Chapter 14: The fight isn't over

"You sure no one will ask about the armor?" Katsuki asked Izuku, they and the usual ever expanding group of friends (He was still pissed of not making that bet) were making their way to UA.

Izuku shrugged. "No one asked until now."

Ochaco gave her two yens on the matter, "No one complained about your belts, so I think no one will care about the shoulder piece as long as you don't say it's a full armor in disguise."

"I believe it is not right for you to break the rules like that!" Tenya gave his own opinion on the topic.

Momo defended Izuku, "Technically, Izuku's armor doesn't make part of his hero costume so he is not breaking any rules."

Denki grinned. "Loopholes, gotta love 'em!" His comment made Tenya accept defeat and the others laugh.

They were already on campus when a strange occurrence happened, a blue grid orb seemed to appear from nowhere, startling the group. Izuku was the only exception, knowing exactly what it was, even if the how he knew it was still a mystery. "Good to see Principal Nezu get the security system up in time!"

"Deku, the fuck?!" Katsuki's question was lost on everyone else, but Izuku knew the blonde better than he knew himself so he understood it clearly.

"After the USJ, I got a ton of synthesizing materials. I knew, somehow, how to make a system that tracked any Heartless in an area and destroy them when they're within radius, so I passed it to the Principal and he got it running!" Izuku's explanation brought a sigh of relief from his friends, they were glad the school would be safe from monsters from now on.

"So UA is now monster free?" Toru asked, Hanta and she still were trying to wrap their heads around the Heartless and the other things the group told them on the way over.

"Yup! Well at least it should be, but it's still a new thing so if there's anything weird with it let me or the Principal know."

"Sure thing man, the less times I have to deal with heart eating monsters the better!" Hanta's comment got nods from all the others, they didn't want to doubt Izuku's words anymore, especially with dangerous things like the Heartless.

"That's all good, but I still have a question, what are these materials you spoke about?" Momo, because of her quirk, always searched for new materials to expand her repertoire.

Izuku pulled one of his notebooks and passed it to her to help with the explanation, the others also were curious, giving the greenett their full attention, "Synthesize materials are basically a form of crystallized magic."

"Here we go with the magic again!" Kyoka said, rolling her eyes. The comment got some chuckles.

Izuku continued like if he didn't hear her, "They form when a high concentration of magic gathers in a place, be it by being expelled by a being, like when a Heartless is destroyed, or in places of natural great magic density, like the Ocean Between."

"Ocean Between?" Eijiro interrupted his friend.

"Well, you know, space." Izuku shrugged.

"Wait a second, how do you know that Izuchan?" Tsuyu's question made all of them pause and look at the boy.

"I…" When Izuku's eyes glazed they all awaited what he would see. When he was back to the present they were about to ask when Izuku shuddered. "Space is scary!"

"Are you saying you had been in space, mon ami?" Yuga put a hand on Izuku's shoulder, waiting for confirmation on what was on all their minds.

Izuku crossed his arms, tilting his head. "…I think so, the view is nice, the Heartless not so much!" He shook his head to get the image of colossal beings of Darkness shooting lasers the size of buildings at him.

Koji got Katsuki's attention and spoke to him in sign language, the explosive boy shrugged, "Yeah, you're right."

"Translation, please?" Denki asked for those who didn't know what the silent giant said.

Kyoka was the one that answered. "He said that after all that we saw we can't exactly argue, but really Green, space?" She directed the last part at Izuku, who shrugged helplessly.

"Wow, I can't believe you really got to space, what's it like?!" Ochaco, who had gone over the shock of the revelation of his friend's outer planetary adventures quickly flooded the boy with questions, space being one of her passions since she was a kid.

Mina, who was quiet until now only waiting for her chance to tease her friends, like a predator stalking her prey, grinned deviously, "Wow Chaco, go easy on Midori, you're almost on his face!"

The gravity girl noticed that in her excitement she got closer to Izuku, the two less than a palm apart. The instant reaction from the two was to blush furiously and distance themselves, not making eye contact.

