"What in the hell is going on, Koichi?!"
Wincing at the volume, the boy clapped his hands over his ears.
"I was minding my own business, getting ready for my show, when something exploded by you two numbskulls," Pop went on, audibly zipping up her costume behind what remained of the curtain. "Then some random girl shoves her way into my changing room—"
"More like a changin' corner, kid," Koichi's master interjected.
"—and has the audacity to cover my mouth when I try to yell at her!"
Taking a deep breath before continuing, the girl started shoving her school uniform into her bag now that she was dressed.
"Then, to top it off, Hawks shows up on your doorstep and I didn't even get to see him!" she exclaimed. "I can't believe I missed out on seeing such a hunk in person! He's one of the best-looking guys in the hero business, and I missed him! On top of—!"
Stepping out from behind the curtain, the girl paused mid-sentence to stare.
"...What are you doing…?"
Koichi was standing by the stove, clearly not paying attention to her rant.
"Making tea…?" he replied quizzically.
Pop blinked in astonishment, watching as the slightly older student took the kettle off the stove and collected cups from his pantry.
"Why are you making tea…?"
"Because we have a guest…? She looked like she needed something to calm down, so…" the boy explained, gesturing at…
The blue-haired girl that was floating in circles in the middle of the room, legs held to her chest as she audibly muttered crazily, eyes dull to the world from the sheer force of her focus. Nothing she said was understandable, all melding together into an indistinguishable mess of words that flowed continuously from her like a river.
"...Oh."
Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows—
After all the experience she'd gained in the last few months, Izuku liked to think she was far less timid than she used to be. She'd faced dangerous situations multiple times now and saved about as many people as the criminals she stopped. There were even a few legitimate villains among the bad guys she'd taken down!
Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows—
….But all of that fell apart when confronted by the fact that one of the top ten heroes knew her secret; knew that she was using the power she'd gained from the watch to pursue wildly illegal activities. Regardless of morality or her intentions, if Hawks decided to report her, she was done. Maybe, maybe, if she was lucky she could abuse her age to avoid jail time… but that might not even be the boon it sounded like.
Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-Heknows—
Vigilantism would be a black mark on her record that she could never escape. There would be no chance of getting a decent job anywhere and there was no way she would get into a reputable college. The best she could hope for would be the career of a life-long minimum wage worker, and even that wasn't guaranteed. Worse still, it would mean the end of her dream…
Heknows-Heknows-Heknows-He—
'Izuku!' Ryoko shouted.
Startled out of her panic, the temporary girl froze in place.
...Did you actually just use my name…?
'You weren't listening when I was yelling at you, so…' the spirit trailed off.
R-right… Sorry…
'Don't worry about it, little sis!' Ryoko exclaimed cheerily.
It was at that moment that Izuku realized she was floating about in the middle of a stranger's abode.
Glancing around, she noticed that it was a surprisingly large place despite being a studio apartment. There was more than enough room for multiple people to move around comfortably, though it would be a stretch to say any more than two could live there easily. Sitting against the wall of the place, eyes closed in… meditation…? There was a man who was big and burly, with a startling scar across his face. To his side was a long coat, folded neatly in a way that seemed at odds with his gruff appearance.
In the kitchen was a skinny guy, the kind that was probably out of his teens but still looked like a highschool student because of his baby face. He had a college t-shirt on along with faded jeans and was making tea.
Lastly was—
"Hey, you!"
Izuku flinched backward, startled by the mask-wearing girl that was suddenly inches away from her face.
"You're finally awake!" she went on, sounding… annoyed… "Or, well, not mumbling like you belong in an insane asylum, at least…"
Blinking, Izuku was hit with a startling sense of familiarity.
"Aren't you… Pop Step…?"
The pink-haired girl's face lit up like a Christmas tree, a bright grin gracing her lips as she preened at the attention.
"You've heard of me?!" she squealed.
"Uh… Yeah? I heard about your concerts when I was looking into Naruhata," Izuku confirmed.
