Chapter 9: Ignition
Summary:
Izuku tells All Might what he's learned, and Nezu prepares to test Vlad King's problem children before they create an incident on live television.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Good morning, Yagi-sensei," Izuku said as he entered the office. Classes were yet to start, but Izuku needed the time.
"It's good to see you, my boy," All Might smiled. "How are you feeling?"
"... Complicated," Izuku finally settled on. "There's a lot going on, but I had two things I wished to discuss with you today… and they're not pleasant."
All Might's smile disappeared, "Ah. I assume you spoke with Yoichi-san regarding his brother."
Izuku nodded, "After Tomura mentioned that the Nomus had multiple Quirks, the vestiges realized he must still be alive, and it was confirmed when Kurogiri gave us that assumed name."
All Might contemplated that, "The presence of multiple Quirks within the Nomu would indicate that All for One is still operating, at least in some capacity. Although… is it not possible that Tomura is some descendant of his?"
Izuku shook his head, "Yoichi-jii-san said that neither he nor Mugen ever had kids. Mugen didn't want to risk creating another Quirk like One for All that he couldn't control. And both he and Yoichi were asexual."
"That's his true name?!" All Might was startled. He quickly shook it off, "Young Midoriya, I am sorry that this has resurfaced. I truly thought he was dead. If I had known, I wouldn't have given you One for All. I never meant to recruit you into this war."
"I can't fault you for that. Everyone else thought he was dead, too," Izuku said. "But that doesn't matter. You needed a successor, and if I had known then what I know now, I still would have eaten that hair," At which point, All Might chuckled and had to stop from aspirating blood. "If you'd chosen someone with a Quirk, you'd have slowly killed them like Hikage-ji-san. And now that I know what he did to you, and to Nana and Yoichi and everyone else, I want to make sure he's taken down!"
All Might's eyes were wet, "My boy, I am so proud of you… but fighting All for One is not your job. Your job is to learn, get stronger, and become the hero for the next generation."
"I know. And your job is to help teach me to become that hero. And not just me, but Occhan and Tsu and Yaomomo and everyone else in 1-A and 1-B," Izuku said firmly. "That's the one flaw in your career. You stood alone as the greatest hero. But society needs more than one pillar. We need a foundation."
All Might nodded his head, "That critique is more than fair, young Midoriya."
"Also, Nana says you can't take all your inspiration from her," Izuku said, tapping his temple. "She doesn't want to see you in here just yet. Neither does anyone else."
"... Let's promise to do our best in both cases, shall we?" All Might said, offering his hand.
Izuku shook it to seal the deal, "Okay, now that we have that out of the way, it's onto the second part… and this is much worse."
All Might blinked, but didn't ask how much worse it could get. He knew that no one wanted the answer to that question.
"The next morning, I decided that after that bombshell, I didn't want to be blindsided by any other secret family members. So I went looking for as much information as I could regarding our predecessors."
All Might's heart froze at that.
"Most of them didn't leave behind descendants. The name Shigaraki has been lost to history. But I knew of one descendant… Nana's son, Kotaro Shimura," Izuku said, sadly.
"Nana never told me his name," All Might said sadly. "She gave him up after All for One killed her husband. She didn't want him involved with us, fearing it would bring him to harm."
Izuku took a deep breath. He took out the printed news article. "Fifteen years ago, Kotaro Shimura, his wife, his mother and father in law, his daughter, his son, and their dog were all killed in a bizarre circumstance. The case was never solved."
All Might took the paper in his hands. He saw the photos of the deceased. He felt weak, "No… not Master's descendants… how did-?"
"That's not the worst part," Izuku said, tearing up.
All Might was stunned silent.
"The worst part was the state of the bodies. They were reduced to blood and dust."
"Dust… oh no," comprehension dawned on All Might's face.
"Tenko Shimura was five years old at the time. Just about the right time for a late Quirk awakening. He'd be twenty years old now, about the right age for that guy leading the League. And when he was throwing his temper tantrum, Nana said it seemed familiar…" tears started to fall from Izuku's face, "I think that Tomura Shigaraki is Nana's grandson."