"Heh, two embarrassed dorks for the price of one!" The pink girl cheered.

"Ha! Good one Racoon eyes!" Katsuki laughed while high-fiving Mina.

After that followed an embarrassing walk to the classroom where his friends couldn't stop laughing at the two unfortunate victims of their teasing.

Izuku sat on his chair and groaned. "What a way to begin the day."

"Remember kid, it can always get worse!" Nana snickered, but when she finished speaking with the nineth holder, the door opened and a glaring Aizawa came from it.

'You just had to say it!' Izuku only got an annoyingly innocent whistle as an answer. Sighing at the passenger on his head antics, Izuku got up and greeted his teacher. "Good morning Aizawa-sensei!"

"Any morning not spent sleeping is not a good one, but that's not important. I'm here to say that the fight isn't over." With his words, the whole room froze.

"The hell?!" Kaminari was the first to react, turning to Izuku he asked what was on all of the group's heads, "Didn't you say the security system would keep the baddies out?!"

Izuku was panicking a little. "I said it should! But it's still new and maybe something went wrong!" He turned to the teacher. "Please just tell me someone didn't mess with the settings, I don't want to be suddenly blown up again, the first time was bad enough!" The faded memories of fighting an invasion of Heartless only to be sent sky high by his own defense system were painful enough, he sure doesn't want a refresher.

Shota filed the conversation away and its implications on the ever growing mental box labeled 'Problem Child', he would address it one day, but this was not the day. Flaring his quirk to control the chaos the class was descending on, he followed his statement, "The Sport Festival is coming up."

For a second there was silence, then all hell broke loose. Shouts of excitement mixed with worried cries, but before things could get even more out of hand, Izuku spoke up.

"Guys! Calm down, I know you're all happy about it but Aizawa-sensei is getting annoyed and that's scary!" The students looked at the man, he was shooting a half lidded glare at them.

"Happy?! How can I be happy if the Festival will be a perfect trap for more villains to come after us!" Minoru raised a valid concern, but Izuku already had a counter that would put all their possible worries to rest.

"You're forgetting that the school has the new defense system, and even then, with a high profile event like that, where dozens of heroes attend, the security will be through the roof. I'm sure everything will be fine, and if not, then I'm here to take care of it!" His speech was successful in calming the room.

Shota had to give it to the kid, he knew how to use his words as much as his fists, if only every hero did the same. Taking the cue he gave the last piece of news. "Leave the job to the actual heroes until you graduate Midoriya, but yes the school will have a presence of four times more security personnel this year, and in case of any Heartless attack, you will be deployed alongside All Might to dispatch them." Shota wasn't pleased with the last part but the Principal said it was necessary, and they didn't have any other option so he begrudgingly accepted.

With everything covered they talked about the specifics of the Festival, it would happen two weeks from now, and the overall rules for it. The school gave the hero course students free rein to train for it, but every facility and teacher was available to help, if the student or students in question scheduled a time beforehand, as to prevent conflicts.

Shota nodded approvingly to himself, seeing how many of his class were already forming plans and groups to train for the event. The fact that most of them included a certain green haired boy wasn't lost on him, he saw how Midoriya took the position of leader in any group he was part of naturally and effortlessly, like if he had already done so before countless times.

The tired teacher let out an exasperated sigh, another thing for the 'Problem Child' box.

—

Kurogiri was starting to get worried, his ward had spent the whole morning on the bar sitted on a stool while glaring at the bottom of a glass he didn't bother to drink. His recent failure at the beginning had sent him in an enraged rampage, where more than one of the establishments furniture turned to dust, but now that the flames of anger died the young villain was quite depressed with his last endeavour.

The mist man was about to say something to try to lift the other man's spirits when a portal opened in the middle of the room, this not one of his doing, and from it the man in the black cloak emerged.

"Hey kiddo, how's it hanging?" The only answer he got was a halfhearted glare from Shigaraki. "That bad?"