"Eeeeeeee!" the girl, again, squealed, throwing her arms around Izuku and giving her an incredibly awkward hug, given that the temporary blue-haired girl was almost a meter off the ground.
Izuku glanced around at the other strangers, looking for assistance with getting Pop to let her go. The older man simply raised an eyebrow, giving off the distinct air of 'not my problem,' while the other guy gave a sympathetic but very unhelpful shrug from the kitchen. After a few awkward moments, Izuku thought to lower herself to the ground, ending the hug as a result.
"Have you been to any of my concerts?" the girl went on excitedly.
Izuku shook her head, opening her mouth to respond—
"Then you have to come with me today! I'm having one in a little bit, so you can have front row—" the girl cut herself off as she suddenly started staring at Izuku contemplatively. A glimmer of interest appeared in her eyes, sending a nervous shiver down the temporary girl's spine. "Actually… Can you sing or dance at all? You can float, and you're dressed the part, so you could—"
"No, sorry, I'm terrible at singing!" Izuku rattled off quickly.
There was no way she was going to let herself get involved in more publicity after what just happened… and she had never been in front of a crowd like that. It was just an absolutely terrible idea. It simply could not go well.
'Aw…' Ryoko mumbled with clear disappointment.
"Hm… That's a shame…" Pop commented absentmindedly, though she was still clearly considering the idea.
"Here," the younger of the two men said suddenly, holding out the cup of tea he had made.
"Oh, you didn't need to—" Izuku began.
"It's the least I could do," her host interrupted, rubbing the back of his head as he gave a sheepish grin. "I was hoping it would help out with your…"
The young man trailed off into an awkward silence, still offering the tea.
Izuku grabbed the mug politely, not bothering to protest further even if she still felt a bit bad that the boy had gone out of his way like he had. With only a small amount of hesitation, she lifted the cup to her lips and began to—
"So, you're a vigilante, brat?" the older man asked suddenly.
—spew all the tea she'd just sipped at the boy in front of her, coating his face in the hot liquid.
"H-h-h-h-how d-d-did you…?" she stumbled, staring at the older man in horror.
Smirking, the man leaned back against the wall of the apartment and put his hands behind his head in a relaxed manner.
"I didn't," he stated. "You just confirmed it."
…Crap.
"I just made a guess based on how you reacted to Hawks' little 'message,' the man went on.
After a moment, he added a muttered 'uppity little shit' under his breath. "So, why'd ya put on the spandex as a civilian, kid? Most people wouldn't dare to do it without a license."
Izuku stared in confusion at the man.
"...You're not going to yell at me or call the police?" she asked.
"Depends on how you answer," he responded honestly.
"Hold on—" Pop tried to interrupt.
"Keep your trap shut, girl," the man said, cutting her off. Turning to address the younger man—who was toweling himself off from the tea—he continued. "Koichi, distract your girlfriend for a minute. This is important."
"G-g-girlfriend…?!" Pop exclaimed, red-faced as she refused to look at the boy. "I'm not his girlfriend! I wouldn't touch this creep with a ten foot pole!"
The afore-mentioned 'creep' visibly wilted at the statement.
"Whatever, just don't interrupt," the older man ordered before turning back to Izuku. "Now, answer my question, brat."
"I…" Izuku trailed off.
She sat there wordlessly for a few moments, unsure what to say, until…
What am I doing? There's no reason to hesitate!
Shaking her head quickly to clear her thoughts, Izuku looked the man straight in the eyes and spoke firmly. Her words carried the distinct weight of certainty, absent of any regrets or reluctance. This was her path, and there was no going back now that she had made her decision.
"I want to make people smile," she declared simply.
"You could—" the man began immediately, clearly trying to relay her to a different choice.
"Not like an actor, or a comedian, or anything like that…" she cut him off quickly.
He stopped speaking, raising an eyebrow at her.
"...Have you ever seen someone's face when they're saved from a villain, or a disaster, or just a normal criminal…?" Izuku asked, mostly rhetorically.
