Naruto30 - Yes.
ASX-000 - There is a very valid reason why UNLEASH MIDORIYA is Eraserhead's armageddon option...
AlphaStryke - Chad 1-A versus Virgin Other Schools.
PokeKing Charizard - Yes, she is very adorably in love.
TheGreabBubbaJ - Yes
Detrametal - Yes. Uraraka is Badass Adorable.
AngelFallenDemon - Certainly slaughter, not certainly a slasher movie.
Trixuny - Yes
Gowithebeat - Momo is a warlock confirmed
odorsloth - words to live by
SmokyGhoul - You ARE visiting proper therapists for the mentioned issues, right? I had both at some point in life but managed to get out of those and I know from autopsy that fun reads aren't a substitute for a proper therapy.
(***)
The announcement that everyone has managed to pass was, honestly, not that much of a surprise. The fact that Midoriya's combat party lost some points over prioritizing combat to the rescue was pure bullshit though. And probably HPSC' way of dissing Nedzu's school.
OF COURSE rescue was a priority. But this wasn't an abandonment of the rescue efforts. They had enough heroes on-site to provide rescue efforts; the majority of the 1-A simply maintained cohesiveness in order to be able to respond in-force to any villain attack.
Split up heroes focused on rescuing civilians (whose presence would force them to fight with one arm tied behind their back, like it did to All Might and Endeavor in Kamino) were a literal dream target for every villain. If Izuku was a villain (not like it was a possibility, errr), he would have used such a scenario if he wanted to eliminate some major hero.
So he naturally countered that. And it worked. He correctly guessed that there were active villains in the area, he maintained his unit as a cohesive response force, and then promptly held the attack at bay while the remaining heroes rescued civilians. 1-A should receive bonus points for that! Not lose some!
This is bull…
"Izu!" Uraraka says suddenly, her hands on his cheeks. "I get it that you are angry that your friends weren't judged fairly, but stop ranting about it! Everyone's looking at us."
Oops. He'll rant to Stain in the evening. Uncle Chizome will understand. Besides, their mutual relationship is 90% composed of ranting about bad heroes and the negative sides of the current hero industry together. HPSC' doing asshole moves like that is a chief among their subjects.
Things get nasty when his dad is in hearing range. Then he and Stain start ranting together until mom tells the Hero Killer to go home because she wants her husband back.
Izuku Midoriya was on cloud nine when he finally received his hero license. It was like… like a dream come true. He had a hero license! Okay, it was a provisional one, but it meant that he COULD NOW OFFICIALLY DO HEROES WORK.
He could now use a quirk in public, wear a hero uniform in public, and… it was awesome! It was wonderful! It was…
He quickly hid his license because Ochaco clearly tried to take a peek at it. To see his hero's name.
"Izu." She stares at him. He is a bit shaken internally, because her stare is very similar to his mom's. It's the 'Young man what have you done now, tell me the truth and I won't be angry' stare.
He has some very traumatic memories associated with it. Namely that one or two times when he managed to do something nasty enough that he DID manage to make her angry in the end.
"Ocha, give me a second, alright?" He quickly replies. "I just need to… uhm… prepare internally?"
They are in front of their bus. People around are still talking about things (mostly the exam and how happy they are to get their provisional licenses). They are yet to start getting herded into their bus because Ms. Joke is busy talking with Eraserhead about something.
"Oh, alright." She replies and the Abominable Stare vanishes. "Makes sense. Uhm, so… how about I…" And now she starts blushing viciously. "I, uhm, go first?"
What does she mean with th… oh. Wait, she couldn't possibly…
"What, here?!" He is horrified, terrified and very looking forward to this, except for the public part which makes the first two adjectives correct. "That's… that's rather…"
"I don't care!" She replies. "I'm still super happy with us passing the exam and I really want to make some even better memories. With you. So…" She is fidgeting. He is fidgeting. It's… really incredibly awkward, especially in public. Even if no one seems to be paying them any mind and they are in the back of the group.
After almost ten seconds of awkward stares, and interrupted motions, it happens. Izuku Midoriya and Uraraka Ochaco kiss for the first time. The entire event - especially their noses meeting, which certainly wasn't planned - practically oozes inexperience and deep romantic feelings they have for each other.
Naturally, it doesn't go unnoticed. At least Mina is a woman of culture. She does let them finish it before intervening. Also Ms. Joke is an expert in taking sneak pics and she knows what to do with this one.
