Their Hero Academia –Chapter Nine: Toshi Midoriya and the Taste of Victory
One minute, Toshi was discussing workout tips with Kimiko Ojiro (who, despite her status as a gossip, was a surprisingly capable martial artist) and Daisuke Shoji, trying to take his mind off Katsumi and Izumi. He was rooting for Katsumi, he truly was. People deserved to be happy and if there was one thing he was sure of, it was that Izumi did make her happy. But he wasn't sure how Izumi felt about Katsumi, beyond considering her a friend. As far as he could remember, Izumi had never expressed romantic interest in anyone, male or female. He didn't want to see Katsumi hurt, but only by getting her feelings out in the open could she move forward, whether that was with Izumi or not.
The next minute, there was a terrifying booming noise that shook the whole building and silenced all chatter in the common room, save for a terrified, high-pitched scream. The lights flickered, but quickly came back on.
"Geeze, Aoyama," Mika Mineta said, "give our eardrums a rest."
"Excuse me for having a healthy sense of self-preservation!" Takiyo Aoyama snapped back. "It would be a tragedy the world over were this face to get damaged." Toshi sighed. The two of them were probably never going to get along. At least they weren't slap-fighting anymore.
"What was that?" Tensei Iida asked. "It sounded like something struck the fifth floor!"
"Something did!" Katsumi called out, coming back inside with Izumi hot on her feels. "Some kind of missile or something! We're under attack!"
"We do not know that for certain, Katsumi," Izumi corrected her. "It could be… All right, I do not know what else it might be."
"Wait, the fifth floor?" Ojiro squealed. "My stuff!"
"Okay," Toshi said, trying to get everyone's attention. Sometimes, wrangling his friends was like herding cats. He had a pretty good understanding of what to do in disaster situations thanks to his parents, especially his mom. Dad may have been the Number One Hero and Symbol of Hope, but his mom was one of the best Rescue Heroes in the country. "Here's what we do. Feels like the building's still standing, but let's get everybody outside just in case."
He went on. "Haimawari?"
"Y—yes, Midoriya?" Isamu Haimawari asked.
"I'm sure the teachers are already aware and on their way, but you're the fastest on land. Go find one of them."
"You can count on me!"
Good. Haimawari was starting to sound more confident in himself.
Toshi frowned. It was a risk, but he didn't like the idea of just waiting around when there was a potential threat on hand either. "I'm going to check upstairs and see what's going on."
"Not alone," Katsumi said. "I'd never hear the end of it if I let you get your fool ass killed."
"I'm coming too," Asuka Tokoyami said. "If we have to evac, Frog Shadow can protect us."
Toshi held up his hands. "Okay, okay. That's enough people. Let's go!"
Rushing headlong into danger, getting his friends involved… Yeah, he was his father's son.
Toshi took the stairs quickly, two at a time, with Katsumi and Asuka hot on his heels. With the building potentially damaged, the elevator didn't seem like the safest option. At least the smoke alarms didn't seem to be going off. That was a good sign.
They quickly emerged on fifth floor to find that the East wall had been smashed in, exposing the floor to the elements. It looked like it had mercifully missed Izumi and Ojiro's rooms. But there, sitting in the middle of the floor, was a red-haired girl wearing a U.A. uniform. She looked like she was about their age and she looked like she'd been crying.
"What. The. Hell." Katsumi said.
"Hey," Toshi called out, softly. "Are you okay?"
The girl's head snapped up, as though noticing them for the first time. She started scrambling away from them. "No… no… stay back! I might hurt you!" Her body started glowing with a strange, orange-red light. "I… I can't control my Quirk!"
Asuka summoned Frog-Shadow, putting it between them and the girl. A good instinct under most circumstances, but something told Toshi it wasn't the right call here. He stepped around the glowing familiar and approached the girl.
"It's okay," he said. "I'm Toshinori Midoriya. That's Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo and Asuka Tokoyami. What's your name?"
She backed a little further away, but she kept eye contact with him. "Haya Tanaka. I'm in Class 1-C."