"What do you want?"

The cloaked man sighed, "I'm going to do a favor for an old friend and use my teaching skills to help you a little, they're rusty so bear with me." He took a seat beside Shigaraki, taking a moment to decide how to better go about it, "So you made a plan, a good one too, followed it but things didn't work out in the end. It's not something you did but something you didn't do, another plan."

This got Shigaraki's attention. "You said my plan was good, why would I need another?!"

"Because kid, plans go wrong all the time! That's true for everyone, that's why you need another, and another if that one doesn't work out either. Let's see it this way, you know how people always say to 'don't focus on what ifs'? That's not true, the best way of learning from a mistake is to ask yourself 'what if' until you think of something that would work, then you question yourself on it until you find a way it won't, rise and repeat ad infinitum."

Shigaraki, unlike normally, listened to what the man said and considered his words, asking himself. "What if I had taken another Nomu with me, that green cheater was having trouble with one so another would have taken him out before All Might arrived."

The cloak wearing figure nodded, pleased, "Yes, but what if All Might was there all along, him and Izzy would have been able to handle two of your pets."

Shigaraki was silent for a minute, thinking on the possibilities, the man waited patiently for his conclusion, taking the temporary position as a teacher seriously, "I could have taken more troops with me, the Heartless are good cannon folder but some elites on my side would have make leading them and taking the Bosses out easier."

The figure clapped. "Bingo! If you do that every time you start to make a plan you'll be a lot more ready when they start to go wrong!" The man patted his shoulder, but Shigaraki still wasn't happy with it.

"It would be better if I was like Sensei, he didn't need to make counter plans, his ones never go wrong."

The cloaked man was silent for a second, but then he burst out in laughter, hitting the bar counter with a hand while the other held his stomach.

"What's so funny?!" Shigaraki, after recovering from the surprise of the sudden fit of laughter, asked enraged.

"Oh, kid I haven't laughed like that in ages!" The man said while taking deep breaths, "You think he didn't make the same mistakes you did? That he still doesn't make mistakes now? Well news flash, he and everyone do! Especially in the beginning, I still remember his first 'big operation'" He made air quotes, "Everything went downhill right off the bat, and I won't say anything incriminating for respect to a friend, buuuuut let's just say you should be glad your eyebrows didn't get burn off in your first failure." The mirt was almost palpable in his voice.

Shigaraki in turn was having a hard time believing the man's words, his Sensei really was just like him when he started? Or worse if the last jab to him was to be believed. If that was true then he didn't do so bad, and Sensei said it would be a learning experience, so maybe he was already expecting it, he wasn't sure if that was encouraging or not but the feeling of not disappointing his mentor with his failure was a relief.

The cloak wearing man got up, "Looks like I still got it in the end, even if teaching isn't exactly my cup of tea. Well kid keep trying and you'll see it will become easier with time, no castle was built in a day and no society will be brought down in one either." With his part said he opened a Dark Corridor and left the bar, and in it Shigaraki with much to think about.

—

Toshinori knew he shouldn't be eating in the school nursery, but after getting his stomach back, thanks to the kids, he couldn't stop himself from indulging a little. After a variety of tests from Shuzenji, to confirm what he already knew, the results are finally coming up.

"This is amazing! Toshinori I don't know where you found these children but they did what is nothing short of a miracle!" The old nurse barely believed her eyes while seeing the results on the screen of the computer, "Missing organs, cellular damage, scar tissue, everything gone like if it was never there to begin with!"

Toshinori laughed, "What can I say, Young Izuku doesn't cut corners, and Young Eri isn't any different!" Now it was time to prod the question he really wanted to ask while trying to avoid being beaten to death by a walking stick, what was easier said than done, "Now that I'm healed I don't have to worry about my time limit for classes, right?"

She gave him an unimpressed glare, "I know what you are trying to do, and while yes you won't be forcefully shrinking from now on, you will still burn through whatever power you have left, so while I know you want to go back to the streets, please Toshinori, save it for when your students, and your successor, really need you."