All Might began to weep. Izuku joined him, and without thinking, he threw his arms around his mentor, his idol, and sobbed out, unthinkingly, "I'm sorry, Dad."
He almost apologized for that outburst, but All Might simply wrapped his arms around him and said, "My son, it's all right. This hurts, but it is something we needed to know. This was another crime that All for One must pay for."
The tears began anew, "We're going to work through this, Toshi-tou-san."
"Indeed we will," All Might said proudly. "This pain is great, but I will recover. Because you are here."
"Well, that was one uncomfortable-but-necessary conversation," Daigoro said. "Ready to have some more?"
If we're talking about Tsu-chan's crush on me, and whether the others have one too, I'm not ready to have it just yet, Izuku clarified.
"Come on, man!" Daigoro replied. "You've got four lovely ladies who like you! That's everyone's dream!"
"Not everyone's," Yoichi said, miffed.
"Well, everyone who's attracted to ladies, at least. It could be four guys! Or for you, Number One, I dunno, a bunch of comic books and some really good pasta?" Daigoro offered.
"... Damn, that DOES sound nice," Yoichi seemed wistful at that mental image.
Look, everyone, I still need to process that people might actually feel that way about me, especially them, and class is about to start, Izuku grumbled.
Compared to the meeting with All Might, the beginning of class was uneventful. Eraserhead was fully recovered, and announced that U.A.'s Sports Festival would be happening in two weeks, despite the attack. While there were some questions as to how smart a decision that was, most of the class was excited by the end of it.
No one was more hyped than Ochako. Her determination to begin her career and take care of her parents was palpable. And, to everyone who wasn't bonded by Izuku, it was a little frightening.
Aizawa noted two things, first that the afternoon's Foundational Heroics class would be a joint training with class 1-B, and that the principal wished to see the two representatives before they went to lunch.
Of course, when lunch came, there was a huge crowd of people standing outside, blocking the way.
Izuku blinked as he stared at the faces outside. Luckily, Danger Sense wasn't going off so things were probably fine, "Er, hello. Can we help you?"
From behind him, Tenya said, "Pardon us, but we need to break for lunch. May you let us by?"
"So, this is the fabled Class 1-A," came a tired voice, coming from a tall kid with messy lavender hair and eyebags that rivaled Eraserhead's. "Have to say, by the looks of things, you don't live up to the hype."
"Hey, you haven't seen us in action yet!" Mina cried out indignantly.
"Hm," the boy said, seeming to concede the point.
"So, what, you're here to scout the competition?" Setsuna asked, her head detaching and floating above her classmates.
"Some of us are," the tired-looking boy clarified. "See, not everyone could make it into the Hero Course, and were forced into other courses. However, if we do well in the Sports Festival, we can earn ourselves a transfer into your course. Not to mention that your seats aren't secured. If you make a poor showing, one of us could easily steal your seats out from under you…"
There were a lot of thoughts running through Izuku's head as those words were being said. If he couldn't use One for All as skillfully as he could, if the vestiges weren't in there helping him, if his friends weren't there, he would have been intimidated by those words. As it stood, however, Izuku blurted out, "Oh, that's good to hear, I was worried about that!"
That took everyone by surprise. "Wait, what?" the boy who challenged them responded.
"Well, the entrance exam has its flaws," Izuku replied. "It's heavily biased towards combat oriented Quirks, and there are a lot of useful powers that would serve well in Heroics, but that wouldn't be much use, if any, against robots. All Might's former sidekick, Sir Nighteye, might find it difficult to use Foresight effectively against a swarm of robots. Not to mention our homeroom teacher is the underground hero Eraserhead. He can negate any emitter or transformation Quirks with a stare. Extremely useful for a Hero, but not something that would pass the entrance exam."
The crowd began to look at each other confused as Izuku began to ramble. It wasn't his usual mumbling, it was a lot more understandable, but it was definitely not something they expected.
"Wait, your homeroom teacher is Eraserhead ?!" the purple-haired boy said, shocked.
"Yeah, and he's had us fighting to make sure we belong in this course since the first day. If we didn't impress him, he'd have expelled us. You say you want to steal our seats? Fine. Maybe you'll be a better hero than I could be. But we've been working to earn our seats every single day. You'd better be ready to bring your A-game!" Izuku said.