"Ha! Finally!" She shouts and the two lovebirds jump back in surprise. Midoriya actually ends up colliding with the side of the bus, and promptly starts massaging the back of his head. "Was it your first kiss? Please, tell me that it was." Attention goes towards them. It wasn't part of the plan.
"Uhm… y…yes?" Uraraka manages to reply. Somehow. It's a very shaky reply.
"Wait a second, Ochachan." Himiko makes a thoughtful face. "How many dates were you on before this?"
"Like… twenty-seven?" Ochako replies. Midoriya is too busy deflating in horror. "If you count all the… wait, was it too early?"
Mina's jaw actually drops at it. Himiko, however, is ready. She was ready for it ever since she overheard Ochachan's 'bold' declaration of first kiss before the exam. This was her moment.
"Too… too bright…" She says. Then she collapses onto the ground. It's all staged. But it's very well-staged. Somehow she sneaks a mask onto her face (it's her own face, but with large X for her eyes and well-pronounced vampire fangs). And she pulls her hands into the sleeves, while throwing a handful of Tenko's dust out.
It's a very convincing image of a vampire that has just (mostly) turned to dust. It's good enough to make most of their classmates laugh. Some look like they are on the verge of laughter-induced asphyxiation.
Ms. Joke has tears welling up in her eyes.
"They… they grow up so fast." She says. Aizawa and Shinsou make pained sighs as if on cue.
Todoroki sees it. Midoriya has enough time to see the gears turning in his head, but is way too out of it to stop it in time.
"Shinsou." Todoroki asks. The laughter has mostly died out by now, and Todoroki speaking out like that tends to gather attention. "I have a question." Shinsou looks at him questioningly. "You and Toga. Are you Aizawa-sensei and Ms. Joke's secret love children?"
Silence. Eraserhead is staring at Todoroki in abject horror. Ms. Joke looks positively delighted. Toga's mask fell off and she looks like she is too busy holding back laughter to put it back on. Other students know that depending on Shinsou's answer, their lives might be over.
"Damn." Shinsou looks at Todoroki with a thoughtful face. "How did you figure it out?"
Oh, they are so dead.
UA Staff Chatroom
Eraserhead: I announce Midoriya Moment. Code Orange.
Principal: What happened?
AllMight: Oh no, not again.
Snipe: They passed the exam, right?
Eraserhead: oh they totally did, it was a massacre
Eraserhead: The first stage was a free for all between 1540 participants and 1-A scored more than seven hundred kills
Eraserhead: Then they beat up Gang Orca.
AllMight: … of course they did.
VladKing: 1-B got four hundred kills. And they took down Miruko.
AllMight: …
Principal: Oh dear.
PresentMic: 1-C and 1-D got 221 kills! And they almost managed to take down Crust.
Principal: OH. DEAR.
Eraserhead: Well, this is great, but not the point.
Eraserhead: 1-A - through some disguises and acting - managed to persuade at least several hero schools in this country that UA made a deal with some unspeakable eldritch abomination from Outer Space in order to get more powerful.
Eraserhead: Also Aiko Midoriya is now known throughout the country as 'The Great Young One'. Daughter of some unnamed entity that used to be worshiped throughout the world, and could level cities with a move of their hand. And is currently sharing their knowledge and power with UA students in exchange for periodic tributes.
Eraserhead: Sounds familiar?
AllMight: …..
Principal: …..
VladKing: 1-B did the exact same thing. Also, how did 1-A do that if Aiko was with us?
PresentMic: uhm, nope, she was with us? And they were doing the exact same thing, I actually wanted to report that myself
AllMight: ….
Principal: ….
Eraserhead: ….
VladKing: …..
PresentMic: …
Eraserhead: I don't want to know.
VladKing: Same.
PresentMic: YEAAAAH!
Principal: You know, if the other schools fall for something like that, they deserve everything that will happen to them now.
AllMight: I don't want to know what you meant by it.
Eraserhead: Ignorance is bliss.
"So…" Uraraka decides to prompt him again once they are seated in the bus. Aiko is with them, but only in body. She sat on her older brother's lap and promptly fell asleep. Apparently using her quirk (whatever it was) tired her a lot.
It was, thus, the time. She had to know. She had to!