The man's expression solidified into something comparable to stone, his gaze taking on a piercing affect as he listened attentively.
"That's what I want," the temporary girl explained. "I want to save people. To keep them safe from the bad guys and make them feel like everything's gonna be okay. I'm not doing this because I want to get attention, or because I have some kinda comic book vendetta against anyone…"
Izuku paused, letting out a breath as a gentle grin came to her face.
"...I just want to make people smile."
A startled gasp caught everyone's attention, drawing their eyes to Koichi. The boy had put away his towel, and was staring at Izuku with wide eyes. After a moment, he seemed to realize the attention he'd garnered and looked away, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"Sorry," he chuckled awkwardly. "I didn't mean to interrupt… It's just…"
He looked back at Izuku.
"With the way you were smiling, you reminded me of All Might."
The blue-haired girl froze in place as the boy went on.
"He's my favorite hero, and kinda my inspiration, so I was caught off guard to see someone smiling just like—" he continued before suddenly cutting himself off with wide eyes.
Izuku's thoughts were indistinct but dark, that man's words repeating in her head endlessly as she—
"Woah, you're bleeding!" Pop interjected. "Koichi, get the first aid kit!"
"...What're you…?" Izuku began, startled out of her introspection. "...Oh"
She finally noticed how tight her hands were clenched, nails digging deep into her skin like claws. Honestly, it was impressive she managed to draw blood without realizing, and a testament to Ryoko's oddness that such a thing could happen.
"Crap, that looks really bad," Koichi declared.
It was. The wound was deep enough that it would need stitches…
…If she was normal, anyway.
"Oh, er, don't worry about it," Izuku stated. "I'm fine…"
Relaxing her fists, Izuku felt Ryoko's regenerative ability kick in almost immediately. The orange energy wafted from her injuries, replacing the flesh with ease.
"...Huh. That's convenient," Koichi muttered.
Yeah, it really is. Thanks, Ryoko.
The girl didn't say anything, but Izuku got the distinct impression that she was preening from the praise.
"So…" Izuku trailed off, turning back to the older man.
"What?" he asked blankly.
"Are you going to…? Er…" the blue-haired girl trailed off again, the awkwardness increasing with repetition.
"Call the cops on you?" the man asked leadingly, a small flip phone already present in his hand.
Izuku's eyes widened a bit at that, having not noticed the man pull the item out. His thumb traced the edge of the phone, flicking at the seam idly as the man visibly pondered whether to open the device or not.
For a moment, the temporary girl considered lunging for the phone, her confidence waning in the face of potential consequences…
"Nah."
Izuku let out a sigh of relief, actually letting her head fall forward a bit with the sound. Her wild hair drooped a bit from the action, sending her bangs into her eyes, but she was too relieved to care.
"I'd be a hypocrite if I turned you in, given I'm a vigilante myself," the man went on.
…What.
Blinking repeatedly in surprise, the girl recoiled a bit and gawked at the man. Her eyes darted to the man's coat as she connected the dots, comparing the folded up accessory and the man's bulky build to the clip she'd seen recently.
"You're the Naruhata Vigilante?!"
Hawks flew away from the building after spending several minutes listening to the conversation within. He stuck around after they thought he'd left, leaving a feather in the crack beneath the door so he could listen in.
His incredible speed rendered him nothing more than a blur to people with well-trained vision and a gust of air to everyone else. The man made a bee-line to one of the many individual feathers he'd left floating inconspicuously around the city, arriving just in time to stop an assault in progress.
"Gah!" The criminal gasped as his back slammed into the floor, Hawks' feet planted firmly in his gut, before several feathers pinned him in place against the concrete.
The almost-victim began to speak, but Hawks was already gone, speeding off to the next crime his feathers had detected. Spending a few minutes with Midoriya had lost him some time, unfortunately, but the local heroes had picked up the slack. Then again, the fact he was doing this at all was already unusual. Heroes of his caliber didn't bother with street thugs normally, choosing to let the police and lesser-known heroes handle them, but he was different.