Eijiro cheered, "Manly! That's the way 1-A rolls!"
Tetsutetsu joined in, "Tell 'em like it is, class rep!"
The purple-haired kid eyed Izuku, and smirked. "Guess you live up to the hype a little. Challenge accepted," he held out a hand. "I'm Hitoshi Shinso. Consider this a declaration of war."
"Izuku Midoriya. I accept," he said, shaking the other boy's hand.
When the two representatives of 1-A approached the principal's office, they found that Nezu opened the door before they could reach it. "Hello, both of you! Thank you for joining me today. Would you like some tea?"
Both of them nodded, taking a cup. After taking a drink, Momo cocked her head, "This is quite an interesting blend."
Izuku stroked his chin, staring at the cup, "Would I be correct in guessing that this was brewed with your own taste buds in mind rather than those of a human?"
Nezu's smile widened, "Indeed. Does that help narrow down your guesses as to my species?"
"Not by much, but it's not nothing," Izuku said. "Though I'm certain that's not what you wanted to discuss."
"Correct. Mr. Midoriya, Miss Yaoyorozu, I come to you asking for a favor from each of you. I must stress before I make the offer that you are under no obligation to accept my offer, and if you decline, there will be no hard feelings. In truth, the fact that I'm even considering this course of action can be considered unfair towards you. Even if you do agree, you may at any point bow out of your roles with no repercussions," Nezu stated plainly.
Izuku and Momo looked at each other, then at Nezu. Finally, Momo said, "Let's hear your proposal."
"Very well. There were two hero course students who performed admirably on the entrance exam, both the written and the practical, and who cleared our initial background checks. However, we soon learned that their clean records were a fabrication. In both cases, there were consequences to denying them from matriculating. We were hoping to teach them to curb their proclivities, but we find ourselves in another predicament.
"The Sports Festival has, unfortunately, not been canceled. While it's important to show that the villain attack has not given us cause to fear, I argued that the safety of our students came first. Sadly, the school board and the HPSC have my hands tied. As such, we have two students who I cannot trust to make good decisions about to be thrust into a highly publicized event on live television," Nezu concluded.
"So, you're testing them in school, prior to the festival, to make sure they behave, or to remove them if they do not," Momo summarized.
"Yes, which brings me to both of these students, and the favors I will ask of each of you," Nezu took out one folder, showing a diminutive boy with purple orbs for hair. "This is Minoru Mineta. His family is one highly invested in furthering education. His parents, aunts, and uncles sit on various school boards. Why, his mother is one of U.A.'s board members!
"Unfortunately, that has meant that his record was scrubbed of dozens of accusations of sexual harassment. Even credible accusations are often swept under the rug by schools not wishing to bring scandal, but even then, there would at least be a note of it. Without an official record, and with a family member on our board, there was no way we could deny him entry…" Nezu said solemnly.
And then he grinned, "But we could place him in a class with no female classmates."
Both of the students blinked. Izuku asked, "Wait, 1-B is all male? All of the hero course girls are in 1-A?"
Nezu blinked, "You didn't realize?"
"We don't interact with them much," Momo replied. "Neither Shoda nor Shishida mentioned it during our meetings."
"And that gender ratio seems rather unfair," Izuku frowned. "That's a little over two-to-one."
"Indeed, that is unfair. Whatever the case, he would interact with the young ladies of all our first year courses in the Sports Festival. I would hope that he would restrain himself while under such scrutiny, but I will not take the chance and have him embarrass us…" Nezu turned to Momo.
"You wish for him to spar with me," Momo deduced, "to see if he will try something inappropriate."
"Yes," Nezu confirmed.
"I'll do it," Momo accepted gracefully.
Izuku blinked, "You don't have to-"
"Izu-kun, I have made my decision," Momo said. Izuku could feel… something radiating off of the bond they shared. He couldn't quite name the emotion.
It seemed almost predatory.
As Izuku nodded, Nezu took out another folder, "And that brings us to our next potential problem student…" the mammal seemed reluctant to continue.
