We started classes the next day, minus Bakugo and Midoriya. They had been put under house arrest for a few days. Turns out, nobody realized I had ever left my room, so I was safe for the time being.
"Listen up, everyone! Stay in line and move promptly to the grounds!"
I sighed and walked passed him, hearing Sero's retort.
"You're the one who's not in line!"
"The dilemma of a class rep!"
I rolled my eyes. I had gotten used to Iida, but his stiffness still annoyed me. I looked up and groaned. One person who annoyed me more than anyone else...
"I heard, 1-A. Two people! You had two people fail the provisional licencing exam!"
"Monoma?"
"He's crazy as usual."
"So, were you the only one to fail again? Like the final?"
I snickered. "No wonder he's a dick all the time."
I sweat dropped as Monoma did a creepy laugh and turned around.
"So which is it?!"
"Yea, man. That wasn't an answer..."
"We...all passed! We've pulled ahead of you, 1-A."
I grinned. "Well done, guys! Except you, creepy copycat. You suck." I went over to Pony and gave her a high-five.
"According to Vlad Teacher, we'll have classes together this semester! I'm looking forward to it!"
"Me too! We might have to teach everyone else a thing or two about getting along, huh?"
She nodded, then Monoma came up to her and whispered something in her ear. It better not be anything horrible...
I saw Kaminari looking at her and went to say something, but Monoma slipped away and Pony said: "I'll beat you up so bad you won't be able to get back up!"
"Oh hell..." I face-palmed, but hopefully nobody will try anything on her now... "Monoma, you're a dick!"
Kendo went up to him and hit him. "Don't teach her weird phrases!"
"Hey, we're trying to get through back here."
"I'm sorry. Come now, everyone, save your chitchat for later! Your causing problems for other people."
"Don't show me how uncool you are."
I grinned. Shinso, the brainwashing guy.
"That guy looks like he's bulked up a bit."
I heard the comment and looked at Shinso again. Yea. It does look that way. I hope he's been training in fighting. It would be good for him.
"Hey! It's the small mammal you all love, the principal! Recently, the fur I'm so proud of has deteriorated in quality. It's hard for me to take care of it. This is something you can say about you humans, too. Even if you have a balanced diet with zinc and vitamins, the most important thing has to be sleep. Disturbing your lifestyle is the worst for your fur. So if you're trying to improve your hair quality, you should make sure to get enough sleep."
I tried to keep still, I really did. But standing still for so long is hard. I mean, Nezu is cool and all, and I respect him of course, but why is he talking about hair...?
"The cause of the disturbance in lifestyle is incidents from summer vacation-"
Oh. Right.
"I'm sure you all already know about that. The loss of a pillar. The effects of that incident have appeared faster than I could have imagined. There will probably be great chaos in society in the near future. In particular, this will be apparent to those of you in the hero course."
I gulped. Why do I feel like he's talking to me...?
"You must approach activities outside of school, like the hero work studies that mainly second and third years participate in, with a greater sense of caution and crisis than before."
Hero work studies? What is this...? It better not be what I think it is...
"The air always feels heavy when we talk about gloomy things like this, huh? The adults are working hard to do something about the heaviness. We'd all like you to learn that hard work from them and develop into capable people. All of you in the business course, general studies, support course and hero course; I don't want you to forget that you're all successors of this society."
"Thank-you, Principal Nezu. And now, we have a few warnings from the non-curricular guidance counselor, Mr Hound Dog."
I sighed and scratched the back of my neck. This oughta be good...
"Grr...Yesterday...Grr...At the dorms...Grr..." He started barking and howling, so the rest of whatever he was trying to say was incomprehensible.
Vlad King took over the microphone for him. "Let's see. There were students fighting last night. You might be unused to life at the dorms, but let's live a life of moderation, is what he means."
"How did he even get that...?" I whispered.
"No idea." Mineta had blue streaks on his face. "Does he forget human speech when he gets angry? There's still so much I don't know about UA..."
"Midoriya and Bakugo are being treated as problem children, aren't they?"
I nodded. "They both need to calm down..."
"And now, return to your classrooms, starting with the third years."
