"So, are you sure there isn't another way to increase my base speed Tamashi?" Leizcio asked her, in hopes of an answer he wants.

"I'm sorry Leizcio, but there isn't a way to do it right now. You'll just have to focus on improving your energy abilities for now. Good luck with the sports festival though!"

Tamashi told him as she was sipping on what was probably her 4th coffee this morning. She called Leizcio over to scold him on what had happened yesterday and nearly getting arrested. After the lecture, Leizcio wanted to know why he can't get any faster but he ended up with no definite answer. He left a while after as he went on ahead to school. Shortly after he left, Tamashi took a glance at her phone and decided to call Lavania.

"Tamashi? Did something happen?"

"No, it's just that, are we sure we should continue with limiting Leizcio's abilities, it's just tha-"

"Tamashi, we know that Leizcio is already reckless as is. You saw the article and how he almost got himself arrested. If he gets any faster, it'll be more dangerous for him." Lavania said slightly raising her tone.

"But Lavania, if he didn't have the limiters in his body, he could've esc-"

"NO! It'd only encourage him to overuse his quirk. It's what caused our mom to pass away, and I don't want to lose him either."

"Okay then Lavania, I'll send a few more capsules later today." Tamashi says reluctantly.

Hanging up the phone, she looks at a box next to her. It was filled with capsules that would be put into Leizcio's drinks so that they could limit the abilities of his muscle fibers to prevent him from getting faster. She can't help but feel guilty that she's doing this but if that boy inherited anything from his mother, it was that insane drive to help others, even at the cost of their own health.

...

Leizcio was on the bus with Ochaco awaiting to get to UA. But what Tamashi said still rang in his mind. What if he's destined to be at this speed? He won't get very far if he can't improve his speed. There has to be some sort of way to improve it, no matter how unorthodox it might seem.

"Hey Chaco."

"Yeah Leizcio?"

"Do you have an idea of how I can get faster? I feel like I've hit a roadblock."

"Hmmm, why don't you try asking Iida? Surely he's got some tips considering he's had his quirk longer."

"You know that's a good point, can't believe I didn't think of that."

"Well, glad you know now!"

Of course, it was right in front of his face. Iida was class 1A's class president and 2nd speedster. While Iida might not be as fast as Leizcio, he makes up for it in his engines powering the strength of his legs as well. But the fruit of the matter is that he's had his quirk longer and knows how to get faster.

Leizcio and Ochaco had made it to class and there was not much as they both were looking forward to training today. They got more anxious as they got closer to the day of the sports festival. Before Leizcio and Ochaco could make their way to the training ground, a certain broccoli-haired boy tapped Leizcio's shoulder.

"Esperanza, I was wondering if I could ask you a question?" Midoriya asked him with his notebook and pencil at the ready.

"Um, yeah sure, what's your question?"

"How exactly does your quirk work? I know it amplifies your speed and lets you create electrical energy but I'm still a bit confused."

Not feeling like explaining the entirety of his quirk, he just snatches Midoriya's notebook and writes down his quirk and for the fun of it, sketched himself onto the page next to his quirk info for the fun of it. And to mess with him just a little bit, put it back in his hands as if he never moved.

It took a good second for Midoriya to notice that Leizcio had just written into his notebook and was a bit surprised by it. Midoriya then started muttering as the three of them walked over to the training grounds. Leizcio could somewhat make out what Midoriya was muttering, but he never really tried to hear people that can speak fast. Well, he never really had a reason to until Midoriya came into his life.

"Wait Esperanza, how long can you keep up your maximum speed?"

Leizcio took a quick second to remember the math he did to see how long his maximum speed would last until it goes too far. Given how long he lasted against that nomu, and shortly after getting beat up, he guesstimated it to be around 2 minutes.

"It's somewhere around 2 minutes going about Mach 1.4."

There goes Midoriya scribbling into his notebook again. Leizcio's speed be damned, Midoriya is another league when it comes analysis. However, all these questions gave Leizcio himself a question actually. Midoriya reminds himself of when he wasn't so great at controlling his quirk. Granted Leizcio's base power wasn't that high, Midoriya can level buildings with a swipe of the arm at full power.

"Hey Midoriya, you got your quirk recently didn't you? You're pretty inexperienced with how your quirk works."

This took Midoriya for a surprise and scared him a bit. He thought that Esperanza knew about his quirk One For All. But that couldn't be, right? Surely it was just a random observation? He didn't bring up his quirk. Maybe he's overthinking it? Maybe-

"Uh, Midoriya? Are you okay? I was just going to say how it's similar to when I first manifested my quirk." Leizcio said worryingly looking at him as they continued to walk.

"Ooh, wait when did you manifest your quirk then Esperanza?" Midoriya asked after sighing in relief.

"About 4 months prior to entering UA, I had a friend that helped me understand my quirk."

"So you already had a bit of experience using your quirk?"

Leizcio could swear he felt Ochaco's presence looming behind him making sure he doesn't say too much.

"Kind of, they let me train my quirk on their property so I could get a better understanding of my quirk and catch up with others. It was a matter of learning how to control the energy I create and spreading out a bit as well."

As they had reached the training grounds, Leizcio left Ochaco and Midoriya to it so that he could go and look for Iida. While Leizcio doesn't doubt Tamashi's intelligence, he just feels that there is some other way that the both of them hadn't thought about.

"Esperanza!"

Turns out that Leizcio didn't have to go far to try and find Iida. That man who moves ever so box-like was approaching him fast and kind of scared Leizcio a little bit.