"Uhm… right, I guess it's time for the reveal." Izuku scratches his cheek. Then he manages to pull out his wallet and open it up. Then she finally gets to see his hero license (oh, he looks super stressed in the picture).
Valiant. The Second Chance Hero. Huh.
"That's… what brought this?" She asks.
"Well, the hero's name is… how should I put it…" He is both serious and seriously anxious about it. Did her reaction make him feel as if she didn't approve of it? Hopefully not! "I asked my dad about the origin of his hero name, and… well, it turned out to be a bit of a … self-imposed mission."
"Really?" She blinks at him a few times. Now that she thought about it, she never learned what was the origin of the name of All Might. No one really knows.
"Yeah, it was pretty much about putting his all might into the… errr… brutal and vicious murder of my stepfather." Midoriya replies and Uraraka understands why All Might never explained his hero name's origin publicly. "I decided to do something similar, I… really need to put in an effort when it comes to, you know… not freaking out in front of people and so on."
Taking a bravery-focused hero name but making it mean bravery during social interactions with other people (instead of bravery in front of villains, since he had that covered) was a very Izuku Midoriya thing to do. Or so Uraraka thought.
"And, besides… I mean, I don't want to be mean or anything…" He continues. "...but I'm going after the first place in the ranking, and… I mean, can you imagine someone with Mineta, Aoyama or Tsuyu hero names being the Number One Hero?"
Well. He has a point. It's a bit insensitive, but… All Might and Endeavor… and then, Grape Juice? Froppy? Can't Stop Twinkling? That would be a bit… uhm…
Everywhere from second place onwards was a fair game, but the first slot was something special. You became the face of the country for foreigners. And… oh god, what if Shoji becomes the Number One Hero? His hero name is Tentacole, that would be… ugh. The image of Japan would need years to recover from those associations.
"That makes sense." She admits. "What about your title? I mean, I think I can get the origin of it, just…"
"Well, it's what you think. I think." He replies with a shadow of hesitation. "I was given a second chance.. So was Himiko, Hitoshi, Tenko and Kacchan and… so on." He looks down a bit. She isn't sure why. She isn't sure if he knows why. "I believe in second chances. For as long as someone truly wants it. And I really think that it's quite an important part of myself as a hero, or… errr… I want it to be."
He is looking at her. Wanting to hear her opinion. If she was to say what was on her mind, it would be 'Izu, you're supposed to like that name, my opinion is irrelevant'. Her boyfriend should really get at least a tiny bit more selfish.
Alternatively the 'you're still on your first chance, dammit' but… yeah, not the time.
"I like it." She replies. He brightens up in a heartbeat. And seeing him happy makes her happy.
So they do what seems to be the right thing to do. They kiss. Aiko promptly announces that she is now awake by a loud sound of disgust (she also sticks her tongue at them), before announcing that she isn't going to keep watching them do weird adult things.
She promptly relocates to Tokoyami's lap (Dark Shadow is absolutely overjoyed) and continues her nap there. Midoriya and Uraraka are too busy blushing and hiding their faces at her interjection to react to that.
Inko Midoriya's Cooking Club Chatroom
LethalJoke: LADIES!
LethalJoke: I have obtained the ultimate picture and I expect our beloved administrator to finally give me her secret katsudon recipe for it.
IFoundAGun: Still trying, huh?
LethalJoke: IT WILL BE MINE
LethalJoke: MIIIIIIINEEEEEE
MotherCat: We shall see, Emi.
MotherCat: Please, show us the picture.
LethalJoke: [IMG]
MotherCat: is that
LethalJoke: Izuku Midoriya's first kiss.
LethalJoke: They were super adorable.
LethalJoke: And precious. And innocent too.
LethalJoke: Inko?
LadyofNight: She is probably crying, give her a moment.
IFoundAGun: Now THAT'S what I call a proper leverage.
GentleFan: Something that you can't obtain normally.
GentleFan: Something to realize Emi Fukukado's greatest dream.
TheBetterCompress: … lucky
PussycatM: Awwww
PussycatP: I agree
MotherCat: You won, Emi.
LethalJoke: YES!
LadyofNight: ah the young love
LadyofNight: it will bloom so much in the future
LadyofNight: it's always the most innocent ones, you know?
