I do not own My Hero Academia or JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
No, I am not dead. And neither is this fic.
The delays for this chapter can be blamed mostly on a creative slump. I've had some self conscious feelings about my writing, both in terms of actually quality of the prose and the overall story. Normally, this isn't enough to stop me from trying to write and get better, but when combined the fact that I just really haven't been in the mood to write recently, the end result is a slump. Additionally, when I get like this, I feel like my quality of writing suffers, which feeds back into the self consciousness and makes me slump even harder. It's a vicious cycle, but, hey, what are you gonna do.
I think the current hell-state of the world might also have something to do with this, but I digress. Either way, the end result is that I didn't want to do anything creative for awhile. Sorry.
I'm kinda still in this slump at the moment, so I wanted to tell y'all that this fic is going to be on Hiatus for the foreseeable future. I figured I'd actually let y'all know this ahead of time for once instead of just vanishing into the aether like I usually do.
Tenya stared across the cafeteria at Midoriya while he finished his lunch of beef stew. As soon as the green-haired teen got up to leave the lunchroom, Tenya followed after him.
After the quirk apprehension test and the group had returned to class, everyone had been incredibly quiet. Nobody was terribly interested in talking or getting to know each other better after what had happened. Mineta's expulsion hung over everyone's heads.
As such, Tenya had decided to wait to talk with Midoriya until later. Say, after lunch, or perhaps after the school day ended. No, the latter would be too much later, he didn't want to put this off too much. So, he decided he should talk to Midoriya after they had eaten lunch (it was important that they eat properly after all), but before the next period began.
With long, brisk strides, Tenya easily caught up to the shorter boy. Much like before, Midoriya didn't seem to notice Tenya's presence until he spoke, "Midoriya, I would like to have a word."
Midoriya visibly stiffened at the sound of Tenya's voice. His face was carefully neutral as he turned to face Tenya. There was a moment of tense silence before Tenya inhaled deeply.
"Let me to introduce myself!" He said, chopping his hand through the air, startling Midoriya, "My name is Iida Tenya, I've come here from Somei Private Academy!"
Midoriya stared at him with wide, blank eyes, blinking occasionally. His gaze drifted down the the hand Tenya had gestured with, before slowly reaching out to grab it and give it a shake. That hadn't been what Tenya intended, but it worked.
"Um, Midoriya Izuku..." He said carefully, "...I guess you already knew that though... So... If that's all you wanted-" Midoriya started walking away again, but Tenya cut him off before he could leave.
"There's something else I wish to discuss with you! I wish to apologise for my behavior during the entrance exam!" Tenya said firmly.
"Wait, really?!" Midoriya's head snapped back towards him, and he sounded both shocked and somewhat excited.
"Yes. It was wrong of me to leave you behind when the Zero-Pointer attacked. I was only thinking of saving myself and was willing to abandon you to achieve that." Tenya said.
"Oh." Midoriya sounded disappointed, though he quickly tried to hide it, "Er, I mean, I don't really blame you, it was just an exam-"
"No! Exam or not, the way I acted was unacceptable! Heroes are supposed to prioritise the safety of others over defeating villains or their own wellbeing. I came to U.A. to be molded into an exemplary hero, but I have acted like nothing of the sort! So I must apologise for my failings!" Tenya said before bowing to Midoriya. He heard a small noise of surprise from the other boy.
"O-oh, that's, um, th-thank you." Midoriya said awkwardly, "Uh, I'm glad you realised that. I hope you become a better hero."
"Thank you very much!" Tenya stood up from his bow. Midoriya tried to leave again, but Tenya started talking again, "There is something else I need to discuss."
Midoriya made a strained noise as he spun back around, "W-what?"
"I realised that the way I treated you before the exam was probably too harsh. I merely wished to ensure that you were obeying the rules and not causing issues for others, but I believe I may have overstepped. If I upset you with how I acted, then I apologise." Tenya said.
Midoriya stared at him with wide eyes for a moment before tilting his head down to stare at the ground, "Huh."
"Is something wrong?" Tenya asked.
