotions in a similar way. I merely did not notice it at the time."
Ochako looked down, "You don't think it's malicious, do you?"
Momo paused, then said, "I don't believe so. Even before I felt this connection he was easy to read. This may be some byproduct of his Quirk. I hope that it comes up this afternoon during his Quirk counseling…"
Ochako smiled, "I'll ask him at dinner tonight."
"Dinner?" Momo cocked her head to the side questioningly, then after an awkward pause said, "You're currently living in a studio apartment on a limited budget and have a standing invitation with Midoriya and his mother to have dinner with them as often as you'd like." She wanted to confirm that this intuition was correct, but somehow knew that it was.
"Bingo," Ochako said. She looked into Momo's eyes and said, a little overwhelmed, "Your family is wealthy. Like, super wealthy. My current apartment is smaller than your bedroom closet. My family's apartment is smaller than your bedroom."
"My parents do have building projects in Mie," Momo said. "I'm more than willing to recommend your family's company for them."
Ochako seemed conflicted, "I want to say that we don't need pity, but this doesn't feel like it."
Momo shook her head, "It isn't."
Ochako paused. "This is so weird."
"It really is," Momo agreed.
"I like it though," Ochako said, blushing lightly.
"Me too... Occhan," Momo hesitantly said, also blushing. Ochako's smile at the use of Izuku's nickname for her was blinding.
"Am I a mouse, a dog, or a bear? What's important is, I'm the principal!" Principal Nezu cheered, popping up in front of Izuku as he entered the gym. All Might and Eraserhead were seated on folding chairs. "Welcome to your first Quirk counseling session!"
Izuku recovered from the surprise, and turned quizzically to look at Nezu. He is rather hard to identify. Is he truly a single species? Rumors about his time as a laboratory experiment have indicated that he's been spliced with the DNA of several animals, but what was his original species? The name Nezu would indicate that he's a rodent of some sort. Maybe not a mouse or a rat but something like a marmot or a gerbil? That could just be to throw us off, however. Probably not a dog or a bear, either, but those are both caniform carnivores, and his proportions do resemble a weasel or some other mustelid. An ermine, maybe? No, his coat would turn brown in the summer. There was that one meme that called him an albino honey badger due to his fearless attitude, but I think that was just a joke-
"Oh, I like him," Nezu interrupted with a glint in his eyes and a grin that was way too wide.
"If I can make a suggestion for your support gear," Eraserhead said, "You may want a way to make that facemask of yours noise-cancelling. It would allow you to sort your thoughts out without alerting enemies to your position. Maybe include auto-dictation?"
Izuku blinked, the embarrassment of revealing he was speaking out loud eclipsed by his homeroom teacher's suggestion, "That would be perfect!"
"I would also suggest that you use a cipher for your notebooks," Nezu added. "While your analysis would help you and your allies immensely, if they ended up in the wrong hands, the consequences would be disastrous."
"Well, most people say my shorthand and penmanship makes them unreadable most of the time," Izuku said, scratching the back of his head. "But you're right, I can't rely on that."
"I'd be willing to offer you lessons, if you want," Nezu said. Izuku blinked in awe, ignoring the worried looks on All Might and Eraserhead's faces. "But that's for later. We should get started."
"Before we begin, Midoriya," Eraserhead had no external reaction to Izuku's flinch when he heard that, but damn did it ever sting. "When we arranged this meeting, we decided that it would include Nezu, who has a quirk counselor license in addition to his intellect, Yagi, as he trained you, and myself, as I am your homeroom teacher and most responsible for your education here. However, your comfort is the first priority here. If you'd rather I not be here, say the word."
Izuku blinked. That was… unexpected. He'd never had a teacher give him that kind of accommodation before!
"The bar is on the ground," En deadpanned.
"The bar has tunneled through to bedrock," Daigoro corrected.
"The bar is in hell. It's a tripping hazard for demons. Your former teachers are limbo dancing with Lucifer," Yoichi said with finality.
