Summer.

A sacred period of time in which most students of Izuku Midoriya's age spent doing as many enjoyable things as they could get away with without the usual monotony of school.

Some lazed about. Some prepared for the second half of the year. Izuku would be part of the second bit, but with a very strong distinction.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"Just some of the advanced training! Like the one I started off with at his age!"

"DID YOU SOMEHOW FORGET THE LIMITS OF AN AVERAGE 17 YEAR OLD?!"

"We've already been training for months now! Now that we've reached the summer holidays, I thought I could push him through the big ones! He was really enthusiastic, too!"

"HE'S BEEN ASLEEP FOR FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT AND YOU ONLY THOUGHT TO CALL ME WHEN IT WAS THE DAY FOR THE USUAL CALL TO HIS MOTHER! HE DOESN'T HAVE YOUR STAMINA, ISE!"

"Yet, Asia. He's doesn't have my stamina, yet."

*WHACK!*

Izuku blurrily came back to the waking world just in time to see the Twilight Priestess: Avalon whack her staff into the back of Hyoudou-sensei's head. Avalon was a young woman with long blonde hair and kind green eyes that were currently annoyed at Hyoudou-sensei. She was dressed in her Hero Costume, which was a set of wearing silver robes over green garbs, both laced with golden outlines and wielding a golden-colored monk staff decorated with emerald jewels.

"Am I dreaming?"

Noticing his alert state, Avalon ignored Hyoudou-sensei's whining and approached him, laying her hands on his chest and causing a soft greenish gold aura to cover his body. "Izuku-kun, right? How do you feel now?"

Izuku blinked tiredly, hating himself for feeling too exhausted to even inquire on the Quirk being used to heal him. "Exhausted, I think."

"Sorry about before, Izuku." Hyoudou-sensei leaned over and gently patted Izuku's head. "I should've known not to push you too much."

Avalon clicked her teeth. "As much as I hate to tell this to a patient, you are at fault as well, Izuku. If it was getting this bad, you should've told Ise to lessen it. He would've seen to adjust the exercises properly."

"No..." Izuku tried to sit up, but was firmly pushed back down to the bed by both adults. "I have to try harder... Unlike everyone else, I'm behind everyone by so many years..."

"Why do you believe that you're in some kind of race to becoming a hero?" Issei asked. "It's always better to go at a stable pace."

"But... you're Ddraig. And you've put so much effort into me." Izuku whispered. "I don't want... to let you down."

"Izuku... GAH!" Hyoudou-sensei suddenly grabbed Izuku into a headlock, laughing as he rubbed his cheek against the teenager's. "I can't believe you think that I'd ever be disappointed in you, Izuku!"

"Neither can I." Avalon spoke up. "Despite your overenthusiasm, it is proof of how serious you are into entering our profession. You'd be great as a hero, Izuku, even if you were to go through U.A. Quirkless."

Again... Another famous Pro Hero had acknowledged him again, despite his lack of a Quirk!

"I thought you said he didn't have a Quirk yet?!" Avalon nimbly leapt up a dresser to avoid the sudden flood of tears.

"He doesn't, Asia. He really doesn't."

"You are looking at what I'm looking at, right?"

"You should've seen his mother when they were saying goodbye to each other at the start of summer."

After leaving his mother to go to Ddraig's publicly owned resort, Izuku's summer routine consisted mainly of a set of exercises to warm him up (now toned down at Avalon's insistence), a zany 'quest' Hyoudou-sensei would send him off on, and then the rest of the day to have off.

The last quest that had left him bedridden had been to fill up a knapsack full of stones and carry it around all day throughout his exercises. Izuku must have given them all a scare when he suddenly collapsed facefirst under the scorching sun.

His entire body was just one giant hurt after that. His muscles hurt. His bones hurt. His lungs hurt. His stomach hurt. Everything that could hurt in him hurt.

Now Izuku was only allowed to carry a quarter filled knapsack. But Hyoudou-sensei must have understood Izuku's frustration as he then 'ordered' Izuku to be carrying the quarter filled knapsack everywhere he could, not caring about the blonde heroine trying to strangle him from behind.

Now Izuku was alone, jogging along the path while waving at the various people that passed him by. As per the holiday, there were many of them as expected.

What had not been expected was the Mt. Lady herself joining him. The woman had felt bad at how Ddraig's lashing of the heroes subtly pointed out that even she couldn't have helped out to the point that a Quirkless teenager had had to risk his life because the present heroes were unwilling to.