"No, it's just... I wasn't expecting that." Midoriya raised a hand to his chin as he thought something over. He suddenly looked back at Tenya, "Oh, right! Thank you for apologising." He gave a quick bow, "But, um, I was heading to bathroom when you stopped me, so..." He started turning away from Tenya.
"Oh! Sorry for taking up your time." Tenya said. Midoriya took that as permission to leave and started running towards the restroom. Tenya opened his mouth to tell not run in the hallways, but he bit his tongue. Perhaps it would do him good to be more relaxed about this sort of thing, and besides, it seemed justified in this case.
-000-
Eventually, Izuku's first day at U.A. came to an end. It certainly hadn't been what he expected, and not necessarily in a good way.
At the same time though, he couldn't say that his first day of school was a bad one. If nothing else, he got to see all the cool quirks his classmates had. The one belonging to his classmate with the bird head had caught Izuku's attention in particular. It reminded him of his own quirk in a lot of ways. Normally, he probably would have tried to talk with his classmate about it, but after the... expulsion, Izuku hadn't felt up to trying to get to know his classmates better. The idea that any one of them could get kicked out put a bit of a damper on the idea of making friends. Aizawa-sensei had quickly rocketed up the list of people Izuku was most terrified of because of today.
On the topic of things Izuku hadn't been expecting today, there had also been his talk with Iida. Considering how his last conversation with the taller boy had gone, Izuku would have never thought that their next interaction would involve Iida apologising for how he had acted. It hadn't been a perfect apology, Izuku wasn't really sure if Iida still thought of him as a trouble-maker or not, but the fact that he admitted that he went too far in how he acted was still amazing. It had been an almost complete 180 from how he was when they first met, and Izuku couldn't help but wonder what had happened between then and now.
Also, Iida saying sorry for leaving him behind during the exam was also nice. Even if he hadn't apologised for what he had said, that had been enough to convince Izuku that the taller boy would probably become a fine hero.
"Hey, Deku!" Someone called out from behind him. Izuku stiffened at those words, before he quickly realised that it was not Kacchan's voice who said them.
But wait, who the heck else would call him Deku?!
Turning around, Izuku only became more befuddled as he saw Uraraka run up to him. Why did she call him that!?
"Uraraka?" He asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"You heading to the station? Let's walk together!" She said, smiling in a way that made Izuku's face heat up.
"S-sure." He squeaked out, the weird nickname she'd called him by forgotten. He turned his head away in hopes that she wouldn't notice his blush.
"So, I saw that you and Iida were talking at lunch. Is everything okay between you two now?" Uraraka asked.
"I-I guess it is." Izuku said. He definitely wasn't dreading being around Iida anymore like he used to, "Are you two friends?"
"Kinda. I mean, we only just met today, but the second I got to class he started telling me how amazing I was during the entrance exam." Uraraka blushed heavily and rubbed the back of her head. It seemed Izuku and Iida were in agreement about one thing, at the very least. A lightbulb seemed to go off about Uraraka's head, "Hey, maybe all three of us can be friends."
"Uh, Maybe." While he was more than willingly to accept Iida's apology, suddenly becoming friends seemed like a bit much. Did people really become friends that quickly and easily? And besides... "Aizawa-sensei made it pretty clear that we're not here to make friends, though."
"Y-yeah." Uraraka paled slightly, "I get what you mean. After... that, I don't really want to make friends either, not if I could suddenly get kicked out and lose them." She suddenly shook her head and a determined light could be seen in her eyes, "But what kind of heroes would we be if we got discouraged over every danger! We can make friends and work hard enough that sensei won't expel us!"
It was easy to get swept away in her enthusiasm and resolve. At that moment, Izuku found himself forgetting just how terrifying Aizawa-sensei had been and found himself agreeing, "Yeah! And we're already friends, so it's too late to listen to Aizawa-sensei about that anyway." Besides, this was his first real chance in years to make friends with people at school. Nobody at U.A. knew his bad reputation except Kacchan, and he doesn't talk to people anyway, so the chances of anyone learning it from him were pretty much nonexistent.
"That's the spirit, Deku!" Uraraka said happily. And his confusion from earlier came back.
