Albert Einstein wrote, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

Chapter 5

I pulled back my hand, the white glow fading as I did so and examined the patient in front of me. "Alright, how do you feel now?"

Takeyama Yu got up from the bed I had her laying on and started stretching, testing her limits and doing a number of interesting things to the skin tight bodysuit that I had long since grown immune to when I was acting in this role.

Compared to that one-time Nemuri walked in wearing her old outfit to get a reaction out of me this is nothing.

When I was acting as a healer, that's all I was strictly professional.

When you could be holding someone's life in your hands, you can't afford to be distracted.

So, I don't allow myself to be distracted.

"I feel…better." She said slowly, sounding surprised at just how much improvement had taken place in the short amount of time. "And…tired."

Severe muscle strain from having to catch and then hold a collapsing bridge until other heroes could evacuate all the civilians that were still stuck on it.

Turns out it's rather hard to practice holding a deadlift when you're the size of a building.

I nodded at that unsurprised. "Like I told you, I just enhanced your body's rate of healing momentarily. That means your body uses the same amount of energy it would have used to heal you over a long time, into a very short time." I said with practiced ease, taking the bottle of what I charmingly called "Mana" and I-Island called Solution X-R-1886-CC, and handing it to my client.

I like my name better.

She all but snatched the bottle in my hands in her haste to drink it and after the first swallow she stopped retching at the delightful taste.

Yeah.

That's the reaction everyone has to it the first time.

And the second time.

And pretty much every other time as well.

I myself am very familiar with the taste, as Mana is exceedingly helpful in dealing with the unruly horse that is my metabolism, providing me with enough energy and sustenance to experiment with my Quirk for longer periods when I first got started really trying to experiment with it.

It grows on you.

Like mold.

Or some kind of sentient fungus who hates the concept of good taste and wants it to die.

Apparently, Tachyon infused liquids do not taste do good.

No matter what time it is.

Rimshot!

Mount Lady thanked me for the healing and probably said some other things as well, but I've got to be honest after a full day of healing I find it really hard to listen to small talk.

I gave my standard farewell of, "try to take better care of yourself" in the vain hope that this time, somebody, would actually listen to me and I wouldn't be seeing them again within a month's time.

"Alright, anyone else left on this list?" I asked tiredly, pushing my hair out of my eyes as I did so.

God damn hair.

It's grown too long again.

Yet another downside about a Quirk which makes everything go faster.

Going to need to get that cut.

And get another bottle of hair dye, had to use the last of the old bottle after the USJ debacle.

Here's hoping it's on sale.

That stuff is ludicrously expensive.

It's what I get for choosing brown over black apparently.

"Only one more, looks like Endeavour managed to overdo it." My assistant Yomi said, taking care to take a step away from me at the look that appeared on my face. "Again."

I let out a groan, putting my head into my hands as I fought the urge to scream in frustration.

God damn it Endeavour.

Ever since the Association had started marketing my services as a way of ensuring that Heroes could stay on the top of their game and get back into the field by shortening recovery time, Todoroki Enji had been making full use of that fact.

He's my most regular client, bar none.

Every time I see him, it's always because he's pushed his body too far again, having strained or torn something by pulling off some crazy maneuver or refusing to give his body enough time to rest between patrols.

He's an abrasive asshole, at the best of times.

Similarly, Enji isn't exactly my biggest fan either, both for my personality and more recently the fact that I stepped back from my duties here to take up teaching at UA, which further extended the time between these visits.

Despite that, even with my own private thoughts that the man is a walking dumpster fire given human form at times, I do respect him for the work he does as a hero.

The man's been giving a hundred percent of himself into the job, without seeming to stop for well over twenty years at this point.

What I had learned from him still served me today, and much of my battle strategy of ending fights as quickly and decisively as possible was derived from his example.

Enji seems to be driven by a constant state of dissatisfaction in everything around him, but even more than that, his dissatisfaction with himself.

