Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Vlad King's Green Bean
Chapter nine: Preparing for examination and internship
When Izuku walked into the 1-B homeroom the next school day, he noticed that, while all of his classmates were present, Kan-sensei was absent. "...Where's Kan-sensei?" Izuku asked.
"I got it that he is meeting with some of the rest of the staff," Itsuka explained, "Apparently they need to hammer out a few details in regards to how a few parties had been withholding information from one another that could have been useful had said information been made available to all of them the moment it first became known to one of them."
Izuku immediately looked alarmed. "People have been withholding information from each other?"
Shrugging it off, Juzo said, "It's probably just some petty game of school politics between the teachers, Midoriya. No need to worry about it."
The green haired boy still looked mildly unsure. "...Are you sure, Honenuki?"
"Trust me, dude," Juzo continued to assure, "Within due time, I'm certain that Kan-sensei will be walking on in through the door to be-"
*KNOCK* *KNOCK*
The 1-B students looked mildly confused when they heard a knock at the door leading into the classroom. Being the rep and vice rep of 1-B, Izuku and Itsuka walked over and opened the door. As such, they saw a female third year student, not wearing her blazer jacket, carrying a young girl with long white hair and said little girl had a (fairly large) horn growing out of the side of her forehead. Said little girl was also dressed in a white long sleeved shirt under a red pintafore, black stockings, and yellow boots.
As for the female third year student, she had long pale bluish hair, and she was looking very panicked at the moment given that the little girl she was carrying clearly looked unwell. "Umm, do either of you know where Kan-sensei is?" asked the third year girl, "I was hoping he'd know where Aizawa-sensei is so I can find him to tell him that Eri here isn't feeling well."
"We... think that both Kan-sensei and Aizawa-sensei are at a staff meeting," Itsuka said. Looking to the little girl in the third year girl's arms, Itsuka went on, "You said her name is Eri, right? Why would Aizawa-sensei need to know about how she's unwell?"
"Aizawa-sensei told me, Tamaki, and Mirio not to tell anyone about it," the third year girl replied, "Anyway, Imma go see if Aizawa-sensei can take a break from the meeting. Eri's looking bad and I have no idea what to do." The third year girl then turned around and walked away, probably to go find Aizawa.
After the third year girl was gone, Itsuka closed the door and turned to look at Izuku. "...Well now, that was weird."
In the staff meeting room, the UA staff reconvened after their meeting from yesterday. "I believe that there are some points that some of us would like to address," Nezu said.
"Yeah, I'd like to begin," Aizawa said, "Mainly how someone called called in the top hero in the United States of America to help hunt down the mist villain Kurogiri!"
"I don't see how you're one to talk!" All Might snapped at the underground hero, "You are part of an effort to withhold information that Cathleen needed! If she had the mist villain's name, she could of taken him down easy!"
"And what's this about also having descriptions on new villains that had joined the League of Villains with that Kurogiri fellow?!" Sekijiro snapped, "There are four new persons to keep an eye out for in addition to Kurogiri! When was this information going to be shared with the rest of us?!"
Holding up his hands in a defensive gesture, Hizashi said, "Now in our defense, Nezu told me, Sho, and Nemuri to keep a lid on it from literally everyone else."
A number of heads turned to look at Nezu. "There was nowhere near enough information to move forward safely," Nezu defended, "Until I had verified a few more things, I felt that it would be safer to keep the information I had on a need to know basis."
"And yet All Might had unknowingly thrown all of that out the window by bringing in Star and Stripe," Aizawa began, "America's number one hero, and sent her off to track down Kurogiri with practically zero information!"
The Symbol of Peace slammed a mighty fist down onto his place at the meeting table. "First off, it was technically Cathleen who rushed off on her own, I didn't send her into potential ultimate danger," All Might began, "Second off, the reason that my contacts in the police and I had such little useful info on Kurogiri is because the persons who did have said info decided not to share it with anyone period!"
"You should have waited until Nezu was ready to move forward," Aizawa scolded.
"No one outside of Nezu, you, Hizashi, and Nemuri knew!" Ryo snapped back, "How was anyone supposed to know to wait for Nezu to come forward with that information if they didn't know he had that information?!"
"Everyone settle down please!" Nezu called out, as loud as possible. After everyone had settled, the animal principal of UA said, "I... seemed to have made a miscalculation. Given the connections to the attack on the USJ, Kurogiri's name, the descriptions on his four new compatriots, and the fact that the League of Villains apparently has a master should have been more freely given, at least to the rest of the staff here."