"Hey, why are you calling me Deku?" Izuku asked.
"Huh?" Uraraka responded.
"My name's Izuku." He honestly couldn't think why she would call him that. Again, Kacchan doesn't talk to people, but he's also the only one who calls him that.
"You mean I had your name wrong all this time!?" Uraraka looked shocked and embarrassed.
"You thought Deku was my name?!" Izuku asked, baffled. No one would be cruel enough to name their kid something like that.
"Well, they do sound kinda similar, maybe I just misheard it from somewhere? Why did I think your name was Deku?" Uraraka scratched the back of her head, before snapping her fingers, "Oh! That scary blonde kid, Bakugou, he called you that before the entrance exam!" Uraraka then sheepishly added, "Sorry, I've been thinking of you as Deku ever since then. Would you mind if I called you that, like as a nickname?"
"D-Deku is fine." Izuku's faced turned red yet again.
"Still, I can't believe such a mean looking guy as Bakugou would have such a cute nickname for you." Uraraka said.
'Cute?!' Izuku honestly could not make heads or tails of what was going on in this girl's mind.
-000-
"And you're sure it's the same as the last three?" Nighteye asked over the phone.
"I wouldn't have called if I wasn't sure." Enji pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back in his chair. He was in his office, pieces of paper, mostly files and reports related to the case he and Nighteye are on, layed strewn about his desk in front of him. Loathe though he was to admit it, Nighteye had been correct. After going over the information that he had given him, Enji was forced to agree that All For One was both real and also still active.
The worst part about that was it meant that Enji would have to work with Sir Nighteye.
"Two is a coincidence, three is a pattern, but four, four is practically confirmation. Someone is gathering an army." Nighteye said.
In the space of a handful of days, the Endeavor and Nighteye agencies had found four separate villain groups in Musutafu. All of them were small, only thirteen people in total between all of them, they were all minor villains, basically street punks, but most notably, they were all from out of the city. From what little info they had managed to get from the villains, they came to Musutafu for some kind of job. Enji hadn't been able to learn what the job was, it seemed that not even the villains themselves knew the details, only that it was going to bring them into direct conflict with some Pro Heroes. Enji had to dangle one of the villains off a building to get that bit of info.
"I've pulled reports and case-files from other agencies directly, just to make sure the ones in the main Commission database hadn't been tampered with, but nobody else seems to have come across any similar groups." Enji growls out of annoyance at his fellow heroes' incompetency. However, he's pretty sure he wouldn't have noticed himself if he hadn't joined Nighteye's investigation.
For all of the myriads of things that Enji could complain about when it came to Nighteye, his skill as a hero wasn't on that list. Which was infuriating, since it meant that Enji actually had to stick around and help him with this. If Nighteye was as useless as he was frustrating, then Enji would have legitimate reason to never associate with him.
"Whoever's behind this is being careful to evade notice." Nighteye said quietly, basically talking to himself.
"It's far too early to pin this on him." Enji said, already able to tell what road Nighteye's mind was going down. While Enji might agree with him that All For One was out there, it seemed like Nighteye saw the man's influence everywhere at times.
There was a beat of silence before Nighteye sighed, "... Yes, I agree. Nether the less, this is something we should look into, regardless of if it directly relates to our investigation."
"You don't need to state the obvious." Enji grunted, turning slightly to stare out the window at the city beyond, "Just keep your eyes peeled."
He hung up before Nighteye can respond. If the man had anything else important to add, he'd contact Enji to tell him. Putting the phone down, he continued to gaze out the window as he mulled over the information in his head.
Today was the first day of school at U.A., if you wanted to attack or infiltrate the school (A job that would definitely bring you in direct conflict with Pro Heroes), now would be the best time do so, while it was filled with inexperienced, barely trained students who'd probably be more of a liability in battle than anything else.
Shaking his head slightly to dislodged his baseless musings, Enji returned to going over the various papers on his desk.
So, it seems that I was indeed talking out my ass in the author's notes last chapter. Several people commented and explained reasons why the numbers from the Quirk Apprehension Test weren't as bad as I initially thought them to be. Thanks, I genuinely appreciate the explanations.