Author's Note: Hey everyone! Not much to say today, so enjoy the chapter!
Also, if you want to get into a place with other lovers of MHA, and specifically IzuJirou stuff, come on and join this Discord server that I'm on: /eFtmT8cTbY We're only kind of crazy, and not at all a cult... except, we also kind of are. Anyway, yeah, join that! I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's cross-posted on Ao3 as well. Leave a review if you want to. I welcome the feedback! See you next week.
"It took you five seconds to get quiet. That's an improvement. Good." Aizawa said as he walked into class.
"Aizawa-sensei, your arm is bandaged. Is everything alright?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"Excellent observation, Yaoyorozu." Aizawa said. "Iida."
"Yes, Aizawa-sensei!" Iida raised his hand in response.
"You had a run-in with Societas Requiem, correct?"
"Y-Yes sir." Iida responded.
"What was your experience with them?" Aizawa asked. Everyone else in the room turned to look at Iida.
Iida thought for a bit before he answered. "The members of Societas Requiem work well together. Each of the five of them knows their skillsets. They know what some of their weaknesses are, and they cover for the others. They balance their support and fighting members." Iida explained. "And they're smart."
"Good. Now, I'm sure that all of you have seen the video by now. Societas Requiem claims the defeat and capture of the Hero Killer: Stain. This shows they are quite formidable." Aizawa explains. "This." He said as he lifted his arm and pointed at the bandage. "This is because I had a run-in with the group last night."
The class was quiet. Nobody moved. Nobody even breathed.
"Iida's assessment was correct. They work well as a group. They have been active for a few weeks, and they already have better synergy than a good number of Pro Hero teams that have debuted in recent years. The six of them-"
"Excuse my interruption, sir, but they don't have six members. Only five of them were there in Hosu and in the video." Iida interrupted.
"That's what I thought as well. It turns out that they recruited a new member recently. They are growing. I spoke with them, and they have a goal and a motivation to keep going. That makes them more likely to attract followers. Be wary of them moving forward." Aizawa stated.
A hand went up. "Yes, Yaoyorozu."
"Sensei, last time that you spoke about this group, you warned us that they were villains and that they were to be dealt with. Now, you speak much less harshly of them. Why is that?"
"A good question. First, that is because last time, I let my own personal feelings affect what I taught you. They had been messing with my work as a Hero. I realize that I should not do that as a teacher. Second, after fighting them, I realized that you could learn a thing or two from them. Specifically, large group teamwork. Sometimes in your work as heroes, you will work with large groups. It is important to be able to synergize with your teammates. Today during your hero training, you will be splitting up into two groups of six and one group of five, and then you will fight against the other groups." Aizawa explained.
Aizawa's students of class 1-A all nodded their heads in understanding and began to get ready for the exercise. He couldn't tell his students that he could find himself somewhat understanding what the group stood for. It was an interesting place to be in. As long as the person's quirk didn't hurt them, he saw no reason that those who work to show potential couldn't be heroes. The majority of what he fought last night had nothing to do with the quirks of those he fought. Yes, there was some use, but it was mostly for restraining or escaping his own restraints. Aizawa knew that if these kids had applied to UA, he would have accepted them with no hesitation. They all showed amazing potential. Much more than some of his current students.
"They said that they tried, but weren't accepted. It must have been one of the other schools that didn't accept them. I can't imagine UA not accepting them…" He said to himself as he walked towards their training ground for the day. "I could still get them here… Get them off that path…"
"Miyata! You have someone here for a lesson!" Inato Haru shouted from the front of the store.
"I'll be right there!" Kyouka called back. She set the bass that she was holding down and began to walk to the front of the store. It had been three days since her fight with Eraserhead. The group decided that they were going to take some time off after that one. Mei wanted to catch up on some of her freelance work and also restock Izuku's dice bombs and her own speaker bombs. During this time, Mei had also developed an app for reporting things specifically for their group. Mei tried to explain it, but the only thing that Kyouka could remember was that it's some sort of bluetooth-based self-transmitting pseudo-virus, whatever that was. The app would move from one phone to any in its proximity and reinstall consistently if deleted. A real nasty piece of work if Kyouka could understand any of the techno-babble that Mei had spouted at her.