All Might leaned back in his seat. "...This is just speculation on my part..." Everyone turned to look at All Might when he spoke up. "...Given that we learned more about the conditions of Endeavor, Ryukyu, and Mt. Lady yesterday, and how said conditions resemble the damage that can be caused by the greatest villain that I had ever fought."
Nezu nodded once to the Symbol of Peace. "Go on."
"This League of Villains has a master," All Might said, "And the League of Villains was able to scrounge up a force of over seventy to attack the USJ, including that monster that was confirmed to have multiple quirks." Letting out a troubled sigh, All Might said, "It's very much possible that, if that villain really has come back, that he's the master of the League of Villains."
A lot of the teachers became a lot more alert. "...A powerful villain," Higari said, "And one who can take, keep, and give out the quirks of others as he sees fit. I can't imagine a more terrifying villain."
Ryo clapped a hand over his face before rubbing it down the top of his muzzle. "Great, and chances are we'll have to keep this hush hush because the HPSC won't want it getting out. I'm not sure how much worse it can ge-"
The Hunting Dog Hero was cut off when the third year girl who bothered Class 1-B earlier came in suddenly with Eri. "Aizawa-sensei! Something is up with Eri! I need your help!"
Everyone stared blankly at the third year girl's sudden entrance with a young girl, right before Sekijiro turned to Aizawa, as well as Nezu, Hizashi, and Nemuri to a lesser extent. "WHEN WERE YOU PLANNING TO TELL THE REST OF US THAT THERE WAS A LITTLE KID INVOLVED?!"
The end of the school week came faster than the UA staff was counting on. But then again, with all of the revelations they've been getting from one another, they all had been busy looking into making sure they had everything down pat. Regardless, the time of the special exams was at hand at long last, and now the staff had to monitor all of the hero course students to see how far the lot of them had come over the past few weeks.
The first year hero course students, Class 1-A and Class 1-B, were of particular note to a lot of the teachers. "Woah ho ho ho!" Hizashi said as he watched some of the hero course first year students compete in the exams, focusing on one student in particular, "Look at Green Bean go! Is he really the same kid who broke his arm punching out a Zero Pointer during the entrance exams?"
"He certainly seems to have control over his quirk now," Nemuri said, making a few notes on the paper on her clipboard she held.
Aizawa said nothing, but he did turn to see Sekijiro. The Blood Hero maintained a neutral look, but the underground hero could tell that Sekijiro was smirking and dancing on the inside. Aizawa wanted to know where exactly Midoriya pulled this talent out from, and furthermore why didn't he have control this fine during the entrance exams.
Something was up, and Aizawa was determined to figure out what exactly.
...
The special exams came and went, and soon the UA staff had tallied up all of the scores. To the surprise of the teachers, when it came to the first year hero course students, seven of the top ten spots were occupied by students from 1-B. In order from first to tenth, it was Bakugo, Midoriya, Mahou, Todoroki, Honenuki, Togake, Kendo, Tsunotori, Awase, and Shoda. Seeing the surprise of Midoriya place second overall out of forty made Aizawa more suspicious than impressed.
The teachers then had a meeting to discuss the scores of the students who took part in the special exams. "So now we just send these results to all interested hero agencies," Nemuri said, "And wait for them to send requests for students they're interested in grabbing for internships."
"I hear that Endeavor in particular is interested," Hizashi remarked, "Ever since we were able to restore his quirk and the quirks of Ryukyu and Mt. Lady. Whoever could have guessed it that little Eri would have been able to come in clutch like that, and to do so in the way that she did?"
"Eri's quirk is indeed powerful," Nezu said, "Being able to 'rewind' living things to prior states of being. And it was certainly a blessing it could be used to 'rewind' Endeavor, Ryukyu, and Mt. Lady all to the states of being they were all at prior to them having their quirks taken from them, which as a result restored their quirks."
All Might looked concerned. "...The taking of their quirks in the first place still worries me."
Aizawa regarded All Might with a careful look. "We'll get to cracking on it as soon as the HPSC is willing to pull their thumbs out of their asses." The underground hero looked back to the results for all of the first year hero course students. It still struck him as odd that Midoriya placed second out of forty, especially given how little control (if any) he had during the entrance exams. It always got on his nerves when something he couldn't explain like this popped up.