I sighed. "About time. And that was a depressing way to end the assembly, don't you think?"
"It was a bit bleak."
"They probably should have tried to pump us up, rather than weight us down. I feel heavier than I did before."
"Bakugo would tell you to shut the fuck up, so..."
I glared. "Shuddup, Ice-man..."
"Ok then, we'll be continuing regular classes starting today. A lot of unprecedented things have happened, but you'll need to switch gears and focus on your studies as students. We'll be staying inside the classroom today, but this semester you'll have even harsher training than before."
I shifted my eyes as Ashido whispered something to Tsu. I wouldn't if I were-
"What's that, Ashido?"
...Too late...
"I'm sorry, can I ask a question? Can you tell us what the hero work studies that came up earlier during the assembly are about?"
"Oh yea, the principal said something about that."
"I was wondering as well."
Am I the only one who doesn't want to know? I have a feeling it's similar to the internships...
"He said it was something many of the upperclassmen are engaged in."
"I was planning to talk more about those at a later date, but I guess telling you now is more logical. To put it simply, they're hero activities outside of school, like the internships you did under heroes before only closer to the real thing."
Closer to the real thing? I tapped my chin, frowning. Then why did Gang Orca let me hit that criminal, and why did he let me trip up that bag thief? Oh, you're a terrible influence...I couldn't grin out loud, so I promised myself I'd laugh about it later.
I nearly jumped when Ochako stood up shouting. "Then why did I have to work so hard at sports festival?!" She spun, pointing at me. "You knew about this, didn't you?! That's why you didn't try as hard!"
I put my hands up, sweat on my face. "Hey! I know nothing about anything, ok? Relax."
"That's true. If we have work studies, then even those who didn't get scouted at the sports festival would have paths open up for them."
"Now, calm down. You're not being yourself."
"The hero studies use the scouting from the sports festival as connections. This isn't part of a class, but an activity done at the discretion of the student. So those who weren't scouted at the sports festival would have a hard time lining one up to begin with. Originally, individual agencies recruited their own, but there were many complications with trying to get UA students to join, so it ended up being like this. If you understand, sit down."
"I'm sorry, I jumped to conclusions."
"Now that you have your provisional licences, you can assist in more real ways for longer periods of time. But there haven't been many cases where first years received provisional licences. With increased activity of villains, we are currently thinking seriously about your participation."
So, he means they're debating on letting us do it? But we've all already proven we can handle it! To a point, of course.
"Well, we'll have you hear more about what it's like and explain in further detail at a later date. We've got our own circumstances to consider. Well then, sorry to keep you waiting, Mic."
Present Mic slid the door open with a stupid grin on his face. I put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.
"First period is English! In other words, my time! It's been an age since I stood on this stage! Did you miss me, bro?"
I couldn't stop the grin spreading across my face. "By the sounds of it, you missed us, huh Present Mic."
He wagged his finger at me. "That sounds like something someone who missed me, would say! You can't turn it around on me!"
I laughed. "Uh huh. Sure. Whatever you say." I kept grinning as he started the class.
"We've got a lot to cover today!"
Ok, maybe I missed you. A little. But I am never admitting that out loud.
"Let's fire it up! Yea!"
Ever.
After school, I went to the Development Studio to see how Mei Hatsume was doing. She had decided instead of waiting for me to get my own weapons, to actually make a few for me. She had decided to base them off the summoned weapons that I could already create. Summon. Whatever.
She wasn't as talkative today, so I got rushed out shortly after arrived. I shrugged and headed back to the dorm. The only thing she said to me was it'd be ready in a couple of days.
When I walked back into the dorm, everyone was talking about classes. I saw the freaked out look on Midoriya's face and laughed. Well, your own fault for sneaking out and getting caught.
"In just one day, I feel I'm being left behind! That's the face you're making, Mr House Arrest."
"Don't call me 'Mr House Arrest'! That's mean!"
I laughed. "But also true! I would have said the same thing. I didn't know you had a sense of humor, Iida." I looked at Midoriya. "That's what happens when you get caught sneaking out." I closed one eye and saluted with two fingers before heading up to my room. I heard Iida and Midoriya speaking, then Bakugo shouting. Heh. Glad he didn't hear my comment about being caught.