"Hope you know what you're doing, Toshi," Katsumi whispered.
Toshi didn't answer her, but pressed on. "Okay, nice to meet you, Tanaka. What's your Quirk?"
"C…Comet. I light on fire and then I fly around real fast. I was… I was on my way to class when my Quirk activated all on its own. I started flying and I couldn't control where I was going and… and I guess… I hit… your dorm… Oh… oh no… did I… Did I hurt anyone?" The glow around her started getting brighter, more flame-like.
Crap. He was losing her. Toshi quickly shook his head. "You didn't hurt anybody. We were all downstairs. Just knocked a big hole in the wall. We were thinking of putting a window in anyway."
That got a little laugh out of her and a groan from Katsumi and Asuka. But her glow was starting to fade, the flames dying down. "Oh, thank goodness…"
Toshi gave her a little smile. "See, it's not so bad, Tanaka. Pretty sure we've all lost control at some point or another. Katsumi here used to blow stuff up all the time when we were growing up."
Katsumi gave him a swat on the back of the head. "Really?"
"Hey, I'm just saying…" Toshi said. Tanaka's glow had completely faded now. He offered her a hand up. "You feeling better?"
She took it. "Yeah. I think I am. Thanks."
"Are we done revealing personal information now?"
Toshi nearly jumped through the roof. "Mister Aizawa! How long have you been behind us?!"
The homeroom teacher kept his gaze focused on Tanaka, his eyes red and his hair floating about his head. Clearly, it had been his Quirk that had really damped Tanaka's powers and not anything he'd done.
"Long enough," Aizawa said. "Running headlong into danger, trying to reach everyone… if I had any doubt you were a Midoriya, it's gone now."
"Uh… thanks?"
"I'm not sure it was a compliment."
"That's pretty cold, Mister Aizawa," Asuka said.
"So is life. You three, get out of here. I'll get Tanaka down."
Well… at least he'd tried.
A strange expression crossed Katsumi's face. "…Izzy!" And she took off down the stairs.
Toshi exchanged a look with Asuka. It was already shaping up to be an interesting day.
There's quite a crowd outside by the time they made their way down the stairs, not just their classmates, but students from the nearby Class 1-B and 1-C dorms as well. A few of them, Toshi recognized, many he didn't. There were teachers and staff too: Sato's dad, Vice-Principal Midnight, the 1-B homeroom teacher Super Ball, the 1-C homeroom teacher Battle Fist, and more, along with Doctor Izumi (though to Toshi, she'd always just be Aunt Eri).
"Only the third day of school, and Class 1-A is already causing trouble?" a blonde kid from 1-B asked. "Why am I not surprised?"
A red-haired girl with metal lower arms smacked him upside the head with a surprisingly satisfying clang. "Oh, shut it, Monoma."
"OW! Jeeze, Tetsutesu, easy on my head."
"Both of you, knock it off," the rubber-faced (and rubber-bodied) Super Ball snapped.
"I expect better of you, Kana," Battle Fist said.
"Aaaw, Moooom," the red-haired girl (apparently Kana Tetsutetsu—he thought he recognized her now, one of Katsumi's friends) wailed.
Tanaka was handed off to Aunt Eri, and Aizawa went along as well. Toshi hoped she was all right. It definitely didn't seem like it was her fault, but that was a hell of a loss of control. Sure, Izumi had lost control yesterday, but that was a totally different kind of thing.
Weird, though, hadn't Grandpa Might said something about a "Quirk misfire" during 1-B's Battle Trials…? It was probably just some kind of freaky coincidence.
"All right, all of you," Vice-Principal Midnight said. She was dressed far more conservatively than she had been in more active Pro-Hero days, but her suit was still low cut enough and tight enough to raise the pulse rate of anyone interested in women. She was still fit and looked younger than her years. And… he was staring. Of course, so were a lot of other people. But that didn't really make it right. Toshi forced himself to pay attention.
"Everyone get to class," Midnight said. "I'm sure you've all got busy days ahead of you. We'll have the dorm repaired before the end of the day."