He wanted to protest, he really did, but Toshinori knew she was right. USJ would have gone different if he was there from the start, and while he now didn't have a daily limit, his time as a hero was still drawing to an end. He had to save whatever strength he could so he could be there for his students, especially since his successor had the shadows of his convoluted past back to haunt him, but if they wanted to claim his bright future they would have to get past him first. "You're right, the world has other heroes, and it will have even more when these kids get ready to protect it!"

Shuzenji chuckled, "Now you're talking like a teacher, took you long enough."

"Better late than never." His time as a hero may be reaching its end, but the time of his students is coming closer at each passing day, he couldn't wait to see the day they would be the ones that would be there to save the lives and hearts of all who need it, especially a green haired boy with a heart of gold.

—

"You sure that it's okay for me to copy your thing like that?" Denki asked Izuku.

Momo, Kyoka and him were the ones that got the class president help for the day after an intense tournament of rock-paper-scissors, which made the boy in question blush red like a strawberry all the while.

"Of course, and I'm not exactly the first to think of coating themself in lightning to fight."

"You aren't?" Kyoka was kinda amazed that someone could be crazy enough to do something like that.

"Nope, there's a whole way of using magic that is basically coating yourself in an element, and then throwing yourself at your enemy."

Momo tried to find a way to say it without sounding offensive, but the best she could come with was, "That is a weird way to go about it."

Izuku shrugged, "Yeah, but it's effective."

Denki too shrugged a second later, "Well, at least now I don't feel guilty of using it," He looked around, seeing they were in a corridor of UA he didn't recognize, "Now it's kinda late to ask, but where are we going?"

Kyoka sighed, "You forgot that we have to reserve a training ground first if we want to use it?" Her answer was an innocent whistle, "Figures."

"We're almost there and you only asked now?" Momo was another that poked at Denki carelessness, making the boy start to sweat.

"Izuku help!"

The boy in question patted his shoulder, "Hey, it's fine to get caught in a conversation with your friends and just go with the flow." His words earned a whispered thank you from the electric blonde, and chuckles from the girls.

Walking for another minute, the group turned the last corner to the teachers lounge, where they ended up stumbling, almost literally if Momo and Kyoka hadn't held Izuku and Denki, who were walking in the front, in a group of three girls. They were all in UA uniforms for the Hero Course, one had orange hair in a side ponytail and teal colored eyes that emanated this 'big sis' vibe, the second had a long mane of dark green hair, green eyes, and sharp teeth in an even sharper smile, the last one was a petite blonde with two horns on her head and blue eyes.

"Sorry about that." Izuku apologised for almost crashing on them.

The ponytailed ginger smiled, "No harm done, you're from 1-A right? We're from your sister class, 1-B. I'm glad to finally meet you properly."

Izuku tilted his head before snapping his fingers, "You're the class rep from 1-B right? Kendo Itsuka? I wanted to talk with you at the last meeting but Aizawa-sensei said that he would expel me if I 'wasted more time on a pointless meeting than strictly necessary'." Izuku's imitation of his teacher got a chuckle from everyone.

"He looks like someone that would say that. These are my friends, my second in command." Itsuka gestured to the green haired girl.

"Tokage Setsuna, nice to meet ya!" She gave a two finger salute.

The horned blonde jumped on to introduce herself before Itsuka could continue, "I'm Tsunotori Pony, it's nice to meet you too, sorry if my japanese is bad, I'm still trying to get used to it."

That made Izuku frown, "You shouldn't say that, you're doing really good." Izuku couldn't even perceive any problem with her speech.

In a second Pony was in his face, "You know English?!"

"What?" Was the only thing Izuku's mind could come up with, what was she talking about? He was just speaking normally.

"Hey Green," Kyoka patted his shoulder, gaining his attention, "You've been speaking English since she started to talk." She used her other hand to point at Pony.