He was going to get those answers.
The following Monday, the hero course students for all years got lists of pro heroes interested in employing them as interns. This was especially true for the first year hero course students. Over in the 1-B homeroom, each student went over their respective list. To Izuku's surprise, he got a little over two-THOUSAND offers from pro heroes. He was besides himself with surprise that so many pro heroes wanted him-him!-as an intern.
The heroes were organized in alphabetical order, so scanning the heroes starting with G, Izuku soon found that Gran Torino was among the heroes who requested him. Despite how flattered he was to receive so many offers, Izuku was going to stick with Gran Torino, especially since he was able to help him get a hold of a total of twelve percent of One For All right before the special exams. Also, Gran Torino (still) had so much to tell the green haired boy.
Looking around, Izuku saw his classmates looking at their own lists. He wondered how many offers each of them got. He wished all of them the best of luck as he put down Gran Torino as his first choice. To be honest, Gran Torino was Izuku's only choice, but he could choose up to three, so he looked at the list to see who else sparked his interest.
To Izuku's surprise, among the many, many, many heroes who were interested in employing him as an intern, there were two heroes that are currently in the top ten on the Hero Billboard Charts JP; Ryukyu and Edgeshot. Izuku was particularly interested by Ryukyu's offer, given she's one of the three pro heroes who was hospitalized for a while but then recovered, then when she was out she did an appearance to reassure the people she was fine.
With his choices made, Izuku kept Gran Torino as his first option, and put down Ryukyu and Edgeshot as his second and third options respectively. Done, Izuku leaned back, flipping his form over so that his classmates couldn't see what he had picked. Only Kan-sensei will get to see who all he picked as heroes he was interested in interning under.
...
At the end of that school day, the UA staff was going over the forms submitted by the first year hero course students. "...The Iida boy only picked one hero?" Ryo asked while sitting across from Aizawa.
The underground hero nodded once in the affirm. "Yes. Iida picked the pro hero Manual to intern under."
Ryo arched a wry eyebrow at that. "...Isn't Manual currently working in the area of Hosu? The area where Stain the Hero Killer, aka the villain who had recently crippled Iida's older brother Tensei in an attack recently, is rumored to be operating in?"
"So long as Iida does as Manual tells him, he ought to be fine," Aizawa replied, feeling wholly confident that his student will be fine.
"Well Sho, how about mister number one among the first years?" Hizashi asked.
"You mean Bakugo?" Aizawa replied, "He got offers from Endeavor, Best Jeanist, and Gang Orca. He listed them as his first, second, and third picks."
Nemuri looked surprised by that revelation from Aizawa. "Three heroes currently in the top ten, and one of them is the number two hero, who's beaten only by All Might. Impressive."
Aizawa nodded in agreement, before turning his attention to Sekijiro. "I'm actually interested in how Midoriya fared in the offers he got. He did place second in the special exams for the first year hero course students, after all."
Sekijiro pulled out Izuku's information. "...Hmm," Sekijiro hummed, showing a little amusement, "He got offers from a little over two-thousand heroes, but his first, second, and third picks for who he wants to intern under are Gran Torino, Ryukyu, and Edgeshot. What's more is that I got it that Gran Torino already accepted him."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute," Hizashi said, "Hol' up. One, who the hell is this Gran Torino guy, and two, what makes him so special that Green Bean decided to make him his top pick over two heroes in the top ten?"
Once more, Aizawa was suspicious of the green haired boy. Coming in second place out of the forty first year hero course students, Izuku got a whole lot of offers. As a matter of fact, he got the third highest number of offers despite being second place; Bakugo despite being first got the second highest number of offers out of the forty first year hero course students. It was Todoroki, who had placed fourth, who got the most offers. No doubt due to his pedigree.
But that's besides the point. Izuku got a little over two-thousand offers, and at least two came from heroes in the top ten. But instead as his first choice, Izuku put down a pro hero that Aizawa had never heard of prior to now. The underground hero couldn't help but wonder; was there something important about this Gran Torino fellow that piqued Midoriya's interest?
Sekijiro did mention that Midoriya is something of a 'hero fanboy' who was well versed on even the more obscure pro heroes. As a testament to that, Izuku was apparently able to identify Aizawa himself as Eraserhead the moment he got only one part of Aizawa's real name, and this was back in the early parts of the first week of the school year. Aizawa prided himself to being unknown, the bread and butter of being an underground hero. And yet Midoriya was able to identify him, without any problem.