Even with his status as the Number Two, he's unsatisfied, and his ongoing struggle to reach the top of the list is one of his defining features.

On the other hand, it's also one of his greatest flaws.

When Enji focuses on something, he does so to the detriment of all other things.

"Alright let's get this over with." I said with a sigh, slapping my hands together to wake myself up.

I approached the door where Endeavour was waiting and pulled it open, sorting out my notes as I did so.

I had a few essays that I hadn't managed to finish reviewing yet in my bag. I'd have to get around to reading through them.

God, I hope it was better than the last few I had to suffer through.

The next time someone tries to compare Destro to Nietzsche I'm going to hurt somebody.

Most likely me.

"Okay, what's the iss-WHAT THE!?"

Enji glowered at me from his place on the bed, both arms immobilized in casts that were strapped to his chest.

That was an issue.

I was far more concerned with the fact that both of his legs were equally strapped.

He looked more like a mummy than anything else.

"Shiro Madoushi." He grunted in greeting, acting just like he always did.

I took in his condition for a few moments longer before sighing, shaking my head as I started drawing on my quirk.

"Do I want to know how you managed this?" I asked rhetorically beginning the process of enhancing his natural healing process.

Enji grunted monosyllabically at that, not responding in the slightest, his gaze focused on the ceiling.

I just focused on my work, focusing on the problem areas and

Drawing an answer out of Enji was always like pulling blood out of a stone.

This was how our sessions always went.

I had finished one leg and moved my way to the next before Enji broke the silence.

"How's my son doing with his classes?" He asked bluntly, utterly ignoring my earlier question. "Still refusing his potential?"

I shrugged my shoulders as I started accelerating through the phases of healing, reducing the inflammation and revitalizing the tissue as best as I could. "I wouldn't be the one to ask. I don't have him for any of my classes yet." I said freely, my attention still on the job at hand. "From all reports he acquitted himself just fine during the villain attack at USJ."

Endeavour grunted at that, and if I could see his face it would no doubt be scowling right now.

Easy money there, the man's always scowling.

He just seems to vary when it comes to the degree of scowling.

The session continued on, with Enji and I discussing attempts to further improve our quirks and new techniques we'd attempted.

I drew on Enji's greater experience and his own encounters with other villains and heroes similar to my own to grant my further insight into new possible avenues for my Quirk.

Likewise, Enji made use of my own knowledge drawn upon from old superhuman pop culture, in its wide variety of forms as ways to further his own quirk and training.

Enji hadn't had much faith in the possible applications of what he deemed to be ancient history but he'd since…well not retracted or apologized, I don't think that the man even knows how to do that, but he had acknowledged the use of my quote unquote frivolous knowledge of meaningless garbage.

"When are we going to have our next match?" He spoke, interrupting my thought process with a demand very badly disguised as a question.

I blinked wearily as my tired brain struggled to comprehend the question before I started the mental arithmetic of calculating when my next free day was.

I didn't have many of them these days, most of them already occupied with my work at UA, call outs for the Hero Association, sparring with Hawks and the usual nonsense that I got dragged into.

Not to mention the Sports Festival that's coming up.

And all the work that Snipe and I have put into that.

"About a month from now?" I guessed, rolling my eyes as Enji's expression soured even further. "Lighten up Endeavour, I want a rematch just as bad as you do, It's just a matter of having the time to do it."

Enji let out a grunt at that, before with a burst of his quirk his eyebrows and beard caught fire, forming what is admittedly one of the coolest looking masks in the business. He walked towards the exit before pausing turning back to face me. "You'll be at the festival?" He asked, again sounding more like a command then a question.

I nodded tiredly, swallowing down a delightful swig of Mana before I replied. "Yeah I'll be there. The principal asked me to do on an exhibition match with Snipe."

Enji let out another grunt at that before he turned and stormed his way out the door with the same urgency that seemed to drive all of his actions.

