Their Hero Academia – Chapter Twenty-Seven: Isamua Haimawari's Got This
"Okay," Isamu said to himself, "real easy. Nothing to worry about. You're just trying to get your Quirk to work in a way you've never gotten it to before and you're not sure it actually does. Nothing to worry about. Easy-peasy."
His Quirk, which he shared with his dad, worked on the basis of creating a repulsion field, concentrated in his hands and feet. He mostly used it for sliding around, but he could also use it to adhere to other surfaces or slide over just about anything. It had served him pretty well so far, but if he was going to do well at the Sports Festival, he needed at least one more ace in the hole. He could rush just about anybody, but unless he could build up enough speed, it might not be enough to knock them down. And in a confined area that he had to stay inside, it was even more tricky. Plus, hitting anybody relied on getting close, which wasn't always ideal.
His dad though, he had a trick, a Super-Move really, he called his "Scrappy-Thrust Style." He could concentrate that energy in one hand and expel it outward, like a force beam. He'd tried teaching it to Isamu several times over the years, but he'd never quite been able to get it right. It always fizzled before he could make it work.
Which was why he was using one of the practice target ranges. Students with long range Quirks could use them to practice shooting and aiming without having to worry overmuch about collateral damage or anything else getting in the way. Not as good as live-fire situations, but definitely good for getting a few shots off.
If he could make this work.
Takiyo Aoyama was also using the target range, effortlessly firing off concentrated beams of light that burnt their way through his targets. He made it look easy, practically, dancing from one blast to the next, blue-white laser light zipping from hand to target. He hadn't made any attempt to engage Isamu in conversation and, friendly though he was, he wasn't sure Aoyama was worth bothering with. Guy had an arrogant streak a mile wide. And he had his own problems right now anyway.
"Okay," he said. "You've got this."
Step one, brace his feet. Right foot in front, left foot back. Dad said the kickback on this trick was something intense. With his bad leg, he couldn't even really do it anymore, except for the lowest blast.
Step two, aim. Right palm out, left hand bracing his right arm against the kickback.
Step three, build power. He activated his Quirk, feeling the power flowing through his core, through his limbs, building up in his hands. Just like when he was sliding around, only without going anywhere. Good, good, good… Let it build… Let it build…
And step four, release!
He stared at his hand, trying to will the energy to release. Step four! It was release! Why wasn't it releasing?!
"C'mon…" he said. "Release!"
A faint pop of white-ish light emerged from his palm, fizzling only a couple inches away.
Well… that was more than he'd been able to do so far, right? That had to be some kind of sign of progress. He only had twelve more days to get it right before the Sports Festival. That was plenty of time to unlock and master a portion of his Quirk he'd never successfully used before so that he could use it in a competition that might well determine the future of his career as a Pro Hero. A competition where he'd be up against the kids of some of the best Pro Heroes in the entire country. Who were all already pretty impressively good with their Quirks.
Yep. Just that easy.
Of course, all of that was predicated on the already overly optimistic idea that he was even going to get to the third round of the Sports Festival in the first place. He might do all right in the first event. That was always some kind of race. And even with a couple of classmates who could fly, he was still one of the fastest people in the class. But beyond that? He really didn't know.
Which was why he had to keep practicing. So.
Step one, brace your legs…
"I'm never going to get it," Isamu said. He was with Izumi, Shinso, Midoriya, Tokoyami, and Sora Iida, crowded into Toshi's room (which was even more full of Hero posters and merch than his, but not as full as Shinso's) for a study session. Even with the Sports Festival coming up and all the training associated with that, they still had regular school work to deal with. And that, unfortunately, meant a math test on Friday. The study sessions had been Izumi's idea. They were mostly doing well enough in their classes, but combining brainpower was good for all of them. Especially for him. He figured he was probably somewhere midway in the pack in overall grades. Which considering this was U.A., still put him ahead of a lot of other people… but still left him feeling terribly behind.
Iida—who definitely didn't need the help—looked up from the notes she was scribbling. She sat close to Midoriya, practically in his lap. And possibly would have, if not for the slightly stern look Tokoyami had given the two of them. Midoriya had looked pretty embarrassed by it, but Iida had simply slid a small distance from him. He didn't know the Iida Twins as well, but he suspected they were largely immune to shame and traditional boundaries, if the way they'd accosted him on the first day had been any indication.
"What part of the equations are confusing?" she asked. "I can attempt to explain!"
"I don't know if I could follow it, Iida," he replied. He raised a hand high above his head. "You're something like here and I'm," he dropped his hand down to about his shoulder level, "maybe here. On a good day."
