Chapter 38: Summer Days, Drifting Away
Summary:
Day 2 of the Forest Training Camp!
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
As 1-B arrived at the training camp, Pixie-Bob looked expectantly, "My my, we've got to have some good specimens arriving now…"
Mandalay giggled, "Maybe you should tone it down, Pix? They're still kids, and we don't want a harassment complaint." She then pouted, "Besides, aren't we enough?"
Pixie-Bob rolled her eyes, "You know I love the three of you to death, but we need another tomcat in our group! You all agree with me here!"
"I do, but we don't want accusations of grooming," the green haired Ragdoll said.
"But kittens need to be groomed!" Pixie-Bob lamented.
They both paused, and Mandalay said, "Do you want me to repeat that back to you?"
Pixie-Bob frowned and said, "Nope. Regretted it when it came out of my mouth."
The conversation died as 1-B came within earshot. Vlad King was explaining how they were going to be training their Quirks to power them up. Then they saw the group of 1-A students training their Quirks.
Reiko was hauling around enormous boulders, lifting them with her Quirk like weights. Kyoka was splitting rocks in half with her jacks, constantly emitting amplified heartbeats as she did so. Kinoko was growing forests of mushrooms, sweating as she did. Koda was screaming as loud as possible. Denki was powering a generator, engulfed in lightning while attached to an enormous circuit breaker. Fumikage was in a dark cave, and sounds of savagery were coming from within. Tiny pieces of Setsuna were flying all over the place. Mina was spouting acid until her skin was raw. Eijiro and Tetsutetsu had their Quirks up and they were beating the hell out of each other, forcing themselves to get harder to both endure the hits and try and break the other's defense.
"Holy crap," Awase said.
"This looks less like training and more like a Hieronymous Bosch painting," Shishida added.
"Eh, this isn't that bad," Shouto said, causing his classmates to stare at him.
From the back, Tamaki shrunk in on himself, "Oh wow, they're pretty strong. It's intimidating."
Mirio laughed and placed his hand on Tamaki's shoulder, "Come on, Tamaki-kun, I have complete faith that you could take them!"
Tamaki turned away from Mirio's face, muttering, "Too bright."
Nearby, Hitoshi turned to Tamaki and simply said, "Mood."
"Now that's what I call Plus Ultra!" Akira cheered. "I want in on this!"
"Hell yes!" Kamakiri cheered, sprouting blades. "Kirishima! Tetsutetsu! I've been looking for a pair of good whetstones!" he cried out as he charged into their duel.
"Should we be stopping him?" Honenuki asked.
"Nah, that was part of the agenda," Eraserhead said as he approached.
"Are we sure there's enough people here to coordinate all of us together?" Shoda asked both homeroom teachers.
"There's a reason we chose this location and these tutors…" Eraserhead stated.
"Rock on with those sparkling gazes!" Mandalay interjected.
"We've come to lend a paw and help!" Ragdoll leapt in.
"Coming out of nowhere," came the intimidating voice of Tiger.
"Stingingly cute and catlike…" Pixie-Bob said.
"WILD WILD PUSSYCATS! Full version!" the team cried out and posed.
Even though Yui wasn't in a place to see or hear the roll call, she could feel that it was happening and she lamented missing it.
The team relayed how their Quirks allowed them to keep track of all of the students and ensure they were all performing at an ideal state. Besides Tiger, who stated that he'd be beating the hell out of anyone with Quirks involving one's strength. Which he then demonstrated by forcing Itsuka to try and smack him around with her enlarged fists.
Most of 1-B were confused and intimidated by the man.
"And what about that glory hound Midoriya?" Monoma asked. "Shouldn't he be a part of Tiger's workshop?"
"We've got something special for him and a few others…" Eraserhead said. There was an explosion. "That's them rounding the corner about now."
Everyone heard a giggling echo as Nejire, crackling with gold lightning, was zooming across the sky, showering the ground with her spiraled energy beams. From there, they saw several other figures sparking with multiple colored lightning as they tried to dodge.