I looked down at the empty bottle of Mana I was holding and did some quick calculation of both how long it would take for more to get to Japan and how much it would cost to ship it here.

The price of shipping is always a changing thing when your supplier lives on an Island that is constantly moving.

With the freedom granted to me with my responsibilities to the association fulfilled for now, I turned towards the bag containing the essays still awaiting marks and sighed deeply.

Let's get that over with.


I walked out of my classroom, suppressing a yawn as I struggled to maintain the dignified air of a teacher than I had been trying to maintain at UA.

My stupid looks do me no favors in getting these kids to treat me with respect so I always make an effort to never give them any reason to add to that misunderstanding.

I slung my gym bag over my shoulder, in an attempt to not brain any of the many smaller people scrambling around me as I tried to cut through one of the main thoroughfares of the school.

"Sir! Kanetsuki- sensei!" A familiar voice called out from behind me.

I felt a smile tug at my lips, but I schooled it into a neutral expression and turned around to fact little Midoriya jogging towards me.

Took him long enough.

"Can I help you?" I asked, schooling my face into that of a concerned teacher.

Midoriya slid to a stop. "I've got it! I've got the answer!"

"Oh?" I replied non-committedly. "Right, the question I gave you back then. Well?"

The first year student straightened up in front of me. "When I first though about the question I thought that it was a matter of calculating the proper time, taking into account factors like my lack of ability to achieve a perfect movement consistently, the time it would take to build confidence and so on." He started, his speech rapidly gaining pace as the sound of his excitement became more and more apparent.

Ok. Not looking good so far, but there's still potential for a turn around.

"But then I realized something else." He continued, his face growing more confident despite my projected indifference. "What you asked was how fast I could fill the bucket without breaking the tea cup. Not that I needed to use the tea cup at all."

I suppressed a grin at that.

There we go.

Knew he had it in him.

"So, the fastest way to fill the bucket would be to take the bucket over to the river and fill it directly." Little Green concluded finally, looking up at me awaiting my response.

I made a show of clapping lightly, letting the smile I'd been suppressing appear on my face. "Very good." I replied honestly as the student before me started beaming at my praise. "Now do you know how that metaphor applies to you?"

Midoriya seemed thrown by that one.

"Kanestsuki-sensei?" He asked, the confusion evident from his tone.

I sighed at that.

Spoke too soon.

Then again this is one of his first few weeks.

The beep of my watch informed me that if I didn't start moving again I was going to be running late for one of my other appointments.

A thought struck me then.

It's not exactly the same, but he did have problems with his Quirk when he first started out as well, and look how he's turning out now.

Perhaps he can serve as a final lesson, and even a bit of motivation as well.

"If you're not busy right now Midoriya I'd like you to come watch a little sparring match I'm going to be having with some of your upper classmen." I stated walking off towards one of the sparring halls that littered the campus.

One of the benefits of working at UA.

No shortage of arenas to make use of quirks in sparring matches.

"Upper classmen?" Midoriya questioned even as I heard the sound of him jogging to catch up with my long strides.

I nodded. "It's part of an incentive system I put in for my students when I first started here. The top three students in my class get the chance to have a sparring match against me during lunch, with the winner getting an automatic A in my class."

Initially I'd thought about buying lunch or dinner for them but with Lunch Rush running the cafeteria there wasn't really much incentive for people to try now is there?

And with how much of an asshole I can be about marking, the chance at an automatic A for the semester really got the kids going for it.

Midoriya let out a sound of understanding at that. "But will you really have time to have three matches before class resumes?" He asked concerningly.

I laughed at that. "Three matches?" I repeated back, pushing the door to the arena open with one hand even as I lowered the brim of my hat down with the other. "We're only going to be having the one."

Before me stood three students all dressed in their Hero Outfits, quite the contrast to my suit and wizard hat.