Up in my room, I pulled out my phone and called Doc.
"Are you at work?"
"Just got home, but I'm on call. How are you doing at school?"
"Better than a couple of the students. They got caught sneaking out and fighting."
"Ah. Did you?"
"Fight? No."
"And you didn't get caught. Clearly."
"There's a reason for that, but I haven't worked it out fully yet. I haven't told anyone."
Doc was quiet for a minute. "A new quirk?"
I nodded, even though he couldn't see me. "I think so. I kinda...I don't really know what I did. One minute I was somewhere else, and the next minute, I was in my room."
"I see. I want you to come home as soon as possible."
"What?"
"Just for a visit. I want you show me what you did before it happened."
I nodded. "Or I could try tonight? When everyone's asleep?"
"You think it'll work getting you here?"
"I think so. We'll just have to find out."
"Alright. Just...Be careful."
"Of course."
That night, while everyone was asleep, I did exactly what I did the night I appeared back in my room. Of course, I needed a bit of a run up, so I opened my balcony door. I pictured my bedroom in my warehouse, and ran.
My wings appeared and folded around me like they did the first time. I appeared in my room, and landed on my bed. I landed on my stomach, so I rolled over and sat up.
I grinned and laughed. The door opened, and Doc looked at me, his eyebrows raised.
"Well then...This is interesting..."
"I'll meet you in the lounge-room." I got up and ran the length of my bedroom, and appeared in the lounge-room. I didn't fall this time, just stumbled a little.
"That's impressive."
I turned to Doc. "Yea, but I still don't know how to work it properly. I hope I have enough energy left to get back. If I don't, I'm in trouble." I stumbled again, nearly falling, but Doc caught me and sat me on the couch.
"We'll figure something out, if that happens. Who else knows about this?"
"Just you. I suppose you have something on me know, huh Doc? If I get out of line, you'll tell."
He sighed. "You still don't get that I'm loyal only to you, huh?" He squeezed my shoulders and half smiled. "I'll make coffee." He got up and went to the kitchen, shaking his head. "Bloody teenagers."
I grinned and leaned back on the couch, thinking for once in my life how lucky I really was.
I crossed my arms and lay my forehead on them. I had managed to get back to my room at the dorm without being caught. I had decided, with Doc's encouragement, not to tell anyone else about this new quirk. I would practice it by going to my warehouse every night and back. It wasn't a solid plan, but it was a start.
"I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused!"
I nearly jumped at how loud Midoriya was. I lifted my head so only my eyes were showing, but he didn't seem to notice my glare.
"Deku, thanks for all your hard work!"
"'Hard work'? Why does he look so angry anyway?"
"Iida, I'm sorry for disappointing you!"
"Right. I'm just glad you know what you did wrong. But what's the matter?"
"I'm going to catch up with everything I fell behind in these past three days!"
"Oh that's great! I love stuff like that!"
"In your seats everyone."
I scoffed. Idiots. They've been here longer than me and they still manage to piss Aizawa off first thing. Well done.
"Morning. Now that Midoriya is back, we'll go into more detail about the work studies. Please come in."
The door opened and three students came in.
"We'll have people who've experienced it first hand tell you about how these are different from internships. Listen carefully. The three third years at UA who stand at the top of all UA students. Also known as the Big Three."
Two boys and a girl stood at the front of the class room. The girl was probably average height with long blue hair down to her knees. The boy to the left of her was tall and built. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, but the way he smiled creeped me out. The other boy barely looked up, so I could only see his hair, which was a purplely blue. I think he was tall too, but he slouched, so I couldn't tell.
My overall first impression of them was to be careful.
Very careful.
Ashido got excited and jumped up out of her seat shouting. I decided to keep my head down and be quiet.
"The crown among the the splendid UA students..."
"The ones closest to the pro heroes among us..."
"I heard they're the ones we're supposed to be like..."
"There's someone really pretty too. They don't really seem like it."
I glanced at Mineta and caught him drooling over the girl. I rolled my eyes. Of course he was. Idiot.