"Whoa, Nejire-chan could never shoot her beams that quickly before!" Mirio said, impressed. "And that lightning's new…"
"That's Izuku-nii sharing his stockpiled energy," Shouto stated. 1-B as a whole looked shocked. Monoma looked apoplectic.
"He can share his Quirk?!" Sero asked disbelievingly.
"Only with his girlfriends," Shouto replied. "Found out at I-Island."
Indeed, as they got closer, the people frantically dodging Nejire's blasts were Izuku and people he was dating, or was rumored to. Ochako was flying as well, trying to build up her speed. Momo was creating things as she dodged. Mei was shooting Nejire with some kind of airsoft rifle as she ran. Tsu was attempting to swat her with her energy-coated tongue. Melissa had gotten extremely muscular, and was occasionally returning fire by shooting her blue lightning at Nejire.
The two girls who weren't covered in lightning were also running. Toru was struggling to maintain her visible form throughout the chaos. Yui was growing and shrinking objects as she ran.
Izuku, meanwhile, was merely running and occasionally shooting off blasts of solid green light at Nejire. No one could hear Yoichi constantly shouting "Kamehameha!" in a delighted voice with each blast.
Aoyama looked utterly downcast as he saw the spectacle before him, "He has a laser as well. My twinkling is no longer unique."
"Hey, don't be too down, Aoyama-bro!" Akira interjected, patting him on the back. "Sure he's got an energy beam, but it's not nearly as sparkly as yours is!" Aoyama smiled, so grateful he could cry.
"When the hell could he do that?!" Monoma frothed.
"Last night," Eraserhead said, sounding completely done.
"Damnit, that splitting girl was right," Awase shook his head. "His Quirk is bullshit"
"Language!" came a high-speed scolding courtesy of Tenya, who was blasting his engines at full speed and moved out of sight in a blink.
"Honestly, I agree," Eraserhead said, then looked back at Izuku's group, shaking his head. "They're getting a bit too used to this dynamic. We'll have to switch it up. Mandalay, tell Nejire-chan to come here, we need her for help with 1-B. Lemillion, Suneater, you're both tagging in to harass that group."
"Oh, fun!" Mirio said, sinking into the earth only to rocket out beneath Izuku, yelling "POWER!" Sighing, Tamaki manifested wings, claws, and tentacles and flew over to help train the Ennead.
Eri had sat on the sidelines, watching the Hero students and the pro Heroes work. After her initial uneasiness at the harsh training that they had to do, and the reassurances from her family, she actually found it fun to see them all exercise their Quirks.
And 1-B wasn't as scary as she'd initially thought. Most of them were just okay, but some were really nice! Sato made cookies before the trip and gave her one. Shishida talked fancy like Uncle Tenya, and let her pet his fur. Shouto was quiet, but gave her nice smiles. And he called Izuku his brother, which meant he was already Uncle Shouto to her! She'd already met Hitoshi and Akira, and they were caring enough to be her uncles too.
Monoma was nice to her, but he didn't like Papa Izuku, so he didn't get to be an uncle.
There was one boy who scared her the most, because he wore a mask like the Shie Hassaikai did. The tall boy, Shoji, seemed hurt by that, but Papa Mirio told him about why she was scared. So, he took off his mask, showing that he had a really wide mouth with jagged teeth, and said he wore that mask because his face scared people, but he wouldn't wear it if it scared her. He was really nice! She wasn't sure why anyone would think that was scary.
She could see Kota every so often. He sometimes looked angry, and sometimes looked sad. He didn't look angry when he saw her, and he looked like he wanted to approach her, but didn't.
Finally, Eri decided that if her family was brave enough to do such crazy training to be better heroes, she could be brave too, and walked up to him. He gulped, nervous, as she said, "Papa said that after I fell asleep, you told him you were sorry?"
Kota nodded furiously, "I wanted to tell you right away but he said you'd be asleep all night and you wouldn't want me there when you woke up."
Eri thought about it, then said, "Papa told me a story once. When he was my age, a friend of his slipped and fell. He was worried the other boy was hurt, so Papa went to check if he was okay and offered his hand. The other boy thought that by asking if he needed help, Papa thought that he was weak. The other boy got mad and they weren't friends anymore… Papa said that the words he said meant something different to the other boy because they lived through different things."
