28/10/2022
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The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 20 - Studying With Friends
Izuku had to admit that living on his own was interesting. Apart from the fact he had to do his own cooking and cleaning, there was also the fact he could do group work at home. Today was one example of that and he wasn't entirely sure how it had happened.
Ms Kanri had given them a group assignment and somehow Zellia had organised to be in his group, along with several others she deemed suitable. Ms Kanri had given him a look but he'd announced that next group assignment everyone should have a new team. It had gotten him an approving look from the teacher.
Then Zellia had invited the entire group to his place to work on their assignment. He suspected she wanted to meet his mother, Windy Chui because she'd given him one hell of an odd look when he'd lead the small group to his apartment. It wasn't in the best part of town and it wasn't in a shiny new high rise. It was in a six storey block of flats and he was on the third floor. There were no lifts. He'd lead them up the stairs and explained that he was living alone.
Most of the group looked impressed. Thankfully he had four glasses so could give them all a glass of water as they settled down around his small table. From there, they'd begun their assignment. Izuku wasn't sure why they couldn't have done it at UA but they were here now.
"Who do you think's going to win the sports festival?" Te asked. Te Shinkei was half Japanese, half Chinese and while his parents were hoping he would become a Doctor, Te was interested in heroes and in managing them. He'd never even thought of being a hero with his quirk. It was one of those odd ones. He could tell, with absolute accuracy when someone was about to develop carpal tunnel syndrome, how bad it would be and if they had to see a professional about it now. Te joked he could be a super specialist since after studying for a bit, he knew most of the treatments and knew which one's would be the most effective.
But he wanted to manage heroes. Since he was in UA's management course Izuku knew he had the brains and the drive to give it a good go.
"Oh, one of the big three," Korei replied instantly. He sounded sure of the prediction. Korei was the son of Konai Simmu, who was the CEO of Ize Kremu. It was a large company that focused on defense contracts. Not providing weapons. They focused on keeping the bases running. They did the grunt work there, trimming the lawns, collecting the rubbish, and making sure the non military assets were kept in good condition.
"Big three?" Izuku asked.
"It's what they are calling three of the third year students who got summer internships with some really big heroes. Everyone is waiting to see how much they've improved," Zellia told him immediately.
"Yeah, they sucked last year," Korei chuckled.
"Who'd they intern with?"
"Sir Nighteye!" Te called excitedly.
"Not all three of them!" Zellia chided before she sighed. "Mirio interned with Sir Nighteye, Nejire with Ryukyu and Tamaki with FatGum."
Izuku blinked. Those were very recognisable hero names. "How do you know they've improved?"
Korei gave him a disbelieving look. "You don't intern with heroes like that and not improve," he announced.
He nodded at that. It made sense.
"Besides, all the interns Fat Gum has taken have risen in the Sport's Festival rankings, same with Ryukyu's."
"I don't need to know about Sir Nighteye," Izuku said. He already knew that the man had never taken on an intern before.
"Yeah," Te agreed. "Mirio is the unknown there, but…" the boy shook his head. "He has to have improved. Sir Nighteye wouldn't have kept him on if he hadn't."
"So one of those three will win the School Festival," Izuku surmised.
"Definitely," Korei agreed.
"But Mitei isn't interested in the Third Years," Zellia announced.
Both Te and Korei laughed at that. "Yeah," Te snorted. "He's already got a head start on us."
Izuku frowned. "What do you mean?"
That got him three disbelieving stares. Korei looked to the ceiling while Te just rubbed his eyes. Even Zellia couldn't quite believe he'd said it.
Te explained this time. "We won't get to manage the Big Three. They will probably be taken on as soon as they graduate by one of the managers with the Heroes they are working for. That's what usually happens if the Intern does well. Our only chance to get a big name early is to sign them up now… And you've already done that, haven't you Mitei?"
"What?"
"Ochaco," Zellia said the name. She didn't sound happy about it.
"Ochaco is an old friend," Izuku defended.
"She's also one of the best students in Class 1B, and she won't sign with any of us if you are around," Korei pointed out. "Though… I'm out of that argument," he added with a chuckle. Korei was expected to take over the family business so Izuku felt a sense of kinship with the other teen. His quirk was perfectly serviceable too for someone who was going to spend their life at a desk. Korei called it Extend-o-Arms, and it allowed him to reach out an extra three to four inches. That was it but Korei joked it was useful to grab those items which were always 'just out of reach.'
"Oh." He finally understood and just shrugged. There wasn't anything else he could do.
"So who do you think will win?" Zellia asked Te. "From our year level?"
