A/N: To those who pointed out that Time Beasts cannot be physically hit lest the offender crumbles to dust, that's a good point I didn't think of when writing the chapter. It's been a long time since I've watched Omniverse! Then again, there are scenes where canon characters touch Time Beasts without any ill effects, but I could be misremembering. Let's just chalk it up to a goof and move on, shall we?
Without further ado, I give you Chapter Two!
X-X-X
Chapter Two: Born To Run, Born For This
"Move faster, Midoriya-kun!" admonished the silver-haired man, arms folded in front of him with a stern expression on his face. Izuku gritted his teeth, trying to keep himself centered as he lashed out with another roundhouse kick at Kyosuke, who blocked it with a grimace. His core throbbed, but Izuku knew that this time, he'd executed the move perfectly. Pride expressed itself in a small grin on his face as he landed back in a perfect stance, arms up to block any possible rejoinders from his opponent.
"That's more like it." With the sternness on his face melting away into something that constituted satisfaction with Izuku's performance, the man removed his arms from his chest and nodded. Izuku knew all too well that gaining his approval was a battle hard-won, and he couldn't help flushing happily as he relaxed his stance, Kyosuke doing the same in front of him as they both accepted bottles of electrolytes from a smiling Ochako, who was on a break. The man overseeing their performance had served as a combat instructor to them for over three years, and he certainly looked the part, with bulging muscles, a permanent scowl, silver hair shorn into a buzz cut, and various scars on his knuckles. One would be hard-pressed to peg him as anything except a retired biker gang member, though in reality, he was a scientist who had written several papers on Quirk biochemistry and had a black belt in kickboxing.
Oh, and he was also Kyosuke's father, Takeo Kirihara.
Izuku had been unable to believe it at first, though admittedly, most of the blame could be laid on Kyosuke inheriting most of his genes from his mother. Indeed, Takeo had been thoroughly unsurprised at Izuku- and later Ochako's- blatant disbelief that he had been the one to sire their white-haired friend. That being said, puberty had later developed Kyosuke's shoulders, jaw, and arms into something resembling his father's, but it was obvious that he would forever be his mother's son first in terms of his looks. He would have, in fact, made a beautiful girl had it not been for his strong jaw and neck, broad shoulders, and lean muscles that had gained some serious definition from all the exercise he had put himself through to achieve his dream of being a hero.
And speaking of beautiful girls...Izuku blushed as Ochako executed a graceful spin kick on Kyosuke, who ducked just when it would've taken his head off before countering with a swift uppercut that Ochako just barely managed to avoid. The brunette had always been very cute, and years of growing up in Musutafu had not changed that in the least. She still had her round cheeks, shiny hair, adorable brown eyes, and a smile that had made Izuku go weak at the knees then and still did now. However, over three years after she had joined him and Kyosuke in their shared martial arts lessons, citing a need for close-combat skills to balance out her relatively combat-weak Quirk, she had been left with muscles and curves sculpting her frame that Izuku tried very, very hard not to stare at because she trusted him in her space. God help him if he made his attraction to her known; although, he knew Kyosuke had worked it out already. The white-haired boy was observant like that.
As he watched, Kyosuke overextended a punch, allowing Ochako to slip beneath his guard and land a few hard hits that would have definitely left some serious bruises had she not been wearing gloves. Wincing, Kyosuke recovered with some rapid footwork and a front kick that sent Ochako sprawling from the sheer force of it. Even though she'd managed to block the strike, Kyosuke was still stronger and taller than her, which allowed him the advantage of regaining his footing. Takeo was watching intently, compiling notes in his head like he usually did as his two students sparred. Izuku would have been doing the same with his notebook and pencil had he not been so exhausted. Instead, he simply opted to replenish his strength and watch.
"Kyosuke!" Takeo's sharp rasp cut through Izuku's errant thoughts. "Don't overcommit to your attacks! Be cautious!"
A sharp sound of affirmation preceded a flurry of fierce but compact punches from the white-haired youth. Ochako dodged two and blocked the third, but the fourth landed true on her stomach with a dull thud. Izuku knew his friend was holding back and that Ochako had tightened her core so that the punch would do little damage, so he was unsurprised when she hit back without pause, kneeing Kyosuke in the gut and hammering at his back until he pushed her away and feinted at her thigh with a roundhouse kick. When she went to block it, he changed course, and his foot came up with a snap across her face. Had he not pulled his attack at the last second, Ochako would have probably been left with a concussion. As it happened, she merely snarled and punched out once more.