Kota couldn't look her in the eye, but he nodded, "I didn't know you were hurt by a villain. I didn't mean you shouldn't have been saved."
Eri could have left it at that, but she asked, "What did you mean? Why did you say there shouldn't be Heroes?"
"Because Heroes and Villains just kill each other and people like it when it happens," Kota spat out. "My mom and dad were killed and everyone just said that it was good that they died!"
Eri blinked, "That sounds really mean."
Kota blinked. This conversation had happened several times and no one ever agreed with him before. "Yeah, screw those people!" he said, pushing his luck.
"If my Papas or Mamas died, I'd be sad! No one should say it's good! Only villains would do that!" Eri said, getting angry on Kota's behalf.
"Yeah!" Kota agreed. He wasn't entirely sold on the whole villain thing, but at least she agreed it was a bad thing.
"Were they nice?" Eri asked. "I only got my Mamas and Papas a little while ago, I don't know how all of them act."
Kota wanted to tread lightly with her, so he said, "They… they were like your Dad and Mom were last night. The blue-haired mom. I don't know about the others."
Eri smiled, "Mama Nejire is really nice, but so are my other Mamas." She paused, then asked, "What happened?"
"Some… some jerkass named Muscular came and started going wild with his Quirk in the middle of a busy street and my parents tried to stop him and… and…" he stopped, trying to stop the tears before they started. He was failing.
"I'm sorry, I didn't want to make you cry," Eri said.
"Mm," Kota grunted in acknowledgment.
There was a pause, and Eri pressed her luck, "Did they save a lot of people?"
Kota whipped his head around, tears spilling, looking confused, "What?"
"How many people did they save from that Muscular Villain?" Eri asked.
"I don't have a clue," Kota said angrily.
"Sorry I made you sad," Eri said. She paused, "Do you want a hug?"
"No," Kota sobbed.
"I'm going to go back. I like getting hugs when I'm sad. If you change your mind, ask me," Eri said.
"Mm," Kota grunted as he stomped off into the woods, his thoughts buzzing around in his head like mosquitoes.
"We're going to workshop poses," Yui said bluntly.
Izuku blinked. Aizawa had given them a longer lunch break. He claimed it was to give him and Eri more supervision, but he was truthfully setting time aside for Izuku to try and strengthen his Bonds, specifically the two that hadn't reached the third stage yet.
"Shit, I'm almost regretting the fact that you snapped the vampire girl's bond, kid," Ryouji grumbled.
"Hey, I'm the medium for loverboy's bond with the caffeinated hummingbird, Chief. I think you can endure a bit of tokusatsu," Isamu retorted.
"I hope you're being private with those thoughts," Izuku said, utterly unamused.
"Yeah, we are," Ryouji said.
"Good, because if Yui or Nejire ever hear you two badmouthing them, or anyone else, I will claw my way into One for All and find some way to permanently silence the two of you. If it comes down to it, I swear I will kill you however many times it takes for it to stick," Izuku snarled.
There was a pause.
"... Damn," Isamu finally said.
"Right, yeah, I almost forgot that's why we respect you enough to actually speak to you. Sorry, Izuku," Ryouji added.
Yui cocked her head, "Everything okay, Izu-kun?"
"Everything's fine, Yui-chan," Izuku said out loud, smiling at her, "Just a brief conversation. So, you want us to do poses?"
"I've been working on mine for years, but I never thought I'd be part of a team, let alone a nine-person team," Yui said, blushing. "And I never was able to do this with anyone else before…"
Images came through their bond. Memories of Yui as a little girl, trying and failing to talk to other kids to try and play out the shows she liked. Being intimidated by the people who were already playing that sort of thing, and not knowing how to bring it up to anyone who seemed nice enough to play with her.
Izuku gave her a hug, "Sorry that happened to you, Yui-chan. It's not the same, but I know what that's like…"
"Yeah… I mean, I didn't have the same things happen to me, but the thought of talking to those people just made me so nervous," Yui admitted. "And I know in middle school I had a group of boys who kept giving me looks the way you were…"
Yui volunteered the memories of the boys who constantly stared and whispered about her, and her feelings of fear that they were going to tease her or hurt her or take her stuff.
