Their Hero Academia – Chapter 25: Toshi Midoriya—Boyfriend, Student, Personal Trainer, Wingman
Toshi's hair was still slightly damp as he entered the Common Room. He'd started the morning early, as he always did, gone for his morning run with Katsumi and Kana Tetsutetsu, then returned to the dorm for a shower and then breakfast. Tetsutetsu had been asking a lot of questions about Haimawari, which he'd answered as best he could, though he really wasn't sure what was up with that. Ah well, if it was important, he'd probably figure it out.
The TV was on and he could see that Izumi and Askuka were watching it. He could hear a little of it. "…truck driver found dead this morning, appears to have been murdered sometime last night with no sign of his truck. Local police are being tight lipped and have not yet named any suspects. However, the driver did work for a shipping company with numerous government contracts…"
Well, that was a little weird. But before he could think any more about it, he was interrupted by arms wrapping around him from behind and the feeling of something—no, two somethings—very large, very soft, and very warm pressing into his back. "Good morning, Toshi!"
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It had only been a week, but he still couldn't believe that Sora Iida liked him. Liked him liked him. Enough that last Sunday she'd accosted him when he'd gotten back from his morning run to confess. And, well, she was pretty and excitable and smart and all kinds of amazing things and he was pretty sure he liked her too. They were young and figuring this kind of stuff out was what life was all about.
He didn't know if she was getting advice from Mika Mineta or if this was just her usual lack of regard for personal space amped up now that they were dating, but he was pretty sure only an idiot would complain about it. Even if she seemed to be moving kind of fast. Sora was… really physically demonstrative. And he wasn't sure he should be complaining about that, but still, fast.
…He really needed relationship advice, but he was also pretty sure, based on the stories of them in school, that Mom and Dad were not the ones to give it, nor Uncle Shoto and Aunt Momo, or Uncles Kacchan and Eijiro.
Aunt Mina had always said that any of them could come to her with relationship advice too, but he was pretty sure that was a really bad idea. Maybe Aunt Tsu? She was definitely the most sensible person in his parents' class that he knew…
Sora gave him another squeeze. He gave her hand a squeeze, before she relaxed her grip and let him turn around. She was taller than him by several inches, only slightly shorter only than Daisuke Shoji and Akaya Koda. It puts him at an… interesting level in comparison to her.
Toshi grined. "Good morning, Sora." He frowned, though, when he saw the bags under her eyes, in spite of seemingly brimming with energy. "How much coffee have you had?"
"Just three…ish cups?" she tried, hesitating as she sees his eyes narrow. "…From the big mug."
"Sora," he said, "we talked about this. Coffee isn't a substitute for sleep."
She crossed her arms and huffed. "And I'm just supposed to let all my good ideas go to waste!?"
"If it's a good idea at 2300, it'll be a good idea at 0800."
"Now you sound like Father," Sora said, waving her arms dramatically through the air. He had to take a step back to avoid getting clocked in the head. "That is not proper boyfriend soundings!"
Toshi held up both hands in a pacifying gesture. "Okay, okay, okay," he said. "No dad-ing at you. I promise. Just… maybe ease off the coffee, okay? I can't boyfriend if you're so exhausted you can't think."
"…Your statement is not without logic," Sora admitted. "I will have to incorporate these new variables!"
How did Uncle Tenya handle Aunt Mei?! Toshi was in way over his head here!
"All right," Mister Aizawa said, "settle down. Before we begin today's lessons, we have something important to discuss. The Sports Festival and the work-study week that follows."
Toshi stole a moment to glance at the back row of the classroom, where Haimawari sat. He'd been talking his friend up to his dad fairly frequently now, telling him about his drive and his amazing Quirk. With no heroic background and so many second (or greater) generation students in this year's crop of first year students, Toshi knew that most eyes would be on people with proven legacies and not newcomers to the field. Haimawari was a good guy and deserved whatever kind of leg up he could get. It didn't hurt that he was exactly the kind of person Dad almost always picked.
Toshi just hoped the shock didn't kill him when it happened.
"We've had heroic legacies in the Sports Festival before," Aizawa went on. "But this is the first year where we have classes primarily composed of the children of active Pro-Heroes, including the majority of the Top Ten. Combine that with the uncertainty surrounding the Quirk Virus situation… needless to say, the eyes of the world will be on this Sports Festival more than any other."