Fumikage was practicing driving the van to work more with Izuku in his alias. Hitoshi and Izuku were spending time gathering information and working with Himiko on learning the database that they had now digitized.
That left Kyouka with her volunteer job in the music store, not that she was complaining in the slightest. She loved music, and spending time detached from the life that she had found herself in. She loved what she was doing, but it was nice just relaxing and doing something that didn't require fighting.
She made her way to the front of the store. She was shocked when she turned the corner to see a familiar face. Standing at the front desk talking to Inato was the second place finisher of the UA Sports Festival: Shouto Todoroki. She had, of course, heard them as she approached, but she didn't think much of it.
What the hell is he doing here? Does he live near here? Shit. Act calm.
"Wow! You're the Todoroki kid from the Sports Festival! You did a great job!" Kyouka put on a smile.
"Thank you. I was just talking to this woman here about another interesting matter." Todoroki said.
"Yeah, we were just talking about that new group named Societas Requiem. They've been making quite a stir recently." Inato said.
"Yeah, that's what I've heard." Kyouka brushed off.
Todoroki cocked his head slightly. "You don't seem particularly interested."
"Not really." Kyouka lied. "I don't really look into hero stuff. Do you want to follow me to the back to start your lesson?" Todoroki nodded and followed Kyouka to the back. "So, what instrument would you want to start learning today?" She tried to distract herself from this situation with music. It was good that she was volunteering here, as she was surrounded by music, which was one of the two things that could really distract her, the other being Izuku of course.
"Do you know how to play the guitar?" He asked.
"Yeah, I can play both acoustic and electric. Which would you like to try?" Todoroki didn't answer. He just slowly walked over to a pure white electric guitar and picked it up. "That's a great choice. Let's work on that together. Have you played before?" Todoroki shook his head no. "That's fine." Kyouka responded. "I'll help teach you.
Kyouka walked through the basics with this kid. If she was honest, he was a fast learner, and he seemed to be a natural at learning new things. After a good twenty minutes of teaching, Kyouka asked the question that had been on her mind the entire time.
"So what is a UA student like yourself doing in Tokyo?"
"I'm looking for information." He said as he continued.
"And that's led you to this random music shop for an electric guitar lesson?" Kyouka raised her eyebrow and chuckled slightly.
"No, this is a personal interest. My father would never approve, so that's reason enough for me to start learning." Todoroki shrugged. "I've just been searching all day for information about that group that she and I were talking about."
"Oh, that Societas Requiem group?" Kyouka asked. Todoroki nodded as he continued with the basic exercises that she taught him. "As a Hero student, you're probably here to take them down, right? Do hero students have their licenses already?" Kyouka asked. She finally got to the question she wanted to ask. She had to cover the bases. She had to keep herself, but more importantly, her friends, safe.
"No, I'm just looking for them." He said.
"Oh? I would assume that such a skilled hero student like you would be looking to try to stop them." Kyouka said.
"I just want to talk to them." He said, switching his attention away from the conversation and back to a heavy focus on his playing. This surprised Kyouka. The part that surprised her the most was the fact that his heartbeat and breathing didn't betray that he was lying at all. Regardless, the boy was showing some kind of promise, although he was still new. Kyouka missed the times in which she was new to an instrument for the first time. The amount of joy she felt whenever she got that chord correct. Whenever she finally got a rhythm that tripped her up for a while.
For a moment, she concentrated on the hero student's face, and she felt envy. She did miss the feeling that he was experiencing now, but as quickly as that feeling came, it went. There were still more instruments, and she had a new calling in her group. She was removed from her musings as the boy beside her asked her a question.
"If you know anything about them, please let me know. I will be coming back every Sunday for these lessons. You have been a most excellent teacher, Miyata-sensei." Todoroki bowed.
"Oh, is the time up already? Well, then I will see you next week, Todoroki. She bowed back.
He took his phone out, and as he was looking through it, he stopped. "Have you seen this?" He showed his phone to Kyouka, pointing at an app. "I didn't have this. I didn't install this."
Kyouka took her own phone out and feigned surprise. "I have it too! I have no idea how this got on here."