"Stop!" ordered Takeo sharply. Kyosuke and Ochako both halted immediately and stood straight up, bowing to each other for a match well-fought. Izuku smiled to himself; Ochako had kept up with Kyosuke remarkably well despite the boy being a full eight inches taller and several kilograms heavier. Moreover, both Kyosuke and Izuku knew all too well that had Ochako used her Quirk, she would've ended the two of them in about five seconds, strength advantage or no. It was a little hard to fight someone when you weighed literally nothing.
There was little doubt that she was the strongest one of the three of them. Even Kyosuke, who hated losing with a passion, would readily admit to it if asked.
"All right, you're done for today. Good work, all of you," rumbled Takeo. "Midoriya-kun, remember to keep up with your leg and core exercises. Uraraka-kun, I know you'd rather fight with your hands considering your Quirk, but remember that a good kick is always better than a good punch against an opponent who is bigger than you. Kyosuke, try not to use your size advantage to win fights with your friends. Not all your opponents will be shorter and lighter than you."
"Yes," agreed Kyosuke calmly. As aforementioned, he was unusually tall for a Japanese teenager, having a full four inches over Izuku himself, to say nothing of the eight he had over Ochako. "I will admit, though; Uraraka and Midoriya are a bit too much for me to handle unless I use my size to overwhelm them."
Ochako laughed. "Don't worry about it, Kyo-chan!"
"Yeah," put in Izuku, "the gap isn't that wide." In fact, it was all but nonexistent. The only reason Ochako and he could slip beneath Kyosuke's guard as much as they did was the same reason he could use power to overwhelm them; they were smaller than him. However, in the wider scale of things, the three of them would all be considered skill-based fighters, not having any sources of supernatural strength. That was why their teacher encouraged technique and speed more than power- and Ochako and Izuku just so happened to be naturally faster than Kyosuke, just as the latter happened to be naturally stronger.
"Maybe if you stopped reading so many books on science and started training a bit more," added Takeo pointedly. Kyosuke snorted. "There's irony in that, Dad. A scientist telling me not to read books on science..."
Even Takeo grinned at that, while Ochako and Izuku both giggled in tandem with one another. It was a habit of Kyosuke's to indulge in science and the scientific method almost as much as he indulged in heroics, just as Izuku indulged in heroic analysis and Ochako indulged in stargazing and astronomy.
("But you can't just do that," Kyosuke had howled when Ochako had deigned to demonstrate her Quirk for the first time. He'd heard of it before, of course, but seeing it in action had given him greater insights as to the workings of her powers. The chair had floated innocently in the air while she and Izuku had doubled over with laughter at their friend's horrified expression. "You just reduced acceleration due to gravity to zero! I'm fairly sure that violates the law of gravitation in so many ways that I don't even know where to start! Anything that has mass should be subject to gravity- YOU JUST BROKE A FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF PHYSICS, STOP LAUGHING, URARAKA-")
The then-twelve-year-old Kyosuke had soon learned that with the emergence of Quirks had arrived a revision on some of the most fundamental laws of science, such as Conservation of Energy, general relativity, and the Laws of Thermodynamics. Ochako's casual defiance of the law of gravitation was nothing compared to some of the other insane phenomena observed on a near-daily basis. In fact, one of the major aspects of Takeo's work was mapping out how the human genome had evolved with the emergence of the Quirk Factor, and how it had started allowing for the violation of so many physical laws on such a great scale.
It was fair to say, thus, that while Kyosuke may have looked like his mother, he thought and acted like his father. Methodical, direct, and efficient, if a bit impatient, the term 'hypothesis testing'- and variations of it- came up often around both the Kirihara males. Just as Izuku had a heroic perspective on the Quirks they would observe when watching television together as the three of them often did, Kyosuke observed Quirks through the lens of science, which often provided insights into how they worked and other ways they could be applied on the field.
Izuku could still remember the time Kyosuke had suggested adding thrusters to Ochako's future costume to simulate flight. They had gone over the idea for several hours, debating its workability and testing it extensively before concluding that despite Ochako's Quirk having left her with an iron stomach, she wouldn't be able to fly around without puking her guts up unless she trained herself up for a good while longer. Still, it had been a creative and exceedingly simple idea that he could've kicked himself for not thinking of sooner.