"Rookie hero needs at least two lanes... It's amazing how pathetic I was that a top rank like Ddraig took pity on me." Takeyama (She had demanded that Izuku call her as such whenever not in costume) had once scoffed as she jogged at Izuku's side. "At least Ddraig is doing more than just giving critic."

At the very least, it was nice to have an exercise partner. Especially as Takeyama-san took them seriously, even if she did like to tease him a bit. Izuku would refuse to admit that he was almost more motivated by the view than by his goal.

He spent days trudging along behind Takeyama as she tauntingly skipped along, and her workout gear had never been anything other than tight because why wouldn't it. It was during his second week of weighted jogging that he realized that for the last ten or so minutes, his eyes had been firmly fixed on her ass.

He couldn't help but admire the way it jiggled with every step she took, the way he could see the physical effects of jogging on her musculature because of her yoga pants.

'Money shot, indeed...'

*thoom*

Both Izuku and Takeyama looked up to see a familiar red blur streaking across the sky, with many civilians around them excitedly pointing and taking pictures.

"Well, I gotta get back to work now." Takeyama sighed before ruffling Izuku's hair. "Later, kid."

"Bye." Izuku waved her goodbye before continuing on his jog alone. He still had some miles to go, after all.

"Welcome to the Nekoshou Onsen. We hope you enjoy your stay here."

Izuku blinked as a brunette woman and a whitehaired girl, both with cat ears bowed before him before bowing back. "Um... Thank you for having me."

"Go on, Izuku." Hyoudou-sensei waved Izuku off as he moved elsewhere with the proprietress of the onsen. "I need to speak with Kuroka-chan for a bit. Koneko-chan, please show Izuku the way."

"I'm Koneko Toujou. This way, sir." Koneko gestured, still demure even as she donned a lollipop as soon as her sister was out of sight. Izuku followed after the pale-skinned girl, idly trailing after her as she directed Izuku to the locker room where he changed into their offered yukata and then pointed out the steaming hot spring for the male side.

"Thank you, Toujou-san. I'm Izuku Midoriya, by the way."

"It's fine, Izuku-san." Koneko replied, smiling softly in a way that made Izuku's cheeks redden. "And please, call me Koneko."

"O-Okay, Koneko-san." Watching her bow (Did she know that her kimono was looser than before? He saw a startling high amount of pale cleavage!), Izuku sighed before preparing himself for the bath, while wondering where his mentor had gone.

Kuroka gasped heavily as Issei's cock repeatedly plundered into her depths, pinned to her bed with her kimono only barely removed to let him use her body as he wished.

Issei must've been really packed up, because as soon as he was done, he moved on to the prone Asia beside her, thrusting again into the blonde healer from behind and making her groan into the mattress as his hips heavily clapped down on her springy backside.

All Kuroka could do was bask in the post-sex euphoria and wait for her turn next.

Izuku blinked at the sight of the other person currently using the hot spring at the moment. It was a dangerously skinny blond man with deep shadows in his eyes. "Oh... Good evening, sir."

"Good evening to you, young man." The man replied, his voice a strange mix of strong and sickly. "Don't be shy now. There's plenty of space for the both of us."

"Oh, okay then." Izuku replied before gingerly entering the bath. He shuddered in relief as he slowly sunk into the hot water, feeling his sore muscles practically rejoice at the sensation. 'Hyoudou-sensei sure was nice to invite me along to come here... Although, what business does he have that's keeping him away?'

"Ah... Pardon me, but aren't you that boy from the Slime Villain incident?" The blond man spoke up suddenly. "The one who rushed in to save his friend?"

Izuku startled in shock, not expecting to be recognized after many months of nonrecognition due to both Ddraig and Kacchan taking the attention. "Um, yes. I'm Izuku Midoriya."

"I'm Toshinori Yagi." The man replied genially. "I was there, you know... Were you serious?"

"S-Serious? About what?"

"About why you saved your friend." Yagi clarified. "That you moved before you could even think your actions through? Would you be able to do it again?"

Izuku blinked at that question. Would he be able to do it again? He... He... "I don't... I don't know... I mean... If Kacchan or someone else were in trouble, I'd..."

Yagi sighed, as if in acceptance of that incomplete answer. "You don't know... And that's fine."

"Eh?" Izuku blinked. "Really?"

"Of course." Yagi chuckled. "Some people might pay lip service when they say that they are brave enough to risk their lives... but few people actually have the will to act at the critical moment. As you can no doubt remember, that is a flaw Death Arms and his colleagues possessed that day."

