"Do you have everything?" Mei asked, fiddling with the beanie and tucking in stray hairs.
"I think so," Izuku replied, checking his gear. He was in his formal uniform pants and shirt, but was leaving his jacket behind. "Let's see…beanie, check. Goggles, check."
"Soot, check," she added, smudging the soot across his freckled cheeks as he rolled his eyes affectionately.
"I've got my notebook and pen case," he continued, looking into the messenger bag he had brought for the training. "The map of the facility from Maijima-sensei. Phone. Oh, and my Jet shoes."
He knelt down to check the Support Item attached to the bottom of his signature red shoes. As a final test, he activated them and hovered off the ground slightly before turning them back off, satisfied that they were functioning properly.
"How about this?" Mei offered, holding what looked like a flame thrower.
"I don't think Maijima-sensei would approve," Izuku said, eyeing the device suspiciously. "How do you have something like that developed already? Have you even worked out all the bugs yet?"
"You underestimating me? For shame, Izuku," Mei scoffed playfully. "And no, I haven't. But that's why I offered for you to take it with you!"
"I-I'll pass for now," Izuku said. He had been her guinea pig far too many times before.
"Well, if you're sure, at least take this," the pinkette said, searching through her pile of gizmos. "Here we are!"
She handed him a black belt with numerous pouches that looked like a cross between a tool belt and a utility belt worn by Heroes. Inside the pouches were wires, gears, pliers, a portable soldering tool, and various other tools and things. Not the flashiest of her babies, but clearly practical.
"I call it the Inventor's Special," she explained as she helped Izuku put it on. "This baby is perfect for the inventor on the go. Everything you need to make something on the fly! Who knows, maybe one of their Support Items will break and you can use my wonderful baby to fix them!"
"T-this is perfect, Mei-chan!" Izuku said, hugging his friend in thanks.
After Mei gave him a final once-over, she declared him ready and shooed him out of the studio. Izuku made his way to where he would meet up with 1-A. Aizawa was already there standing next to a bus and quirked a brow at the student's get-up.
"What's with the beanie and goggles?" the tired man asked.
"Ah, uh, well, you see…K-Katsuki and I don't get along," Izuku explained as he nervously wrung his hands. "Or rather, h-he doesn't get along with me. W-we're childhood friends, b-but he started teasing me after I was declared Q-Quirkless. Whenever we're near e-each other, things get…well, 'explosive' if you kn-know what I mean."
The man frowned and hummed in understanding. He knew how society viewed the Quirkless and figured that there was more to the story than the boy was telling. He wondered what 'teasing' consisted of for the explosive teen who he already noticed had an ego bigger than his head and a personality pricklier than his spiky hair. But he wouldn't pry unless the teen wanted him to. Or anything happens to warrant him to do so. Though he might look into his and his student's junior high school records for any discrepancies.
"A-anyway, if he knew it was me, he would disrupt the c-class and I'd rather avoid that. He would a-also tell everyone I'm Quirkless. Something that I'd l-like to be the one to tell people about o-or at least keep it a secret u-until the Sports Festival. So, um, c-could you call me Hiro during the training, please?"
Aizawa quirked a brow again but nodded in confirmation, deciding to play along. For now. He was curious as to why the greenette had to go so far as to disguise himself and use a different name, but that was something to look into at another time. He made a mental note to find out more later as the two waited for the rest of the class.
The teacher passed the time briefly explained how to access the Control Hub in the facility through the different hidden hatches, as well as the code to get in, using the map given by Maijima. After that, Izuku passed the time flipping through his notebook while the Hero quietly leaned against the bus, eyes closed.
The students of 1-A started to trickle in in-costume and they talked amongst themselves as they waited for everyone to arrive. Uraraka made her way over to him followed by another girl who resembled a frog. Asui, if he remembered correctly. When Kirishima showed up, he waved at Izuku before going to stand near Katsuki.
Still working on taming him, huh?
"Hey, Hiro-kun!" Uraraka called out as she approached with the other girl. "This is my friend Asui Tsuyu. Tsu, this is Hiro."
"Nice to meet you, Asui-san!" Izuku greeted with a small bow.
"Nice to meet you too, Hiro-chan," Asui said in turn with her own bow. "Call me Tsu."
"Oh, o-okay, As-Tsu-san," he replied shyly.
"In your own time," she said, shrugging.
"Looks like you've got an upgrade on your gear," Uraraka commented, gesturing to his Support Items. "What's all that for?"
"Ah, that, well since I've been watching your classes, I haven't had much time in the studio," Izuku explained. "To make up for that, Aizawa-sensei said I could bring some Support Items to test out while we're there."
They shared some small talk awhile more as they waited. Once all the students were accounted for, Iida started barking out orders and even had a whistle.
"Attention, Class 1-A" Iida called out with his usually jerky arm motions. "Line up using your student numbers, making two lines so we can load the bus in an orderly fashion."
"Uraraka-san, why is Iida-kun ordering everyone around?" Izuku asked, watching the spectacle as the blunette blew his whistle with gusto.
"He's our class president!" she replied, clapping her hands together. "We couldn't decide on our class representatives during homeroom yesterday. But after the incident at lunch, he impressed some of the others in our class who thought 'exit sign' Iida would be a good choice. We voted again this morning and Iida was made president and Yaoyorozu became our vice-president."
Ha! 'Exit sign' Iida. I've got to tell Hitoshi-kun about that later. He'll get a kick out of that.
Everyone lined up to appease their enthusiastic class president only to find that the bus layout was more open than a standard one. So, everyone ended up sitting where they wanted or wherever there was a free seat. Iida slumped dejectedly in his seat near the front while the pink-haired girl, Ashido, comforted him.