Izuku sighed when he realized, "It's Bakugou, isn't it?" He was almost surprised at how easily he could call him that, when not so long ago, calling him anything other than "Kacchan" was unthinkable.
"It is," Nezu said sadly.
Izuku took a deep breath, put his hand to his chin, and said, "Honestly, sir? I've spent ten years prior to U.A. being used by teachers to further Bakugou's progress. I don't want to go back to that."
Nezu gave a warm smile to that, "A mature response. We will not force you to confront him. However, we are using this exercise to test how well he can control his temper, and there may be… issues."
Izuku involuntarily curled inward, "I understand."
"We will do our best to protect our students. If anything goes wrong with these two, it will be… unpleasant for them," Nezu's grin was beyond feral.
Both representatives left. Momo tentatively put a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Izuku, I want to know what's going on. I think… the bond's not working on this. It's not letting me know who this Bakugou person is."
Izuku was thankful for the knowledge that, if there was something he desperately didn't want someone to know, the bond wouldn't reveal that information. He swallowed. He looked into Momo's eyes. There was nothing but concern for him there. And so, he let it out.
"One time, Katsuki Bakugou and I were best friends. Practically brothers. Our moms are good friends, so we've known each other forever. I always thought he was the coolest person I knew… And then, his Quirk came in while mine didn't. And after that, slowly at first, he changed…" he rubbed his arm, still timid about this.
"He was your bully," Momo said, voice hard as stone.
"Yeah. He was," Izuku said. "And I wasted so much time trying to get our friendship back that I just let him hurt me more."
"You don't have to say anything else if you don't want to," Momo said. There was a pause. "I know that your Quirk is telling me it's fine, but… may I have your permission to hug you?"
Izuku's tears started to form, but he smiled, "Yeah."
The two embraced. It felt so nice to Izuku. He'd spent so long without this sort of companionship, like a man in a desert looking for water. Now, even though he was out of that desert, each time he drank felt like a miracle.
"My only regret is that I will not be the one to face him today," Momo said, smiling as they broke the hug and went to the cafeteria.
"And if this Mineta person tries anything, then I'll regret not finishing him off," Izuku said.
"You say that as though there will be anything left when I'm through with him," Momo's eyes glinted dangerously.
Izuku tried to stay calm as 1-A entered the training ground for their Heroics lesson. Danger Sense was going off very slightly. Nothing terrible, but it was enough to make him wary.
The two classes looked to be sizing each other up. Some, Izuku recognized from his testing ground at the entrance exam, like the tall, masked boy with multiple arms. Others looked intimidating, like the masked boy whose head resembled an insect's. Some, like the guy in the karate gi with the large tail, just looked normal.
And then, there was the purple guy who was wearing what looked like a diaper. Although, with his hair, he supposed it could have been a bowl of grapes. Still, yeah, it looked like a diaper. This was Mineta. And while several of 1-B were looking at the girls appreciatively, this guy was overtly leering at them, drooling like a maniac.
He could tell when his gaze lingered over one of the girls he'd bonded with, particularly Momo, who'd decided to use her first hero outfit for this exercise to lay out some bait. He could feel the discomfort he caused them.
Is there a way I could kill him and make it look like an accident? Asking for a friend, who is me , Izuku thought. The vestiges all chuckled. Yes, I'm just joking. Unless…?
"I think Momo has dibs," Daigoro said cheerfully.
And, of course, there was Katsuki Bakugou. Who was wearing a familiar looking outfit complete with grenade-shaped gauntlets. It was familiar because it was reminiscent of designs that Izuku drew back when the two of them were still friends.
"Deku…" Bakugou growled at Izuku. Danger Sense was going off at the absolute minimum. After the USJ, after Tomura, after the Nomus, it was nothing. And, so, Izuku did something he'd never done before.
He ignored Bakugou.
"Hey Shoda-kun, Shishida-kun!" Izuku warmly greeted 1-B's representatives. "It's good to see you again!"
"Don't you fucking look down on me, Deku!" Bakugou snarled. Most of 1-B looked exasperated at this.
"Izu-kun, who is this jerk and why is he calling you that?" Ochako asked. At first, she thought the name made little sense. It was how you'd say "dekiru" in a Kansai accent. She thought it'd mean something like "you can do it!"