He wanted heroes to be able to enjoy a little boredom, after all…
"Haah…" the man sighed, moments after taking out a third criminal—an E-rank villain, technically, but he didn't really see much of a difference anymore.
I knew that kid was gonna be trouble…
Midoriya Izuku wasn't the first teenager with a hero complex, and he wouldn't be the last. What set him apart, though, was his quirk.
Most people who tried their hands at vigilantism did it because they didn't have a good enough quirk or a good enough brain to make do with the quirk they did have. People that did have the smarts without a good quirk went on to be quite successful, even if their more specialized abilities usually kept them from the top. Those like Ragdoll, Eraserhead, and Sir Nighteye were all excellent examples of that.
Because the people who tried to be vigilantes were almost always washouts, they weren't really capable of being anything other than a nuisance. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said about Midoriya Izuku. From what Hawks had seen of the kid's psych profile—being an agent for the HPSC had perks, and being able to ignore a psychologist's doctor/patient confidentiality was one of them—he was a textbook case of insecurity and hero worship… and was on the road to being pathologically obsessed with heroism in general.
And that was from a writeup made when he visited a psychiatrist at twelve. Now that he was fifteen, the problem had almost certainly gotten worse.
That alone wasn't what made him unusual, though. If the issue was that simple, he would have been flagged as someone to keep an eye on and left at that. No, the issue was that the kid was decently smart and had gotten an unprecedented quirk that gave him theoretically infinite potential.
Having also read the kid's quirk assessment documentation, Hawks wasn't going to accept the quirk doctor's conservative assumptions at face value. The kid had appeared to be limited to two forms at the time of his appointment, yet had been involved in a now hushed up incident at a construction site that proved he'd gained a third.
One form had energy manipulation that allowed intangibility, flight, laser-swords, and some form of self-healing if what Hawks had overhead a few minutes prior was accurate; the second was able to destroy things down to the atomic level without causing an explosion that took out the entirety of Musutafu; and the third was able to temporarily disable quirks with a touch.
Honestly, it was kind of unfair how powerful and multifaceted the kid's quirk was… and he could theoretically keep acquiring new forms for the rest of his life.
The only thing that kept him from being a flat out threat to society was that he had an incredibly idealistic view of the world and was just starting off with his overpowered quirk. In a few years he could easily be a problem, but right now it would be incredibly simple for the HPSC to pick him off the streets and indoctrinate him with some of the more… unpleasant methods they had available to them.
…Yet they hadn't… and that was what really worried Hawks.
His personal assessment of the kid was that he was incredibly unlikely to be a threat to the public, though the fact that he was trying to be a vigilante was going to make him butt heads with the commission eventually given his potential for success. Frankly, he wouldn't have cared about that if he didn't know how it would end for the teen…
It would have been fun to see the suits get some mud in their faces for once. Just because the commision was necessary didn't mean he had to like them.
…Unfortunately, he did know how it would end for the teen if he carried on with his current methods. The fact that the HPSC hadn't nabbed him already meant they were up to something, and though it would probably be something that improved society somehow, it definitely wouldn't be kind to the kid.
In the end though, Hawks had done what he could. Either Midoriya would listen to his advice or he wouldn't. He wouldn't draw attention to the boy and he wouldn't report his new career path, but that would be the limit of his assistance. In the end, it was up to Midoriya what direction his life went.
Besides, if the kid wanted to be a hero that badly… It would be kind of hypocritical to stand in his way, wouldn't it?
"You've heard of me?" the man asked.
Izuku blinked, stumbling for the words to respond.
"W-well, er… you're kind of the reason I'm in this town…?"
Now it was his turn to blink in surprise.
"Seriously? Why the hell would you be lookin' for me?"
"I… Um…" Izuku trailed off.