"Cooldown?" offered Ochako, smiling at him sweetly. Izuku nodded back, hoping against hope that she would attribute the flush on his face to exhaustion, and started jogging around the large room, with Ochako following closely behind him and Kyosuke bringing up the rear. They were training in what had previously been a storage unit that had come along with the apartment Takeo owned. It was a good ten meters long and wide and about five meters in height. However, the ex-kickboxer had cleaned it out completely, laid thin foam mattresses in the center of it to form a square ring, hung up punching bags at each corner of the makeshift area, and introduced a rack full of weights ranging from two to thirty kilograms each. After the final induction of an array of lights and air-conditioning to keep the room safe, well-lit, and aerated, it had transformed into his and the trio's training ground. Kyosuke and Izuku had been training there since entering middle school, and Ochako had joined them, as aforementioned, about a year later.
Izuku had frankly lost count of the number of times the three of them had worked themselves to the bone here, chasing their shared dream under Takeo's watchful eye. It was one of the only places besides each of their homes that the three of them all felt truly safe. Indeed, they had all at some point fallen unconscious on the mattresses out of sheer exhaustion and slept the evening away after being carted up to Kyosuke's bed; yes, even Ochako, after which her parents had had a long and very awkward conversation with Takeo about what constituted the preservation of their daughter's modesty. It had been only Ochako's repeated assurances and several conversations with the elder Kirihara that had prompted the Urarakas to let their daughter continue training with the silver-haired man. Their three families now trusted each other implicitly, of course- that tended to happen when your child had formed such close bonds with the other two families' children- but it had been scary for the boys to consider the very possible reality of going back to training without Ochako beside them.
She had also been the one to give the room its name, although Takeo sometimes still protested at the ridiculousness of calling his room the Eighth Level of Hell. Then again, he worked them like a slave driver so often, and Kyosuke had uttered so many articulate oaths about the room being the equivalent of said level of hell so frequently, that Izuku honestly hadn't been able to think of a better name for it.
"Good work today," commended Takeo. "Kyosuke, you're free to do what you want for the rest of the day. I know your exams just finished, kids, so take the opportunity to have fun while you can. I know the Entrance Exam is almost still a full year away, but assuming you all get into U.A like I honestly think you will, you'll be worked too hard to have too many breaks. It's only five in the evening, and it's a Friday, so."
"Sure, dad," murmured Kyosuke, which was barely heard over Izuku and Ochako's chorus of "Thank you, Takeo-sensei!"
The three of them raced up the steps to Kyosuke's flat, laughing despite their exhaustion and injuries. Just when they ascended to the floor just below Kyosuke's, Ochako got ahead of them by using her Quirk on herself to jump up the last flight of stairs in a flash. However, both the boys had anticipated that move and poured on the speed accordingly as she regained her bearings. The result was thus Kyosuke coming just a fraction ahead of Izuku because of his long legs just as Ochako landed a mere half step behind them.
"Oh, come on! That's just...not fair!" gasped out the brunette, hands on her knees. Taking pity on her, Izuku rubbed her back soothingly as Kyosuke snorted, unlocking the door and showing them in. "I cannot believe you can say that after using Zero Gravity, Uraraka."
"That doesn't count, Kyo-chan!" she objected hotly, fighting an adorable smile. "That's just my natural ability. You two, on the other hand, took advantage of my weakness to run ahead of me!"
Kyosuke rolled his eyes, but the green-haired boy could spy the tell-tale twitch of his lips that betrayed his amusement. "Like how you took advantage of your Quirk to run ahead of us?"
"Oh, go to hell, you-"
"Technically, we just escaped the eighth level of hell, you know-"
Struggling not to laugh, Izuku pointedly walked down the hall and gestured to Kyosuke's room, where he and Ochako had left their clothes and could change in the bathroom attached to it. The fact that Kyosuke had had a pretty girl changing her clothes in his room several times had seemingly never bothered him and showed no signs of ever doing so, but Izuku could only thank his lucky stars that Ochako had never had to take off her clothes in his own room. He was fairly sure he would die from embarrassment if he even considered the idea for more than a few seconds.
After about half an hour, when all three of them were freshly washed, dried, and changed, they sauntered down the stairs. As refreshing their baths had been, the three of them were still sore from their exercise and combat sessions, so Kyosuke had very thoughtfully procured some energy bars and money to buy them their drinks of choice from the nearest convenience store. Ochako skipped ahead, a sunny smile on her face as Izuku watched her fondly, chewing on his bar. She was still so beautiful, so angelic even after all these years that it made his eyes and cheeks start to burn just by looking at her.