"Strange…" He opened the app, and his eyes widened further. "It seems that the group has an app now. I will be looking through this. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, Miyata-sensei." And with that, he walked out of the building. About an hour later, Kyouka packed her stuff up and left with the closing of the store.
"Have a good night, Miyata!" Inato waved the young girl away as she locked up.
Kyouka walked away, sticking to the dark areas, surprisingly. She knew it seemed counter-intuitive, but with how much time she spent in the shadows these days, she felt the most comfortable there. Plus, it's not like she couldn't defend herself. As soon as she slipped into a dark alley nearby, she put her gloves on and attached her speaker mounts to them. Hopefully she wouldn't have to use them, but better safe than sorry.
Her preparation was rewarded when she heard a scream from the direction that she had just come from. She recognized the voice. "Inato…" Kyouka said to herself as she darted off in the direction of the scream. As she ran, she pulled her mask out of her bag and put that on as well.
Kyouka turned a corner to see Inato being attacked by someone. The streetlamp illuminated the struggle. It seemed to be a man who had grabbed hold of the older woman. Kyouka dashed around the streetlamp fast enough that the man didn't see what was coming. Plugging her jack into her gauntlet, she punched the man with the added force of her heartbeat.
The force of the blast sent the man flying, and he tumbled across the street under the cool light of the moon and streetlamp.
"Are you alright, ma'am?" Kyouka asked Inato. She just nodded, still in shock.
"You bitch!" The man yelled from the ground as he shakily pushed himself up on his elbows.
"Get back, ma'am!" Kyouka gestured to Inato as she took up a fighting stance.
"You're gonna pay for that!" The man had now stood up fully, and Kyouka had to stifle a gulp. The man was easily six and a half feet tall. Much taller than her. And he seemed to be growing further. Now that Kyouka thought about it, she didn't remember him being initially six and a half feet tall. Only once he reached about seven feet tall did he stop growing.
"Don't think you scare me." Kyouka bluffed. To be fair, this was the first person she had fought one on one as Heartquake. And he was huge. But she would stow that away for now. She had to protect her volunteer manager and friend.
The man screamed in anger as her approached. Kyouka didn't have any of her support equipment other than her mask and gloves, so she would have to deal with him while relying on combat skill. His first attack was a wild haymaker, which Kyouka easily dodged, blasting a soundwave at his back as he tumbled forward. He stood up again and charged again. Kyouka braced herself and punched the man with an uppercut, bolstering her hit with a blast of sound. The towering man began to shrink as he collapsed to the ground.
After a few seconds of the man being knocked unconscious, Inato slowly walked up to the slightly heavier breathing Kyouka.
"You're… You're Heartquake from Societas Requiem, aren't you?" Inato asked. Kyouka nodded in response. As Kyouka stepped into the harsher light of the streetlamp, Inato gasped. She recognized those clothes. Her volunteer worker Miyata was wearing that exact outfit earlier today. Minus the gloves and mask, of course. Inato stepped closer and whispered rather harshly. "Miyata?! You're Heartquake?!"
"Shit, not again." Kyouka sighed. She let her head hang. She took off the mask. "You can't tell anyone."
"Wow! To think that the next celebrity is working with me!" Inato said with a smile on her face.
"You can't tell anyone, okay?" Kyouka repeated.
"Right, right. Sorry. Yes, I won't tell anyone. Are you going to keep volunteering?" She asked. "You are a great teacher, after all."
"I will whenever I can. I do have another job, you know." Kyouka gestured to the mask.
"Right… Well… I will see you when I see you…" Inato turned around and began walking away. Over the shoulder, she shouted. "Thank you for saving me!"
"Any time! Be safe on your way home, okay?" Kyouka shouted back.
"Will do!"
Kyouka sighed as she opened her phone to call an ambulance. "Hello, yes? There is an unconscious man under the streetlight at the corner of Maple and Elmbury. He looks to be bleeding slightly. I'm not sure what happened. Please come quickly!" Kyouka said before hanging up. She needed to disappear. There was bound to be a police car that accompanied the ambulance that was sure to come. She slipped into an alleyway, and like that, she was gone.