It seemed… kind of silly, really, to think that a bulky and muscular man like this wasn't able to take care of himself…
"I-wanted-to-make-sure-you-weren't-going-to-get-yourself-hurt-!" she rattled off quickly.
Silence filled the room for a few moments, until…
"Pff-a-ha-ha-ha!" Pop Step laughed.
Koichi joined in after a moment, and—
"Bwahahahaha!" the Vigilante chuckled.
Izuku's cheeks flushed red and she looked at the floor, working to maintain her composure.
"Phew!" the man exclaimed, wiping away a tear of laughter. "I haven't had a laugh that good in a while. Good one, kid."
Izuku kept staring at the floor.
"...You were serious…?" he asked.
The temporary girl nodded sheepishly.
"I take it you think he's capable, then?" Pop teased.
"Well, to be honest… the kid may have a point," the man said, his tone surprisingly serious. "Just 'cause I'm as wide as three of her doesn't mean I'm tough enough to go toe-to-toe with Villains. Quirks can make a really big difference in a fight…"
A frightening grin spread across his rough face as he stood up and cracked his knuckles.
"So, how about a spar, kid?" he asked. "I'm sure I can satisfy your curiosity."
"Uh…" Izuku trailed off, caught off guard by the proposition. "Sure…?"
"Great!" The man exclaimed. "Let's take this outside. We'll have more room there."
…
'He looks b-o-r-i-n-g…' Ryoko complained.
Izuku watched as the Vigilante slipped his coat over his shoulders and wrapped a bandana around the top of his head and eyes.
What do you mean…?
The man sent a toothy grin at the temporary girl from his current position on the other side of the rooftop. Koichi and Pop were standing near the edge of the building, resting against the waist-high wall that extended as a protective barrier. Well, Pop was leaning against it. Koichi was standing a bit away and nervously glancing over the edge every few seconds.
'He's the planning type,' the girl explained. 'They make you out-think them to win, and it's so boring!'
…Are you sure…? He seems a bit too… rough for that.
'Mark my words, he's—'
"You ready, kid?"
Startled out of her conversation, Izuku immediately went through a mental checklist of her options, considering the different angles she could take with this fight.
Should I stay at a distance and use Starbursts? Approach and use the Starsaber…? I'd need to tone both of those down so I don't maim him, though. Ryoko isn't really a fist fighter, so that's out…
"Kid, I swear, if you start mumbling again…"
Hmm… I guess it depends on what his quirk is…
"Kid!"
Blinking, Izuku glanced up at the man.
"Oh, sorry…" she said with a sheepish wince. "I'm ready."
"Good," the Vigilante nodded. Then, he turned to Koichi. "Koichi!"
"Huh?" the boy asked, startled out of his repeated roof-edge glances
"Pay attention to this. You might learn something."
The boy nodded eagerly, his eyes gleaming with focus as he put a hand on his chin and leaned forward with a determined expression.
"Alright… Let's get on with it then," the Vigilante declared, smacking one of his fists into the palm of the other.
The sound of his voice faded, carried away by the wind as the two opponents stared each other down. Both were waiting to see if the other would make the first move, analyzing each other's posture so as to predict when—
The Naruhata Vigilante charged forward, fist reared back in preparation for an obvious haymaker.
Izuku's right hand clenched into a fist, two pillars forming from either side of her fist to create her Starsaber's blade and extended hilt. She took great care to reduce the heat of the plasma, making certain that it was more akin to a blunt instrument than a literal laser sword.
By the time the blade was formed, the man was upon her.
The temporary girl ducked underneath the incoming strike, stepping inward and lashing out with her beam—
A choked gasp echoed from her mouth as the man's other fist—the one he hadn't reared back—smashed into her side, knocking her away a few meters and sending her tumbling to the floor. Because of the minimal windup, the blow wasn't enough to damage Ryoko's body, but it certainly was enough to send her flying.
It was a trick!