A pointed clearance of the throat drew Izuku's attention abruptly to his white-haired friend, who gestured with his half-eaten bar in the blissfully oblivious girl's direction before raising a thin, white eyebrow. Instantly Izuku frowned, glaring at him silently. Kyosuke held his gaze with equanimity for about five seconds before shrugging, swallowing, and holding out his hand. With a slightly bad grace, Izuku deposited the wrapper in his friend's palm, watching as Kyosuke did the same with Ochako before deftly throwing the entirety in a nearby trash can.
'The easiest thing for you to do, of course, would be to just say it.'
'That's not easy- it's not easy at all.'
'I didn't say it was easy. Simply that it's easier than languishing in your feelings for so much longer. We'll either be heroes or college students in four years after high school is over. What are you going to do then?'
'I'll- I'll figure something out. It's not as if she'll say yes anyway.'
'Alright. I disagree, as it happens, but if that's how you feel then I will desist, Midoriya.'
This was the exchange that had occurred, albeit silently, between the two friends; an exchange which had come up with increasing frequency over the past two years, and one which Ochako remained mercifully ignorant of. Izuku was certain that he loved Ochako- how could his feelings be anything but, when they surged in him in such magnitude and ferocity as if to burn him from the inside out, as bright and hot as a dying star? But he could never tell her. He would never tell her. Kyosuke wouldn't understand because he simply didn't think in the directions necessary to do so. Everything was a puzzle in logic to the white-haired boy, and feelings and relationships ran in trenches that went deeper than logic could reach.
"So guys, guys, did you catch the fight against that Giant Villain yesterday?" trilled Ochako, smiling at them from ahead.
"Is that what they're calling him?" asked Kyosuke. "The Giant Villain? I thought it'd be something else, considering his head was all weird."
"I mean, he did have a Gigantification Quirk," commented Izuku thoughtfully. "But yeah, his head looked more like a horse's or a shark's, but I'm not sure which."
"But Mount Lady was so cool in that fight!" Ochako thrust a fist up in the air. "She was all like 'Canyon Cannon!' and boom! Instant knockout!"
Kyosuke snorted. "Instant kill-steal more like. Hadn't Kamui Woods been about to neutralize him with his Lacquer Prison before she came in? Plus, she caused so much damage to the nearby buildings it's a miracle no one died from that special move."
"Ehhh," Ochako demurred, well-used to his blunt nature by now. "I still think it was cool."
"That's what she wants you to think!" chastised Kyosuke, a fond smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Don't fall into her trap, Uraraka!"
"Pfft! You make her sound like a villain, Kyo-chan!" chortled Ochako.
Izuku privately agreed with both of his friends' sentiments. Kyosuke was correct in that the flying kick the blonde heroine had used to finish off her opponent had been needlessly flashy and caused a lot of damage to the surrounding area. The logical decision would have been to simply use her superior strength to squeeze him or throw him into the air, making him an easier target for Kamui and Death Arms' Quirks. Even better, she could have simply stood by while the more experienced heroes took care of the situation, which would have left her to guard the surrounding civilians with her...giant-ness...had the villain tried anything funny.
However, heroism was just as much about popularity as it was about saving lives. Heroes had to be flashy and noticeable as much as they had to be competent and powerful. The showbiz aspect of heroism was one that Izuku knew he would always struggle with if he managed to make it through U.A or Shiketsu or Ketsubutsu or whichever hero school he graduated from, assuming he managed to get in one of them. Kyosuke at least stood out because of his uncommon height and flame-like hair, even if he had pretty much the same skills as Izuku himself. Ochako would probably not have any problems at all with it. Her unique Quirk, bubbly attitude, and (very, very) good looks would definitely ensure a high popularity rank for her.
"I mean, it is kind of manipulative of her to use a flashy super move just to pander to the public, especially when there were a hundred other options she could've gone with instead," contributed Izuku with a grin. "I have to side with Kyosuke-kun here, Ochako-chan."
Ochako gasped dramatically. "Deku-kun! You conniving traitor!"
Kyosuke grinned. "Now now, it's hardly traitorous if Midoriya is on the side of facts and logic. Really, if anything, it's you who's the traitor here, Uraraka."