He fixed the class with an icy glare, his eyes going red and his hair rising above his head. "I am certain your parents are planning something. I've already forbidden them from extending offers to their own children, so don't think you're going to coast by. But knowing them, they've already made arrangements to exploit the loophole in that. However, as your teacher, I have final veto power over whatever offers you may receive."
His eyes narrowed and he blinked, his hair falling back into place. "If I catch any of you at the Sports Festival performing at anything less than your best, I will see all offers extended to you declared null and void. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Mister Aizawa," Toshi mouthed, along with the rest of the class.
Aizawa seemed satisfied with that, nodding slightly. He briefly looked down at the lectern to consult a piece of paper. "Doc Clock has also asked me to pass on the message that if any of you try anything like what Deku or Shoto did at your parents' first Sports Festival, she will refuse to use her Quirk on you and instead leave you to Recovery Girl's care."
A small smile of paternal pride traced its way across his face.
As for the Festival itself, Toshi wasn't worried. He was good with his Quirk, though he knew he could be better. But that pretty much applied to everybody in the class. Of course, the variable nature of the first two round made things a little more complicated and there was always the possibility of something new that had never been seen before at a Festival… But there was no sense in getting worked up about it.
No, if anything, it was the Tournament Round that concerned him the most. What if he had to fight somebody from the class? So many of them were his friends, practically his family. He wasn't sure he could really go all out fighting them.
What if he had to fight Sora?!
Two weeks. That's what they had to get ready for the Sports Festival. And Toshi was bound and determined to make the most of it. With Heroics Class replaced by free-training periods for those two weeks, they had plenty of opportunity. The chance to show his parents, show the world, just how good he could be.
Despite having a dad who was the Number One Hero and a mom who usually ranked somewhere in the high thirties, Toshi did not consider himself as having to escape from their shadow. He'd known, almost from the moment he'd decided to be a Hero, that there would be plenty of people who'd think of him as nothing more than Deku's kid. And Dad, as the Symbol of Hope, was a standard no one could hope to match up to, even if he'd always said that had never been his itention. They could only do like he did, and follow Dad's example, and give it his best.
Toshi probably wasn't going to be the next Number One Hero (that was probably going to be Dad's protégé, Tamaki Togata)… but he was going to be the best Hero that he could. And he was going to help his friends be the best that they could be too.
Which was why he'd taken some time to help Haimawari and Shota, in one of the dojo-style training gyms. Both of them had great Quirks… but neither was the best physical fighter in the world. Haimawari relied on speed and zooming around, while Shota tended to rely on the raw power of his Quirk when fighting. Nejire had also managed to take Haimawari out rather quickly when she and the Laughing Man had attacked them during training, though that might have been from the speed and surprise as much as anything else. Either way, he knew Haimawari was a bit embarrassed by how quickly he'd gone down.
Toshi got that. He was used to using his Quirk to bounce around, rapidly shifting from low to high gravity to bounce around and then hit like a freight train. But he also knew how to fight without it. Straight up brawling techniques from Dad, Gunhead-Style martial arts moves from Mom.
He brought up a hand, palm up, and moved his fingers in a "come and get me" gesture. "Okay, guys," he said. "Two of you against one of me. No Quirks. Let's do this."
Haimawari rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "If you say so, Midoriya…"
"Kaaaai-yaah!" Shota let out a non-supersonic scream and rushed him. Toshi easily sidestepped his purple-haired friend and gave him a small shove, knocking him down to the mats.
Haimawari was slightly more cautious, throwing a few careful punches that seemed more designed to test him that to actually connect. With his long arms and legs, Haimawari actually had pretty decent range. If he could get a little power going behind them, he'd be pretty effective.
Toshi tossed off a jab of his own, probing Haimawari's defenses. He missed and Haimawari actually managed to hit him, striking him in the face with a blow.
He instantly pulled back, even as Toshi was seeing stars. "Oh, oh, no, Midoriya, I didn't mean…"
Toshi just laughed. His opinion of Haimawari as a fighter obviously needed revising. "Why didn't you tell me you could hit like that?"
"That was awesome!" Shota piped in, none the worse for wear in body or spirit from his tumble. "Only people I've seen hit Toshi like that are Kirishima-Bakugo and Tetsutetsu!"
Haimawari looked a bit embarrassed, chuckling nervously. "It's nothing, just something my dad taught me, that his mentor taught him. From, ah, from when he was doing a neighborhood watch kind of thing."
