I'm back! Not much to say, I still can't see the reviews left on the 10th but maybe they'll show up after I post this. I'm having a fun time with future chapters, too. See you on the 16th!
That night Yuudai had a dream about school. He's twelve and is in the classroom at his junior high. He's sitting at his desk, the blackboard is blank and there isn't anyone else in the room. Yuudai used to sit at the back of the room, by the door where no one bothered him.
It's quiet. The teacher isn't there to talk, the birds seem to have gone missing, and there isn't anyone in the hallway or even outside the school. It's just him. Yuudai blinks and then the board seems to fill up with information that he'd learned in school before.
Yuudai blinks again, a pile of notebooks appears by his desk. Then another, and another, and another. Soon the room is filled with notebooks. Then Yuudai blinks again. Now he's in a different room, Class 1-A's classroom. There aren't any notebooks but there are people. Yuudai can only recognize Midoriya's green hair. He's looking up at the board, Yuudai follows his gaze and sees a jumble of information that he can't understand. The room fills with things he doesn't understand. When he looks back to Midoriya, he feels a sinking in his chest. The same feeling when he actually realized that two years actually meant two years.
Yuudai wakes up and stares at the ceiling for a good half hour, replaying his dream over and over until he understands what it means. He'd thought of almost everything he'd lost and needed to catch up on in the last month. He'd worked on his Quirk, he'd read up on books and manga, watched a lot of TV, worked on regaining his physical strength, and even memorized the bus routes around U.A.. The one thing Yuudai had avoided even thinking about what academics.
He'd never really excelled at school, he was just lucky that he had enough spare time to go over things again and again until the problem made sense. The only thing he really liked about school was going outside, and even then that was pretty boring because no one wanted to play. Junior High was the same thing but more difficult. The lessons got longer and there was more work and for some reason the breaks between classes got shorter. Yuudai's grades had never really been at the top, normally he just hung in the lower half or got average scores, and that was after a lot of studying.
Yuudai thought again about the two years he'd missed, the last half of 8th grade, the entirety of the 9th grade, and some of his first year at U.A.. There'd be way too much to catch up on, Yuudai felt really overwhelmed.
"Kojiko-kun," Midoriya stops at the doorway, "It's breakfast time…are you okay?"
Yuudai sits up and breathes, "I'm so behind."
Midoriya slowly walks towards Yuudai, "Behind on what?"
"On my studies!" Yuudai exclaims, "I've missed two years of school! How the hell was I even accepted into U.A. with two years of missing grades?! I missed the last two terms of my 2nd year at junior high and not to mention I didn't even attend my 3rd year! Hell, I haven't even graduated yet! And on top of that I've missed everything that you guys have learned in class!"
That's when Midoriya unconsciously pats Yuudai on the head to calm him down, "Kojiko-kun, it's fine. It's okay. I'm sure that the teachers have a plan for you."
"Midoriya-kun," Yuudai meet's Midoriya's eyes, "I fucking suck at school."
Midoriya blanks out, "Where did you learn to swear?"
Yuudai frowns, "Sorry, I'm having trouble processing that. I'm freaking out about six terms of remedial classes and you're asking where I learned to curse?"
"Uh...yes."
"My mom taught me." Yuudai says simply.
"Why exactly?"
Yuudai says it like it's obvious, "Because words are good for self defense, too."
Midoriya doesn't know how to respond so he just changes the topic back to school.
Yuudai groans, "That's what I'm saying! I surely can't attend U.A. with two years of missing grades and low grades in general."
"I'm sure that you'll be tutored on the two years you missed before you go back to school."
Yuudai shakes his head, "You don't understand Midoriya. If I go back to school a little after this workplace study is over that means I only have about a month to get back on track. There's no way I can learn two years worth of knowledge in that amount of time!"
Midoriya calmly thinks about the situation.
"Midoriya-kun! I'm really sure that graduating junior high in a month is only something a genius can do! I'm no genius, I've been average and even below average my whole academic career!"
"Well, how'd you get through school before?"
Yuudai buries his face in his hands, "I had my parents tutor me and I asked the teachers a lot of questions after class. I reread my notes tons of times and even tried practice problems."
"That's good." Midoriya nods approvingly.
"That's not it! Even with all that I was only average and sometimes I was even close to the bottom!" Yuudai exclaims, "I couldn't concentrate at all during tests and even when I thought I did it, I didn't!"
"Kojiko-kun, calm down," Midoriya pushes his hands in a calming motion, "I'm sure the teachers have a plan for you. Otherwise they wouldn't have already enrolled you."
"Is this considered an emergency because I can call Eraser Head ask what the fuck I'm supposed to do," Yuudai scrambles to get the phone that Eraser Head had lent him.
Midoriya sighs and lets Yuudai continue on with his rant to call Aizawa.
"I'm calling him. I'm definitely calling him." Yuudai says as he fiddles with the phone.
Yuudai puts the phone to his ear and listens to it ring. It feels like it rings for a long time. In reality, though, it only rang about twice before Aizawa picked up the phone.
"Do you need something?" Aizawa answers, sounding a little annoyed.