Izuku was about to say something when his eyes unfocused, the boy falling silent, which concerned the 1-B girls, but his friends were nonplussed.

Denki turned to Momo, "Okay, this one was kinda random even for his standards."

Momo, after assuring the others Izuku was fine, said, "Well, it's a subject we haven't talked about yet, maybe that's why?"

"Can someone please explain why the guy just shut off?" Setsuna said, amused but still slightly concerned for the catatonic boy.

The three traded a glance, wordlessly debating what to do. Before they could reach a verdict, Izuku came back to the land of the living, "That explains so much!" He mumbled.

"You're okay?" Pony asked, worried she had done something wrong.

"Yup, I'm fine!" He pulled his notebook from the place he usually did, even if no one else knew where that was, and began noting his last findings.

"Anything new?" Denki still couldn't figure out how English was the trigger for whatever Izuku saw, but the boy's next words, though, gave him an answer.

"Yeah, my Keyblade has a universal translator!"

"Of course it does." Kyoka was already getting exasperated from all the things the weapon could do, a Swiss army knife didn't have as much stuff as it.

Izuku once more ignored his friend's comment and continued speaking, "That explains why I was speaking English to Pony even if I was just talking normally, and why English and Japanese classes always looked the same for me."

"Man, I'm sooooo jealous!" How Denki would like the help on his tests.

Itsuka was just lost with all that was happening, "It's that normal?"

"The crazy? Pretty much." Kyoka's callous comment got a laugh from Setsuna.

"I like them already!"

Momo, being the responsible one, got them moving again, "I'm sorry to cut this short but we still have to reserve a training ground."

Izuku perked up, "Oh, you're right! See you later Itsuka, Setsuna, Pony, Bye!" He then grabbed his friends and rushed to the teachers lounge. Izuku had promised to help all his friends with their training so he would take the chance as they were there and schedule everything.

Setsuna saw the boy almost carrying the others and sprinting down the hall and said again, "I really like them already!"

Pony nodded, "He was really friendly!"

Itsuka was the only one that seemed to notice something, "He called us by our first names."

Setsuna shrugged, "He seemed like the type of guy that would call everyone by their first names, he was doing that with the others."

"They are his friends." Itsuka rebutted.

"But we're his friends too, right?" Pony asked. The other girls had to admit they would like to think so because while brief and a tiny little weird, their course mates left quite the good first impression.

"Let's just hope Monoma don't start the stupid class war he want's." Setsuna rolled her eyes, imagining how their class troublemaker would try to sour the relationship between the two classes.

Barely they knew, friendship was inevitable.

—

"So what's the plan?" Denki asked while doing a few practice swings with the metal bat he still had from USJ, the open ground of the training ground leaving him with ample space for it, they got one of the open air ones, a clearing inside the school grounds.

At the distance Kyoka was training along with a Necho Cat how to best time her swings with her own weapon from the invasion so the sonic enhancement could do the maximum extra damage, Momo had one of Izuku's notebooks and was trying to create synthesize materials with her quirk, with mixed results, while the more physical and stable types, like Mythril, were possible in it's smaller variants, the elemental ones were giving her some trouble, if the frosty spots in her arm where she was trying to create a Frost Shard were any indication.

Izuku, now in his PE uniform like the others, was trying to formulate the best explanation, "Well, you already are encasing your weapon in your quirk, what's a start, now you have to try doing it with your body too. The lightning will probably make you faster, if not a little stronger, while giving you an extra layer of protection, as people will try to stay away from you."

Denki wasn't so sure that was a good idea, "But won't that just make me fry my brain? My quirk's drawback would leave me looking like an idiot if I use it like that, it isn't like yours where you can just go crazy with it."

Izuku laughed, "And who said my quirk also isn't like that? If I use more than my body can handle I would explode!" His words made everyone in the clearing stop.

"Damn Broccoli Boy, is everything about you extreme like that?"

Izuku shrugged at Kyoka's remark, "Pretty much, but the point is, you don't have to worry about using everything you have, just everything you can handle!"