Izuku found himself sandwiched between the sugar consumer, Satou, and Tsuyu since he was last on the bus other than Aizawa who stood near the front. He could have sat near Uraraka closer to the back and taken the empty seat next to Todoroki. But that would put him close behind Katsuki and he would rather avoid that.
After everyone was seated, Aizawa signaled the driver to head out and the bus was on its way. The students chatted as they went and Izuku wrote some notes down on some of their costumes. He was absorbed enough in his writing that he jumped slightly when Tsuyu addressed him.
"Hiro-chan, I usually say what's on my mind, kero," the frog girl stated as Izuku turned his attention to her. He wondered if the frog sound was a result of her Quirk or a personal choice. "You say you've been observing us to analyze our Quirks. I was watching you write just now and it was really detailed. Do you have an Analysis Quirk of some kind, kero?"
"Wha? No, um. I, uh…" Izuku sputtered out, unsure what to say. He wanted to keep his Quirklessness a secret and definitely didn't want to bring attention on himself with Katsuki a few seats away. Kirishima who was sitting on the other side of Tsuyu, thankfully, came to his rescue.
"That would be a cool Quirk to have if you did," the hardening teen interjected, helping his friend keep his secret. "Though not flashy just like my Hardening. I'm good in a fight and can beat up bad guys, but it doesn't look all that impressive. Not sure if it'll be enough to go Pro."
"I thought we talked about this, Kirishima-kun," Izuku stressed with a huff. "I think you'll make a great Pro Hero. Remember your 'chivalrous heart'."
"Heh, yeah, you're right," Kirishima conceded with a small smile. "Thanks, Mi…man." Thankfully, Katsuki, ignoring the 'extras' around him as usual, didn't seem to notice his slip up.
Others were getting interested in their conversation as they talked about Quirks. Aoyama bragged about his Naval Laser Quirk but his attempt to appear amazing was thwarted when Ashido pointed out it gave him a stomach ache. Izuku made a note of that to look into later.
"If we're talking about who has strong Quirks," Kirishima commented, glancing towards the right side of the back of the bus. "It would be Bakugou and Todoroki."
Everyone else glanced towards the mentioned pair. Todoroki appeared to be napping while Katsuki had his chin on his fist as he looked out the window. On the mention of his name, he turned his gaze and attention to the conversation briefly before clicking his tongue and looking away again.
"Sure, but Bakugou has got a temper and is always angry," Tsuyu pointed out bluntly. "He'll never be that popular with an attitude like that."
She must have a death wish, Izuku thought as Katsuki jumped out of his seat and started shouting, proving her point.
"What'd you say?!" Katsuki yelled. "I'll kick your ass, frog face!"
"See?" Tsuyu said with a shrug.
Izuku felt bad for the purple-haired girl, Jirou, sitting next to the blonde who flinched as he shouted. Sitting next to the human version of an explosion factory probably didn't mix well with a Listening-type Quirk.
Kaminari also seemed to have a death wish as he decided to give his two cents. "It's pretty telling that, despite us having only just started socializing with you, it's abundantly clear to all of us that your personality is a steaming pile of crap that's on fire."
The explosive teen continued to rage as other students commented on his actions. Yaoyorozu deemed the whole conversation vulgar while Uraraka laughed and declared it was fun to listen to them fight. Meanwhile, Izuku was having a mini freak out.
UA really is different. First, I make friends. Then teachers actually want to help. And now Katsuki is the one being messed with. It's like I'm in a whole other dimension.
"Quiet down back there," Aizawa called out from the front. "Stop messing around. We're here."
The bus came to a stop and the students filed out to stand in front of a very large building with a dome roof. Waiting outside for them was the Space Hero Thirteen sporting their signature astronaut-esque Hero suit. Izuku did his best to keep his fanboying at bay but was happy that he wasn't the only one geeking out as Uraraka bounced with excitement.
"Welcome, everyone!" Thirteen said, arms spread wide in greeting. "I've been expecting you and can't wait to show you what's inside. Please follow me."
The Space Hero led the class through the doors to reveal a rescue wonderland. The building looked even bigger on the inside. There were different sections spread throughout in a theme park-like layout. Separate areas for practicing rescue for mountains, landslides, floods, and more. Izuku also spotted the different access hatches Aizawa had pointed out on the map. If he hadn't known what to look for, he wouldn't have taken any notice of them.
"I designed this facility myself," Thirteen explained, their arms spread wide with pride at their 'baby', as Mei would put it. "Every accident and disaster you can think of. I call it the Unforeseen Simulation Joint!"
USJ? Like Universal Studios Japan? Wow…did Thirteen do that on purpose?
As the students looked around in awe, Aizawa approached Thirteen and Izuku followed. He was basically here as a guest and wasn't sure if he should stay with the teachers or the students at this time.
"Where's All Might?" Aizawa asked, sounding slightly annoyed. "Shouldn't he be here already?"
"Ah, about that," Thirteen responded, slowly raising three fingers. "It seems he did too much Hero work on his commute to UA this morning and used up al-…" They paused for a moment as they noticed Izuku was there. "…a lot of energy. He's resting in the break room."
The tired man began to grumble about the irrationality of it all. Izuku couldn't help but agree.
So, All Might was supposed to join us but used up all his time for today? I guess, with him being the Number One Hero and Symbol of Peace, it's difficult to just watch crimes happen. But he's a teacher now. If he's not careful with his time limit, he's going to reveal his small form to a whole class.
"What was that?" a gruff voice called out.
...
Blog name: ja0-s-blank-canvas-fic
Notes extension: post/627449757941514240/chapter-25-usj-the-wheels-on-the-bus-go-round
USJ Arc Bus Ride Seating Placement: post/627449147747958784/usj-arc-bus-ride-seating-placements