"Oh, to heck with your facts and logic, Kyo-chan," snorted Ochako snobbishly. "I shall remain triumphant on the side of coolness and awesomeness!"
"Aren't those the same things?" laughed Izuku.
"Not if I say so!"
"Ahh, you see this, Midoriya?" lamented Kyosuke. "All of the power of facts and logic has been wrested from us by Ochako Uraraka's coolness and awesomeness. How on Earth shall we survive?"
"By joining her!" Izuku quickly skipped over to Ochako's side of the road as they walked under a short bridge, sticking his tongue out at his white-haired friend. Darkness blanketed them briefly, hiding them from the sun. "Prepare to face defeat, Kyosuke-kun! Ochako-chan's coolness and awesomeness shall forever prevail in the place of your facts and logic!"
"Midoriya, you jerk!" Kyosuke waved his fist playfully. There was an odd smell in the air, the kind Izuku had learned to associate with sewage, mud, and decay from things being exposed to the elements too long. He frowned, not noticing the way Ochako's cheeks had darkened slightly from his proximity and subtly peered around. The drains lining the road were full to bursting with dark green slime, which was weird considering it hadn't rained for a long time and none of the other drains had been in similar condition. A little gurgling sound was emanating ominously from the sewage as it moved.
Warning bells started to go off in Izuku's head.
"Deku-kun?" asked Ochako. "What's the matter? You got all silent just now."
"I don't know." Izuku surveyed the area intently. "I just...There's something weird about-"
And that was when the drains exploded.
"AAARGH-" roared Kyosuke before a thick, dark green mass of slime enveloped his body, at which point the cry stopped abruptly. Letting out an involuntary scream of horror, Izuku surged forward, realizing almost immediately that the sludge was no ordinary substance, nor was it the result of a fault in the drainage system. It was the product of a Quirk, and clearly a dangerous one. Two jaundiced eyes regarded them from the depths of the inky mass as a mouth beneath them split into a lipless grin.
Ochako gave a yell of fear, leaping back towards Izuku as they eyed up the thing that had swallowed their friend whole. "Don't worry," soothed the villain from its too-wide mouth, arms emerging from its body like a sick parody of live prey trying to escape its predator's stomach. Their friend was still alive- alive and struggling, but for how much longer? Trembling, Izuku did the only thing he could think of, which was to put his hands up in a fighting stance as Ochako did the same beside him. "I'm just borrowing this young man's body for a bit- it's really nothing too serious, you know. He might even be alive by the time I'm done with him. Maybe."
The villain's body undulated suddenly as if Kyosuke was trying to punch his way out.
"Ooh, now that's a fighter! Not a lot of good it'll do him, though..."
'Think,' Izuku's mind screamed at him. 'Think- Kyosuke-kun's still fighting- Ochako-chan could use her Quirk and make the villain weightless, and I could distract him by hitting his eye, but he won't let me get close-'
Inspiration lent itself to him in a brief, blinding flash, and just as the villain continued to monologue, he took off his shoe and threw with all the force he could.
Ochako made a strangled noise beside him- out of relief or surprise, Izuku wasn't sure- but the shoe hit the villain dead-center in its left pupil. With an aggravated roar, its body finally broke open, allowing an absolutely filthy Kyosuke to tear himself out of the slime with his face the very picture of rage.
"Uraraka!" he roared, and Ochako instantly understood. With a fierce expression on her face, she lunged forward, her fingertips just brushing the villain's body as Kyosuke pulled himself free. She grabbed him, and the three of them prepared to run as the sludge floated upward.
"Nonono- what did you just do to me, you shitty bitch?!" howled the sentient mass, which was now trying to pull itself towards them using several tendrils of slime still attached to the drain. 'A liquid body,' Izuku's brain supplied helpfully. 'Maybe with enough power, it would be possible to contain it in a bottle.'
"Prepare to die, you fucking brats-" promised the sludge villain.
Izuku didn't think.
His mind went blank.
All he did was move, getting in front of his friends, spreading his arms, and opening his mouth-
"Actually, there'll be no one dying today," came a new voice. When Izuku heard it, he couldn't help but halt in his tracks, a new shock pervading his senses. This voice was one he'd heard hundreds of times before, albeit never in person. He knew this voice, knew this confidence and charisma, this radiating gravitas, and he sought to emulate it every day.
"It's all right now! Why do you ask? For I AM HERE!"