Midoriya knew a lot. The more cynical part of Aizawa told him that the green haired boy was suspicious at best, up to something at worst. And after the USJ, the theory that there was a traitor in the midst of UA had been thrown around. Looking down at Midoriya's name on the list of results for the first year hero course students in the special exams, Aizawa had felt that, at an absolute minimum, he may have a suspect on who the supposed 'UA traitor' may be.
But he couldn't act now, he only had suspicions. Aizawa knew full well that in order to prove if Midoriya is the 'UA traitor', much less if there even IS a 'UA traitor' in the first place (the idea did seem a little bit out there, and the 'UA traitor theory' first coming from Hizashi of all people didn't help its credibility if you asked Aizawa), he needed to gather at least a few things of evidence before he could proceed further.
The day came when the hero course students of UA would go off on their internships. Izuku wanted to see his friends in 1-A off before leaving to go meet with Gran Torino to pick up where they had left off. Looking around, Izuku spotted Uraraka, so he waved her over, asking her who she went with when it came to pro heroes offering her internships.
"Oh, I went with Gunhead," Uraraka explained, "I get the feeling I'll be needing some decent hand to hand combat skills, and Gunhead is supposedly really good." Looking at the green haired boy, Uraraka went on, "How about you, Midoriya? Who did you pick?"
"Oh, I went with Gran Torino," Izuku replied.
Uraraka looked a but curious about that. "I... never heard of that hero. Is he good?"
Remembering that his prior lessons with Gran Torino were supposed to be secret, Izuku said, "Oh, I, umm, I guess I'll find out."
Uraraka giggled cutely at Izuku being shy. "You're a real great person, Midoriya."
"Thanks," Izuku replied, "Oh, before I go, can you tell me where I can find Iida? I wanted to wish him well on his internship as well."
"Oh, Iida already left," Uraraka said, "I'm not sure what hero Iida chose to intern under, but he's a smart guy so I bet he made a good choice after thinking about it long and hard."
"Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhoooooooo!" a cry sounded out, making Uraraka and Izuku turn around to see who had made that cry. As such, they saw Uraraka's classmate Yugo Aoyama, who looked to be experiencing sheer excitement. "To think that I would be learning from an actual pro hero!" Aoyama declared, "Truly nothing can ruin this experience!" Aoyama then walked off, leaving Uraraka and Izuku just standing there.
The two teens turned to look back at one another. "...Umm, well good luck, Uraraka," Izuku said, "Hope you do well in your internship. I hope Iida does well too."
Uraraka smiled again, bowed her head in thanks to Izuku. "I hope both you and Iida do well in your respective internships too." The two of them then parted ways, feeling confident like Aoyama that nothing can go wrong.
The internships were off with a kick as Izuku continued to work further under Gran Torino to raise the percentage of One For All that he can safely use. After Izuku did some exercises that had been set up by Gran Torino, the older hero had him back down, letting Izuku power down out of Full Cowling. He gave Izuku an amused smirk. "...From the looks of it, I'd say that you're up to thirteen percent of One For All safely under your belt," Gran Torino said.
Izuku nodded in agreement. "Thanks, Gran Torino. How much do you think I can get the percentage up to for me to use safely by the time the internships are over?"
Gran Torino waved a hand in the air. "I want to say twenty percent, but that might be stretching it a bit. Let's try for fifteen percent by the halfway mark in our time together, and seventeen percent by the time the interships are over."
"That's fair," Izuku replied, "So now what?"
"Get your costume on, my boy!" Gran Torino said, "We're going out on patrol!"
Izuku immediately came to attention at Gran Torino's words; the green haired boy always recalled seeing heroes on patrol while growing up, and now he was about to do a hero patrol. With an actual pro hero! The one who personally trained All Might, no less! "Where will we be patrolling around at, Gran Torino?" Izuku asked.
Gran Torino let out a sigh. "...Actually, the patrol bit is a formality. We're actually going to be heading right on over to Toshi's agency."
"We're going to go see All Might's hero agency?!" Izuku nearly exclaimed.
"Gee, lower the volume, kid," Gran Torino remarked, "But yeah. Toshi wants to discuss something with me, some suspicions that he has about recent things in the news. As the latest torch bearer of One For All, you ought to be in that conversation as well."