None of the three had placed well in any of the previous UA sports festivals, none of them really standing out at all, except for perhaps one of them having a wardrobe malfunction on National television.

But something told me told me that they were the ones that were going to sweep the field this year.

Amajiki Tamaki stood with his hands in his pockets of his black bodysuit, eyes obscured by the white cape and hood that obscured most of his form, with the purple mask completing the job. He was chewing on something that he'd pulled from one of the pockets of the carrier vest he had strapped to his form that gave him more options to make use of his quirk.

He'd certainly had quite the transformation from the shy, awkward kid who'd seemingly been afraid of his own Quirk the first time I'd seen him.

Then again Taishiro tends to have that effect on anyone that he spends a long enough time around.

It certainly happened to me.

God I was such a shit when I was his age.

Hado Nejire was almost the complete opposite of the first student. Bright, bubbly and unreserved compared to the almost criminally shy Tamaki, her vibrant personality certainly made her more attention grabbing.

She wore a dark blue bodysuit, which she informed me during one of her many sessions of oversharing during class was called 'Royal Blue', knee high boots in the same mint green as her torso protector, with a harder cloth spiraling around her legs and forearms. The two small satchels attached to the top of her legs were new and I quickly made a note of them in my head. They could be relevant later.

The two spiraling horns she'd made out of her hair were still present, a staple in her here outfit that not only referenced her quirk but also at least somewhat alleviated a slight complex she had with regards to the height.

Then again when your sparring against someone like me, pretty much everyone seems short in comparison.

And finally, the student that I wanted Midoriya to meet the most.

The tallest of the three Togata Mirio was laughing loudly at something that Tamaki must have said given the way that Nejire was pouting and stamping one foot and Tamaki was even now attempting to hide within his hood again.

As always, I marveled at just how muscular that Mirio was for his age, his signature '1,000,000' white skin tight shirt betraying none of the faded scars that stood as testament to the effort that this young man had put into his hero education. His baggy blue pants went down to whit knee high boots that I can personally attest really hurt when they hit you. His eyes remained protected behind the yellow shield that served as his mask, while still displaying his vibrant and honest face to all that looked at him. He topped off the ensemble with a vibrant red cape and a pair of matching gloves.

That bit there I might be able to claim some level of influence.

Once one of the worst students of his year, Mirio had made tremendous strides forwards since I had first met him, since mastering the use of his quirk he had moved from strength to strength and the experience he had gained from his internship under Nighteye had only served to further hone the hero he was becoming.

I knew of supposedly seasoned heroes that didn't train half as hard as the three kids in front of me did.

But that's why they were the Big Three.

Mirio noticed me enter first.

His work with Nighteye had done wonders for his passive perception, I'll say that much.

To say nothing of his ability in combat itself.

"Kanetsuki-sensei!" The blond greeted cheerfully, jogging over even as he waved hello. "We were getting worried there for a second. And who's this?"

"Midoriya I'd like to introduce you to Lemillion, Suneater and…" I bit back a sigh. "…Nejire Chan, three of the best students still in UA."

God damn it Nejire.

Why is that your Hero name?

Nejire bounded over, spirals trailing from beneath her feet to accelerate her forward even faster and quickly seized the unsuspecting form of little green swinging him around and bombarding him with question in typical Nejire fashion.

Tamaki made his way over as well, in a more sedate fashion, his bare feet barely making a sound as he approached, swallowing down whatever it was he was eating as he came to a stop before me. "Will he be joining in?" He asked quietly, seemingly able to function despite the new addition due to Nejire's intervention.

I shook my head definitively at that. "Most certainly not. Just a student who's having some trouble getting a hand on his quirk." I looked towards the students in front of me and raised an eyebrow knowingly. "I thought you'd all be able to provide an example of people that had managed to deal with such issues."

I reached into my gym bag and pulled the bokken from within it, still contained in an identically wooden sheathe.