A blond man with a grin so great and powerful it made Izuku's knees tremble at the sight of it surged forward, parting the wind just from his thunderous cadence.
"TEEEXAAAAS-"
"Nonononononono-" garbled the villain, straining to move despite still weightlessly floating in the air like a sick upside-down marionette. The man punched outwards, a cannon of force exploding outward like a nuclear bomb given life.
"-SMAAAAASH!"
With a shriek that sounded like it had come from the depths of hell itself, the villain's body detonated, swathes of sludge sheeting away from the very pressure of All Might's fist. None of the rancid semisolid landed on the ground, no; all of it went up into the air, never curving downward-
'HE'S STILL WEIGHTLESS,' Izuku's mind screeched at him. 'He's going to die he's going to die die die-'
"Ochako-chan!" he screamed out, and bless her, the brunette immediately joined all her fingertips together, pink light briefly shining from where they touched. "Release!" she choked out- oh, it couldn't have been easy for her, holding up such a large mass of sludge for so long- but it was too late. The inky green semisolid had all but disappeared, except for the parts of it still clinging to Kyosuke's body.
"Oh my God," Ochako managed, her voice a bare whimper as All Might straightened up, the massive grin on his face contrasting sharply with the small frown over his eyes as he inspected his fist, seemingly at a loss as to how the sentient slime had somehow managed to attain escape velocity despite the fact his fist hadn't hit it hard enough for it accomplish such a feat. "Oh my God."
Kyosuke was silent, but his cheeks were the same color as his hair, which was to say they were white. His hair was unfortunately drenched in sewage and therefore not even remotely close to its usual color. Furthermore, he was seemingly unable to stop staring into the distance where the sentient slime had disappeared, his jaw slackened as if it had forgotten how to close.
It was Izuku, ironically enough, who recovered first- assuming, of course, one would be generous enough to call his incoherent stuttering a recovery. "A-A-All Might! I am s-s-such a huge f-f-fan and-" oh god he didn't have anything for him to sign, how could he be so STUPID- "th-thanks for saving us! Tha-thank you so m-m-much!" He bowed as low as he could, with the unfortunate result being his forehead conking on the asphalt with an audible thunk.
Kyosuke was next. "I c- cannot thank you enough for saving me, All Might," he expressed, dropping to his knees in a perfect dogeza, though it was marred somewhat by the fact that he was still dripping with green mud and smelled like the inside of a sewer.
And last was Ochako, who joined the white-haired boy on the floor. "I am so, so, so sorry!" she screeched. "I-I was using my Quirk and the villain was floating because Kyo-chan had got free- m-my Quirk is Zero Gravity it lets me take away the force of gravity and I used it on the villain before you punched it and I am so, so-"
Booming laughter cut through Ochako's frantic babbling with a warm reassurance that soothed her just as much as it did Izuku and Kyosuke. "Perfectly understandable, young lady!" stated All Might grandly. "In fact, I should be the one apologizing to you three! I didn't mean to let that villain get away for so long!"
"N-no, that's all right..." murmured Izuku, dazed.
All Might laughed once more. "That's a fine Quirk you have there, young lady. Zero Gravity, was it? You were very brave not to back down when your friend was in danger- if you want, you'll make a fine hero in the future! And you, young man, were just as courageous backing him up! I am most impressed!"
Ochako promptly went redder than a strawberry; Izuku's brain had all but short-circuited. Kyosuke had risen from the dogeza and was staring at All Might, just as starstruck as the two of them.
"Well, just to make sure that villain doesn't cause any more problems." All Might announced, walking out of the underpass. "I must bid you three goodbye for now!"
"W-We're b-b-big fans, All Might!" stuttered Ochako. The blond man gave a mighty thumbs-up as he stepped away, no doubt preparing to launch himself up into the air.
Izuku stared at his back, unable to take his eyes off his departing idol. All Might having saved him was a dream come true- well, one of his dreams come true, anyway. He maintained his admiring gaze for exactly one second before it was interrupted by a dry cough from behind him. "If you hadn't just saved my life, Midoriya," came Kyosuke's flat voice from behind him, "I would probably lay into you with everything I had. What on Earth possessed you to attack that thing? And you, Uraraka?"