Izuku gulped as he leaned back and stared at the night sky, his thoughts bubbling like the water around him. In a world of superhuman abilities, Yagi was right about the lack of action being concerning, especially when regarding the people actually permitted to take action. "I hope I don't become like that when I become a Pro Hero, too."

Yagi turned to look at him, his eyes wide and disturbingly dark due to his blackened sclera. "You want to become a hero, Midoriya-shounen?"

"Ah! Yeah!" Izuku sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I've actually been training to U.A.."

"U.A., huh?" Yagi said wistfully before giving him a thumbs up. "In that case, I wish you lots of good luck, Midoriya-shounen. The world will definitely need a hero like you!"

Izuku stared in surprise, feeling the familiar prickle of happy tears. It was startling how often he'd recently been having 'happy tears' instead of his usual depressed crying. "...thank you, Yagi-san."

"No. Thank you, Midoriya-shounen." Yagi firmly shook his head. "That day, you made me realize something I'd been missing for many years. That spark that drove me to- Ahem. The point is... Thank you, Midoriya-san. Even if you don't realize it, you did me an immense favor that day and showed me a glimpse of true heroism that I had rarely seen amongst the recent batch of Pro Heroes."

Izuku gaped as Yagi actually stood up in the bath to bow forward in gratitude.

"Izuku Midoriya-shounen, it was because of your actions on that day that not only your schoolmate's life was saved, but a passion that I didn't even know was on the verge of being snuffed out became rekindled! Thank you, Midoriya-shounen! Thank you! I thank you with all that I am!"

Izuku reasoned that there were many things that could have happened at that moment. What was not included in the many things Izuku thought up was a random stranger being so... cordial and grateful to him, especially as this was his first time ever meeting him. Izuku blinked as he tried to comprehend what just happened... and utterly failed. "EEEEEEEEEEEEH?!"

Placing a hand on Koneko's head as she worshipped his cock with her mouth and tongue, Issei hummed as the shout that echoed through probably the whole onsen. 'So Izuku's a screamer, huh?'

[...please never say that again.]

'Yup. I regretted it the moment it popped into my head.'

"So, we've finally entered the last week of your summer training." Hyoudou-sensei declared as he paced back and forth on the beach. "And now, Asia-chan finally gave me go-ahead to push it up to the Advanced level! Are you ready for this, kid?!"

"Yes, Hyoudou-sensei!" Before him, Izuku clenched his fists in determination. "I'll do whatever you give me!"

"Good. Now, you know how your usual exercises have been one hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats and a 10km run while wearing that bag quarter filled with stones?"

Izuku nodded.

"Well now, we'll be moving to pull-ups while hanging from a bar above flames which will burn you if you stop!"

"Wait, what?"

"Then when you've gotten used to that, I'll finally get to start teaching you how to fight and dodge random attacks from me!"

"I'm sorry, what-?!"

"Of course, not only will you still have your bag on, I'll be increasing it so that it's half filled now so that you always have it on while we keep doing all of that other stuff."

"..."

"Get ready, kid!" Hyoudou slammed his fist into his palm, causing a small shockwave as his gauntlets manifested. "Aren't you glad you finally understand why I had you sign that waiver right at the start of it all?"

"...ok, I think I got it, but just in case... tell me the whole thing again, I think I misheard a couple of things."

"Now, now, Izuku. You shouldn't just pretend to not hear what you clearly just heard."

"...oh, god." Izuku gulped in rising terror (and anticipation?). "I'm gonna diiiie…

"Don't overreact too much." Hyoudou-sensei chuckled as he patted Izuku's shoulder before suddenly holding up a vial. "Now drink this."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You've finally reached a level where your body won't tear itself apart if the Quirk you awaken is too powerful." Hyoudou-sensei muttered as he opened the vial and held it towards him. "With this, your Quirk will definitely awaken during the week."

Izuku had a lot of questions about what his mentor might have been making him drink... but unfortunately, the part of him that was reasonably cautious got beaten into submission with bloody clubs by the part that trusted his mentor and the part that really really really really really really really wanted a Quirk like he'd been promised.

So of course, he took the vial and drank it all down immediately.

On the bad side, he later learned that the vial's main component had been his blood of all things.

On the good side, Izuku woke up the next morning to see a large green lion sleeping next to him in a weird place that did not look anything like the room he'd gone to sleep to the previous night.

So all things considered, Izuku Midoriya considered every trouble Hyoudou-sensei had given him to be totally worth it.