Izuku, however, looked at the boys in those memories, unsure of Yui's interpretation, "That's not how anyone used to look at me. Did… did they ever say anything to you?"
"No. I think they may have found my Quirk intimidating, because they never acted on their nefarious schemes," Yui said, relieved.
The vestiges snickered as Izuku said, "Yui… I think they had crushes on you."
Yui stopped dead, "What."
Unable to stop himself, Daigoro interrupted, "Yeah, that's definitely the look of some guy who's dying to ask a girl out but can't bring himself to do it. They were pining so hard you could decorate them as Christmas trees."
"I mean, why? I'm scared to talk to people and I'm plain and not all that pretty…" Yui said, flustered, blushing deep red.
"Not pretty?!" Izuku repeated incredulously. "Yui-chan, you're gorgeous. And they probably were intimidated by you not speaking, not because of your Quirk. I think… I think they might have been your fan club…"
"I…" Yui seemed shellshocked. "I don't know what to do with this information."
Izuku paused, then suggested, "Ignore it for now and freak out about it at a later time, preferably with others for comfort?"
"See, this is why I made you my boyfriend. You have the best ideas," Yui nodded, determined. "Okay, posing! Let's give this a shot!"
The two of them began, Izuku using some of All Might's most iconic poses. Yui tried altering them, as well as working out possible catchphrases. Most of them didn't quite work. "Now, count up your sins" was decent, but a bit much. He liked "where there's life, there's a roar of justice" but it didn't really fit any of them. His favorite was "the strongest and bravest in history" but he wasn't completely sold on using it in combat.
Eri watched them with glee, eventually gaining the courage to join them. It was shortly thereafter, as the two teens posed dramatically and Eri cheered between them, that they heard the magical sound.
VWORP!
Yui's body pulsed with lavender lightning, her eyes widened and twinkling, her mouth upturned in the slightest smile, but from Izuku's perspective, that could have been a grin that split across her face. Eri cheered, as did Izuku, swept up in the joy of the moment.
They returned to their teachers, Eraserhead looking at Yui's use of One for All with curiosity, tempered by his default state of exasperation, "You, too, Kodai-san?" When she nodded, Eraserhead pointed, "All right, the two of you train, see how your Quirks interact and have changed. You'll return to your group once you get acclimated."
"Yes, Aizawa-sensei!" they chorused, Yui sounding deadpan and Izuku sounding excited. They moved off, Izuku testing out a Laser Disc that immediately popped out the size of a manhole cover.
Vlad King looked at the two of them as Yui touched a rock the size of her fist and grew it to the size of a Zero Pointer. "Aizawa, what the fuck?" he finally choked out.
"This is my life now," Eraserhead said, resigned, as Yui placed her hands together and the rock she touched shimmered and stayed large.
"How is this even happening?" Vlad asked. Meanwhile, Izuku grew the Laser Disc to ten meters in diameter and curved it to form a spherical dome.
"Not my place to tell," Eraserhead said. Yui had managed to get Momo's attention, and the taller girl created a staff. As Yui caught it, she tested it on the dome, which didn't shatter under the blow. Eraserhead continued, "Honestly, I envy the time when the Problem Child didn't trust me with the truth. It was so much simpler."
"And that's why you gave them a longer break?" Vlad shook his head. He flinched as Yui caused the staff to be engulfed with the same blue light that composed the Laser Disc. The dome shattered.
"That extra half an hour they spent playing with Eri? Actually did more to power up their Quirks than the previous day or so they've been training," Eraserhead said. As he shook his head, Izuku popped another shield-sized Laser Disc, then seemed to try shrinking it. It collapsed into over a thousand yen-coin sized discs, which he then shot out at the giant boulder Yui created, reducing it to rubble.
"Wait a minute… is… is Midoriya's Quirk actually the power of love?" Vlad asked, utterly incredulous.
Yui enlarged another rock to boulder size, made the staff she was holding glow, then struck the rock. As she did, the energy transferred to the boulder, and it exploded, turning the rock into fine dust that dissipated. Yui looked like every single Christmas came at once, then leapt onto Izuku in a tight hug.