But she could feel the pain that name caused him as he heard it. The wince he concealed behind a smile. To Izuku, that name was poison. If she had her way, he'd never hear it again.
"I used to go to school with him. I've known him since we were babies," Izuku said, and when he did, most of the class turned to stare at him. "When we were still learning how to read, he misread the kanji in 'Izuku' as 'deku', as in worthless. And when I was misdiagnosed as Quirkless, that swiftly became the only name that he, or anyone else, would call me…"
Now, the entirety of 1-A was looking at Bakugou, with expressions ranging from shocked to disgust to murderous. They seemed to form a protective circle around Izuku, as if daring Bakugou to try something. Ochako gave Izuku a quick hug in response, which caused Mineta to quake in envy.
Bakugou had never been on the receiving end of this treatment. He looked around at his own class, and saw that many of them were staring at him the same way 1-A was. Shoji was clearly sneering under his mask. Shishida's hackles were raised. Monoma's face went from smug condescension to absolute disgust.
This was totally ass-backwards, "Deku, you son of a-"
"Young Bakugou, that is enough," All Might bellowed. "Both classes, line up."
(Bakugou wouldn't admit it to anyone else, but he'd at least admit to himself that it HURT how much All Might clearly didn't like him. Why? What did he ever do to him?)
"Listen up, everyone!" Vlad King yelled out as the students formed a line. "Consider this your audition for the Sports Festival. Two years ago, a First Year student's lack of Quirk control caused them to lose their uniform and flash the nation on live television. Since that incident, we've been doing these preliminary spars to test our Hero Course students before we show you off to the world."
"This will also give us more information on things you'll need to work on," Eraserhead deadpanned. "So you have a better idea of what to train over the next two weeks."
"The rules are straightforward," All Might said, showing off the arena, with a circle drawn in the middle. "You have five minutes to attempt to get your opponent to surrender, to render them unconscious, or to knock them out of the circle."
"Try not to go overboard," from behind the students came the tired voice of Recovery Girl, who was walking along with Cementoss.
"Indeed, while we have the benefit of Recovery Girl to heal injuries you might sustain, and Cementoss to clear and reshape the arena, we do request that you show some restraint," All Might said. Izuku spotted it in a heartbeat, but several others could detect the fear in All Might's voice as Recovery Girl stared him down. Recovery Girl, for her part, gave a satisfied nod.
A set of concrete bleachers rose up at Cementoss's command, as the two homeroom teachers made their announcements.
"From 1-B, Todoroki," Vlad King called out.
"From 1-A, Midoriya," Eraserhead responded.
There was a low growl coming from Bakugou as the two fighters walked forward. The two students appraised each other, though Todoroki's expression was blank.
As they walked to the arena, Izuku considered his situation. So, his last name indicates that he's one of Endeavor's kids. Under normal circumstances, I would assume that he had a fire Quirk, but that doesn't seem to be the case with his costume. The ice theme indicates that that's his power… Although, his hair is split down the middle between white and red. The red should signify his father, is it possible that the ice prevents that side from being overheated?
"That noise-cancelling mask was a wonderful idea," Hikage said, interrupting Izuku's muttering. Thankfully, Todoroki couldn't hear it. He just stared at Izuku as if he was waiting to get this over with.
"Ready… BEGIN!" All Might called out.
The flash from Danger Sense did very little to help as, within an instant, Izuku was encased in an enormous glacier.
Class 1-A was stunned, jaws dropping. Class 1-B was mostly disappointed at how quickly it ended. Bakugou was laughing hysterically.
After blinking in surprise, All Might said, "Winner…"
Before he could announce it, the glacier was wrapped in green lightning, and exploded in a flurry of icy shrapnel. Only a quick formation of an ice wall stopped Todoroki from being thrown back by the force of the blow.
"No fucking way," Kamakiri said as the rest of 1-B found themselves shocked by this turn of events, as 1-A began to cheer. Bakugou's laughter died and was replaced by tooth-gnashing rage.
Utterly shocked, Todoroki attempted to form another glacier, but soon was interrupted as Izuku yelled "ALASKA SMASH!" and waved his hand, the force of the blow causing the ice to fly towards Todoroki at the speeds of a blizzard.