"Science is nothing if it is not communicable," Iida replied. "If I cannot explain my processes and results, then I have no business in science at all!"
Modoriya put an arm around her affectionately, giving her a little squeeze. "I don't think he was disparaging your explanation skills, Sora. Just admitting that you've probably got a way better handle on this than the rest of us."
"Yes, well, math is very important," Iida agreed.
"Important, schmortant," Frog-Shadow said, suddenly appearing on Tokoyami's shoulder. Isamu jerked, startled by the familiar's sudden appearance. He was never going to get used to that. And he really wasn't sure how Tokoyami's Quirk even worked, considering the green light-being seemed practically alive. "I'm bored!"
"Again," Tokoyami said, her green plumage ruffling, "my purpose in life is not to entertain you. Sometimes, I have to do actual work."
"Booooring!"
"I just want to know one thing," Shinso said. "If this is math, why are there so many letters in it? I thought math was supposed to be about numbers!"
"Heh." It was a small, quiet laugh, but a laugh all the same. And it had come from Izumi. Everyone turned to stare at her for a moment, before the laughter began to spread, growing in each of them for a moment, and releasing all the tension that came with cramming for a test.
"Oh," Midoriya said, "I meant to ask, Isamu, what happened with you and Tetsutetsu yesterday?"
"What do you mean, Toshi?" Shinso asked. "All they were doing was training. She said she wanted to show him some new moves!"
Frog-Shadow perked up again on Tokoyami's shoulder. "Oh? Gossip? This just got good!"
"It either must be very secretive or no secret at all," Izumi said. "Otherwise, I would expect that Ojiro would have already shared it with the masses."
Okay, so maybe he'd had a bit of luck lately after all. Isamu smiled a little. "She, ah, she said she was interested in getting to know me better. Saw me during the Entrance Exam and wanted to know more about me."
"And?" Midoriya asked. "What happened next?"
"I'd be pretty dumb to have turned her down," Isamu said. "I mean, I don't know her well or anything… but she seems nice. So we're gonna try and do something together after the Sports Festival is over. We both want to make sure we're giving it our all first. But we're still gonna text and stuff."
"A smart choice," Izumi said.
"Agreed," Tokoyami added.
"Boring!" Frog-Shadow said.
"Well, I'll hope it works out," Midoriya said. "Tetsutetsu's pretty great. And you've obviously got Katsumi's approval if she agreed to help with getting you two alone together."
"Figured she was in on it," he said. "Though I didn't think she was the wingwoman type."
"Katsumi will go far for her friends," Izumi said. "Her bark is much worse than her bite in any case."
"Lots of bark though," Shota said.
"Fair enough."
"Okay," Midoriya said, "let's give these equations another shot and maybe we won't let FireFox down again like after the last test."
"Okay, Isamu… on your mark… get set… go!" he said to himself.
At go, he activated his Quirk, racing forward along the track in a blur, eating up the distance to the first curve quickly. As he headed into the curve, he concentrated, slacking up on the power flowing through his right side and increasing the repulsive force he was sending out his left. Quickly, as he completed the first turn, he balanced the power back out, then applied maximum thrust on the straightaway.
The sudden change in acceleration was like getting a good solid kick in the hindquarters, pushing him as fast as he had ever gone. As he came into the next turn, he had to account for that, first applying his thrust forward to slow down, before powering through it. Another straightaway and another blast of thrust, another turn, and finally a last straightaway before back to his starting point.
He breaked slowly, applying short bursts of reverse thrust as he slacked up on the forward power, skidding to a stop at the starting line. He crouched there, breathing heavily for a moment, before finally standing, slapping his hands against each other to shake some of the dust from his fingers and gloves.
"Okay, what's my time?" he asked the training robot.
Numbers flashed rapidly across the robot's digital-screen chest. "Time to complete 10 kilometers: three point seven minutes. Average speed: 160.934 kilometers per hour."
Huh. Not bad. That was a little faster than he'd expected. All this Hero-training must have actually be paying off. Reflexes were getting better too. He'd managed not to go flying off the track or anything like that. Hitting the turns had taken a lot of concentration, managing his outputs differently, but he'd done it!
"Okay guys," he said to the Iida Twins, who were waiting on the sideline, "your turn."
"Good work, Haimawari," Tensei Iida said, giving him a small nod.
"Keep it up," his sister agreed, "and you might even be as fast as our father one day!"
"If I'm lucky," he said, taking a seat on one of the benches and drinking from his water bottle.
"Ready, Younger Brother?" Sora asked as they took their marks.