Eraserhead smiled under his scarf, "You know, in a large way, it actually is. It's sickening, isn't it?"
"Okay, this is going to be the best terrible thing that ever happened to us," Ochako said. The gathered students were making curry, due to the Pussycats insisting that they wouldn't be feeding them after the first day.
"One for All lets me grow and shrink things more easily and to larger and smaller sizes. Futatsuya-san's Quirk lets me charge an object with energy and release it either as a slice or an explosion," Yui said. "I can make a giant mecha and use a finishing attack with it. I'm not letting that opportunity go to waste."
"I don't know why we're not doing this right now," Mei pouted. "We have Yaomomo right here, that's all we really need."
"In a pinch, it can work, but we'd still suffer from not being in a lab setting. Increased contaminants at the very least," Melissa said. "And fewer resources to properly create the power armor."
Mei seemed to concede the point. Momo looked exhausted as she said, "That almost sounded reasonable. If it weren't predicated on the two of you building a giant robot."
"Well, it's best to do that in a properly stocked workshop while being well-rested," Melissa said.
"I can't argue with that," Momo said, her tone indicating she really wished that she could.
"Can't believe that Monoma guy is still crowing about beating our class in curry," Itsuka said as she chopped vegetables.
"Yeah, considering we have all the girls, I'd think we have them beat," Denki said confidently.
"Really, Sparky?" Kyoka said. "Weren't you the one who raved to all of us about Sato's cooking?"
"Dangit," Denki shook his head. "Not again"
Itsuka looked concerned, "I didn't think that dyslexia affected memory…"
Momo caught that, and said, "It doesn't."
Denki nodded, "Yeah, that's my ADHD. Turns out these sorts of disorders come in 'buy one, get five' deals."
Izuku perked up, "Do you think it has something to do with your Quirk? Like, you have electricity coursing through you, maybe it affects your nervous system?"
Denki smiled, "Right on the money, Mido-bro! Hound Dog and Recovery Girl sent me to a specialist, and they basically said that my brain's wired differently from most people, since I can have several million volts coursing through it without dying. It's a problem, yeah, but at least I can use my Quirk without dying or getting permanent brain damage. I'm actually fairly resistant to that sort of injury thanks to my Quirk, my temporary bouts of idiocy are the worst I get."
Itsuka put her hand to her chin, "If your brain is so uniquely wired, it's odd that the manifestations are common disorders…"
Momo shrugged, "Well, it's not like we know everything about the brain and the ways it works in every person. For all we know Denki might have several key differences and the diagnosis won't fit after a few years."
Denki scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Yeah, what really matters is, I know what's wrong, I have a name for it, and I've been given strategies to cope. Like, it's better than failing and failing, and just thinking I'm stupid and getting frustrated."
Itsuka smiled kindly, "As long as you're fine with it, that's what matters." Kyoka nodded along, looking a little guilty, but Denki relaxed.
As the kids finished eating, Aoyama approached Izuku and Toru. " Mademoiselle Hagakure, it is a pleasure to see you again after the internships. I'm impressed to see that you can maintain visibility for so long. Une si belle amélioration ."
"Thanks!" Toru said.
"Wait, that's the invisible girl?!" Kaibara did a double take.
"Man, she turned out to be gorgeous!" Tsuburaba stated.
"Always has been," Izuku said firmly.
" Tellement vrai ce que tu dis, Monsieur Midoriya. Her sparkling is bright, as our time training under Reflet revealed to me. And, it seems you sparkle as well, though not as brilliantly as me…" Aoyama said, posing flamboyantly and glittering as he did so.
"His talent is overwhelming," Yui said approvingly.
"I'll defer to your superior sparkles, Aoyama-kun," Izuku said warily. "And I had some ideas for my new attack."
"Call it the Hadoken!" Yoichi said gleefully, to the groans of Ryouji and Isamu.
You know what? Sure, Izuku replied, resulting in Yoichi's delighted squeals and more defeated groans. "I'm calling it the Hadoken, after Nejire-chan, since she inspired it. Any insight you can give me?"
