14.03.2020
Just a quick question, is the whole world going crazy over coronavirus or is it just the people in my vicinity, because there's like almost nothing in stores right now...
Also, we hit 60k words with last chapter... It really doesn't feel like that much to me... And 200 favourites, which I'm very grateful for! It always motivates me to see that someone new decided to spend his time reading my story.
Anyway, enjoy!
"How can you be so stoic about the whole ordeal Izuku?", Momo asked when she noticed the calm expression on the greenette's face.
"Me, stoic?", he asked and after a second his face morphed. His determined look changed into a panicked one as his back stopped being as straight as it was just a blink of an eye ago. "I am fucking terrified Momo", the student admitted.
"I didn't know you were such a good actor", the Yaoyorozu heiress said and chuckled as the sudden change in his demeanor was quite funny.
"I'm not. Nana just cuts the nervousness out of my personality", Midoriya explained as his posture from before came back. "If it wasn't for her, then I would become a stuttering mess in front of all those kids, which would be Ultra unproductive!", he exclaimed with a smile.
"Nana?", the girl asked as she cocked her head to the side. "Who is she?"
"Oh, um, I guess I didn't really explain it before, did I?", the boy mused to himself and then turned his attention back to Momo.
"Nana is short for Non-Artificial Neural Archivist. It's like a second personality inside my head that has direct access to my brain. Therefore she can look through my thoughts, memories and act as an emotional controller. It's thanks to her, that I was able to deliver that speech in the city hall a couple of months back", Izuku explained swiftly as they neared their destination.
"Hey! You didn't use the term 'AI'! Are you finally warming up to me?", the voice inside his head asked hopefully.
"In your dreams Nana", the greenette answered out loud.
"Are you talking to her?", Momo inquired, now even more intrigued than before.
"Yes. Nana is I think semi- if not fully sentient"
"That's amazing"
"Sure is and I would've liked to talk about it in detail, but we have arrived", he gestured to the open gate, that they were standing next to.
"So… what now?", Momo wondered aloud, while trying to spot a teacher.
"Just follow me, Creati", Midoriya said with a confident smirk and headed inside.
When they were three steps from the doors, they opened and a red haired woman stepped outside. She was wearing a black skirt with a white, dress shirt. The students guessed, that she must've been the principal of Aldera.
"We've been waiting for you two", she smiled at them as they approached and then outstretched her hand for the students to shake. "My name is Kikawa Kikimori and I'm the principal of Aldera High", the woman introduced herself as she shook their hands.
"My name's Midoriya Izuku", the greenette introduced himself and stepped aside for his companion to do the same.
"And I'm Yaoyorozu Momo"
After the introductions were taken care of, Kikawa motioned for the heroes in training to follow her as she stepped back inside.
"You arrived a few minutes early, so you will have to wait until we gather the students in the auditorium", she said as she led them through mostly empty corridors. They passed only a few members of staff since they entered the school.
"That's not a problem. We prefer to be early than to be late", Midoriya said with a smile as they neared a set of double doors at the end of the hallway.
The trio entered the spacious room and the principal led them to the slightly elevated stage at the far end of it. She told them to wait here and was about to go gather the audience, before she remembered a vital detail.
"You may want to prepare yourselves for a very loud response once you state who you are since we decided to keep today's presentation a secret", she said over her shoulder and vanished through the doors.
"Why would they do that?", Momo wondered and looked at Midoriya to see if he had any idea.
"Easy. The career week is something that happens every year, so it becomes slightly repetitive. Each year they have to sit through a presentation about being a policeman, a firefighter or a doctor for example in a society of heroes and superpowers. By keeping us a secret, they make the kids think about the possibilities and in turn start looking forwards to the presentation", the greenette was about to start mumbling about various different reasons, when he heard a commotion in the hallway leading to the auditorium.
He said a silent prayer in his head as Nana cut off all of his normal nervousness, a sense of calmness overcoming him in seconds. Momo, who was watching her partner very intently may I add, was grateful that Midoriya decided to take the lead.