As he tried to shield his face from the icy wind, Todoroki felt the impact of both of Izuku's feet right in his solar plexus, driving him through his ice wall and out of the arena.
"Let me amend that. Winner, Izuku Midoriya!" All Might cried out.
As 1-A went ballistic, a few members of 1-B let out some applause out of sheer shock. Monoma had a look like he'd tasted spoiled milk, and Bakugou was absolutely seething in rage. As the ice settled, Midoriya flew out and landed by Todoroki's prone form.
"Wait a minute, he can FLY?!" Kaibara yelled out.
"Midori's OP," Mina replied simply.
"What the fuck even is his Quirk?!" Awase asked, approvingly. He was content to see the Ice Prince eat shit.
"It's bullshit. His Quirk is bullshit," Setsuna quipped, grinning widely. "Might actually be what it says on his registry: Quirk, Bullshit," she said, her tone utterly proud.
After landing, Izuku took a step closer to Todoroki, "Are you all right? Do you need help getting up?" he held out his hand.
Dazed, and looking at Izuku as if he couldn't believe the other boy was real, Todoroki silently got to his feet and walked over to Recovery Girl.
Izuku sighed, "Well, I tried." And with that, he returned to the bleachers a conquering hero, while Cementoss began to clear the field.
"Are you well, Midoriya-kun?" Tenya asked, concerned. "You haven't strained yourself too hard, have you?"
"No, after the USJ, I've been able to handle eight percent without any issues," Izuku assuaged his friend's worries.
"That was only eight percent?" Tsuburaba said disbelievingly.
"Merde," Aoyama swore.
"Be careful who you call worthless in middle school," Hanta Sero chided, pointing to Bakugou with his thumb, causing several of their classmates to snicker and Bakugou to growl.
As he took his seat, with Ochako to one side of him, Tsuyu on another, Tenya in front, and Momo directly behind, Izuku shook his head, "Never thought I'd see the day where Bakugou was the one being teased."
"Would you mind terribly if we murdered a grenade, Izu-kun?" Toru asked, startling everyone nearby given that she was only wearing gloves and boots.
"Well, I wouldn't want to make Mitsuki-ba-san and Masaru-ji-san cry, so I'd prefer if you didn't?" Izuku said cautiously.
"Phooey," Toru said, sitting down and putting her chin in her hands. As far as they could tell, anyway.
"By the way, Hagakure-san, I've been meaning to ask," Izuku took out a notebook, "How comfortable is your outfit?"
There was a pause. Finally, Toru said, "Are you making fun of me, Greenie?"
"What, no!" Izuku said, hurt at the accusation. "I mean, they gave you a DNA-encoded outfit, right?"
"A what?" Toru asked. Izuku suddenly felt chillier than when he was engulfed in a glacier.
"An outfit that incorporates your hair into it so that it integrates with your Quirk! I mean, they'd have to, they wouldn't let a hero student go without any protection at all, would they?" Izuku asked.
"That's a thing?" Toru genuinely asked.
There was a deeply uncomfortable silence as the implications set in for Izuku.
"Wait. Wait. You're actually naked right now?!" Izuku said, utterly bewildered.
"Well… yeah," Toru said.
Izuku's gaze sharpened. When he spoke, his voice could cut through granite, "Everyone, we're going to the support department when we're done today."
"Momo, create some body bags, ribbit" Tsuyu replied.
Before Izuku could halfheartedly object, they were interrupted by the arena being ready and the next two contenders being called.
Most of the fights were a blur after that.
A few were interesting. Monoma tried to intimidate Kinoko, but she responded by instantly growing mushrooms in his throat and letting him choke until he tapped out. Everyone in 1-B stared at the diminutive mushroom girl in fear.
Eijiro and Kamakiri fought to a stalemate, with Eijiro consistently getting harder while Kamakiri kept producing sharper blades. By the time the fight ended, despite neither winning, both combatants had clearly enjoyed themselves.
And it turned out that the light-bending that made Toru invisible would, when struck by Aoyama's Navel Laser, cause the beam to refract. When he tried a second time, Toru managed to bend the light just enough to cause the laser to hit the boy right in the face.