"Ok, can you please introduce yourselves briefly? Let's start with Amajiki."
The boy with the purple hair looked up and everyone leaned back, freaking out. Why were they freaking out? I think because that boys look was really intense. He did look serious, compared to the other two.
"It's no good. Mirio, Hado...Even if I look at them, imagining they're potatoes, everything other than their heads remain human. I still can't see them as anything but human."
Huh? A question mark appeared behind my head. Was that Amajiki guy shaking?
"What should I do? I can't...say anything...My mind's blank..." He turned towards the wall. "I want to go home."
"Um, you are the top of UA's hero course, right?"
"Oh listen, Amajiki! That's called having the heart of a flea! Even though you're human! It's so strange!" If that's the blue haired girls way of comforting him, I don't think it's working... "This is the flea, Tamaki Amajiki. And I'm Nejire Hado. We were asked to talk to you guys about work studies. Hey wait...Hey, why are you wearing a mask? Are you sick?" She stood in front of Shouji, staring at him. Oh hell, this girl is the opposite of Amajiki... "Trying to look cool?"
Well, it kinda was cool.
"This is because in the past..."
Hado jumped up as she looked eyes with something. Better not have been me...
"Oh my! You must be Todoroki, right? Right?" Oh thank fuck... "How did you get burned right there?" Oh hell...
"That's..."
Hado turned again. "Ashido, if your horns break off, will new ones grow in? Can you move them? Well?" What...is this chicks deal?
"Mineta, are those balls of yours, hair? How do you get your haircut?"
I looked at Mr Aizawa and raised and eyebrow. He was staring at the girl with red waves on his head. I'm pretty sure I saw both eyes twitching as well...
"Asui, you're a tree frog, not a toad, right? There's so much I want to know about all of you! It's so strange!"
You're the one who's strange, love...
"She's got the natural airhead thing going. It's cute." It's gross.
"She's like a kinder kid..." I guess Ashido is right...She does just seem curious, not malicious...
"She wants to know about my balls?!" I narrowed my eyes at Mineta. I glanced around quickly and flicked a finger.
"Wait a minute, that's sexual harassment, you know!"
"That's not what she meant..."
A small tendril slipped over to Mineta and flicked him, hard, behind the ear. He fell forward on his desk, face first. He lifted a thumb slowly. I scoffed and put my chin in my hand.
"Hey, hey, Ojiro. Can you support your whole body with your tail?" Seriously? Is she still going?
"Um.."
She leaned forward nearly climbing on his desk. "Hey, tell me! I wanna know!"
Mr Aizawa, can you please...Oh...He's already pissed. He was surrounded by a red aura. He was not impressed. "Isn't this lacking in rationality?"
The blonde guy, Mirio, started to sweat. "Don't worry, Eraserhead! I'm going to wrap things up, right? The future's gonna be...?"
Everyone was silent.
"Uh, gonna be what...?"
"Grim! That's what you were supposed to say, right? Alright, my call and response was a huge fail."
Just ever so slightly...
"All three of them are weird. Even though they're called the Big Three, it's like..."
I leaned over to Satou. "I don't think I've met a pro who's not some kind of-" I lifted a finger to my temple. "It's interesting to see where that strangeness comes from..."
"You can't feel it in their personalities."
"Besides, you can't talk, Kitia."
"I didn't realize you were a comedian, Kouda..."
"Well, you guys look like you're not sure what's going on, right?"
"Understatement." I muttered putting my chin back in my hand.
"We're third years who suddenly appeared to explain about work studies that aren't even required. That's confusing, right? You guys got your provisional licences as first years, right? This year's first years are really energetic, right? Besides, it looked like my jokes didn't work earlier, right?"
What jokes...?
"Mirio...?"
He threw his fist in the air. "Why don't you all fight me at once?"
"What?!"
I exchanged a look with Satou, and lifted my hand towards the Mirio guy. "Case and point." I whispered, then pressed a finger to my temple.
"Fight you?"
"Out of the blue?"
"It's the most rational to have you all experience our experience firsthand, right?"
He likes to say 'right' a lot...