A few moments later the doors opened and a mass of students started filling in. Nearly everyone took a glance in their direction, which wasn't something extraordinary since they were the only people present inside and were sitting directly in front of the doors.
The hero students started hearing various murmurs coming from the crowd that was assembling in front of them in an orderly fashion. Everyone was wondering who they were and why were they wearing these strange costumes. As Izuku scanned the mass of students, he happily found a few teens who seemed to get the memo as to what was about to happen, but decided to keep their mouths shut.
What gave them away? The stars of awe and curiosity that were visible in their eyes.
"Who would've thought, that I will be using the zooming option of AKoV to scan a crowd of kids?", the greenette smiled to himself and spotted the principal making their way over to them.
The woman joined them on stage and waited patiently for everyone to sit down before she spoke. Once most of the noise died down, she cleared her throat to garner their attention.
"Hello students. Today is the last day of our career week. Thank you for not skipping school as we have some very special guests today to talk about the career path that they have chosen to follow. I won't take up any more of their precious time and let them speak for themselves", Kikawa made her speech short and to the point, which relieved her students.
"She must make horrendously long speeches normally…", Midoriya wandered before focusing on the task at hand. He stepped forward, which made the whole crowd look at him.
He was pretty sure, that if it wasn't for Nana blocking his nervousness he would just die on the spot.
"Before we begin I would like to thank those of you who know what's going on, but didn't spoil the surprise for your classmates. And now, allow me and my partner to introduce ourselves", he spoke loudly and clearly, even if a little bit on the formal side. "My name is Midoriya Izuku, but when I graduate you will know as, The Augmented Hero: Cybrex!"
The whole crowd seemed to freeze when the word 'hero' left his mouth. Yaoyorozu jumped at the opportunity to introduce herself before the hell broke loose.
"And I'm Yaoyorozu Momo, The Everything Hero: Creati!"
Now the kids were looking between the two heroes in training that stood in front of them. Momo and Izuku looked in the direction of Kikawa only to see her quietly giggling into her hand. They understood her perfectly, some of the faces that the students made were downright hillarious.
Slowly the initial shock has died down and in one moment the whole auditorium erupted with cheers, whistles and shouts.
"Heroes in training! This school is amazing!"
"They look so cool!"
"I hope I can become one too in the future!"
"The guy is quite handsome"
Momo was able to pick up on some of the sentences that were directed at them and blushed slightly as she heard some girl complimenting her partner. She did agree with her though.
Besides being an all around nice guy and having good looks, his best characteristic in her opinion was his personality. Always on the front, sheltering those that cannot protect themselves. She knew that many of their classmates had similar thoughts about the greenette. Even if he himself didn't know how big of an influence he had on them.
"Alright, settle down everybody! Jeez, someone is excited!", the teen joked and a few laughs could be heard from the crowd as the rest took their time to calm down from the sudden outburst. "That's better. Now, me and my friend will tell you about our time at our hero school and after we are done you will have a chance to ask us questions, is that cool with you?", Midoriya asked and got another round of cheers as a confirmation.
"Splendid. Now, to get into a hero school you have to have the best grades and a strong or versatile Quirk. Once you meet those conditions you can attend the Entrance Exam to your chosen school. Momo and I had to fight armed robots when we wanted to become heroes. That's also when we first met", Izuku thought that talking the kids through all the formalities would be the best place to start.
"Excellent thinking Izuku. Get all the boring stuff out of the way early and keep them interested for the rest of the explanation!", Momo thought to herself as she smiled, opting to let him continue for a while longer.
"If those attending the Exams are the best then to get in you have to be the best of the best, since anything less just won't be enough! It was hard, but we made it and became fully fledged heroes in training. Most of us thought 'it will probably be like a normal school for the first few days as we get to know the school and each other, right?'. So try to imagine what our faces looked like when on the first day of school we were supposed to do a battle trial", the students listened in awe at the history of their school life. Yaoyorozu shifted her gaze back to her partner, who was looking in her direction from the corner of his eye.