"Oh, you must cease with that descriptor! I am only younger by a negligible amount!"
"Nevertheless, it is factually correct!"
"Curse the impartiality of facts!"
"I'll tell you what, Little Brother," Sora said, waving a finger in front of his face. "If you can beat me in this race, I will stop referring to the fact that you are younger."
"And if you win?"
"Then I reserve the right to call you such for all time!"
Tensei considered this, then snapped his fingers. "A desperate gamble! But one with enough probability of success to make it worthwhile! You are on, Sister!"
Both took a moment to prepare, then activated their Quirks, flames flaring from the pipes that sprouted from their backs. They flew low, only a few feet off the ground, but it was an impressive display of their shared Quirk all the same… and an even more impressive burst of speed. He could barely follow it, watching as they rounded the curves, neck and neck, with neither of them gaining an advantage over the other. The only thing he could say for certain was that they were both faster than him.
Slower in the curve, though, he noticed, at least without their costumes and the wings from those. They must have aided in maneuverability. Sora nearly overshot the first turn but corrected, and Tensei nearly went off course in the second. They were definitely better at going in a straight shot.
They definitely took less time than he did, returning to the starting line practically before he could blink, at what seemed to be the same time or so close as to make almost no difference.
"Robot!" Sora called out.
"Report scores! And prove to my sister that she no longer need be overly precise!"
Numbers flashed across the robot's chest again. "Time to complete ten kilometers: one point four-nine minutes. Average speed: 402.336 kilometers per hour."
"But which one of us does that apply to?" Sora demanded.
"Scores are identical," the robot reported.
"What? A draw?!"
"Impossible!" Tensei added. "And yet… the numbers do not lie!"
They shook hands. "It appears neither of us are victorious, Little Brother," Sora said, a smug grin on her face.
"One day, I will surpass you and then you will be forced to cease!"
That their scores were identical was… actually kind of weird, now that Isamu thought about it. He was hardly an expert on Quirks, but even with identical Quirks, there were enough differences between the Twins that something wasn't adding up. Sora was taller but lighter, though he would blushing also admit that she was significantly less than... aerodynamic. By contrast, Tensei was heavier but more streamlined. One or the other definitely should have been faster than the other (though he wasn't sure which and wouldn't be without a lot of math he had no interest in doing). Clearly though, one of them was trying not to outdo the other. It was actually kind of sweet, now that he thought about it.
None of which changed the fact that they were both more than twice as fast as him. It wasn't all about speed, of course, there was skill (where they were probably about equal), intelligence (where they had him beat in spades), and lots of other factors. But he couldn't help but be a little jealous. With all three of them having high-speed mobility Quirks, they were bound to be in competition fairly often.
He was just going to have to keep stepping up his game.
"Good job, guys!" he said. He was happy for them, really. But it just drove home how behind everyone else he was.
Later, Isamu and several of the others were gathered around the television, watching the news. Midoriya and Shinso did so religiously, hoping to get a glimpse of some Hero action not yet reported on the internet or elsewhere. Others came or went, depending upon their own schedules. Today, that was Mineta, Kaminari, and Ojiro. None of whom really seemed like the type, but when he'd asked about it, Ojiro had admitted they were just killing time until the news was over and Hero-tainment Weekly came on with the latest celebrity hero gossip and news. He wished he could say he was surprised, but…
On the plus side, he was actually getting along better with Mineta and Kaminari. Ever since they'd discovered a shared love of music and music-Heroes, the two had seemed much less intimidating. Granted, Mineta still tried hitting on him, but she actually hadn't done that today. Which was really weird.
"So," Mineta said, "you and Kana, huh?"
How did she…? Right, she was friends with Tetsutetsu, that was right. He rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, maybe? We're just talking right now. Supposed to text her later."
"Well, if things get serious… watch out for those teeth. Seriously. Shark-teeth on a girl? That could go south real fast!"
Isamu felt himself go beet red and he sunk lower on the couch.
Kaminari gave her a smack on the back of the head. "Be nice, Mika. Besides, aren't you video chatting with Shinji later?"
"Not for another hour!" But there was a smile on the horned-girl's face.
"What." Isamu could swear he could feel the glare, even if the glarer was invisible.
Ojiro threw her arms up in the air. Or he assumed she did. It was hard to tell without sleeves, but her body language seemed to suggest it. "Are you two seeing people? How did I not know this? Is the gossip vine finally failing me?" She leaned forward. Wearing a tank top, if she'd been visible, she would have been giving them a pretty good look at her cleavage. As it was, he could see all the way down her top. Which was just… weird. He wasn't sure if it was more awkward or less. What was invisible people etiquette? He didn't know any invisible people before now!