[User LadyofNight was muted for one hour by the administrator MotherCat. Reason: Horny Jail]
IFoundAGun: uh oh
LethalJoke: RIP
MotherCat: Midnight, lewd my adorable, precious and innocent son and his adorable precious and innocent girlfriend again, and I promise you, they'll never find all parts of your corpse.
PussycatR: does this threat include silencing me, as I could potentially use my quirk to find all parts of her corpse
MotherCat: Of course not, Ragdoll.
PussycatR: Phew. I wouldn't look for her either way.
IFoundAGun: Oof.
PussycatM: Now that's a quality burn.
PussycatR: lewding minors is bad
PussycatP: wait a second
PussycatR: don't test me, Pixie
LethalJoke: Alright so, I have a question
LethalJoke: unconnected to the above issue
LethalJoke: are we going to expand? I totally want to see Ryukyu and Miruko here
PussycatM: … seriously? I can somehow imagine Ryukyu cooking (and I'd like to know some recipes for Chinese cuisine that she probably knows), but MIRUKO?
PussycatM: She probably kicks the oven until it surrenders and does the food on its own.
LethalJoke: We all know that actual cooking is like 20% of what we do here, the rest is gossip, gardening tips, showing each other the pictures of our sweet children and/or nephews and nieces and striking underground and technically illegal business deals.
LethalJoke: Sometimes it's good to know someone on the other side. Sometimes it helps both sides NOT do anything stupid.
LethalJoke: besides, Miruko cooking is still more possible than… you know
ScaryAmericano: one more word and no more top quality american beef from my sister's farm will be sent to Japan through diplomatic mail
LethalJoke: I'M SORRY CATHLEEN I WILL NOT INSINUATE ANYTHING AGAIN
Once he returned to the UA, Eraserhead immediately decided to focus on necessities. Namely, he headed towards the teacher's lounge to take a nap. And probably drink some coffee. Being able to connect those two acts in one cohesive whole was something of a second quirk to him.
He ran into the Hero Killer Stain. Who was busy watching something on his smartphone. Probably something about All Might.
"So, how was it?" Stain asks, not even looking towards him. He probably figured out who Eraserhead was from the sound of his footsteps.
Erasure Hero was incredibly grateful that Stain was only killing people's careers. He had no idea how the Hero Killer made himself so inhumanly deadly and dangerous. Was it a part of his quirk? Not like Stain was kind enough to explain it to Eraserhead. Midoriya certainly knew, but…
It was a knowledge that could help stop Stain's rampage. So despite all that happy and friendly atmosphere, it remained unmentioned. It's not like Stain told any hero hanging at Midoriyas' residence who was going to be his next target. Even All Might didn't know.
"Absolute and total annihilation of opposing forces." Eraserhead replies. Stain nods absentmindedly.
"As expected." He adds. "Izuku is scarier than Aiko when he puts his back into something and quirks or heroes are involved."
This is a very correct assessment in Eraserhead's opinion. Well, almost. In his opinion, these two are pretty much equalling each other. He is growingly afraid of what Asa and Eri have in store for him.
At least they do not interact with Eraserhead a lot. Except for Eri's constant attempts to make him more happy which actually tend to work because damn it, Eraserhead.
Aizawa suddenly grows a bit curious. Perhaps it's the right time to ask?
"How did you even join their family?" He was, by all intents and purposes, Izuku's uncle. Not by blood, but… well, Izuku Midoriya was collecting family members like normal people collected hero posters.
"His stepfather wanted someone to have an eye on his family while he was away." Stain replies, still absentmindedly watching a film on his phone. "He needed a bodyguard. Chauffeur too, in a way. I, a former vigilante, and no I'm not telling you my old name, needed a place and some steady source of money because hellish training costs money, apparently. So a deal was struck."
Oh. That makes sense. He has only a vague understanding of who Midoriya's stepfather was.
1. He was a nasty supervillain.
2. All Might killed him (had to make his introduction to the family awkward)
3. Revenant was his clone.
4. Nedzu cannot find out about any of the aforementioned points. Or things will get awkwardly complicated. Although, knowing the rat, he already knew but was playing along for incomprehensible rodent reasons.
5. HPSC cannot find out about any of the aforementioned points. Or people will start getting murdered.
In the end, it's a mostly unimportant thing to the Erasure Hero. Whoever that guy was, he was dead. Mischief (yes, he figured out who Inko Midoriya is, it wasn't that hard to realize when you saw her son's hero outfit) was only narrowly more interesting.