Momo took it as her que to continue, so she took a step forward to stand next to Midoriya.
"The teachers divided us into teams of four and dropped us into a battle zone to see what are our strengths and weaknesses. The fights were very sloppy and our plans made almost on the fly. We were working with people that we knew for less than a week! But later on, the teachers told us, that we've exceeded their expectations"
Yaoyorozu had to stop for a second as the students mumbled a few words of excitement and respect. This filled her with pride.
"We spent the next few months training our bodies, Quirk and minds. We were pushed to our limits and forced to break them multiple times. It wasn't easy, but we prevailed and became stronger! We were like a well oiled machine, when our teachers stated that it was the time to once again put us through a full battle trial. This time we had to work with the members of the other class, which meant that we couldn't plan ahead how to counter everybody. But again we managed to rise to the challenge and didn't disappoint our teachers and their hopes"
Momo looked in Midoriya's direction, who understood, that he would be the one to finish the story.
"We've spent the last two months training harder than ever before. And that's because there's a very big event nearing", the greenette started mysteriously. "Can anyone guess what's the name of the event that I'm talking about?", he directed the question to the gathered students and muttering broke out in the audience.
They tried, they really did, but most of them came up with nothing. Until a hand rose from the crowd.
"Ah, I see that someone would like to take a guess! Come on, what event was I talking about?", the greenette had a confident smirk on his face as he recognised the kid to be one of the first ones to understand who he and Momo were.
"Um, t-the only big event I can think of is the UA Sports Festival", the kid said loud enough for everyone to hear. Not even a moment later a series of laughs broke out in the crowd.
"UA? As if, they are probably from Shiketsu or something"
"Yeah, the students of UA don't have time for such things"
Creati and Cybrex locked eyes for a second before laughing themselves, which confused their audience.
"UA Sports Festival? That's very bold assumption. It is also a right one!", Izuku exclaimed and took in the shocked expressions of his listeners. "It's true that we at UA don't have much time for many activities outside of school, that's why me and Creati took the time out of our packed schedules to visit you here today and talk about the path that we chose to follow"
Another second of silence before another round of cheers erupted from the audience.
"UA is really amazing!"
"Sacrificing their own time just to speak to us!"
"We have three months to prepare, so taking a day off is not that big of a game changer", Yaoyorozu explained and Izuku followed her statement with his own.
"Nevertheless, we hope that you will watch our performances on tv or live! Now that would be all from us, so you can start asking questions", a literal forest of hands rose from the crowd as Midoriya finished his sentence.
"Let's start from the first row!", Momo cut in and pointed at a random student that was sitting close to them.
"What are your Quirks?", both heroes in training suspected that the question will pop up sooner or later.
"My is called Creation and it allows me to create any non-living object using the lipids in my body as long as I know its exact molecular structure", Momo stated proudly as the students looked at her with confusion written all over their faces.
"She's a living 3D printer", her partner explained and the crowd seemed to finally understand what she meant.
"Hey!", she yelled at Midoriya with a pout and a slight blush, but he just ignored her, though she could swear that he was smiling.
"And my Quirk is called Conduit. It allows me to create and control electricity. I think…", Cybrex said as he flashed them a smile. "Next question!"
They spend the next couple of minutes answering a multitude of different questions, before a certain teen brought up a very touchy subject.
"Are you members of the class that was involved in the so called USJ incident?"
Both heroes froze in place as the memory replayed itself in their minds. They disconnected from the real world and came back only when Kikawa started scolding the student.
"It's okay", Midoriya spoke up with a small smile and then turned to the crowd. "To answer the question, yes, we are the ones who got attacked at the USJ"
"That means…"
"Do you know the student who is said to have saved a teacher?"
"Damn, how much do the media know?! And how did they get this info anyway?!", Izuku thought to himself as he started unconsciously massaging the scars on his right arm. He soon felt a hand on his right arm and looked at it.