"Welcome back!" Himiko said as Kyouka entered the warehouse. "How was your day as Miyata?"
"Well, some interesting things happened, that's for sure." Kyouka looked into the room. Mei was sitting at her computer, Himiko was sitting on the couch with Fumikage, looking at the TV, and Hitoshi was sitting at the table with a bowl of soup. "Where's Izuku?"
"Oh, he was taking a shower a bit ago, but he might be out soon." Hitoshi said, gesturing to the bathroom. Surely enough, a few seconds later, Izuku came out from his room, wet hair a bit of a mess. But hey, that was part of his charm.
"Oh hey, Kyo! How was your day?" Izuku smiled and approached the girl, hugging her when they met.
"It was okay. A lot happened." Kyouka admitted.
"Like what?" Izuku asked as he led her to the table.
"Well, I saw the Todoroki kid from UA's class 1-A. Gave him an electric guitar lesson." Kyouka said nonchalantly. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her.
"You what?" Mei asked.
"Wait, who?" Himiko asked.
"The second place finisher of UA's Sports Festival this year. Also the son of Endeavor." Hitoshi explained.
"So what then?" Izuku asked.
"Well, he said that he was looking for us, not to turn us in, but because he wanted to talk to us."
"So what did you say?" Izuku asked.
"I told him that I don't know anything about us. He saw the app that you and Prometheus made, and he seemed kind of weirded out by that. He said that he's going to be coming by for lessons every Sunday, on his day off of school. Question, Mei. Is there a chat function on the app?"
"There's no way to be able to monitor that much with the amount of phones that this will be on eventually. Plus, the amount of spam that we would accumulate would be atrocious." Mei said. A small ding sounded from her computer. "Oh… well, Prometheus just said that she'd monitor the messages. Well… I guess it could be monitored that way…" Mei shrugged. "Still… I'm unsure about messaging…"
"Well, we'll wait to implement that, then. It might be beneficial later." Izuku shrugged. "Anything else, Kyo?"
"Well, some guy was attacking the manager that I volunteer for after she locked up for the night. I ended up putting my mask and gloves on and fought the guy. She recognized me, but I don't think she's going to say anything."
"She knows you're a member?" Himiko asked.
"She doesn't know my real name, and she likes me working there enough that she won't say anything. I've worked with her long enough to trust her. Also, I saved her life, so that's gotta count for something." Kyouka said.
"We'll deal with any problems if they come up. But until then, we'll keep acting with business as usual." Izuku said. Let's just relax for the night, okay? We all have our assignments for this next week. Kyouka, make sure things are good with your volunteer manager the next time you go in. After our meeting with Eraserhead, it's probably a good idea for some training time and not missions." Izuku said. "On your off time this week, we'll be working on things for training. Remember to stay vigilant. Mei, I know you've been doing a lot, but can you work on analysis of those bullets we found a while back?"
"Will do, boss!" Mei responded.
"After that, you have free reign to work on whatever you want to work on until something really pressing comes up." Izuku said.
Mei's eyes widened in happiness. "Really?!" When Izuku nodded, she threw her hands up in joy. "My babies! I'm coming back to you!" She spun herself around in her chair while laughing. Izuku saw Hitoshi staring at the girl from the table smiling. He couldn't help but smile as well. The two of them would make a cute couple. Once one of them actually opened up and talked about it, that is.
A few days later, the six of them had gathered in their warehouse in front of the TV. Mei had read somewhere online that there was a really controversial interview segment of one of Japan's News talk shows: Go! Japan!
Mei had found the same thing aired at a different time, but they knew that if they were going to watch it, they needed to do so soon. Because there were people online that did not want this to be seen for much longer. As the fanfare began, the six really focused on the TV to see just what this newscast had in store.
"Hello everyone, and welcome to Go! Japan! I am your host, Ezaki Najin, and as always with me is my co-host, Shin Kazane. Tonight, we have more news about the Hosu City incident, but before we do that, due to popular demand, we will be re-airing our interview earlier today with some pro heroes today." The man known as Ezaki stated. His co-host, Kazane simply nodded as the screen went black.