Izuku knew that Kyosuke wasn't really pissed at them, but he was worried that they'd risked their lives to do something that should have been left to a trained Pro Hero. "I'm so sorry, Kyosuke-kun," he whimpered, with Ochako nodding in agreement behind him. "I didn't- my body moved on its own. I wasn't thinking-"
"Honestly, if I weren't looking like I've been sleeping in a sewer for the past few days, I would either be hugging you or hitting you, but I am not sure which," interrupted Kyosuke, looking at him with an expression constituting heavy fondness and exasperation all mixed into one. Izuku's ears burned, and he didn't have to look behind to know that Ochako was grinning.
"Excuse me, young man." The three of them jolted in surprise as they discovered All Might had not yet left. Instead, he was gazing at them with a pointed intensity in his electric-blue eyes that made his usual stare seem like nothing in comparison. Indeed, realized Izuku with a sudden twist in his gut, he seemed to be looking right at him.
"Your body moved on its own, you said?" asked All Might, his stare not wavering in the slightest. Somehow, Izuku was able to recognize that this was not a question to take lightly. All Might's grin was still present, but the intensity radiating from his eyes showed him just how serious the Number One was about his answer. "Y-Yes, sir, All Might," he nodded because it was the truth. "I wasn't thinking about it- my body just...moved. I didn't..."
All Might was silent for a few moments. "...Can I ask you your name, young man?"
"Oh! Uh, it's Midoriya! Izuku Midoriya, sir!" stammered Izuku, finding himself unable to look away from the man's electric stare.
"Izuku Midoriya," repeated All Might slowly. "I will remember that name. But for now," and suddenly the tension broke, and the Number One straightened up, grinning. "I must go! Justice waits for no man!"
He leaped up into the sky, the force of his jump leaving a set of cracks in the asphalt and reducing him to nary but a fuzzy spot in the sky. Izuku stared after him in confusion. Why had All Might asked him that? He hadn't bothered inquiring after Kyosuke or Ochako's names. Why the interest in only him?
"Perhaps he was just really impressed with you," suggested Kyosuke, which was when Izuku realized he'd voiced his sentiments out loud.
"Kyosuke-kun, you were the one who endured the slime villain trying to invade your body, and Ochako-chan's Quirk was the whole reason you got free. I didn't even do all that much," he pointed out.
"Don't say that, Deku-kun!" admonished Ochako. "You were amazing!"
Izuku went fire-engine-red, steam spurting out of his ears.
"Yes," agreed Kyosuke, ignoring the green-haired boy's embarrassment. "You were the one who attacked the villain first and jumped in front of him while we ran. You're amazing, Midoriya. Don't sell yourself short."
Izuku wasn't sure which statement warmed his heart more. However, as he and Ochako steered Kyosuke back home for a quick bath, he was sure that he had the most wonderful friends in the world.
X-X-X
It was an evening when Izuku was, for once, training alone. Days when the trio's workout schedules didn't all coincide were rare. Days when all three of them were happening to work on a different circuit were even rarer.
When they had all turned fourteen and started bulking up properly, Takeo had started splitting up their evenings into strength, aerobic, and martial arts days in order to maximize every aspect of their potential. For Ochako, he had added a completely separate category called a Quirk Day, wherein once every week, she would need to use her Quirk on the heaviest objects she could find in order to train herself not to puke when she used it. Initially, she hadn't even been able to use it on a microwave without vomiting her guts up; now, she was capable of lifting multiple full-grown adults (i.e. Takeo and/or one or both of her parents, on the occasions they came over to watch Ochako train) for a full ten minutes, and even then she would be in good enough condition to fight. Izuku was so proud of her.
Their schedules were rather flexible due to the fact that Takeo had never explicitly segregated the days of the week for these activities- he would only give them their respective strength and cardio workouts every Sunday and leave the scheduling up to them, with the provisos that they perform the exercises correctly and not solicit more than two days in a row for a certain type of workout. Martial arts days were the only days they absolutely had to be all together for, because Takeo also needed to be present for those days, and his schedule wasn't as flexible as any of theirs. Furthermore, he also had to be present for Ochako's Quirk Days because they could get extremely dangerous if she overused it, and with his own Quirk, Takeo could pull her out of danger before anything truly serious happened. Izuku would know- he and Kyosuke usually attended most of them. Moreover, the Urarakas had flatly- and wisely- forbidden their daughter to practice her Quirk unless her sensei or one of them was with her.