She reclaimed control of her momentum and was on her feet in an instant, charging at the man. With a thought and a gesture from her free hand, Izuku followed the natural flow of energy in her borrowed form and flung a few small blasts at the man's feet. Her aim was to knock him off balance, and failing that, distract him enough to grant her an opening.
"Holy shi—!"
It was working!
With a grin, Izuku closed the remaining distance and swung with her beam sword, smacking him in the ribs and getting him in the side of his jaw with the backswing.
Spittle flew from his mouth, but besides a grunt of pain it didn't seem to affect him all that much. It seemed that she held back too much so she could avoid hurting—
Izuku saw his arm blurring towards her chin—he'd used his backward momentum from her strikes to go for an uppercut—and immediately her Starsaber winked out of existence. A few heart pounding milliseconds later, she felt herself go intangible. Just in time, too, since the tingly feeling of solid matter passing through her body spread through her entire head as his fist failed to connect with anything. As a consequence, her vision went black as well—his arm obscuring her line of sight—and she felt something pass through her gut too.
He'd probably gone for a follow up.
The instant the man was no longer occupying the same space as her, Izuku returned to tangibility, her saber winking back into existence a few moments later as she was forced to block another punch of his with the hilt of her blade. It was strong enough that she had to brace the weapon with her free hand, sending her skidding back a little bit just because of the difference in size.
Is he going to use his quirk…?
The Vigilante had yet to do anything that couldn't be explained by his bulky build and some boxing training… And it was making Izuku very suspicious.
There's got to be a trap here… He's setting me up for something.
'Ooh, try this!' Ryoko declared.
An image popped into Izuku's mind, displaying exactly what the girl was talking about… After a moment, the temporary girl's grin widened a bit.
Hopping back and raising her blade above her head in a two handed grip, Izuku started channeling more and more energy into it, making it glow brighter and brighter with every passing second. The area just above her hand's grip seemed to radiate outward like a star as she prepared the strike.
Her opponent didn't take the obvious charge-up lying down, rushing in to close the distance. It didn't matter, Izuku realized happily. He wasn't going to make it in time.
The blue-haired girl's arms tilted forward, about to unleash the blow—
A baseball rocketed towards Izuku's face at blinding speeds and she just reacted. The Starsaber winked out of existence as she went intangible, losing all of the charged up energy in the process.
Before she could return to tangibility, however, the man was upon her. His fist shot forward, sliding into her gut and… staying there. Standing straight, the Vigilante visibly relaxed and kept his arm out.
"Game set, match," he declared gruffly. "You can't turn back while colliding with somethin', can you?"
Izuku's eyes widened as she opened her mouth to say something… then she realized something.
I can do a partial activation!
Mentally, she tried to redirect the flow of energy in her body with that exact purpose in mind. If she could just turn her arm back, she could shove his out of her gut!
…Crap.
It wasn't working.
Much like when she tried to regain control of her levitation, she simply didn't have the fine control required to modify how the ability was used after flipping the switch on to activate it. Not yet, anyway…
"I'll take your silence as confirmation, then," the man stated.
Izuku nodded glumly.
The Vigilante stepped away, removing his fist and allowing Izuku to return to the realm of the physical. Turning to Koichi, he let out a grunt and gestured at him.
"So, what did she do wrong?" he asked.
"Umm… I have no idea… I suck at fighting, Master. That's kind of why I want you to train me, remember?" the boy responded.
"Tch. How about this, then?" he asked, turning back to Izuku. "What's the biggest difference between you and I, kid?"
My first assumption is that he's talking about the size difference, but that's too obvious, so it has to be a trick question. No, what could he mean, if not—
"Bzzt! You took too long," he declared. "The answer is… information."
Izuku tilted her head to the side in confusion, a gesture mirrored by Koichi and Pop.
"I already knew two things you could do with that ridiculous quirk of yours before the fight even started, but you knew jack about me," the man went on. "I spent the first bit of the spar feeling you out, figuring out how your intangibility worked so I could find a way to take you down, whereas you…"
"...Had no idea what to do besides taking you out with brute force…" Izuku finished.
