14.04.2020
It's me again and guess what?! We've went over one hundred comments! I thank you for your continued support!
Onto the comments that made us reach the milestone and beyond!:
RandomReader867 - Nothing happened to the Big Three! Just reach the chapter and everything will become clear ;D
GunBlade2020 - I appreciate that you liked the fluff! I'll make sure to include some more of it in the future, if it fits that is!
Fouzy - I felt like bringing them together one interaction at a time would be the best solution, hence why I decided not to give them another heart to heart moment so soon. But that doesn't mean, that there is nothing in this chapter as well ;D
zerobound - I didn't say it the last time, but I like your profile pick! It's the canon that I'm rooting for and if it doesn't happen, then I'll make my own canon! Also, I'm glad you enjoyed the fluff
And now, the man that hit one hundred: CarEnthusiast - I can stop worrying about my life now xD I'm still a novice at fluff at best, but I'm happy knowing that some people find it entertaining to read! Also, the thought about Kirishima being a muscle car fan was sprung from YOUR idea about Kendo visiting Midoriya with class 1-A. Muscle cars have the word 'muscle' in them and it's a pretty manly word if you ask me, hence why Kirishima is a muscle car fan from now on!
Bucio - I personally started with M-K Ultra, then started following Emerald Island and only recently decided to binge Eavesdropping, a great idea on my part! I simply seem to enjoy anything that Akeen posts and I like how he/she has everything planned out instead of it being quickly put together like I do! Maybe one day I'll get close to something similar. Anyway, just as you said, it's the first serious step in Momo's and Izuku's relationship, as they start sharing their thoughts and fears. I think that nothing brings people together like telling someone your most secret thoughts. That and tragedies, but those will be in the future ;D As for Itsuka... she's about to start developing feelings for our protagonist. I think that I hinted enough in the past that she is impressed by his drive and in the Internship Arc as well as in the future, she will be reminded just how far he is willing to go for the sake of others!
And now, the chapter!
"Thanks for letting us meet up at your place!", shouted Mina over her shoulder.
Class 1-A slept in a bit and decided to spend together at least an hour or so, before going back to the dorms. So they lounged in the living room with the giant TV and watched some people trying to do some cool stuff and failing miserably.
Nejiro came in a few minutes before they were to depart and offered them to stay for breakfast - they stayed unanimously. And it was worth it. The food prepared by Midoriya's cooks was top notch and even the likes of Yaoyorozu and Aoyama were impressed.
Speaking of Nejiro.
"I must have forgotten my phone", Momo lied swiftly and went back to the mansion. "You don't have to wait for me!", she shouted to her friends and saw them join with the rest of the group.
Yaoyorozu opened the massive doors and looked around for either her classmate or his blue haired maid. A few moments of silence passed before she heard their voices coming from the dining room.
"- have to say, I loved the looks on their faces when I mentioned your name!", Nejiro's laughter echoed through the halls as Momo neared the source of the voice.
"I'm still surprised that none of them connected my name to the Midoriya Pharmaceuticals", she was close enough to hear him chuckle. "Though I can't help, but think that I prefered not to be connected with my parents all the time…", his voice shifted back to this unsure version of himself that she got to witness a couple of hours earlier.
Her mind betrayed her and recalled the moment their lips touched for that split second and how that split second made her feel as if she was melting.
"Remember what you came here for!", she scolded herself and wiped the giddy grin off of her face.
She opened the doors to the dining room wider to be able to squeeze through, which announced her presence. Both people in the room turned their heads in her direction and Midoriya smiled at her, but it was the genuine upbeat one that he always seemed to wear when his classmates were around. He should copyright it.
"Hey Momo!", he greeted her as if they didn't see each other for days instead of minutes. "Did you forget something?", her crush asked and made his way over to her.
"I have a question to Nejiro", Momo answered as she looked over his shoulder to spot the bluenette in question.
"To me?", she sounded very intrigued and was also very much floating over to them. "What do you want to know?!", she questioned happily and spun around, her feet not touching the ground.
"There's a blue haired girl in the third year Hero Course who has a similar Quirk and personality to yours, are you related by any chance?"
"Yup!", Nejiro exclaimed proudly. "That's my little sister, Nejire!"
"You have a sister?!", judging from his reaction, Izuku didn't know about this little fact.
"You didn't know?!", the bluenette pouted in faked hurt.
Though both chuckled at what Yaoyorozu guessed to be their antics and smiled herself.
"Oh, I know! You should totally tell her that I said hello and give her my number the next time you see her!", she fully turned to Izuku now and did what Momo could only describe as puppy eyes. Apparently, it was super effective.
"Fine, fine", Midoriya caved in nearly instantaneously and laughed afterwards. "You are going to be the death of me, I swear", he joked and the two women joined him with their own laughter. "Was there anything else you wanted Momo?"