"How about it, Eraserhead?"
He still doesn't look impressed...
"Do what you want."
I blinked. Wow, ok...He's probably gonna use this chance to nap, huh? Lucky...
We all got dressed in our PE uniform, then went to that indoor gym thing.
"Um...Are you serious?"
I nodded. "I think he's serious..."
Mirio was in front of us, stretching his legs. "Totally serious."
"Mirio, you probably shouldn't."
"He's so far!"
I stood next to Mineta. "I wanna talk to him."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I just wanna."
Amajiki clearly didn't hear us. "For the work studies, it would've been enough for us to say, 'this is how it was and I learned a lot from it'. Not everyone is filled to the brim with ambition. We can't end up with kids who are unable to recover after this."
"Huh?"
"What does he mean 'unable to recover'?"
I nudged Kirishima. "I think that means they're under-estimating us. What do you think?"
He grinned, then pointed. "What is she doing to Ashido...?"
"Oh listen! Did you know? There was a student who got so frustrated the student quit being a hero, and that caused all sorts of problems. Did you know that?"
A exclamation point appeared above my head. Hado was playing with Ashido's horns. I don't think she appreciated it too much...
"It's tough, isn't it, Togata? If you don't think things through properly, this'll be rough. Really rough."
"Please stop..."
I went over to Ashido. "Dodo! You gotta help me with this!"
She nodded, obviously grateful for the save.
"There's a handicap in place, but we've fought with the pros before."
"And we've fought villains before, too. Do we look like such weak small fry to you that you need to worry about us?"
Shut up, Kirishima! We still don't know this guys quirk or anything! I face-palmed.
"Right, you can come at me anytime, from anywhere. Who's first?"
Kirishima stepped forward, but then so did Midoriya. "Here I come!"
"You stole my thunder!"
"This is a good chance for you all. Make sure you get the most out of this experience!"
I stepped back. "The most, huh? Well then, I think I'll just watch this then."
"You don't want to fight?"
"It's not that, Mr Aizawa. It's just unlike Kirishima, I don't want to be cocky. I don't know this guy, or what his quirk is." I shrugged. "I don't wanna get beat up for nothing, you know?"
Everyone started getting ready to fly this guy. For some reason, I felt really uncomfortable. An uneasy feeling. I frowned and watched everyone run at him. Why was I feeling like this?
Huh? I blinked and widened my eyes. What the?
Mirio's clothes started to fall off?! What the hell?!
Almost everyone stopped and Sero started shouting. "Your clothes fell over just now!"
I felt hands over my eyes. I didn't complain. Not one bit.
"Oh, excuse me. The fine-tuning's tricky."
A few seconds later, the hands moved and I saw Midoriya's foot got THROUGH Mirio's head?! What?!
"You went for the face, huh?"
Sero, Ashido and Aoyama tried to get him, but their attacks went through him too.
"What is this guy...?"
I don't know what was hit, I was too busy staring at Mirio, trying to figure him out; but suddenly there was dust everywhere and I couldn't see a thing.
"Wait! He's gone!"
He popped up behind Jiro. I sweat-dropped. He's not wearing pants. Again. "I'll start with the long distance fighters!"
I had time to see Jiro turn around, but then hands went over my eyes again. I narrowed them. I might not be complaining about not seeing Mirio nude, but I didn't want to miss the fight. But as I couldn't see, I could hear a little better. I was able to pick out voices.
Shouji: "He warped?"
Satou: "His power isn't just slipping through things?"
Kirishima: "What kind of quirk is that?"
Amajiki: "That's not it. Mirio's quirk isn't one to be jealous of. What you should be jealous of is his skill. After he was scouted and worked hard at his work study with a certain hero, Mirio was built up."
"POWERRRR!"
The hands were lowered and I saw more than half the class on the ground. This guy...I stepped back and accidentally walked into Todoroki, but he barely noticed. He had his hands on my shoulders, staring with the same expression as me: Motherfuckerly.
"Mirio Togata. As far as I know, he's the man closest to being number one. Including the pros."
I stared at Mr Aizawa. "Seriously...?"