"I do not believe I can truly aid you," Aoyama said, sparkles fading for a bit. "As you can see, controlling my Quirk is très difficile ," he gestured to his belt for emphasis.
"I know that feeling well," Izuku said, a little sadly.
The conversation stopped as Momo interrupted, "I need your help convincing Yui that I'm not giving her a sword until she trains enough that I can be sure she won't hurt herself!"
"I'm gonna call it the Tsu-Rule-gi!" Yui said with glee.
Kota turned to the approaching Izuku, "What're you doing here?"
"Just bringing you a plate of curry," he said, holding it out as a peace offering. "I hadn't seen you eat, and Nejire-chan told me you hadn't eaten with the teachers, so I thought I'd give you some."
"I don't want any help from you," Kota said, limply trying to hold onto some of the ire he'd had the previous day.
"It's your call. I just wanted to give you the option," Izuku replied, using Blackwhip to place the plate near Kota. After some silence, Izuku began to leave.
"Why are you even doing this?" Kota finally asked, scrounging up his courage before it was too late.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Izuku said.
"No, I mean, all this, being a Hero. Why are you people going through all this bullshit?" Kota clarified.
"Oh," Izuku said. "Basically the same thing, I guess? I want to be a Hero to help people in trouble."
"And show off your lame Quirk?" Kota scoffed.
"I'd want to help people even if I didn't have a Quirk," Izuku said. "I should know, I didn't have mine until a few months ago."
Kota looked shocked, "What?"
"Yeah, I thought I was Quirkless for most of my life," Izuku said.
"That's a thing?" Kota seemed confused.
"Yup," Izuku said. "It's getting rarer, but it still happens. As far as I'm concerned, my Quirk is just a tool I can use to help save people. Heck, the first time I tried to save someone, I couldn't use it at all."
Kota rolled his eyes, "Well, that's great. You didn't even have a dumbass power and you still tried to get yourself killed."
Izuku paused, and some of the vestiges gave him a sense of "he's got you there", but Izuku replied, "Yeah, I could have possibly died there, but if I didn't try and do something, someone else was going to die."
Kota didn't respond, either positively or negatively, and so Izuku kept going, "It was crazy. An old classmate of mine was being suffocated by a villain made of slime. He tried using his Quirk, but it just made things worse by setting the buildings around him on fire. There were a bunch of Heroes on the scene, but they were just standing there watching a kid drown on dry land. They were too worried about playing it safe, so they were just going to let him die right in front of them because their Quirks weren't a perfect fit for the situation.
"And I wasn't going to either, because I'd just been told that I couldn't be a Hero without a Quirk. Then I looked into the victim's eyes, and he was so scared. He needed someone to save him, and if I didn't, no one else was going to. My legs were moving before I could even think about what I was doing. It didn't matter that I didn't have a Quirk, that backup wasn't coming, that the guy dying told me to kill myself maybe an hour beforehand. All that mattered was that he was going to die if I didn't do something. And if I didn't try, if I didn't run up and reach out my hand when I did, the regret would make me wish I were dead myself," Izuku said, less telling a story and more reliving the experience.
The vestiges showered him with sympathy. Izuku smiled in spite of the situation.
"... What happened?" Kota asked, frowning in consternation, but giving Izuku his undivided attention.
Izuku blinked. He almost forgot he had an audience. "Well, there was a Hero there. He was old, he was injured, his power was on a timer, and he'd used it all up by then. He was the one who told me I couldn't be a Hero without a Quirk. But when he saw me run, he strained himself past his limits and gathered enough power to blast the villain away. He told me that he was thinking the same thing. He was angry with himself for not being able to help, and that if he didn't risk his life as well to save us, he had no business calling himself a Hero."
Kota paused, "Well, that still sounds stupid."
Izuku nodded, "It was stupid, and it was the villain who made it stupid. He was the one who decided to rob a convenience store and then try to escape by drowning a kid in goo to take control of his body. Nobody would have had to risk their lives if that guy hadn't chosen to make it necessary."
There was an awkward silence before Kota's stomach growled.
Stifling his laughter, Izuku said, "I'm gonna go back to the camp. Your choice if you want that curry or not."
