"So," Aizawa-sensei, class 1-A's grumpy and apparently very lazy teacher, pinched the bridge of his nose as he looked at her. Two other teachers and Nezu were sitting at a table looking at her as she stood there bouncing a broom against her knees as she made her case for being allowed a support item during the sports festival. "Let me get this straight, you want to take a broom into the sports festival?"
"Yes sir!" Izumi bowed and looked between Midnight-sensei, Powerloader-sensei, and Nezu. From what Momo and Inasa had confirmed, Aizawa-sensei was both strict and really lazy, so her chances of winning him over were slim to none.
"Alright, well," Midnight-sensei winked and smiled at her. "Why don't you show us what you can do with it, Izumi?"
"Right!" She held out her hand and let her broom drop. It hovered in the air and she made it fly around the large meeting room she had been sent into. "With my Control Object spell, I can control a single object and move it around easily. Smaller objects are easier to move than larger ones, and the more practice I have with moving a similar object the better I am with it. I have the most practice with a broom."
"It fits your witch motif very nicely." Midnight-sensei purred, folding her hands on top of each other. "But, what else can you do with it?"
Izumi held out her hand and the broom came right back to her. The weeks of training with Nejire and Inasa came in handy, as she was able to confidently flip up onto her broom and sit like a proper witch. There was actually a bit of science to it; it was a bit like sitting side saddle on a horse, and made riding easier in her hero costume as well.
And for some reason, riding her broom like a jockey made her dive into the ground easier. Also, this way she could keep a hand open for spells.
"I'm also capable of flying with my broom. I'm still learning, but I can go a bit faster than I can run without crashing." She puttered around the room at a leisurely place before bouncing down onto her feet. "It's a lot safer than Selfus Yeetus."
That earned her a laugh from Nezu.
That was a good thing.
"I'm still confused as to why a broom? Wouldn't a real support item help you more?" Powerloader-sensei tapped a large finger onto the table. "Like, something that isn't a broom?"
"Oh! That's the important part!" Izumi held her broom in front of her again and began to actually use her quirk with it. "For whatever reason, I can use my quirk through objects." She pointed the end of her staff towards them and began to activate her quirk, no spell, just random drawings. "Bigger circles means bigger spells, and a wider line gives me more powerful spells. In addition," she spun her broom with a light kick, turning the brushes towards them, the majority of the ends beginning to glow as she drew a lazy mountain, "when I have an end that splits like this, I can multicast."
She held her broom behind her and smiled. "And I can kind of fight with it."
"Hmm." Aizawa-sensei closed his eyes for a moment. "It's too close to a weapon for my liking."
"What?" Powerloader-sensei sounded extra offended at the idea of Izumi's broom being called a weapon. "That thing's a weapon? It looks like I could break it over my knee if I wanted too."
"Umm, if it helps, they do break a lot!" This was broom number fifteen.
"See?" Powerloader-sensei crossed his arms and gave a low growl. "Besides, Mei has a net gun. And several items that have metal rods that can be used as a better weapon than that thing."
"Yes, but Mei made those."
She could make a broom! Maybe.
It didn't look too hard.
It was just a stick.
Wait, could someone just go grab a branch from a tree and bring it in as a support item?
"If I might have a moment," Nezu stood on his chair and crawled up onto the desk. "Izumi is asking for a single mundane object that she would likely have during her time as a hero, and she has frequently used said item during her hero training as well as during her after school practices. Additionally, it is not as though she won't have objects she can command during parts of the exam. I'm well versed in Izumi's quirk at this point, and I can honestly say allowing her to have a broom won't make or break her ability to succeed. So, I'm for it."
"You make a good point." Aizawa-sensei nodded in acknowledgement.
"Besides," Midnight-sensei purred, drumming her fingers along the table, a teasing smile pulling on her lips. "We did just approve of your student's belt that does effectively the same thing."
"A belt isn't a—" Aizawa looked at Midnight and then shut his mouth. "Izumi, I believe your broom has been approved. Can you call in the next student please?"
"Sure!" She bounced on her heels and all but sprinted out of the room.
XXXX
Class 1-A
Ever since they had beaten back a group of villains (At least long enough for All Might to show up) they had been in the spotlight. Not just at U.A. where staff and upperclassmen alike praised them for doing so well despite the odds, but by the media as well. There was a lot of talk about the Heroic Class A and how they were the ones to look out for.
This caused a lot of resentment in her own class. Resentment that was spreading, and its epicenter had a very punchable face by the name of Neito. Neito, the loud blonde punk that had been very critical of her ever since she beat him—fairly, really what male hero doesn't wear a cup?—the first day of hero practice. Sure, most of the class had just ignored him, but, they weren't ignoring him anymore.
A rift was forming in class 1-B, between those who were resentful of the attention 1-A was getting, and those that were friends with 1-A.
The former group was about half the class, while the latter was pretty much just Izumi, Setsuna, Itsuka, and probably Reiko.
"We can't let those guys in class 1-A steal the spotlight away from us again." Neito spread his arms wide, and a growing crowd was gathered around his desk like he was some kind of a grandstander. "That's why, during the sports festival, we need to go after them, I think we should team up and—"
Izumi slammed her hand on her desk and nearly sent her chair flying when her butt brushed against it. She stomped over towards Neito and put on her best angry girl face that she had seen Nejire use a few times to yell at people. With her arms crossed she glared down at the embodiment of undeserved smugness. "Would you stop?"
"Oh my dear Izumi." Neito extended a hand towards her, and the smarmy smile on his face was just begging to be put in its place. She'd step on him, but there was a pretty good chance he might be into that. "It's good you're here, you're our secret weapon after all."