Her heart didn't just skip a few beats and her face was not getting hotter. At least she would like for that not to be the case. Something about the way he used her name sparingly and when they were alone made it all the more special in her eyes.
"U-um, no. I j-just wanted to… to clarify this one t-thing!", no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep her eyes on him, his smile was to bright.
"Do you want me to walk you to the gate?", he offered, putting the plates that she just spotted he was holding for their entire conversation.
"I would l-like that", she answered with a minimal stutter and follow him as he led her through the halls.
They started talking about their internships as a way to kill the silence around them when they stepped outside. They were so caught up in the conversation that they didn't even notice that they were standing for the past five minutes in front of the gate, just talking and laughing.
"I guess this is where we part ways?", Midoriya was the first one to speak.
"I guess so…", it made her feel just a little bit sad, that they had to part ways for the time being. "Wow, I'm like… Plus Ultra sappy…"
"Hey, we will see each other in the evening!", the green haired hero in training stated as a look of brief sadness passed through her facial features.
"Yeah, you're right", Momo agreed and beamed at him eagerly. "I shouldn't… but… Ah, screw it!"
The raven haired girl took a few quick steps forward and planted a kiss on his cheek, before booking it through the gate. She had a happy smile on her face for the rest of the day.
"As you can see, this year's offers are… not spread out as evenly as usual. This means that you have not a big enough of an impact in the Sports Festival as you may have thought", Aizawa monotonous voice was stating the obvious, but Momo still took it personally. Having received only a handful of offers would do that to you.
"Geez Todoroki, couldn't you have left something for the rest of us?!", shouted someone from the front, but Yaoyorozu didn't catch who it was exactly.
"Yeah, you lookin' down on us or something, you Half 'n Half Bastard?!", yet even in her state, Momo could tell who shouted this one, she smiled weakly to herself.
"There was no doubt, that Todoroki would receive the most offers by a longshot. Most of the offers come from some small fries that want to associate themselves with your father in any way, shape or form and having the son of the Number One Hero intern with them would make them famous", explained the Pro and the class understood the politics of it all.
"That's why I'm going to intern under my father", stated Shoto and Aizawa nodded.
"I thought so. Bakugo, you've gotten the second biggest amount of offers. From what I've seen, some big names took a liking to you. I'm talking Best Jeanist kind of big names. The top if you would"
"Of course! As if I would even think of interning under some weakling!", shouted Bakugo, that was kind of his trademark. As Izuku's was his smile.
"And the third place in this competition for fame - Midoriya. You may have lost to a Gen Ed student in the second round of the tournament, yet it seems as if you garnered the most attention. I heard people talking that thanks to you Shinso made it as far as he did. You made good impressions on some very important people. I saw Edgeshot's and Ryukyu's agencies on the list, good job"
Then, Aizawa started explaining exactly how these internships would look like. They would join the agency of their choice for a week and follow their assigned Pro's as they went about their duties. They were there mostly to observe unless ordered by the Pro's to act.
Their homeroom teacher also told them not to decide on the first day. Even if they got a limited amount of offers. This was one of the most important choices in their careers. The right internship would allow them to improve their strengths, work on their weaknesses or broaden their skillset.
"Don't let the rankings fool you. If you aim too high you won't see real action", were his wise words.
But Momo decided on the same day. And she will be kicking herself for doing so for years to come.
"Oi, Midoriya how are those offers looking?!", Kirishima questioned as he made his way to the greenette's desk at the end of their school day.
"Much better than I anticipated", he smiled at the redhead and pointed at the names he has marked on his list.
"Edgeshot… Ryukyu… Ingenium… Ingenium?!", exclaimed Kirishima in shock.
"Quiet it down you dumbass!", whisper-shouted Midoriya. Both of them looked in Iida's direction. He didn't say a thing, but the class knew what happened.
Last Friday, the Turbo Hero: Enginium has been heavily injured by the infamous at this point Hero Killer: Stain. Midoriya did some digging and managed to come up with the modus operandi of this particular Villain.
The reports of similar assaults were from all over the Japan, but always came in the groups of four or five, before he moved onto a new location. Ingenium was the first Hero struck down in Hosu. As such, Midoriya's goal was simple - keep Iida out of Hosu, at all cost.
It was not a secret, that Tensei was Tenya's number one. Someone he looked up to. Midoriya didn't know what was the extent of Ingenium's damage was, but judging by the Engine Quirk user's sudden shift in demenour - it must've been serious.
"So… have you decided yet?", asked Kirishima, breaking the silence that has befallen them.