Denki slowly started to nod, "Yeah, right! I can do it… how do I do it?" His pep talk was cut short as he now remembered the fact he hadn't the slightest clue of what to do.

"It's simple, just let your quirk flow through your body, little by little, and amp up the power until you feel it's your limit. Be careful though, if it starts to hurt then just let it go and try again from the beginning."

"Okay, let's do it!" With a last deep breath, Denki started to use his quirk, just letting it flow freely unlike normally where he forced it to exit his body. Little by little, yellow lightning arcs started to encase him, growing as he let more energy out. He was almost getting the feeling for it when a sharp pain on his arm made him lose concentration, causing him to to stop the flow and pull a sharp breath to his teeth, "Ouch."

"Hey that was a good first try, and now you know when you have to stop."

Denki sent a grateful nod to Izuku for his words, "Yeah, okay one more time!" He closed his eyes and repeated the process, when he felt he was reaching the same point of his first try he stopped feeding the current and tried to maintain it. Slowly opening his eyes, Denki was greeted by the sight of his body cloaked in electricity.

Izuku cheered, "Haha, good one Denki! Can you move?"

The blonde smirked, "Only one way to find out!" He gripped his bat tightly and dashed at Izuku, faster than ever before.

"That's the spirit!" Izuku responded in kind, summoning his Keyblade and One For All, he met Denki halfway while cloaked in green lightning.

Kyoka, who was taking a break after her intense training (who knew such a cute cat could be such a slave driver?), snorted and said to Momo, "Now there's two of them."

The girl giggled behind her hand, "Well you know the saying, birds of a feather."

"Looks like it applies to boys with lightning." Her statement was punctuated by a fierce clash of metal and thunder. Kyoka was about to make a snarky remark when her feline teacher for the day came over and started to make the sound Dream Eaters did, her mind simply couldn't process exactly what it was but she knew what was said all the same, "Okay okay, I'm going, sheesh!"

Momo smiled seeing her friend being corralled by the Spirit and setting on the Necho Cat's rhythm, both entering a spar that was a fight as much as it was a dance. Getting back to the notebook and the gold mine held within its pages, she immersed herself in the countless new options every line of words opened for her.

—

"Urg!" Denki groaned, his head on his desk, "Everything hurts!"

It was the last few minutes before the bell rang, all students were already packing their things to go home. Izuku saw the state his friend was in and fished one of the Potions he had on his bag, "Here, this will make you feel better."

Denki turned his head enough to glance at the vial with one eye, "What's that?"

"A Potion!" Izuku said it like it was obvious.

Denki just gave him a flat stare, then grabbed the vial, "You know what? Yeah, why not." He opened the cork and downed the concoction in one go, his body then gave a faint green glow, most of the pain fading, leaving only a small ache instead of the constant feeling of pulling all his muscles and then some.

The class was staring at the scene, both curious and a little amused. Denki gave Izuku back the flask and then held his shoulders, "I want twenty of those." He spoke with a dead serious expression.

"Kid please tell me this wasn't an elaborate plot to start selling Potions to your friends." Nana's voice sounded in Izuku's head, half joking but still rather concerned.

'Hadn't heard from you for a while,' Izuku replied to Nana while also explaining to Denki his current supply was rather limited but he would think about it when he had a good stock, 'Why haven't you popped up to talk?'

"Because me and the others are investigating something on our side, I won't say what so you don't get your hopes up but if we're right then you'll have some aces up your sleeve." He could almost hear her smile, even if she said to not have his hopes up Nana sure seemed excited with whatever they were doing.

'Okay, but be careful with what you do with my heart.' Izuku said concerned.

"Relax kid, we're professionals!" Just when she ended speaking a crashing noise sounded inside Izuku's mind, "Oi! Watch what you're doing!" An apologetic "Sorry!" Came from a male voice.

'Should I be worried?' Izuku deadpanned.

"Nah, it wasn't anything important… I hope."