"Huh?" Izumi raised an eyebrow and looked at the others that were nodding along with Neito.
"Indeed, your quirk is ideal at control is it not? Your ability to create barriers, walls, and other ways to be a general nuisance." Neito sighed as though everything he had just said wasn't a compliment but instead a shame.
"Yeah!" Tetsutetsu nodded in agreement, the biggest dude bro of their class slammed his fist together with a metallic clank. "You're the only in our class that can break through my iron defense! I doubt there's anyone in 1-A that can hold out against your Magic Arrow Barrage."
Izumi stared at him and blined, "You're the one that stands there and takes the whole thing."
"It's a great workout!"
If it wasn't for the fact that Tetsutetsu was like this before she met him, she'd be worried that her first match against him had fried parts of his brain.
"Hmm," Izumi frowned and looked at them all. "Thanks, but still, stop talking bad about class 1-A. They want to be heroes just like us."
"That's easy for you to say!" Kinoko flailed her arms. "You have a naturally strong quirk like they do."
"Naturally strong?" Izumi felt her eye twitch.
"Oh please Izumi," Neito let out a smug little laugh. "There's a reason why you're Vlad-sensei's favorite. You have one of the naturally strongest quirks in this class, it's such a shame I can't utilize it."
"Stand up." Her hands were shaking.
"What?"
"I said stand the fuck up!" She extended a hand towards Neito. "Take my quirk. I'll show you how to cast a spell."
"Well, now isn't this a surprise. Alright, Sensei," Neito gave her a gracious smile, completely unaware that she was about one second from laying him on his ass.
She had no doubt in a fair fight she could beat Neito even without any quirks.
"We're going to be starting with something simple." She spun and grabbed a piece of paper effortlessly drawing one of her symbols on it. "Here, trace this with your fingers."
"Ahh, and which spell is this? Is it safe to use in the classroom?" Neito smiled and waved his finger through the air, a trail of light following it.
"Yep, it's just my personal barrier spell."
"Ooh, a defensive option to start, very well." Neito held the paper with one hand and calmly drew the rune with the other.
The first time he was too slow. "Faster."
The second time he messed up. "Keep your hand steady."
The third time he was too slow again. "Faster."
The fourth time the spell activated.
The shimmering aura of her barrier appeared from a foot or so above Neito's head and fell to the ground in less than a moment, the desks around him weren't moved, but were instead partially covered in the barrier. A unique property of Barrier was that it couldn't actually move things out of the way, and instead just flowed around them.
It was neat.
What was also neat was that the moment Neito cast the spell, he turned white as a ghost. His body trembled and he placed his hand over his chest as he panted. He looked at her like she had betrayed him and slowly fell to his knees. A moment later, the barrier faded.
"Neito, bro, what happened?" Tetsutetsu panicked, his arms flailing before he helped Neito back to his desk. "Izumi, what'd you do?"
"I showed him how to cast a spell. And now, Neito, what did that feel like?"
"It." He took a few quick breaths and looked at her. "It felt like I just sprinted a mile until I puked."
"Exactly. My quirk isn't free. It runs off of my energy and endurance." Izumi placed her hands on her hips and felt like bragging just a little bit. It wasn't a flex if she was just proving a point, right?
"But, I've seen you cast that spell five times back to back." Kinoko muttered, looking up at her in awe.
"When I was little, I thought my quirk was just drawing light and stuff. I discovered my first spell by chance and it made me pass out. It was just a single Magic Arrow. Ever since then, I have been practicing my spells! For my endurance, I swim 175 laps in an hour, then I spend two hours a day practicing spells I already know, and another hour trying to figure out new spells! That's not including the flying practice I do with Nejire-senpai, or hero class, or gym! I spend far too much time on my quirk for you guys to say it was natural."
She clutched her chest and then pointed towards the wall that separated her class from 1-A. "And I know for a lot of them it's the same. Inasa rides his bike to school every morning, and he lives on the other side of Tokyo! Momo spends countless hours studying for her quirk! Hell, even Katsuki, the biggest jerk in there, trains every single day. I see him running past my apartment when I wake up, even in the rain."
"Yes, many of us have strong quirks." Izumi pointed towards herself. "I know my quirk is strong. I love my quirk. But, don't make it sound like we don't put any work into making our quirks strong!" She poked Neito in the chest and glared at him. "That goes doubly for you. You of all people should know how much work it takes to make some quirks work."
"Lesson," Neito let out a long gasp of air. "Learned." Another breath. "But, I'm still not going to let them win."
Izumi sighed, "You're acting like they wanted to be attacked by villains."
"Does it matter?" Tetsutetsu asked, looking right at her. "We're not upset that they lived or anything. We're annoyed that they're getting all the attention, we're annoyed that people are saying that they're the amazing class."
"I guess it doesn't, but still, that's no reason to hate them." She looked towards Itsuka and Setsuna, hoping one of them would come to her rescue. No such luck. "But, it's still no reason to hate them."
"Izumi, dear," Neito coughed and smiled up at her; he was actually recovering faster than she thought he would. "We don't hate them. They're our rivals is all. You can't tell me you don't want to win the sports festival. Do you?"
Win the sports festival.
If Inasa won.
He would confess.
She clenched her fist. "No way! I'm going to win the sports festival! Just you watch."
"See? You want to beat 1-A too." Neito chuckled.
There were lots of people in 1-A she wanted to beat.
And one she wanted to punch in the face.
Hard.
AN: Can you believe it's already been 20 chapters?