She unclipped her riding crop from her belt, giving it a slap against her open palm. "You heard me! Don't make me have to… discipline you."
Toshi saw Mineta raise a hand. "Can I volunteer?" the horned girl asked.
Some things never changed.
Classes kept them busy, though Toshi wass still distracted by Tanaka and the events of the morning. He's lost control in a moment of panic, sure. More than once, he'd been stunned enough that when he jumped, it' was with zero gravity and he nearly went flying. But he'd also always recovered just as quickly. But to lose control like that? And then there was whatever happened to Training Ground Beta that they still hadn't completely fixed.
But they'd tell them if something more was going on, right?
At lunch, Toshi saw Katsumi hustle Izumi away for a conversation. Probably the same one that had been interrupted this morning. He really hoped for the best.
Lunch was spent in the company of Asuka, Shota, and Haimawari. As usual, Shota had Hero news to share, spotlighting a battle between the Villain Fullmetal and an up and coming hero called Wreck-It. Dressed in red and black, Fullmetal had metallic arms and legs that he could reshape into various weapons, while Wreck-It was a behemoth of a man with incredible strength, whose true power lie in his ability to cause matter to shatter through rapid-fire punches. It was a hard fought battle, but eventually, Wreck-It did bring the Villain down. Shota declared it the most awesome thing ever, as he likely would whatever he would share tomorrow. Toshi was polite enough not to point out the inconsistency. Shota was younger than the rest of them by several months, not quite fifteen. He could have a little youthful enthusiasm if he wanted.
And finally, the afternoon brought them to their Heroics Class. This time, Grandpa Might had them working through a variation on Capture the Flag. They'd been taken to one of the mock cityscapes and had to make it through a horde of robot villains to retrieve a flag, but they also had to make it back to the exit before time ran out.
With Haimawari and Izumi having to sit a few Heroics classes out, that left them with fourteen. So they were split into two teams of four and two teams of three. Toshi was teamed with Akaya Koda, Daisuke Shoji, and Chihiro Kaminari. It was, in his opinion, a bit of an uneven mix of Quirks. But you worked with what you had available and none of them would be here if they weren't already. He also knew that Chihiro wasn't half was dumb as she acted around Mineta.
On the plus side, their costumes were finally in. Toshi's consisted of yellow boots, blue leggings, a red tunic, and yellow armguards. Across his chest he wore a circle with cut outs at ten, two, four, and eight o'clock, split by crossed lines, the symbol for the center of gravity, in gold. Any resemblance to Grandpa Might's Silver Age costume was… purely coincidental, of course.
Grandpa Might's voice rang out over the loudspeaker. "REMEMBER! YOU ONLY HAVE TWENTY MINUTES TO FIND THE FLAG AND MAKE IT BACK TO THE EXIT! GO OUT THERE AND GIVE IT YOUR BEST!"
With that, the buzzer sounded, signaling the start of their test.
"Do you have a plan, Midoriya?" Koda asked. Her own costume was fairly simple, a pale blue bodysuit, white boots and trucks, and a white leaf pattern swirled over the chest. Around her waist was a belt with pouches that held various seeds.
He nodded. "Shoji and I have more mobility than you and Chihiro. We'll take high, you take low, and work our way to the other side. Call out if you see anything or need help."
"Good enough," Shoji agreed. His costume was rather simple, a black bodysuit, black boots, and a black mask that stopped just short of his eyes and white hair. His Extendo-Arms remained bare. Only a white fist symbol, large and taking up most of his chest, broke up the black.
"Got it," Chihiro said, tossing off a small salute with one of her Cords. She wore yellow pants with a black stripe up the side and black boots, along with a white shirt, and yellow jacket with black trim. A black insignia shaped like an electrical outlet adorned her chest.
Symbols were in lately, in hero-design.
The course of action decided, they moved, Koda and Chihiro taking off on foot, while Toshi reduced his gravity down to near zero and took a mighty leap, landing on top of the closest building. Shoji followed closely behind, the powerful hands of his Extendo-Arms digging into the side of the building and letting him hall himself up like a muscular spider.