Kota waited until he couldn't hear Izuku's footsteps before he dug into the curry.
He was disappointed that it was better than he expected.
"Did you enjoy storytime, Toru-chan?" Izuku asked the empty forest around him.
There was a groan to his right, "One day, you'll be unable to tell, Izu-kun…"
"Well, I am cheating," Izuku said, tapping his temple.
"Of course, you absolute scoundrel," Toru giggled. "Speaking of, I think you left some parts out of that story you told that brat."
Izuku frowned, "The kid's grieving. He's allowed to be angry. And unlike me, Water Hose wasn't at all responsible for their villain rampaging like a lunatic."
"You weren't responsible either," Toru said fiercely. "All Might was the Hero, keeping the Villain secure was his responsibility. And once he got free, that Villain was the one who decided to follow up one attempt at child murder with another."
"Maybe. I still feel bad about contributing, though," Izuku said.
"Well yeah!" Toru said. "Because you're a good person who cares about the consequences of your actions. Just don't beat yourself up over it!"
Izuku smiled, "I'll do my best not to."
"There we are, go Plus Ultra on that!" Toru cheered. "Now, while we're here, you're walking way too loudly. I think it's time for an impromptu stealth lesson."
Izuku nodded in agreement, then realized, "There's a reason for this, isn't there?"
"What? No, it's totally innocent!" Toru insisted.
Izuku just stared at her.
Toru sighed, "Mina-chan and Set-chan are at the campfire with Kirishima-kun and Tetsutetsu-kun and I wanted to spook them."
Izuku grinned, "I've never heard of a nobler cause. Let's do it!"
Toru gave Izuku the rundown on how to move silently, and followed her lead. Surprisingly, once he was focused on the mission, Danger Sense adapted to keep him from stepping on anything that might make a sound. He decided to pour out a light Smokescreen to help obscure him from view as they approached.
Silently, they crept towards the bonfire. Luckily, none of their targets seemed to notice. The four of their classmates, along with Kamakiri, were chatting and laughing together.
None of them were making out just yet, but that was an inevitability.
And so, as their prey sat unexpecting, Izuku and Toru leapt out of the forest shouting "OOGA BOOGA!" This resulted in some startled yells and accidental Quirk usage.
It also resulted in the sound of VWORP! in their heads.
And so, the two of them ignored Kamakiri cursing loudly, covered in blades, Eijiro and Tetsutetsu hardened up and complaining that they weren't acting manly, Mina accidentally melting the log she was sitting on, and Setsuna splitting apart at the seams, ready to smack them.
Izuku looked at Toru, who was covered in white lightning and grinning like mad. She was cackling madly. She was also stark naked.
"Toru! You're visible!" Izuku cried out, turning his head away blushing.
"Um, Midori-bro, are you seeing things? She's clearly not," Eijiro said, confusion rippling through the group, interrupting their startled rage.
"Eeeee!" Toru squealed happily, grabbing onto Izuku in a hug, which he returned awkwardly, closing his eyes. She realized his discomfort, then said, "Huh, guess I can let certain people see me and others… not, somehow. Could you make a Smokescreen to cover me up, Izu-kun?
"Sure!" Izuku said, doing just that. He looked briefly once it started pouring out, then turned away again, "Crap, I could see through the smoke!"
"Can't you just make it opaque again?" Toru asked, giving him tips telepathically.
Izuku gave it an attempt, sighing in relief when he saw that Toru was covered up. She regained her visibility, lightning sparkling across her visible head and arms.
"Let's get back to the cabin, I want to be dressed before we test this any further," Toru said. Izuku nodded and walked alongside her, producing smoke to give her some modesty.
As they walked, Toru took her hand in his, "Well, better late than never. And that's all of us at Stage 3."
"One for All for All," Izuku said, smiling. "Well, we're… oh no…" Izuku realized something in a flash.
"What?!" Toru asked, worried.
"All of us are at Stage 3. That means all of us have gotten to the point where we can share our Quirks and power them up…" Izuku said.
"So?" Toru asked.
"So now Aizawa-sensei won't hold back on us," Izuku said with finality.
Toru nearly screamed in despair.