"He got more than half of them in an instant. He's the man closest to being number one..." I felt Todoroki's grip tighten. Mate, we might not get along, but I can tell when he's moody...
"You're not going? It's not like you aren't interested in being number one, right?"
"I didn't get my provisional licence, so..."
"And what about you?"
I shook my head. "There'd only be one way I wouldn't get my ass kicked. I can't use them all, and I might from instinct. Although, I really wanna see if my shield works against him..."
"That's it for the long distance fighters. All that's left are the ones that focus on close combat, right?"
The rest of our classmates squared off against Mirio. Mate, watching this really made me want to jump in too, but I wasn't lying when I said I might accidentally use my other quirks instead of just Reveal. We had managed to keep all my quirks under wraps, but I knew it was only a matter of time before it got out. For the time being though, I needed to work on strengthening them.
Mirio ran at them and slipped through the floor. My face went blank as his pants come off again. I turned, watching Midoriya. It happened almost in slow-motion. Midoriya turning around as Mirio jumped up out of the floor. Midoriya aiming a kick, but somehow went through Mirio. Mirio spinning and catching Midoriya in the gut.
At this point, I didn't even care that Mirio was fully naked. This guy was intense! Crazy! Mad! Freaking brilliant!
"Most people try to launch a counterattack like that. So then, of course, I'll train to go after those guys!"
I watched, shocked and fascinated, as Mirio took out Midoriya first, then everyone else in thirty five seconds flat, and managed to put his pants on in the process.
"POWER!"
What is this guy?!
"You know, about Togata. Hey, hey, listen to this...Togata's gotten stronger, hasn't he?"
Stronger?
"Mirio's been strong ever since we were kids. It's just...He should learn to hold back."
I shook my head as Mirio stood amongst the groaning bodies of my classmates. The way he stood, with his arms crossed and that creepy grin...
This guy...
"I tried to make it so you wouldn't be able to see my willy, but I'm sorry about that, girls."
"You did fail miserably at that..." I muttered.
"But anyway, you kind of get it now, right?"
"We all just got punched in the stomach without ever really figuring out what was going on..."
"Did you think my quirk was strong?"
"It was too strong!"
"That's not fair! Think about me too!"
"You could slip through things and warp! Are you a hybrid like Todoroki?!"
I glanced at Todoroki, but he just sighed. Mate, if I continuously got called 'hybrid' or 'half-half bastard' like Bakugo says, I'd be swinging. Todoroki is definitely a better person than me, that's for sure...
"Nope. I've only got one."
"Just one?"
"I know! I know what his quirk is! Hey, hey, can I say it? Can I? It's Permeation!"
"Hado, it's Mirio's turn right now."
"That's right. My quirks Permeation! What you guys called a warp was, as you guessed, an application of that."
Hado pouted and pulled at Mirio's shirt.
"Sorry about that."
"How exactly do you warp?" I shifted my eyes to Midoriya. For once, I was glad he was asking questions. I wanted to know too.
"If I activate my quirk through my entire body, then my body can go through everything. Everything."
I'm guessing that includes his clothes...
"That means the ground, too."
"Oh, so that was you falling through the ground?"
"That's right. I fell underground. And then, when I release my quirk while I'm falling, something strange happens. Apparently, things that have mass can't overlap, so I get repelled. In other words, I get repelled to the surface in an instant. That's how my 'warp' works."
I tapped my chin. So...It's not really a warp so much as travelling through things still...
"By changing the angle based on the direction of my body or pose I'm holding, I can aim for where I get repelled to!"
"Sounds like a buggy game!"
I grinned. It really does. Skyrim is a good example. I thumped my fist on my hand. "So, like when Skyrim glitches and the character falls through the map until it rights itself!"
"Everything is Skyrim with you..."
I shrugged. "What? It makes more sense if I think of it that way."
Mirio laughed. "You could say that. Skyrim glitches are very similar to it."
I grinned, but before I could say anything, Tsu cut me off. "So you can avoid all attacks and move wherever you want in an instant. It really is a very strong quirk."
"No. I made it into a strong quirk. While my quirk is activated, my lungs can't take in oxygen. Even if I breathe in, it'll just go through, right?"