Something about the way he said that made Toshi think there was more to the story, but he didn't really want to press it. It wasn't like he wasn't privy to secrets that he wasn't allowed to share.
"Seriously, though," Toshi said. "I thought you said you didn't know how to fight without your Quirk."
Haimawari laughed nervously again. "More like… I don't want to? I don't like the idea of hurting people, especially for something just like showing off like the Sports Festival. Guess what I really need is psyching up."
Toshi punched the palm of his other hand. "Okay, mental conditioning. We can work on that."
He looked over at Shota. "You… on the other hand…"
Shota looked a little embarrassed. "Yeah… I might need a little more help. Dad says it wasn't until Uncle Shota started mentoring him that he really got any kind of good at fighting."
"Well," Toshi said, "I'm no Eraserhead, but I'll do my best…"
Fortunately, it got better from there. Haimawari was better than he'd expected going in, even after that first punch. There was a lot of wildness to his punches and kicks, but even without his Quirk, he was fast and had plenty of reach. If he combined that with his Quirk, getting in a few hits and then getting away, and repeating that, he'd do great against anyone with a short range Quirk.
Getting Shota to actually think about his moves before going all in was really the hard part, and once he got past that, it wasn't too bad. He wasn't going to be as good a fighter as Uncle Hitoshi was, but at least he wouldn't be breaking his hand if he punched somebody at the Sports Festival. And they still had two weeks.
Shota was bent over, hands on his legs, struggling to breathe. "I'm okay… I'm okay… I'm pretty sure I'm okay… The room was always spinning, right?"
"Take it easy, dude," Haimawari said, guiding him over to one of the benches and helping him sit down. He got Shota's water bottle and handed it to him.
"Small sips, Shota," Toshi told him. "Don't overdo it. You'll just throw up."
Shota reluctantly complied; Toshi could tell he'd been ready to guzzle it. "This… gets… easier, right?" he gasped.
Toshi nodded. "Eventually. We'll try and do a little endurance work too."
"Don't know if I've said it, but I really do appreciate this, Midoriya," Haimawari said, taking a drink of his own water. He was sweating and breathing hard, but not nearly as badly as Shota. He was actually in pretty decent shape, probably because his Quirk was more of a physical one. But he was built like a runner, not a brawler, so what he could do was a little different than what Toshi could
"Happy to help," Toshi replied. "We're all in this together, after all."
"Not worried I'll take your spot at the Festival? Me and Dad watch it every year… it gets pretty competitive."
Toshi waved it off. "Nah. I'm gonna do my best, you're gonna do your best, that's all that really matters."
"How do you think it's gonna go, Toshi?" Shota asked, no longer panting. He looked a healthier color too. "I bet you're gonna win it! I mean, Uncle Deku did his second year and third year, and he's your dad, so he probably taught you everything, even if your Quirks are kinda different, and…"
"I really don't know, Shota," Toshi said, a little bit quickly. Sometimes, you had to fight to get a word in edgewise with Shota. "Everybody's got really great Quirks, not just us, but in the other classes too. And there's always a surprise or two in the General Studies classes. Especially since we don't know what the first two events will be."
The first event was usually something that required covering distance and the second was always one that required teams, but that was about the only parameters that could be guessed. Toshi had seen everything from obstacle courses in the first to Quirk-backed games of dodgeball in the second and there wasn't much predictable pattern to it.
He held out his hand, pam to the ground. "But when it does, we're gonna be ready for it, right?"
Haimawari put his hand over Toshi's. "Right."
Shota did the same. "Right!"
"You three done nerding it up yet?" a voice from behind asked. Toshi turned to see Katsumi and Kana Tetsutetsu.
"I have yet to reach maximum nerd," Toshi said, smirking. There'd been no malice in what she'd said. Katsumi just had to give everyone a hard time. It was just who she was. "Hey Tetsutetsu."
"Hey yourself, Midoriya," Tetsutetsu said.
"Yeah, yeah," Katsumi said. "Well, make yourself useful and come show me some of those moves Aunt Ochaco taught you. Bring the Loud Kid too."
"Shota. My name is Shota. Shota Shinso. You know that, Kirishima-Bakugo!"
"Sure it is," Katsumi said. "C'mon."