The bell finally sounded, dismissing the students for the day. Katsuki was the first to go for the door, already bored out of his mind, but when he opened it he was greeted with quite the strange sight, "Hey Deku, are you friends with the whole school?"

"Not yet, why?" The boy said while grabbing his backpack and going for the door.

"Because there's a whole mob at our door!" The blonde said, a tick mark in his forehead.

Izuku reached Katsuki's side and saw that he was right, students from all courses were piling in front of his class. Izuku, being himself, asked with a kind smile, "Can I help you all with something?"

An arrogant voice sounded from somewhere in the crowd, "Yes, you can, you of 1-A can help us by giving up of the Sports Festival!"

They turned to the source of the voice and saw a blonde boy with a cruel smirk, "Who's this asshole?" Katsuki asked, more bored than anything.

"Dunno, but he doesn't seem nice."

The boy started to laugh, the whole crowd watching the exchange, but everyone seemed weirded out by him to say the least, "My my, you're quite the vulgar one! Is everyone in your class as crass as you? This just proves that we on 1-B are the superior one-" His rant was cut by a chop to the neck, causing the blonde to lose consciousness.

"Monoma! I told you to not create trouble with the other classes!" Itsuka, who was the one that knocked the now named Monoma out and was holding his limp body by his collar, said annoyed. Turning to Izuku and Katsuki she waved, "Hey guys, sorry for him, I'll have a talk with him later but if he keeps causing trouble let me know."

"Sure! Thanks Itsuka!" Izuku said while enthusiastically waving back.

"And he is already friends with the other classes, I really should have gone for that bet!" Katsuki knew no one on his class would be stupid to bet against him now. He was already fed up with the situation and about to carve his way on the sea of people ahead of him when another voice sounded from it.

"You from the Hero Course are all a real piece of work, huh?" Katsuki and Izuku turned and saw a boy that seemed in dire need of a good night of sleep. He had a mess of purple hair, eyes full of bags under them and of the same color as his hair, "You know, you should be careful in the Sports Festival, not only will you have to compete with the other heroes in training, but we from the General Education as well."

Katsuki knew what the kid was trying to do, and he was internally laughing his ass off, because Eye Bags was about to face Deku's friendliness, how he wished for some popcorn to go with the show. Behind him he could see the others too watching and most reaching the same conclusion as him.

"Yeah I know, it's gonna be a lot of fun!" Izuku said with a smile, the prospect of spending the whole day having fun with his friends was good by itself, but being part of the UA Sports Festival was a life changing event.

"Fun? Maybe for you, but for us it's a chance to get in the Hero Course, if we from Gen Ed do better than you than we can get one of your spots," The sleep deprived boy said, his voice gaining a new intensity, "My name is Shinso Hitoshi, and consider this my declaration of war!"

Izuku was nonplussed by it, "I hope you can get in Hitoshi! Do your best and I'm sure you can do it!" His words made the other boy look at him weird, and his friends behind him snicker for some reason.

"I'm saying that I'll pull the rug under your feet and you're rooting for me?" Hitoshi really was blindsided by that, he was expecting anger, maybe a dismissal, not this.

"Cheering for your friends is normal, and you don't need to 'pull the rug under my feet'," Izuku made air quotes, "While the initial class is limited to twenty students, it can increase if people from other courses join, All Might graduated from a class with twenty three students!"

Katsuki suddenly had a realization, "Wait a second, you interrogated All Might on all the fanboy things you wanted to know but couldn't find, right?" He asked smugly, knowing he had got Deku.

Izuku found a point in the distance really interesting all of a sudden, the fact it was away from his friend's smirk was just a happy coincidence, "I don't have to answer that."

Hitoshi though didn't know what to do with this new information, the green haired boy calling him a friend or by his first name barrely registering, his speech becoming useless like his declaration of war, "Huh, this wasn't what I was expecting when I got here, but okay I think I'll see you when I get on the hero department."