I winced. Just the thought of that is cringy...
"In the same way, vibrations go through my eardrums and light goes through my retinas. I can go through everything. That means I can't feel anything. I just fall even while I have mass. That's all it is. Does that make sense? That's why, if I want to go through a wall, I activate everything but one leg, then I release in the other leg and land on it, activate my other leg and go through. Even for a simple action like that, there are a bunch of steps involved, right?"
"If that were me, I'd mess that up if I were in a hurry..."
I nodded, agreeing with Kaminari. I think I actually respect this Mirio guy.
"Besides, if I can't feel anything, I wouldn't be able to move."
"That's right. As expected, I was always behind. In no time, I dropped to dead last. I dropped my clothes too. In order to get to the top with this quirk, I couldn't just stay behind. Predictions! I had to think faster than those around me. Sometimes I had to be tricky. Above all, I had to be able to predict what would happen! And what made those predictions possible was experience. I built my predictions on what I knew! It ended up being kind of long, but that's why I wanted to fight you all! I wanted to show you through experience rather than words! In our work studies, we're not guests. We're treated as one of the sidekicks and as pros! That's really scary. Pros will sometimes end up watching people die. But those scary and painful things you go through. All of them are first rate experiences you wouldn't be able to have at school! I changed the experience I got during my work study into power and took the top spot. That's why I think it's something you should do even if you're scared, first years!"
I stared at Mirio. He was still just a kid. Just a student, but he spoke and acted as though he was already an adult, but spoke in a way that didn't look down on us. Man, this guy...As creepy as I thought he was, he still earned my respect in the couple of hours since I met him.
Everyone was clapping and talking amongst themselves, but I was thinking. What this said and showed us had made sense. Perfect sense. But how was I meant to incorporate that into my individual situation?
"We'll be going back now. Say thank-you!"
"Thank-you very much!"
On the way out, I lagged behind a little. Would Mr Aizawa tell me off for speaking with them? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Better to ask forgiveness than permission.
As I walked past the Big Three, I slowed and stopped, but I didn't look at them straight away.
"Your class is leaving you behind..."
I nodded. "I know my way back."
"Is something wrong?"
I sighed and looked at them all. "I...was wondering. How can I be like that? Be like you? I mean, your quirk could have easily held you back, but you stayed positive and worked hard. How can I...I don't know..."
"You don't."
I blinked and raised an eyebrow at Mirio. "Huh?"
"You don't. You can't be like me."
I shifted my feet and looked down, nodding.
"But..." I looked up quickly as he put his hands on my shoulders. "You can be like you. Work hard, and work on what you need to work on, but don't expect other people to help you. Be positive, but don't rely on other people to be positive for you. You be you." He stepped back to look at me. "I thought your quirk was Reveal anyway. Are you still having issues controlling it? At the sports festival, Present Mic mentioned you found other things linked with it."
"Oh hey! Hey! I saw what your team did in the cavalry battle! That teamwork was great and that explosion was amazing!"
"You stopped people from falling and injuring themselves..."
I hesitated, then smiled. "Like you said, just teamwork. I do need to work on it more, but it's hard."
"Kitia!"
I turned around and saw Aizawa waiting for me at the door. "Oh! I better go before he gets mad."
They nodded. "Sure."
"Wait!" The girl, Hado, leaned forward and hugged me. Did not expect that. "If you need someone to talk too, come find me!"
I blinked. "Uh, sure." I turned and trotted up to Aizawa. "Sorry, sir."
"Asking advice?"
"A little."
"I see. You need to be careful. Your fear of the wrong people finding out about your multiple quirks isn't invalid. They could use you for the wrong reasons."
I stayed quiet for a moment. "I know. I've already been through that. People using me. I'm not going to let that happen ever again. I don't want to hurt people."
"Good. That's good."
I smiled and nodded. Well, I don't want to hurt people who don't deserve it...
I'm going to have to work harder on both Reveal and this new quirk. I don't want to say anything to anyone. Not yet. Like Aizawa said, the wrong people finding out about me could be disastrous.
No, I will work alone. Just as life intended me to be.