A few moments later, the screen lit up again, and the afternoon sun from the studio was replaced with a bright mid-day sun out of the backdrop. Sitting around the table were two members of the Go! Japan! News team as well as two pro heroes. Izuku, of course, noticed them as Incognito and Stareye. His digitized database was much easier to navigate, so it was much easier for him to remember things about the heroes in it.
"Hello, Go! Japan! With me are the pro heroes Incognito and Stareye. Fresh off one of their most popular seasons as heroes. Today, we have a rather difficult topic: Vigilantism and specifically the decently sized vigilante group that has recently made a name for themselves: Societas Requiem. What are your thoughts on them?" The man to the left of the table asked.
"Personally, their display is rather impressive. They were able to take down the Hero Killer. This has been something that several pro heroes have been struggling with for months now, ever since his first appearance. While they might not have the most combat skills when taken one on one, they excel with working together as a team. Their coordination is something that most pro hero teams wish that they could execute." Incognito said.
"An interesting take, Incognito. Stareye?" The same man said.
"Well!" She started. "I think that these guys are like, super cool. They do some really awesome combat moves, and I like, can't wait to see what they do with their work in the future."
"But don't you think that their ideals are dangerous? They were endorsed by Stain, after all." The other man from the talk show asked.
"I think that they might have some valid points being made. With the publicity that they're getting, it's important to have a solid groundwork for your ideals. There are some issues with Stain's endorsement of them, but that seems to be more of their personal skill and in their heroics themselves rather than their ideals." Incognito said.
"And Stareye, do you think that these vigilantes will have an impact on society?"
"I think that they'll definitely like, change some things with how our society like, sees people and treats them as heroes. I remember my time in hero training, and like, I sometimes struggled. So I can't imagine how things are like, right now. I've seen plenty of people with useful quirks that could like, be heroes, but their quirks aren't like, strong enough to fight villains and stuff." She said.
"Have you received their app? Apparently, it's a rather sticky one that redownloads even after erasing. It's on my phone, and I don't even remember downloading it!"
"I have! It's rather basic so far, but it's the perfect thing to get their news out. If everyone has their app, they can blast news to everyone." Incognito stated. "It's rather ingenious, actually."
"Stareye?"
"I think it looks super cool! Like, it's totally stylish! It's got a really good user interface too! Their app designer did a great job!" She said excitedly.
"Alright. One final question for the both of you. Incognito, you first. If you could say one thing to this Societas Requiem group, what would you tell them?"
"I would tell them that they should keep training to become stronger and to fight for the truth in their ideals. I would ask them to not stray from their ideals, and to move along the path of heroes that they have shown that they want to do." Incognito said.
"Well stated, Incognito! And Stareye, what would you say?"
"I would say that they're totally going to be a cultural phenomenon! And that they should start trying to cash in on the brand recognition soon. Also! Heartquake, you're totally going to rock some outfits. Get into contact with me! I'll make you some beautiful outfits!" She said with a smile. Izuku looked at Kyouka, and he could see her blushing. He simply rested his hand on her shoulder, and she seemed to calm down a little bit.
"Anything else from either of you?"
"Oh, right! You should all like-" The screen went black and cut out.
There was a single message that appeared on the screen afterwards: "The Hero Public Safety Commission has deemed this content as dangerous thoughts that glorifies villainy. Due to this, it has been taken down. Stay safe."
"Well…" Izuku said. "That was kind of anti-climactic. Did the HPSC do that to the original broadcast?"
"To the computer!" Mei said as she scooted on her rolly chair over to her computer. After a few minutes of searching, she spoke again. "Looks like this was the first time it's happened. And people are NOT happy about it. Things about promoting 'wrongthink' and 'fake news'. I thought that ended years ago. Regardless, I don't think that the HPSC did the right thing with taking that down during its live broadcast."
"Well, if it's anything, they're doing some work for us." Izuku said.
"What do you mean?" Himiko asked.
"They're showing that anything that shows possible change in today's way of life needs to be squashed in their eyes." Izuku said.
"Revelry in the dark." Fumikage said.
"Exactly. Everyone: continue working on your training for these next few days. We'll see how things go from here." Izuku said.
"Yes sir!" The other five members of the team said. Izuku was intrigued about how this would turn out in the end.