Tamaki let out a low groan seeing the weapon I was now brandishing even as Mirio's eyes seemed to sparkle in anticipation.

I couldn't afford to take it easy on the three before me.

Even ignoring their stellar team work, and masterful use of their quirks, Lemillion served as one of the most spectacularly poor match ups I could ever come across.

The majority of my fighting style as a hero specialized in making use of my Quirk to immobilize people with indestructible immoveable objects by freezing them in time.

Something that is entirely useless against someone whose Quirk allows him to pass through solid objects as if they aren't even there.

I've said it once and I'll say it again.

Goddamn space manipulation quirks.

At the same time that was why I loved sparring against these kids. It forced me to rely on more than just my usual one and done techniques to fight.

And hey, looks like hurricane Nejire has finally decided to release the unsuspecting firstie.

"Midoriya!" I called out before I tossed my gym bag at him with an underhand throw.

While still dizzy little Green still clearly had enough sense about him to catch what I'd tossed at him as he stared quizzically back at me.

"Go take a spot by the door, your less likely to get hit from there." I ordered, ignoring the stammered response from Midoriya questioning just what I meant by that.

I stalked forward, my boots clicking against the concrete floor of the auditorium as I gazed at my three opponents with all the wariness that they deserved.

"All right you three, you know the rules." I began my right hand casually reaching up towards the hilt of the training blade as I came to a stop in the center of the circle which served as my arena. "Make me leave the circle before time runs out to succeed. Don't hold back. Because I won't be."

Mirio's grin seemed to extend even further at my response, winding up one of his arms in excitement. "Aye sir!" He cheerily exclaimed before he partially sank into the floor and shot backwards as if he'd been launched from a cannon taking up a stance near the rear of the room like a sprinter awaiting the starter's gun.

The fingers on Tamaki's right hand distorted and morphed, the once normal digits now replaced with long octopus tentacles that were ready to lash through the air and seize with their tremendous grip. His legs similarly grew and changed until what was once two legs became four and I was staring up at a suddenly much taller centaur version of Suneater.

Gotta admit.

That's a new one.

But when you've got a gourmet like Fat Gum as your mentor, you experience all kinds of different tastes.

I should know.

No clam shell yet.

Maybe he's got another surprise waiting for me with that left hand.

"This is going to be great! Really Really great!" Nejire enthusiastically declared, even as she leapt into the air and promptly stayed there with a brief output from her quirk. "Even though Tamaki-san always gets nervous before these matches, hey did I tell you that Kanetsuki-sensei?"

I bit back a grin at the verbal barrage that was Nejire Hado and bent slightly at the knees, taking my stance, keeping an eye on all three of them even as I flicked a glance at the clock on the wall.

Three.

Two.

One.

Mirio vanished beneath the floor in a blur of movement.

Tamaki reared up and sprinted forward with the thundering hooves of a calvary charge.

Nejire's hands glowed with the bright yellow energy that signified the use of her quirk as a spiraling surge of energy surged forth to meet me.

And I got started.


AN: So, long time no see!

Yeah this one took a bit longer then originally expected guys, sorry.

Turns out working seven days a week and only getting paid for three of them while having to take care of sick family members and having to work with all my colleagues dropping from their own problems and illness has left me with little energy to write this out sadly.

But after I got told to self isolate after a place I had to go for one of my jobs turned out to be a COVID hot spot, I had a day or two to myself for once, and after spending the first one to get some much needed rest, I used this one to power through writing this.

Admittedly it was intended to be much longer but you win some you lose some. Our next chapter will be an interlude from Little Green's point of view, and then we'll be getting right in to the UA Sports Festival!

Yay!

Admittedly, There's a part of the story I've long since had planned as the climax of this tale, but we've still got a long way to go before we reach that point.

One step at a time.

As always, feel free to leave a review and say what you think!

Cheers!

And stay safe folks. The world is a very weird place right now.