Okay, something was clearly up. He and Katsumi sparred sometimes, but she never just flat out asked him to show her any moves. Did this have anything to do with what Tetsutetsu been asking about this morning? Was… was Katsumi being her wingwoman? For Haimawari?
This was a day for the record books.
"Yeah, sure, I can do that," he said. "C'mon, Shota."
Shota, however, clearly wasn't picking up on the subtext. "I don't think I can fight anymore, Toshi," he said, stifling a yawn.
"Then watch and learn, Loud Kid!" Katsumi shouted.
"Why don't you come along," Toshi said. He might as well play along with this. If only to get Katsumi out of having to play wingwoman any further. Besides, if she got in her way through cluelessness, she might kill Shota. "Tetsutetsu, don't think you've met Haimawari? You could probably show him some moves I can't."
"'Probably'?" Tetsutetsu asked. "You know I can, Midoriya. Nice to meet you, Haimawari."
"Likewise," Haimawari said, smiling. He looked like he knew something was up, but couldn't figure it out. He offered Tetsutetsu a hand and she shook it, leaving him massaging his fingers afterwards.
Just a couple weeks into school and everybody was jumping into relationships. He was hardly one to talk, of course, but it still amazed him. Especially for all of them that had known each other for most of their lives. But here, away from their parents for the first time, maybe they were just figuring out who they wanted to be.
"Watch and learn, Loud Kid," Katsumi said. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, hands up in a fighting position, before launching a powerful right hook. It was her signature move and she always telegraphed it. Toshi'd also been on the receiving end of it many times when sparring with her. Even when you could see it coming, Katsumi was fast and hit like a truck.
Fortunately, he had time to dodge, and return fire, coming at Katsumi with a few quick jabs. She got her guard up though, deflecting his blows easily. "Gonna have to do better than that, Toshi," she said, with a wicked grin.
Toshi dropped low, sweeping his leg. He knocked Katsumi down, but she was right back up before he could capitalize on it. He dodged her return strikes, shifting left and right rapidly. "Didn't take you for the type to play wingwoman," he said.
He blocked her next strike and even that stung like hell. "All I did was get you two out of the way," she replied. "I wanted to spar with you anyway. Kana's my friend. If I can help her out, I can put up with a little lovey-dovey nonsense. What she seems in him, I dunno."
Toshi knew she'd been turned down by Izumi after confessing her long buried feeling. They'd confessed that much to him. That had to have hurt some, but she seemed to be plowing through it in her usual fashion. Which for her meant not dealing with her more complicated emotions. Which probably wasn't healthy. But all he could do was be there for his friend.
His friend who'd nearly taken his head off with her follow-up punch! He got his head out of the way, but she connected solidly with his shoulder. He grunted, firing off rapid fire punches in return that she deflected, until he altered his pattern, two right hand blows one after the other instead of a left and a right and felt his fist connect solidly with her chest.
Katsumi winced and backed off, keeping herself light on her feet. Laughing, she said, "Did you just bunch me in the boob, Toshi? What would your girlfriend say?"
Toshi's eyes went wide for a second, before he recovered. "Very funny," he said. Typical Katsumi, always trying to get a rise out of him.
They exchanged more blows, hammering away, deflecting, retreating, and coming back at each other. But without Quirks, they were just too evenly matched with each other for there to be a clear victor. Katsumi was probably stronger, but he was just lighter enough on his feet to make up for it. With both of them realizing that, they took a step back and exchanged boys.
Shota broke into applause. "That. Was. AWESOME! You gotta show me how to do that!"
Katsumi just laughed. It wasn't a cruel laugh, but he could tell she didn't really believe Shota had much of a chance in a physical contest. "Stick to what you're good at, Loud Kid. Scream your way through."
An idea occurred to Toshi and he had to turn away for a moment to hide his grin. "I don't know, Katsumi, I was going to get Shota up to speed anyway, but if you don't think you can train him good enough, I guess I'll have to do it…"
The glare she shot him was worth it. "Oh, hell no. I didn't say I didn't think I could." She snapped her fingers, then pointed at Shota. "I'm gonna train you until your arms fall off, Loud Kid! That'll show you, Toshi!"
Toshi had to hide his grin again. Shota would get the training he needed and Katsumi would have a goal she could work on to keep from dwelling on things. If you knew what you were doing, helping your friends wasn't too hard.
And he was going to do his best to make sure every one of his friends had a chance to shine.