As it happened, the trio often tried to do all their strength and cardio days together as well. Exercising was always much more fun if they did it all together, and that way they could see how they measured up to one another on a near-constant basis outside of martial arts classes. It wasn't uncommon for Izuku to outpace his friends during cardio days, for example, or for Kyosuke to dominate in calisthenics. Ochako wasn't that far behind the two of them- as aforementioned, there was no way either of them would win a fight against her if she was allowed the use of her Quirk, and they still lost half the time when she didn't use it.
But today, Izuku was performing calisthenics in the park, Kyosuke was jogging ten kilometers around the city, and Ochako was having a Quirk Day with Takeo in the Eighth Level of Hell. For the first time in over five months, the three of them had coincidentally aligned their schedules such that they would all be working on different circuits today. While they had all been severely disgruntled by the fact, it had been tempered with the knowledge that they had nobody to blame but themselves. They were the ones who designed their schedules, after all.
That didn't mean it didn't suck.
"...one hundred-and-eight," panted Izuku, mentally cursing as he performed sit-ups. "One hundred-and-nine. One hundred-and...haaah...and-ten."
This was his fifth set of the day. Happily, it also happened to be his last. Rather less happily, he was dead-tired after having been put through sheer hell for the past hour, and he still had thirty more to go. The fact that Kyosuke had been assigned even more than this on his strength day did not make him feel better. The thought of the white-haired boy struggling with cardio also did not make him feel better. Curse his good heart.
The thought of Ochako straining to lift up massive weights with her Quirk did make him feel better, for reasons he did not feel like expounding upon.
"One hundred-and-eleven. One hundred-and-twelve. One hundred-and-thir-errrgh-teen."
"It seems you're farther along than I expected! Young Midoriya, you truly are a wonderful young man!"
"AAAAH!" Izuku shot straight up, frantically looking about for the owner of the voice. Once more, his prodigious memory did not fail him, and this particular memory was an understandably strong one. "ALL MIGHT?"
"Shhh! Not so loud!" The Number One Hero frantically waved his arms in the shushing gesture. "I was very lucky to catch you when we were alone, young man- I need some privacy for what I'm about to tell you!"
All Might was here All Might was here OH MY GOD he still didn't have anything for him to sign why why why-
"What," squeaked Izuku, painfully aware of how sweaty and pathetic he probably looked, "did you want to tell me, All Might?"
In the fading light of the evening, the Symbol of Peace suddenly seemed to grow more somber, his profile not quite as robust as it always seemed. "Young Midoriya," he began, and Izuku realized the gravity of what his hero, his idol, was about to tell him. Instinctively, he straightened up, paying All Might his complete and full attention. "What I am about to tell you is of the utmost importance. Today, I am going to divulge to you a secret that has ramifications capable of rocking the world if it gets out. I trust you will not repeat it to anyone unless I give you my explicit permission."
"Y-Yes! You h-have my word, All Might," promised Izuku instantly.
"Thank you, young man." With that admission, the Pro's shoulder seemed to slump, as if a great weight was finally being lifted off of them. His grin was still as great as it always was, but this time, it seemed almost relieved and warm in equal measure Izuku watched, transfixed, never taking his eyes off his idol, as All Might bent to one knee, regal and powerful, but also suddenly vulnerable, the lines of him no longer as sharp.
"Young Midoriya...would you like to be my successor?"
X-X-X
Takeo Kirihara! Quirk: Stand On End! The hairs growing on his skin are incredibly sensitive to oncoming forces and are thus capable of warning him of possible dangers to his person or the people around him! One would think he'd grow his hair out to maximize his Quirk's potential, but the truth is, it's so sensitive already that he has to keep his hair extremely short- yes, even his body hair- to the point of shaving twice a day to prevent sensory overload, as he cannot turn his Quirk off! You could say that it's the perfect Quirk to avoid hairy situations with, though managing it is a hair-raising affair!
X-X-X
A/N: I hope you enjoyed Chapter Two! Until now we're following the familiar beats of canon, trod hundreds of times over by many aspiring authors such as myself. That said, I feel that with this chapter, I've fixed one of my most egregious mistakes when writing the original It's Hero Time!, which is to say cutting Midoriya out of the story entirely. With this chapter, I hope most of you have realized that he's playing a major role in the story from here on out and I will be doing my best to characterize him effectively.
That said, Kirihara is still the protagonist. Midoriya is just much more important here, now.
If you enjoyed it, please do leave a review to point out things I could do better, things I'm doing well already, or just for whatever reason you see fit! Except flaming. No flames. Please.
Thank you all, and see you soon!