Still, one of the fights Izuku was dreading came up, as Vlad King and Eraserhead declared that Momo would fight Mineta. Her three bonded peers silently wished her luck.
"Part of me is glad it's not me fighting him, and I feel like crap for it," Ochako said.
"Me too, ribbit," Tsuyu agreed.
"Momo's got this covered. She's gonna give the creep the rope. It's up to him whether or not he'll hang himself with it. I just wish there was a better way…" Izuku said, looking concerned.
Both of them blinked. "Nezu?" Ochako asked.
"Nezu," Izuku clarified.
When the match began, Momo played defensively. She created nets that she threw out towards the dwarf, as well as her trademark staffs to keep him at bay. Mineta, on the other hand, kept throwing out the purple balls that were his hair. Momo managed to dodge them, seemingly effortlessly.
Finally, though, the little cretin executed his plan. He hadn't thrown his orbs aimlessly. Once they were placed correctly, he threw himself onto them, zooming around like a pinball until finally he used the momentum to leap right onto Momo. Behind her was a patch of purple spheres, and if she landed on them, she would be unable to move.
And, as Mineta leapt onto her, his hands moved onto her breasts, squeezing on impact.
Unfortunately for Mineta, a pole extended from the small of Momo's back, stabilizing her and preventing her from falling over. She reached down to her thigh and with a glow, she pulled out a taser, which she drove right onto the gremlin's cheek. As he fell, she created one last item. A filled water balloon.
She threw it and ran to the opposite side of the arena. The balloon exploded on impact, releasing a liquid that smelled of rancid butter and produced an acrid, eye-stinging sensation. As it spread, Mineta was reduced to a screaming, vomiting mess.
All Might put a massive hand to his mouth to block the smell, "Oh my goodness! Young Yaoyorozu, what did you produce?!"
"A mixture of butyric acid and pure capsaicin. A highly potent stink bomb mixed with pepper spray," Momo said simply.
Sighing, Eraserhead took out his phone and made a call. In an instant, he said, "Nezu, we're going to need a hazmat team on Field Beta… Yes, it was Yaoyorozu… Plus Ultra, indeed… All right," he hung up. "All right, we're moving to Field Epsilon. This smell is going to linger."
"What about Mineta?" Shoda asked. Sure he didn't like the guy, but he was writhing in pain…
"Recovery Girl will handle it," All Might said.
"I ain't going near that shit," Recovery Girl replied.
"The medic-bots will do the best they can," All Might amended.
"I wouldn't worry about Mineta anymore, students," Vlad King said, as if a great weight was lifted off his shoulders. "Let's head on over."
"And now, we come to the final fight of the day," Vlad King said, looking tense. "From 1-B, Bakugou."
"And from 1-A, Uraraka," Eraserhead finished, his face impassive and his tone even. Still, 1-A had learned enough of his tells to know he was also on edge.
A beatific grin spread across Ochako's face as she got up and stretched, preparing for her fight.
Izuku was a blaze of emotions. Happiness, that Ochako wanted to defend his honor. Pride, knowing she could do it, but chief among his feelings was worry. Bakugou had been stewing in rage. In all the years Izuku had known the boy, he'd never been this angry before.
"Occhan, I… I trust you. But I don't trust him. I don't know what he's going to do… He's so angry… l don't think he's going to pull any punches," Izuku said.
Ochako smiled, "Izu-kun, you've told us all about his Quirk and what it can do. And I'm a big girl. I can handle Cherry Bomb here."
As she thumbed over to Bakugou, most of the Hero students laughed uproariously. As she walked to the arena, Bakugou got up and stared directly at Izuku, "Get a good look at your little girlfriend's fat face. When I'm done fucking it up, it'll be unrecognizable."
Before anyone else could respond, Ochako turned to him, and said "Shut your hate-hole you little…" And what followed was a string of creatively mashed-together expletives that would have started wars, ignited generational conflicts, and curdled milk.
She then turned, gleefully strolling to the arena.