Izuku looked surprised. "All Might wants to discuss something important? Wait, does he know that you're planning to bring me?"
"I told him about it over the phone and he agrees that it'd be for the best if you knew what kind of legacy you've got on your shoulders now," Gran Torino said, "Anyway, suit up." Izuku nodded in agreement with the older pro hero before putting on his costume and leaving the apartment building with him, following him off to All Might's agency building. Going to meet with All Might, and at his hero agency! The green haired boy couldn't think of anything more exciting! He felt that there wasn't anything that could go wrong!
...
Unbeknownst to Izuku or Gran Torino, they were secretly being watched by Aizawa who, while the students were on their internships, was on duty himself, given that he IS the pro hero Eraserhead. His skills that he honed over his career as an underground hero would ensure that he wouldn't be caught by those he was trailing, much less by anyone else. Right now, Aizawa was hiding within the dark cover offered to him by the shadows of a nearby alley way.
Aizawa's gaze narrowed as he spied Izuku walking with the short older man in a hero costume. "...That must be Gran Torino," Aizawa muttered to himself, using a camera that wouldn't produce a flash or noise to take a picture. He was going to continue investigating things here until he learned more about what exactly it was that Midoriya was up to.
The underground hero already had virtually no faith in Midoriya due to his poor performance in the practical portion of the entrance exams, but now that lack of faith was supplemented by suspicion that he was up to something, given that he made a huge leap in skill and control that Aizawa couldn't logically explain, not to mention how Midoriya apparently had so much knowledge on the inner workings of pro heroes.
He was going to prove that Midoriya was up to something. He just needed solid, tangible proof of it.
Eventually, Izuku and Gran Torino reached All Might's agency. Gran Torino walked up to the front counter, where a receptionist was working. "Excuse me, can I help you?" asked the secretary.
"We're here to see one Toshinori Yagi," Gran Torino replied, "Tell him that Sorahiko Torino and Izuku Midoriya are here to see him. He's expecting us."
The secretary looked curious about that. "I'm not sure why someone would want to speak with All Might's assistant, but alright I'll call him."
The secretary then went about calling up who she had no idea was really All Might himself, but she stopped short when Toshinori himself called out, "Ah, Torino!" Everyone looked over and saw that Toshinori was walking over.
"Ah, Yagi," Gran Torino said, "We're here to discuss the business you told me All Might wished to clue us in on."
"Let's take this to a private meeting room up near the top of the building," Toshinori replied, playing along with the act as no one outside of the know needs to know that he is All Might. Gran Torino and Izuku proceeded to follow Toshinori to an elevator to go up to discuss the matters that needed secrecy to be discussed.
...
Toshinori led Izuku and Gran Torino into a private break room, closed the door behind them and locked it. "This room is eavesdrop and wiretap proof, so no one on the outside will be able to listen in on our conversation," Toshinori said.
"It must be really serious, Toshi," Gran Torino said, "You act as if a villain that even you don't wanna take lightly is involved."
Toshinori sat down in an armchair across from the small sofa Izuku and Gran Torino sat down in. The Symbol of Peace let out a troubled sigh. "...That's because the possibility of a villain even I wouldn't take lightly being involved might very well be the case." Toshinori let out a breath, looked to Izuku and Gran Torino. "What I'm about to share can't be allowed to leave this room, especially since I still have to confirm a few things to make sure we really are dealing with that man."
Gran Torino's eyes widened behind his domino mask. "...Toshi... you can't possibly mean... but I had thought that you killed him years ago... !"
Izuku was now a bit worried. "...Umm, what's going on?"
"...Young Midoriya," Toshinori began, "You're in for a history lesson now, given that Gran Torino and I are about to discuss the possibility of the idea that All For One has returned."
END, CHAPTER NINE
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the UA staff to discuss how there was a lot of faults brought about by the (deliberate) lack of communication on each other's parts, followed by the UA hero course students going through the special exams to impress pro heroes into hiring them for the internships. Izuku's amazing improvement surprised everyone although it made Aizawa more suspicious.
Then the students go off on their internships, leading to Gran Torino taking Izuku to see All Might over at All Might's own hero agency, where they begin discussions on some history All Might has with one of the most dangerous, powerful, and terrifying villains of all time. The next chapter will see the discussion on All For One's possible return, as well as development in other areas. Later.