"Um… Well, your Quirk would be useful while doing tests. Y'know, for safety concerns," Izuku said, twiddling his fingers anxiously. "But… I would like to limit our first discussion to Principal Nezu and Yagi-sensei."
Eraserhead nodded, and headed from the room without complaint.
"An excellent decision," Nezu said, taking a cup of tea from… somewhere. "This allows us to have our discussion without having to skirt around the elephant in the room that Aizawa isn't aware of."
"Y-yeah," Izuku said, "I was trying to come up with some way to tell you what I needed to without leaking the secret."
"Indeed. We'll still need to come up with a usable explanation. You've been informed that you will manifest six additional Quirks, so we will need to find an explanation of them that makes sense," Nezu says, taking another sip of tea.
"I know that one of those Quirks is my master's, Float," All Might said. "Are you aware of the others?"
"I don't know anything about the Second or Third users," Izuku frowned. "They're jerks most of the time. They only begrudgingly acknowledge Yagi, and they usually ignore me. Of course, they're stuck in their Dark Age mentality, so there's some culture clash involved."
"Ah, the 'grimdark' worldview, as it's called in America," Yagi nodded. "I can understand the reluctance."
"Hikage-ji-san's Quirk is called Danger Sense. It's an entirely sensory Quirk that doesn't have any outward signs of activation, so we don't necessarily need to worry about that. Daigoro-ji-san's was Blackwhip, which allowed him to produce tendrils of black energy he used to capture people and objects, as well as swing around. En-nii-san's was Smokescreen, which produced a cloud of obscuring smoke from his body," Izuku said, then handed them some notes, "I made a copy of my notes for these Quirks, both what the vestiges told me about them and my own analysis."
Izuku knew in his heart that whatever species Nezu was had to be a predator as he looked through the notes. "Magnificent," the chimera whispered.
"Though, that's not all," Izuku said, scratching his upper left arm with his right hand. "There's another power in One for All. It's invisible, but it didn't belong to any of the past wielder's, I'm fully Quirkless, and not even Yoichi-jii-san knows where it came from. He figures that there's an additional Quirk in here, somehow. That's how One for All reached singularity before they predicted it would."
All Might coughed up blood and Nezu's expression changed from delighted to concerned. "What is the nature of this Quirk?" the unidentifiable mammal asked.
"Well…" Izuku started to blush. "It first triggered during the entrance exam. It was when I saved Occhan- sorry, Uraraka-san, from the zero-pointer. After we were both on the ground waiting for Recovery Girl, I think it activated. I heard a rhythmic thumping sound, which I think was an accelerated heartbeat, followed by a click. The vestiges heard it too. Since then, I've had a better understanding of her feelings. Like, beyond non-verbal communication, I could identify her mood much more easily. I'd also get occasional flashes of things like her favorite foods or her hobbies or things she'd like to do but didn't have the opportunity, and they'd all be correct. And she hasn't said anything, but based on some of our conversations, I think it goes both ways."
He was pretty sure all of the blood in his body had travelled to his face by then. All Might was grinning like a fool, and while Nezu still looked concerned, there was a bit of playfulness there as well.
"Do you think there's a chance that this Quirk will reveal the nature of One for All?" Nezu asked, and it seemed that was the primary concern left.
"I won't say it's impossible, but so far I don't think so. Like, she didn't know I used to be Quirkless until I revealed it. Mostly, the Quirk seems to be nudging me towards things that would deepen our friendship, skipping steps and giving me hints…" he then sighed. He felt like he was about to die of embarrassment and now it was going to get worse. "I thought that was all it would do, but today… When I met Hatsume-san this morning and we were discussing support items, I heard the click again. And it happened a third time during the Battle Trials while Yaoyorozu-san and I were strategizing."
All Might looked ecstatic until he mentioned that he'd roped in Mei and Momo, and now he seemed to be torn. Nezu, on the other hand, looked like a kid on Christmas who got everything he asked for and more.