"Probably one of the recommendation students," Korei said.
Te thought about it for a moment before he nodded his agreement. "They do tend to have a better range of experience and skill with their quirks," he admitted.
"Which one though?" Zellia pressed. "I'd like Momo to win but-" she sighed. "I just don't think she will be vicious enough in combat."
"Endeavor's son," Te said. "He's got a good chance to win."
"Maybe," Zellia agreed. "Though… we are short one recommendation student this year."
Izuku sighed at that. Inasa had eventually told him what happened but… If his friend had asked him he would have told him that Heroes were all false but… Well, he'd never really thought about that for Inasa. The other boy had seemed strong enough to understand the truth.
"Mitei?" Te picked up on his gesture.
"Inasa would have been a good chance," Izuku explained. "But he doesn't like Endeavor and things didn't go well at the Recommendation exam," he said.
He was again met with the three of them staring at him, then Zellia shook her head. "Of course he knows the recommendation students."
"I only know Inasa!" Izuku objected.
"Are you sure?" Korei teased. "There's another two," he added.
"Yeah! Setsuna and Juzo," Te said the names.
At that Izuku collapsed as the memories came back to him. "Setsuna Tokage?" he asked in a quiet voice, not looking up from where he had his head on the table. He missed the look that passed between his three classmates.
"Yes, Setsuna Tokage," Zellia told him.
"I know of her," Izuku said, changing the truth slightly. "Hitoshi used to go to school with her," he explained how he'd known of the other recommendation student. He'd forgotten she was being sponsored into heroics… Well, not really forgotten, it just wasn't an important detail until now. Of course though, it had to be UA. He'd have to message Hitoshi later and ask him to confirm that he'd told him all about Setsuna.
"That's so not fair," Te complained. "You have an in with Ochaco, and then you know Inasa, so you can probably market him and I'm sure Hitoshi can help you get Setsuna."
"Setsuna was sponsored and I think she's still close with the hero. They'll take her," Izuku said. He wasn't sure which hero it was. He'd never bothered to look. "Inasa is a chance," he added to be fair.
"Yeah, no one is going to get Momo or Shoto," Korei said. "They'll go with their parents."
Te and Zellia nodded.
"So…" Izuku dragged it out. "You think Shoto will win?"
"Him or whoever came first at the open exam," Te said. "That's what usually happens if it's not a recommendation student winning."
Izuku nodded. "Alright then," he grinned. "A more challenging question, how many general studies students will make it to the final round?"
That brought laughs. "None!" Korei said.
"Not into the final battle, just into the one to one's," Izuku clarified.
"Ah, okay… Maybe one," Korei corrected his prediction. "Sometimes they get lucky but-" he shook his head.
Izuku knew what he was saying. It was theoretically possible for a General Studies student to win the Sport's Festival but in practice, it didn't happen, and once they got to second and third year, the gap between the hero class students and those in other courses was just too large. No General Studies student, or any other course student for that matter, had ever gotten to the final round of the Sports Festival in second or third year.
"Support students?"
"None," Te said immediately. "Though, if they are smart, they'll see if they can get someone to show off something," he added.
Izuku gave him a look. There was, he had noticed, a sort of unconscious bias displayed by all the courses. They always assumed they had the most intelligent students.
"It's the easiest way to get noticed," Te said as if it was the only way to get noticed.
"Yeah, there's a lot of watchers, even for the first years," Izuku agreed before he grinned. "So, Management students?" he asked, toning his voice to be in jest.
They all laughed. "Are management students even allowed to enter?"
"We do PE," Izuku reminded them.
After Mei had gotten him to agree, he'd checked the rules. The only requirement for entry into the Sport's Festival was that the student do PE, and PE was an optional class for second and third year.
"Is that what the rule is?" Zellia asked.
Izuku nodded.
"Still no one," Te said. "Why would we want to enter?"
"I had to ask," Izuku said piously.
"So, do you want to make a wager on the outcome?" Korei suggested.
"What are the terms?" Zellia asked carefully.
"Whatever you want them to be!" Korei said.
"All right," Te agreed. "I'll bet that hmm- the hero student who won the open exam will win the First Year Sport's Festival," he said.
Korei noted that down and then looked at Zellia. She rolled her eyes and huffed. "All right… Mirio will win the Sport's Festival," she predicted.
Again Korei noted that down. "I'll take the position opposite Te," he said. "And Mitei?"
Izuku closed his eyes for a moment. "Ochaco will make it to the Battle Tournament, as will at least one General Studies and Support student," he said with a grin.