Momo stood right next to him with and was looking into his eyes with evident concern. "Izuku…", she whispered as if to say that he didn't have to say anything.
Midoriya shook his head lightly and then smiled at her.
"We do know him. In fact, I'm standing right in front of you!", he exclaimed and the awe made its way back into their eyes and spread onto their faces.
"Wow, you must be really brave, cool and strong!", shouted a few boys from the back rows.
"You are wrong", the greenette said calmly and then lifted his right arm above his head; the scars now clearly visible. "I'm not cool and I'm definitely not strong. If I were strong then I would be able to save everyone from harm, but I wasn't strong enough to do so. I was weak. I am weak. And I wasn't brave. I was downright terrified. But, I didn't let that fear stop me"
Momo would recognise the look on his face even if it was pitch black in there. She had many occasions to see it for herself in the time they knew each other. A look of motivation, determination and unbreakable will.
"Heroes shouldn't be fearless. They should be afraid!", the students were shocked by his statement.
If heroes were scared, then they wouldn't save anybody, right?
"I believe that a real hero should be able to continue his duty, even when afraid to his very core. Even if every instinct told him to run, he should overcome his fear and come to the rescue! He should give everything he has each and every time!", he was going to finish it here, but then a sudden thought struck him. Midoriya lowered his right arm and tightened his fist before pumping it back up with a might shout. "Plus Ultra!"
"Plus Ultra!", a chorus of voices answered him.
Little did he know, that he just took his first step to becoming one of the most influential heroes to ever hero.
After the presentation was over, the heroes waited for the students to leave and received thanks from the principal. She especially commented Midoriya for his passionate speech.
Momo and Izuku were currently on their way out of the school when a black haired teen rounded a corner and quickly made his way over to them.
"Um, excuse me mister", he said shyly and Izuku turned in his direction.
"What's up?", Midoriya smiled at him kindly and waited for the student to speak.
"D-do you think that someone w-who… hates Quirk can become a hero?", the boy had a stern look in his eyes.
"I'll give you pointers and you'll show me if someone like that can become a hero, alright?", Izuku answered mysteriously which confused Momo and took the boy aback.
"Y-yeah…"
"You want to become a hero to make your parents proud, am I correct?"
"How d-"
"Am I correct?", this time Midoriya's voice was stricter. He would have his answer.
"Y-yes…", the boy admitted and then cast his gaze to the floor as tears started gathering in his eyes.
"Let me tell you something", Izuku said as he put a hand on his shoulder. This in turn made the boy look back at the hero in training in front of him. "No matter what you decide to do, no matter the path you take, remember this. Your parents will be proud as long as you are happy"
The tears in his eyes started slowly leaking as Midoriya took his hand off and then turned around. "Study, train and make the Water Hose proud, Izumi Kota"
Yaoyorozu had no idea what just transpired, but opted to follow her partner after waving the boy goodbye. None of them turned around as he fell to his knees and started quietly sobbing with a small smile on his face.
"What was that all about?", Momo questioned once they left the school.
"His parents were assaulted by a Villain while protecting civilians. My parents' emergency surgeries saved their lives, but they remain in coma for over two years now", Midoriya explained casually and Yaoyorozu had to stop in her tracks to think about it for a second.
"My father saved his from certain death. My mom saved his from certain death. Now was my turn to save their son from his hate to Quirks, which took his parents away from him", the greenette added and Momo quickly caught up to him.
"Heroic behaviours run in this family like blood…", she thought to herself with a smile. But then a stray thought passed quickly through her mind. "What If this admiration evolves into something more…?"
It vanished as soon as it came, so Momo didn't think about it for now. Besides…
Life wasn't a romance novel, was it…?
Aaaand done.
Now with this quick break from UA we can go back to the events leading up to the Sports Festival, which should start in the next chapter, but I'm not 100% sure.
See you next time ;D