"Well, I think we can safely come up with a description of your Quirk that will suffice. You aren't stockpiling strength, you are stockpiling energy. The mechanism by which you obtain that energy is unknown, but you are able to express it in various ways, most easily by enhancing your physical ability. You can also occasionally read brainwaves of people you are close to, and transmit your own to them. This process is subconscious. As you become used to your power, you may be able to emit or sense energy in different forms," Nezu summarized.
Izuku nodded, "So what do we want to call it? Superpower still works, I suppose."
"It's up to you. Quirk names can be as descriptive, simple, or extravagant as you wish. Majestic, for example, chose to name his Quirk 'Magic' instead of something more indicative like 'Levitating Rings'," Nezu finished his tea.
Izuku pondered this, "So it's not just assigned by the counselor. Hmm…" he considers it, then says, "How about 'Decade Force'? I could call it that because it expressed itself ten years later than normal, and as the other Quirks grow in, I could say that I had ten special techniques or something, claim some are a secret?"
Nezu burst out laughing, "Oh, the marketing students will LOVE that. You should go stretch and prepare for the physical portion. I'll text Aizawa to tell him we're ready for him."
Izuku bowed to them and left to do so. Once he was gone, Nezu tried not to cackle wickedly as he began to type.
All Might paled, "Please spare young Midoriya of your plans."
"Relax, nothing I'm considering is unethical… Wait, I forget, do humans consider it unethical to be brought into mated couplings based on the likely physical attributes of their potential offspring?" Nezu asked.
All Might wasn't sure if Nezu was joking. On the one hand, Nezu was intelligent enough that he should know the answer to that question. On the other, Nezu wasn't human and there was ample evidence that he struggled with the exact nature of human morality. Erring on the side of caution, All Might said, "Yes. That's eugenics. It's considered a huge violation of ethics and instances like that are, if not always outwardly illegal, highly frowned upon in society."
Nezu frowned. "Ah. Well, there goes that plan. A pity," he said with an air of disappointment. "On the plus side, that confirms that my next project for the Desutaru Agency will be going after Endeavor. If my potential experiment is unethical, buying a woman in the hopes of producing a child with a specific Quirk would certainly fit the bill."
"Yes, that's a good- wait, WHAT?!" All Might exclaimed as that sunk in, blood cascading from his mouth.
Izuku Midoriya's Hero Analysis of the Past, volume 1
Fifth User - Daigoro Banjou
Hero Name: Lariat
The first user to be a professional Hero
The system wasn't in place until after Hikage retreated to the woods
Did he name himself after the rope or the wrestling maneuver?
His response was "Yes".
Quirk Name: Blackwhip
Produces a black energy that takes the form of ropes he could control.
He used them to grip objects, capture people, and swing from place to place.
One for All increased the whips' strength and maximum length.
Daigoro says that Blackwhip is controlled and powered by the user's emotions
Anger makes it extremely powerful, but harder to control
Using Blackwhip while confused or emotionally unstable also makes it go out of control.
Has a presence similar to All Might's
Tall and muscular. His head is shaved, but he has a beard.
Wears a leather jacket and pants, with no shirt.
Has a bandolier
He doesn't have a gun, though. Why does he need the bullets?
He says "Because it looks cool".
And that they're not bullets, they're compartments to store various tools and medical supplies.
But they're shaped like bullets because it looks cool.
Has a very rough and brash personality
Calls himself "super funky"
Most easygoing of the past users
Loves to joke around
Hikage specifically picked him to be a successor.
This makes him unique among the users
This wasn't like Nana choosing All Might or All Might choosing me.
Hikage didn't train Daigoro
Hikage didn't have that much time to vet his successor
All Hikage really knew was that Daigoro was a hero, that he was a decent person, that he could handle One for All, and that he was willing to fight the good fight.
Died fighting a villain
Most of the past users did. Hikage was the exception.
Gave En One for All by mixing their blood.
Makes sense, he doesn't have much hair
None of them are willing to say much about who ended up killing each of them
I mean, it makes sense. I wouldn't want to talk about it