"Oh come on!" Korei said. "I can't take that bet! It would be mean."
Zellia chuckled. "Why don't you make it harder for yourself, Mitei, and say that a Management Student will compete?" She asked.
"Okay," Izuku agreed brightly. He knew they weren't taking his bet seriously and so the best way to make them accept it was to think it was a joke, or they'd start wondering why he was going that way. He could very easily make it so that a Management Student competed by entering himself, and they would think that if he let them.
"You're not serious."
"It's just a school bet," Izuku said, shrugging.
"Okay, Mitei," Korei said, and noted it down. "Your friend gets to the Battle Tournament phase, accompanied by one Support and General Studies student and at least one Management student competes. We'll make that for every level, okay?" He asked, looking at Te and Zellia.
"Sounds fair," she replied for everyone.
"What's the forfeit?" Te asked once Korei had made the annotation.
"I don't know but Mitei should get something good if that comes true!" Korei laughed, obviously thinking it wouldn't.
They thought about that for a few moments. "Lunch at Churyu Kaikyu!" Zellia suggested. "If Mitei wins, we all club together to get him lunch there."
"It shouldn't be too hard," Izuku said immediately, seeing the brief look of concern on Korei's face. "I made my bet outrageous because this is meant to be fun, right?" He didn't know what Churyu Kaikyu was but Korei was probably on a budget and… Going to class and doing class exercises had helped him see that his father was… generous with money when it suited him. Those of his class who had practiced investing had started with far more modest sums of money and most had been taught by having their parents explain the reasoning for an investment without actually getting to try it themselves.
Zellia sighed softly.
"How about we make all forfeit's lunch at Macca's or equivalent?"
Both Te and Korei nodded immediately and looked expectantly at Zellia.
"I suppose it would be interesting to g- Alright," she broke off her musing. "That can be the forfeit."
The four of them grinned. "Well, Te and Korei are up against each other," Izuku said.
"Zellia has a one in three chance," Te continued.
"And Mitei owes us all lunch," Korei concluded, laughing.
That caused the other two to laugh and Izuku laughed with them before he sobered. "So what happens if two of us win?" he asked.
"You mean me and Zellia?" Te suggested, waggling his eyebrows.
"Well, I thought it could be Zellia and myself," Izuku said. "With the two of you losing."
"Not possible!" Te announced.
"It could happen," he defended happily. "What if the Number Two from the open exam wins?"
"Okay, okay, that could happen," Te agreed. "And both Korei and I would lose," he added before shaking his head. "But Mitei, there is no way a support student and a general studies student will get into the final round."
"Or that a Management student will enter at all," Korei added.
"You are so buying us lunch," Te grinned.
Izuku laughed, shaking his head. "We'll see," he announced grandiosely. "We'll see."
"Oh yeah, we will," Korei agreed.
Zellia smiled indulgently for a few moments before she shook her head. "Well boys, if we are happy with our bets maybe we should focus on what we are meant to be here for?" she suggested.
That got a confused look from Te as Izuku giggled.
She huffed. "Our homework?"
"Ugh… who cares what 20th century capitalism was like?" Te groaned, mirroring Izuku's earlier posture with his head on the table.
"Actually, it was very interesting," Izuku replied. While his earlier studies had focused on coups and takeovers, he had gotten some information on the economics of the time. "After the two world wars, there was less open warfare which made capitalism a driving force in the world and that had some interesting consequences for a number of countries," he explained. "That extended into the 21st century, until the advent of quirks threw everything into disarray."
Izuku sighed as again three pairs of eyes looked at him in shock.
"How about we just let Mitei write the assignment?" Te asked.
"How about we work on it together?" Izuku countered.
They laughed and Te pushed himself up before they all pulled their books towards them again.
Izuku smiled and in the back of his mind he wondered if this is what normal looked like. No heroes, no villains, just normal people doing normal work.
It was kind of nice.
-ted-
I thought the Sport's Festival would be more fun if there was a bit of a wager. So Izuku is learning what normal is like by participating in 'normal' activities that others would at school. And he still has no idea that Zellia has the hots for him. Maybe AFO should have been more explicit with the talk in Fledgling?
The last bit with history is obviously from a certain POV but Izuku was looking at things from how people took over countries and can you imagine the chaos it would cause in the world right now if quirks became a thing? Even the weak first generation one? (AFO is an outlier).
The carpal tunnel is a quirk suggestion from the Discord server and there are more names from Dizmo! :D See, I use them - suggestions I mean!
My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all!
-ted-
Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!