"Hey Iida, what're you training right now?"

"I am currently working on my stamina, do you care to join me Esperanza?"

"Actually I was wondering if you could help me with something?"

"Of course! As class president, it's my duty to help my classmates and friends! Now, what do you need help with? I'll do what I can to help!"

"I was wondering as to how you improve your speed? I've hit a speed bump and haven't been able to increase my speed. I was wondering how you've gone about doing it?"

Iida took a minute and thought about it, and Leizcio waited patiently with a small notebook and pencil ready to absorb whatever knowledge Iida bestows upon him. Not shortly after, Iida comes up with an idea.

"Have you taken into account how you run?"

Leizcio just looked at him in confusion. Unsure of how that question helps. Iida decides it's better if he just explains it to him.

"Esperanza, an important part of running is the technique in which you run. Pass me your phone, I'll record you running in a circle for a few seconds, and we can analyze your technique."

Listening to Iida, Leizcio passes his phone over to him and he goes to a clear area and gets ready to run. Just waiting on Iida's mark to start running.

"Go Esperanza! I'll call out when to stop!"

Leizcio ran in a small circle for a few seconds until Iida instructed him to stop. Going back to him, they both decide to look at the recording. Problem was that Leizcio was going too fast, but they edited it to slow it down. That's where it was all revealed.

"Now I see the issue. Esperanza, you've been going so fast that you've actually forgotten to sprint. Your typical running seems to be just jogging. Hence why you don't move as fast. I recommend that you try and tuck your arms in and lean more forward. Be in front of your center of gravity. You must also have a good start and shift from a dive-like position to a rising one. Esperanza?"

Leizcio couldn't believe it. It feels so stupid but it makes so much sense. He's literally been running 'wrong' the entire time. He just went fast enough and never paid attention to how he runs. While he's grateful for Iida's help, he couldn't help but feel a bit stupid.

"Yeah, I hear you, just needed a minute to realize that. Think we can try again now?"

"Of course! Just let me know when you're ready!"

Leizcio heads back to where he started and gets on the floor into a sprinter position. He takes a quick breath and looks forward. Looking over to Iida, he nods his head as does Iida beginning the mark.

Dust starts to pick up immediately around Leizcio, his track picking up the dust behind him and forming what looks like a dust devil. Leizcio feels an increase in his speed from just shifting the way he runs. Coming to a stop, the dust settles back down. Looking back at Iida, it seems he too is impressed by Leizcio's improvement.

"Iida! Did you see that?! I could feel the difference!" Leizcio excitedly shouted as he slowly walked back over with a large smile on his face.

"It was rather impressive the improvement Esperanza! Seems that we were able to solve your problem! We still have quite the amount of time to train, how about we go and train together!"

"Yeah of course Iida!"

They both went off to continue their training, running for long times to increase their stamina and Leizcio would sometimes wander off and help out Kaminari with his quirk. Leizcio was able to make the most that he could out of their training and was able to increase his speed and his stamina, both extremely useful to his progress not just for the sports festival, but for himself entirely.

It was about time to head home and Leizcio was exhausted with the training today. Heading back home, he felt a whole lot better about himself. He could finally go faster, while he might not sure by how much exactly, it's still a vast improvement from what it used to be. The thought of going faster was exciting to him, however, it may not be the same for others.

Heading into the cafe, Leizcio put his stuff down in his room and took a shower, hoping to relax the body after all that. Fresh out of the shower, he just plops onto the couch in the living room checking to see if there was anything new from the shows he's been watching.

Shortly after, Lavania joins him and sits on the couch as well. She had to deal with the regular influx of customers in the cafe and it felt a bit lackluster. Though she was looking forward to seeing the sports festival all over again, especially now that Leizcio is going to be in it.

"Leizcio, have you been doing any training?" Lavania yawned as she stretched a bit with pech hopping into her lap.

"Yeah! Actually today I was able to increase my speed! A friend had helped me out and I can run just a bit faster now!"

"That's great! I'll tell Tamashi about it!" Lavania said with a fake smile on her face. She went downstairs and left Leizcio in confusion as to why she didn't just call Tamashi right then and there.

Once Lavania had headed down into their gym basement, she closed the door and instantly called Tamashi, she had a look of concern on her face that nobody else would be able to see.

"Hi Lavania, did you need something?"

"Weren't you going to drop off the capsules today? I need them, Leizcio told me that he found a way to get faster." Lavania says with worry.

"Sorry Lavania, but I'm not going to encourage this anymore! I understand why you would want to act this way but it doesn't permit you to do this to him!"

"Don't you see Tamashi?! He's just like my mom! He'll end up just like her!" A sudden increase in tone that made Tamashi jump.

"Lavania, you're becoming delusional with her death! She wouldn't have wanted this for Leizcio. She might not have approved of Leizcio becoming a vigilante, but she sure as hell would not do this to him!"

"Please Tamashi! It's just for his own safety! I don't want to lose him!"

"No! Lavania, you've already done enough to him with this! He's going to find out about this either way. Just tell him or I will have to! He just might understand why you acted this way!"

"Tamas-"

The call ended there.

Now how was Lavania supposed to protect Leizcio from sharing his mother's fate?

She had no idea, but she has enough to stall the progress for now.

She opens the door and leaves the basement. But before heading back upstairs, she takes a second to look down and try to think if what she was doing was right. Her heart tells her it isn't but her mind says otherwise.

She pulls out a capsule from underneath a counter and drops it into a glass of water for Leizcio to drink.

'Is this okay?'

Chapter 17

END