From on top of the building, he could see more of the battlefield. "There," he told Shoji. "See the big one, over there? I'm betting that's where the flag is. Only one way to get there, boxed in by the other buildings, perfect chokepoint."
"And that's the direction the robots are coming from," Shoji said, pointing with one of his regular arms.
"Okay, that too."
With their Quirks, him bounding and Shoji extending his arms, it was easy for them to move to rooftop to rooftop, out of the way of the streets. So it's no wonder Koda and Chihiro ran into the robots (just One-Pointers for this exercise) before they did.
Koda acted first, reaching into her belt and throwing a handful of seeds at the nearest robot. As she did, she activated her Quirk, a soft green glow forming around her hand. "Grow quickly," she said, "that I might enlist your aid." The seeds sprouted quickly, growing into vines that wrapped their way around the robot, working their way into its joints and stopping it completely.
Chihiro struck out with her Extension Cords, jabbing both of them into a robot's neck and unleashing a charge of electricity. The robot sparked, stumbled, and fell over. "Hope that wasn't too much of a… shock!" she said, then laughed at her own joke. She quickly retracted her Cords, already attacking the next robot.
"C'mon!" Toshi said to Shoji. "Let's help!" He jumped off the building, aiming for one of the other robots. He concentrated, raising his gravity up to four times normal. "GRAVITY… SMASH!"
He landed on the robot with a powerful crash, crushing it like an aluminum can.
But he wasn't prepared for the second robot, which struck him with a large metal fist. The blow rocked him backwards, hurting some (thank goodness he was tougher when his gravity was up), but his movements in response were slow, clumsy, slowed down by the heavy gravity he'd inflicted on himself. It took him a moment to clear his head enough to bring his gravity back to normal so he could dodge.
Fortunately, Shoji had his back. He'd dropped down from above and gripped the robot in his Extendo-Arms, two each gripping one of its arms. With a grunt, he tore the robot's arms from its body, letting Chihiro sneak in and hit it with a powerful electric charge.
"Watch your back, Midoriya," Shoji told him.
"Yeah," Chihiro added. "You get your face punched in, Mika might stop hitting on you."
Toshi had to laugh. "Promises, promises!"
Twelve minutes later, they had the flag. But with three minutes to go on the clock, they were far from the exit, blocked by too many robots.
"Away with you, metal beasts!" Koda called out, rapidly growing more vines. She had her large form in front of Chihiro, who was leaning against a wall, staring off into space. She'd used too much electricity too quickly and shorted out her own brain. She'd be out of it for a good hour or so. Too long to be helpful in getting out.
Shoji smashed through another robot with his arms, as Toshi did the same by increasing his gravity when he threw a punch. They could keep smashing, but there were too many robots for them to make it. Toshi was further hampered by having to hang onto the flag.
Unless…
"Shoji!" he shouted. "Think you throw me to the exit if I go near weightless?"
The six-armed boy's eyed widened. "Of course I can… But if I miss, or if you don't stop in time… you're in for a big crash."
"Won't know unless we try," Toshi said. "Besides… we're only got two minutes. Do it!"
"Your funeral," Shoji said. But he grabbed Toshi with one of his arms, cranked it back, then flung it forward like a trebuchet. With his gravity down to near zero, Toshi went flying through the air like a missile.
He had to focus, keep track of where he was… Slowly, he increased his gravity so that he began to arc downward to the exit. Too fast! Too fast! He couldn't slow down in time, so all he could do was increase his gravity enough to protect himself…
He went sailing through the exit, crashing into the ground with a mighty thud.
The victory bell chimed.
"Team One wins," an electronic voice announced.
"DID YOU SEE THAT? DID YOU SEE WHAT MY GRANDSON DID? I MEAN… AH… GOOD JOB, EVERYONE! AND I HOPE EVERYONE WATCHING LEARNED SOMETHING FROM THAT!"
Well, even if his grandfather was embarrassingly proud… the taste of victory was pretty dang sweet.