"I. Need. Details!"
"It's really… it's not gossip," he tried, desperately.
Fortunately, Mineta came to his rescue, which was not something he ever thought would happen. She shoved her phone in Ojiro's face. "His name's Shinji Yoarashi! Isn't he hunky? He's one of Todoroki's friends! And she was totally not interested in him! So I'm calling dibs!"
"Guys," Midoriya said, "can this wait? It's back!"
"In other news, we're less than two weeks away from the annual U.A. Sport's Festival! Of course, U.A. student files are confidential, but it is known that a very large number of Pro-Heroes have children in this year's class and cross-referencing that with the Public Quirk Registry does give us a very good idea of this year's student body, so the Festival is expected to be very spectacular! And, of course, there's the annual speculation on just who current Number One Hero Deku will take on as his intern…"
"Your dad give you any hints, Midoriya?" Kaminari asked.
Midoriya shook his head. "Even if he did—which he didn't!—he'd have made me promise not to tell. Besides, he's got to watch the thing first!"
"Okay, point."
"You guys are lucky," Isamu said. "You all grew up together. I'm betting your parents are already fighting over you. I'm gonna have to work, like, three times as hard to come close to impressing anyone."
He could swear he saw something flicker in Midoriya's eyes, but it was gone so quickly that he must have been imagining it.
"Maybe," Midoriya said. "Just do your best, Haimawari. The unexpected can always go down at the Festival. And the Pros aren't always just looking for people who place. Sometimes they just get hunches or see something and go with it."
"Yeah," Shinso said. "Remember, I told you? Dad really impressed Uncle Shota at the festival and so he took him under his wing and then he got to be in the Hero course in the second year! You never know what's gonna happen!"
"Who cares about that?!" Ojiro said. "Right now, there's still gossip and I don't have all the details! Haimawari! Are you and Tetsutetsu an item, yes or no? My fans are going to want to know!"
He got up off the couch very, very quickly. "Oh, would you look at the time, gotta go…" He took long, fast steps towards the stairwell door.
Ojiro sprung up off the couch as well. "Get back here, you!"
"Okay," he said. "You've got this."
Step one, brace his feet. Right foot in front, left foot back.
Step two, aim. Right palm out, left hand bracing his right arm against the kickback.
Step three, build power. He activated his Quirk, feeling the power flowing through his core, through his limbs, building up in his hands. Just like when he was sliding around, only without going anywhere. Good, good, good… Let it build… Let it build…
And step four, release!
KRACKA-POW!
A massive wave of energy burst from his hand, tearing across the target range and obliterating the target. The kickback was also more than he expected. A lot more. Isamu was thrown off his feet and knocked back into the far wall.
"…ouch," he groaned. But a grin broke out on his face. He'd done it! He'd done it way more than he expected to do it, but he'd done it! Sure, he wasn't sure if he could do it again, and he wasn't sure he could do it less so that he didn't knock himself into something, but he'd done it! Which was more than he'd done yesterday!
Of course, if he did it like that at the Sports Festival, he'd probably knock himself out of the ring. Unless it knocked the other guy out first. Did that count? It probably hadn't come up before.
"You all right?" someone asked. He had to wait for his vision to focus, but he was surprised to see that it was Aoyama. He offered him a hand. "That was a pretty big blast there. First time doing that, oui?"
Isamu accepted the hand up, dusting himself off once he was on. He was a bit sore… but nothing seemed broken. "I'm all right, thanks," he said. "Bit more kickback than I expected there."
"I understand," Aoyama said. "My own blasts do that if I go too long between discharging energy. Though I don't think your Quirk works quite like that?"
Isamu shook his head. "Not really. It only builds when I tell it too. Just… trying letting it out in different ways."
"Lucky," the glowing teen said. He tilted his head slightly. "You're trying to stand out at the Festival, aren't you?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"I understand that need as well." Aoyama struck a pose. "Well, I am sure it will pale next to my radiance… but I do wish you the best of luck in coming in second."
Isamu supposed that was as good as he was going to get. Which was more sympathetic that he'd actually expected. "Thanks," he said. "And, ah, good luck to you too."
He took his mark again, planted his feet, and started calling up his Quirk.
"You've got this," he said to himself.
He had this. He had to have this. Because in a class otherwise full of the children of Pro-Heroes (seven of whom were in the Top Ten!), he needed to do whatever he could to stand out.
He felt his energy charging up, ready to exit his hands.
He had this.