"Can't wait to see you here too! And that's the same to you guys!" Izuku said the last part to the other people that we're watching all the drama unfold, "If you also want to be heroes then do your best!" He raised his fist in the air, gaining some cheers from the crowd.

"He doesn't even realize he's hyping our competition right?" Hanta asked Eijiro, who answered with a sharp grin.

"Probably, but it's super manly! I'm fired up too!"

After that everyone started to disperse, the students making their way home. Izuku was with his group walking down the hallways, "That was weird, but at least we won't have any more surprise stops." At his words everyone deadpanned at him, the boy just tempted fate and all knew it would respond in kind.

True enough, from a corner a blur appeared, "I AM HERE!"

Izuku glanced from his mentor to the others, "Okay I realized what I did after I said it," He scratched his head awkwardly, turning to All Might he tried to recover from his blunder, "Hey All Might, need something?"

Toshinori saw how his students were laughing at his successor and his weak attempt to get past it and decided to go along with the boy, "YES, I NEED YOU TO COME WITH ME YOUNG IZUKU! AIZAWA BROUGHT A CONCERN OF HIS ABOUT THE NEW SECURITY SYSTEM TO THE PRINCIPAL, AND HE REQUESTED THAT I SCORTED YOU TO HIS OFFICE."

"Oh, sure! You can go ahead guys."

"EXCELLENT, NOW FOLLOW ME!" and with that All Might blurred back into movement, speeding down the hall from where he came. Izuku turned to his friends and shrugged before activating Full Cowling and dashing after the hero.

"Wow, Deku can't get a break." Ochaco sighed.

"Yeah, but was I the only one that noticed him and All Might seemed kinda close?" Mina asked the others.

"He did call Izuku by his first name." Denki pointed.

"Man Izubro can really make friends with everyone, that's so manly!"

They all started to joke about Izuku ability to make friends, not noticing that behind them a teen with bicollored hair was watching, the scene he just witnessed making his draw his own conclusions about the class president.

—

After a quick meeting with the principal about what he had said earlier that day about what could happen if someone messed with the settings of the system, and coming up with some countermeasures just to be safe, Izuku was walking back with All Might, back in his deflated form.

"You know you don't need to give me a ride back"

Toshinori shook his head, "Maybe, but I want to."

Izuku hummed, "Okay, then you can stay over for dinner!"

The man spluttered, "Wha-,Young Izuku you don't need to-"

"Maybe, but I want to!" He said with a smug smile.

Toshinori laughed, knowing when he was defeated, "Using an old man's words against him!"

"You're not old Master Toshinori!"

Dropping the usual subject of their banter, the hero jumped in one that was more relevant, "The Sports Festival is coming up, I know it's a lot of pressure but also a golden opportunity," The boy was giving him his full attention, "With it you can say to the whole wide world, 'I am here!'."

Izuku hummed in thought, there was really no better way to make a mark in the world, a promise, that he would be a great hero, however, "I don't think that's really the best way to go about it." Now it was the man that was focused on Izuku, the key bearer tried to but his feelings on the matters into words, "This is a festival, it's different from a normal one and have a lot more going on with it, but the main point is that it should be something for we all to have fun, a day to be kids instead of heroes, because in the future we maybe won't have the chance to."

Toshinori sure was surprised with the boy's take on the matter, but he had to admit he was right, how many days his students still had to be the children they were? How long until they had to start sacrificing pieces of their normal lives to be ready to help others when they needed, a date cancelled by a patrol, a party with the family interrupted by an emergency, hanging out with friends becoming joint operations.

"Huh, and I was supposed to be the wise one, how can I do it when you remind me time and time again of the things that really matter." Toshinori chuckled, yes Izuku would have to say to the world 'I am here' one day but there was no rush, they could enjoy the journey and stop to smell the roses from time to time, one such rose being a small dinner with his successor's family.

Another chapter is done, and with it some things that will appear in the near future are starting, let's see if someone can guess what.

As always, I made this and keeperofhounds made this good, because he's awesome.

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