"Exactly," the Vigilante nodded.
"That's not fair, though!" Pop interjected.
"Life isn't fair," Izuku stated instantly. "Just because he had an advantage at the start doesn't mean I couldn't have found a better way to win."
"Hah, you do get it!" The Vigilante laughed before glancing at Pop. "Besides, if she had played to her strengths she could have mopped the floor with me, brat."
"Really…?" Izuku trailed off in surprise. "You didn't even use your quirk and you won!"
"Meh, my quirk's not something I can use for fights, so it doesn't factor in. All you needed to do was float out of my reach and overwhelm me with those blasts of yours until you were ready to swoop down and finish me with that sword. Not much I could've done to counter that without preparing some gear ahead of time."
Izuku blinked in astonishment.
"...Oh."
The man laughed.
"Don't worry about it kid. You've got a good quirk and a good head on your shoulders," he stated. "You just need a bit of experience to match and you'll be fine."
Izuku beamed at the man.
Her visit to Naruhata hadn't gone at all how she expected, but at least she'd gotten something out of it… Now, all she needed to worry about was what to do about Hawks…
AN:
Ooh boy, it's been… how long?
*Checks the last upload date.*
…Right, 3 weeks. Sorry about that. Thanks for bearing with me. I'm finally starting to get back into the swing of writing, but… I'm also going to be moving soon. You win some, you lose some, I guess. We'll see when the next chapter's up, but it'll hopefully be sooner than this one.
In other news, I've got another story up! And before you panic, no, it is not something that's going to take priority over this one. The idea was bouncing around in my brain for longer than this one, but because the Waifutrix was giving me writer's block I finally decided to give this one a shot.
The Waifutrix is my top priority as a fanfiction project, and I have plans for quite a bit of the narrative going forward, so don't worry about me losing interest or anything.
But… If you like my writing and you're interested in a Bleach/Naruto crossover that centers around Ulquiorra and a few other characters, then you may want to look at 'Pinwheels of Green' on my profile.
Now, onto comments about this chapter!
It definitely gave me a lot of trouble, but I think I struck the balance I've been aiming for with this arc. Currently, Izuku is determined to make his dream work, but is kind of clueless on how to make it happen effectively, hence all the struggle and mistakes so far. He may be smart, but he has literally no experience with this kind of stuff, and no mentor to lean upon, so it's a difficult road.
He's getting much better as the narrative progresses, and he'll eventually become genuinely competent and powerful, but for now he has some serious issues to work past.
The biggest issue is that Izuku is the type of person to overthink things, even canonically that's an issue. However, in canon it's more played off as a joke with all the mumbling rather than a legitimate weakness. Here, however, Izuku has a tendency to start thinking and planning when he should really be doing something instead. However, it's kind of a rock and a hard place situation, because if he did that he'd just be making different mistakes.
It comes down to the difference between strategy and tactics.
The former is the planning that occurs before an encounter, something that Izuku is naturally more inclined towards given all the research he's done over his life and all the things he's written in his notebooks, while the latter are the plans made on the fly in the middle of a fight. Strategy is far more about someone's intelligence, outside the box thinking, and available information, while Tactics are more reliant on someone's battlefield experience and learned responses.
The issue Izuku tends to run into right now is twofold.
He lacks information about his opponents—though that comes with the Hero job-description unfortunately—and he lacks information about his own abilities. As you've seen, he's frequently discovering things in the middle of fights or when he's not actively practicing, since his current scheduling limit of a few times a week for a couple hours is just nowhere near enough to gain the requisite understanding of each of the girl's movesets to create effective strategies.
Then, on top of that, he lacks the hero experience of working on the job to think tactically and again, doesn't have the intimate familiarity with his own abilities to make optimal decisions without any hesitation.
All of this adds up to Izuku's currently lacking competency.
Anyway, that's all from me for now, but I hope you enjoyed it! I'll see you all in the next chapter!