Most of her crimes have expired by now. The remaining ones were mostly her stealing money from the bad guys. Corporations found guilty of malfeasances, heroes that acted significantly unheroic, and so on.
Nothing that triggered Eraserhead's hero instincts enough to antagonize the former Symbol of Peace and threaten the future of some of his best students. Main reason why everything stayed secret was because too many people would lose a lot of things if the news got out.
She always gave up some of the spoils to the victims of whoever she just robbed. Oh, she kept a lot of it for herself. New heists cost money to prepare. But it was enough to earn her a lot of positive rep. In a way, her 'charity' efforts were an investment that paid back many times over.
There was a reason why she got along so well with Mr. Compress. She might not have been Oji Harima's descendant but she internalized his philosophy.
Mischief was a leveller before levellers were officially born.
"That makes sense." Eraserhead admits. His coffee is done. He will soon enough be back to the world of the living. Until the next time 1-A does something. Anything. He doesn't even want to know how they celebrate their victory in the exam. "You influenced him a lot."
"I know." Stain smiles faintly. He is proud of Izuku's achievements. They are family, even if not by blood. "But in the end he influenced me more than the other way around."
That was a new one. Eraserhead actually stops the date with his coffee for a moment.
"Really?" For the one time in his history, he DOES want to know something that's connected to Midoriya Izuku.
"Yeah." Stain replies. Whether he is still absentminded or not is a mystery to Eraserhead. "I was a bit… a bit more angry at the heroes before I become Midoriyas' bodyguard. Honestly speaking, my plan for my future career as Hero Killer Stain included killing heroes a bit more literally."
Oof. Not good. Very much not good.
"Izuku figured it out a month in." Stain continues. "And started a little crusade to change my mind. It was his sole focus for a few more months. Gathering evidence to back his opinion up on the internet, forming arguments, proper presentation… he was scarily single minded back then."
"So he wanted you to… not attack heroes?" If so, then Stain seemed to have settled on a relatively reasonable middle ground.
"Nope, he knew that I wouldn't agree to that." Stain replies. "He wanted me to not kill them. Nor maim them permanently. But he was alright with me beating them up and ruining their careers."
Well. Eraserhead remembers the Thunderbolt's meeting with Midoriya. The day he acquired two children that he would absolutely give his life for if needed right now. What Stain just told him absolutely fit what he knew about Midoriya's personality.
"He pointed out that killing people changes the way the public perceives you when you are a political sort of a villain." Stain says. "He made a bet with me. Told me that you can always resort to murder, but you can never take a step back from it once you've done it once. So he had me go non-lethal, and see the result of that… and then decide what methods I want to stick to."
"So I did." Stain continues. "And he was right. The term 'villain' is negatively charged, but it's the term 'murderer' that makes people stop listening to you. Except for weirdos. Weirdos that would, probably, disregard most of my ideology. And do things in its name that I'd never condone."
Eraserhead can imagine such a scenario quite well.
"Instead, people now point out that yes, I'm a villain. But not a murderer. I show… restraint." Stain continues his lecture. Eraserhead, somehow, feels compelled to listen to him. "And that lends credence to my words, apparently. I speak the same things as I did when I tried being a political activist. But I'm a supervillain that sticks out from the rest due to the non-lethal badge. So people actually listen."
Illogical. In Eraserhead's opinion. But he could understand where it was coming from. Killing was a nasty business, something that people instinctively jerked away from. But someone who had the strength to kill heroes, yet refrained from… it intrigued people. Made them wonder what was driving such a person.
Everything that a political supervillain needed. Attention. One marked with curiosity rather than revulsion.
"Each time I watch the TV and see a journalist pointing out that being a pro hero doesn't automatically mean that you are unblemished and a good guy all-around, I feel like I just won a battle." Stain continues. "Each time someone retorts to HPSC's whitewashing by pointing out that if things were as clean as they claim it to be, then the Hero Killer wouldn't have anything to do, I feel like I'm winning a war. And I know the statistics for charity donations and public service works among the heroes. They have been steadily rising, if only a little, ever since my debut." He chuckles. "And it's all because of Midoriya. He's going to go places. Unless a villain manages to get too close. Midoriya is smart, but that doesn't make you unkillable."
That's one thing that Eraserhead will have to do his best to not let happen.