"Um, no. I'm trying to cut down on the offers for the time being. I crossed off the agencies from other parts of Japan and the ones without any members. But it still left too many to choose from confidently. That's why I'm trying to think about what I want to improve and this way I'll know who I want to intern under", explained Midoriya as the gears started grinding in the redhead's head.
"Good luck then bro!"
"Thanks! If Iida goes to Hosu, I might need it…"
It was Wednesday and Midoriya was lost. From all the names on his list he managed to pick out a few that suited his needs.
Edgeshot - the Number Four Hero
Ryukyu - the Number Ten Heroine
Even Endeavour - the Number One Hero himself! - though Midoriya suspected that the man himself didn't even bother picking out the interns and just told his sidekicks to send an offer to everyone participating in the Tournament.
Best Jeanist - the Number Three Hero that Bakugo was pretty much going to intern with.
And… a barcode. Midoriya didn't know why, but he didn't just cross out the barcode at the start. Something about it just… It was weird. The kind of weird that was signified an important development.
Midoriya would've thought about it more, but his phone started ringing. He put the list down on his desk and walked over to his nightstand to check who needed his attention. It was an unknown caller and the greenette was about to let it go into voicemail, but the call… it was as if his phone answered it itself!
"It's not polite to let someone wait so long for an answer, y'know?", judging from the voice, the caller was a man, but who exactly was it? "Oi, kid, you there?! I didn't fuck up the numbers, did I?", the sounds of papers shuffling could be heard and Midoriya decided to introduce himself.
"It's Midoriya Izuku speaking", the shuffling stopped immediately and there was a short pause.
"That's it?!", the voice questioned and Midoriya winced slightly at how loud it was over the phone.
"What else do you want to know?!", the greenette answered with more vigour.
"Do you accept my offer?!", just as Midoriya was getting into the shouting mood, he froze.
"What offer?"
"For an internship! Seriously, didn't you use the application I sent you?!", it was kinda irritating to be yelled at by someone you didn't know for doing something you had no idea about.
"You didn't sent me shit! I don't even know who you are!", anger clear in his voice seemed to make the man think for a second.
"So you didn't get a neatly packed .exe folder in your mail?", he asked more timidly.
"Nope", the caller's calmness made Izuku calm down as well. Maybe now the conversation would be a little bit more normal?
"I knew I fucked something up!", the voice whined, sounding more like a baby and not like a grown up man. There went hopes of having a normal conversation. "Since the surprise is ruined anyway, let me introduce myself. I'm Shihai Kairo, Hero Name: Blackout and I would like for you to intern at my agency!"
"Okay, now I understand how I was supposed to discover the offer, but that didn't change the fact that I couldn't just waltz into a supermarket, walk up to a cashier and ask: 'hey, could you please scan this barcode, because I think that an overly zealous Pro Hero decided to sent me an offer that I had to decipher myself?' Sounds like a madman to me", the now laying on the bed Midoriya explained and the Pro laughed on his end.
"I didn't really think about it that way!", he managed to say between his chuckles. "But, that doesn't change my mind. I still want to offer you an internship. From what I managed to dig up you have been fitted with cybernetic augmentations, right?", his voice shifted to a more serious tone, which prompted Midoriya to follow suit.
"Yes. Those are the prototypes used in the RI Initiative"
"RI Initiative?"
"Re-Introduce. In our age, people get caught up in Villain activity everyday and there's not always a hero nearby to save them. That's why the amputees rate is much higher than it was two hundred years ago. The Initiative aims to create fully compatible and cheap prosthetics that would allow amputees to rejoin the society as its normal members"
"You do know you stuff kid. But, we got sidetracked a bit. Have you ever though against anyone that had the ability to control electronics?", the Pro asked in a less serious tone.
"No, there was a Villain at the USJ that could control robots, but thankfully not my augments", Midoriya didn't know if High-Tech's Quirk didn't work on him or if Technocracy's leader just didn't try to control the augments.
"Well, do you want to spar with someone that can?", the smirk on Blackout's face was audible in the way he spoke.
Izuku thought about for a few moments. He though about going with Ryukyu, since that would allow him to broaden his skillset, but now, he had the opportunity to work on his biggest weakness - and he was going to take it.
"Mister Shihai, you've gotten yourself an intern!", the greenette exclaimed with a determined look on his face.
Shihai Kairo - Shihai means Domination, while Kairo means Circuit, yep I did open translate Google and tried to come up with a Japanese name that had some kind of meaning behind it xD I tried just translating his Quirk's name into Japanese and making it his name, but... it didn't work out, so I settled with Circuit Domination [First name, Last name], since it fits the character and still has some connection to his Quirk.
Also, is constructing affordable prosthetics the only agenda of the RI Initiative? Where's the Technocracy when you need someone to instigate action and why I have the feeling that Iida will go to Hosu?
Stay tuned and come back for the next chapter to find out! ;D