By the end of it, only Izuku, who'd both heard her invectives before and grown up knowing Bakugou, was unscathed. Bakugou looked dumbfounded as he walked over. Tenya had gone catatonic. Pony, whose grasp of Japanese remained tenuous, still knew enough to be horrified. Even Todoroki's stoicism was broken, his face depicting utter shock.
As she walked off, Bakugou following, Monoma muttered, "Wants to be the number one hero? He's not even the number one at profanity." In the hushed crowd, he may as well have shouted it.
"I don't know whether to punish or congratulate her for that," Eraserhead whispered.
"I've dealt with Bakugou these last few days," Vlad King replied in a harrowed tone of voice. "I'm prepared to give her a fruit basket."
All Might's blush at the exchange faded as the students got into position. With a mighty yell, the fight began.
Bakugou began, as Izuku had indicated, with a right hook. Ochako attempted to use that to tag him with her Quirk, but had to dodge his followup explosion. Ochako managed to tag herself and leapt out of the way with reduced gravity, the jets from Mei's boots propelling her out of the way of her opponent's blasts. Unfortunately, Bakugou propelled himself in the air after her and broke one of the boots with a concentrated blast.
Landing gracefully, Ochako went on the offensive, going low rather than high, dodging explosions and rolling around in the rubble as she did so. Bakugou kept countering, and she kept avoiding him.
As the fight went on, Izuku felt tense, felt sick. Bakugou always took out his anger by destroying anything Izuku found precious, and he was treating Ochako like he did his old notebooks. He felt Danger Sense going off, worrying him further as she evaded his blasts. It felt like a low pitched hum throughout his body.
Momo and Tsuyu were gripping him like a lifeline. He wasn't sure whether they were trying to comfort him or holding him to comfort themselves. It was a question for later.
All of a sudden, Bakugou's gauntlets gave off a signal. Bakugou's grin turned feral as he moved the safety. And Izuku knew what they were for, and he could only imagine the force behind the attack they would cause.
"Young Bakugou, stop! That attack could kill her!" All Might called out.
"She'll be fine as long as she dodges!" Bakugou countered, too angry, too hyped up on adrenaline, too ready to ruin Deku's bitch to care about anything else at that moment.
And Izuku's entire heart felt ready to shatter. She was too close, there was no way for her to dodge that. He had to do something, he couldn't just sit there. Not when Bakugou was threatening the first girl he'd ever fallen in love with-
DING!
Izuku felt something grow, and, in an instant, ripple outward. Momo and Tsuyu felt a brief shiver as it happened. The bond between them had been built up over the past few weeks and now, it felt like a steel tether.
Ochako felt a jolt as the force hit her. Suddenly, the world seemed to slow down as Bakugou prepared to fire off his gauntlet. Within the blink of an eye, she dove towards the explosive boy, ducking under the way-too-slow explosion, somersaulting forward, and turning around to face his back.
As the blast fired off, the boy was thrown backwards by the force of it, right into Ochako's palm and outstretched fingers. She made contact, feeling her Quirk activate. Time began to move more quickly as Bakugou began to float upwards. As the world regained normal speed, Ochako grabbed the boy's rising ankle and proceeded to hurl him out of the arena, with strength she didn't know she had. As he left the circle, she dropped down to one knee, panting heavily.
Izuku was shocked. If he had blinked, he would have missed it. Did… did she just use One for All?!
"No," Yoichi said, equally shocked.
"Did the bond level up or something?" Daigoro asked.
"I think so," Nana replied. "I can feel it coursing through me. I think that empathy was just the first stage."
Bakugou couldn't even react. One second, his victory was assured, unleashing his most powerful attack. The next, he was being hurled out of the arena.
He landed in the meaty grasp of All Might. Bakugou couldn't help but flinch as the man he always looked up to glared at him with pure hatred.
"Congratulations, Bakugou," Vlad King shook his head.
Bakugou was barely processing what was going on, "What?"
Vlad King sighed, "Eraserhead has expelled so many of his students from the Hero Course that we have a yearly betting pool about it. This is the longest amount of time that he's had a full class. Ever since we've both started teaching here, I'd never had to expel a student before Eraserhead did. Not until you.
"You've violated your probation, Katsuki Bakugou. You're no longer my student."