Yuudai stutters, "Hi, Eraser Head. I-I was just wonder-wondering if the school...maybe already has plans for me...like academic wise. Because I missed a lot of school and I'm not exactly sure how I was accepted into U.A. because I haven't even graduated from junior high so how can I attend High School. I feel like there should be at least a little bit of an issue with th-"
"Kid, you're fine." Aizawa cuts him off as soon as he realizes Yuudai was sorta in panic mode, "All your old grades and history there was erased on that day. But your old junior high school sent over all the information we asked for, including lectures and stuff so you can start where you left off. We were waiting until you said you were ready to start school again to give it to you."
"And you didn't think to mention this before?" Yuudai whisper yells.
Aizawa pauses, "...Not really, no. We have no records of any of your school grades. We assumed because you're a year younger than everyone in your grade, that you skipped a year so you're pretty smart and can handle catching up within a couple months."
"A couple months!? Smart!?" Yuudai nearly yells, "Eraser Head, are you an idiot?! I haven't gotten a 100 on anything school related ever. Not even a 90! What made you think that I could catch up on two years of school work in a few months!?"
"Look, it was wrong of us to assume that. But you can catch up with enough tutoring and help." Aizawa says calmly.
That doesn't help Yuudai very much.
"Eraser Head, although the tutoring and help is nice and all what I need is two years! I don't have two years, I'm not being left behind."
Aizawa groans, "Midoriya is there, right? Let me talk to him."
Yuudai shoves the phone towards Midoriya and buries himself inside his futon.
"Aizawa-sensei?" Midoriya asks hesitantly.
"Tutoring? Me? Ah, that's a little-"
"..." Yuudai can't hear what Aizawa says, he talks with such a quiet and monotone voice.
"I know I get good grades but there's plenty of people more capable of teaching-" Midoriya talks with his hands, it's fun to watch.
"..."
"I don't know, Aizawa-sensei. Maybe we should ask Yaoyorozu, she's the top of the class and she might be better suited for tutoring."
"..."
"I'm not saying that but I do have subjects that I'm not good at, Sensei."
"..."
"Well, if you think you can handle the rest."
"..."
"I'm not sure. Give me a second."
Midoriya taps on Yuudai shoulder and he peeks his head out from under the covers.
"Aizawa-sensei says we can start with the 8th grade and work our way up whenever you're ready."
Yuudai nods enthusiastically.
"Aizawa-sensei? Kojiko-kun's ready anytime."
"..."
"Well, I remember most of my junior high classes so I should be able to help if you can provide the pre-recorded lessons." Midoriya itches the back of his head and glances at Yuudai.
"..."
"Thank you, Aizawa-sensei." Midoriya habitually bows his head a little then hangs up.
Midoriya sighs and then pulls out his phone, "Looks like we're doing some cram sessions for the next month or two."
Yuudai gives him a thumbs up, freaking out a bit less since his problems have been semi-solved.
"Aizawa-sensei says you can also start coming to class at U.A. whenever you feel comfortable. We might wait until you officially graduate junior high for that to happen, though. But don't worry because I have an idea to help you study!" Midoriya grins.
"What's your idea?" Yuudai sits up.
Midoriya shakes his head, "First breakfast then back to the workplace internship. We can start studying after dinner since Aizawa-sensei said he wouldn't be able to send the files until later today."
"Sounds good to me" Yuudai grins and hops to his feet.
After eating a breakfast of taiyaki and questionable eggs, Midoriya continued to practice his Full Cowling outside while Yuudai went for a run. He declared that Gran Torino's fridge needed actual food in it. Yuudai thought a lot while running and shopping. He didn't think about academics, that problem was basically solved but he couldn't help feeling a little jealous of Midoriya. He wondered if he'd be able to control his Quirk as much as Midoriya could. Midoriya had only had his Quirk for a few months and he'd managed to get that far. Yuudai bought the groceries and ran back, he'd ask Midoriya for some more advice.
"You want to know how I started training?" Midoriya asked while in Full Cowling.
"Well, I was thinking about training my Quirk. And I don't exactly know what I can do with it so I want to know what you've been doing.I mean, I've already been practicing how to not use it. I haven't practiced how to use it." Yuudai fiddles with his hands.
Midoriya thinks about it, "I started with bodybuilding at first because of the passing down of One for All. After that it was a matter of using the One for All and not being afraid of the repercussions and also practice."
Yuudai sweatdrops. Midoriya's repercussions were broken bones while his was a possible coma.
Midoriya waves his arms around, "Actually I guess trial and error would be difficult for you, right? Um...All Might said that I needed an image so I wouldn't break my bones. I used an egg in a microwave and now a taiyaki. I also can remember what it was like to push my limit and know when too far is."
"You told me that before, I already came up with a way to know when my Quirk is active but I don't know how far I can go with it active. Like what can I do and what can I say and if I can control the range or direction of the reaction of the word. Or what words do what things." Yuudai lists.
"Well," Midoriya thinks about how he was able to use One for All only in a part of his body, "I just focused really hard."
Yuudai blanks. Focused really hard? What sort of advice was that? In some ways it was helpful but it was more confusing.
"I mean...like for you, maybe focus on a single target and go by feel." Midoriya restates.
Yuudai thinks about it. So like a soda can and gun. A shooting range for his Quirk. Focus on a single target to affect with his Quirk. He'd need a lot of cans. And Midoriya would need a lot of notebooks to record what did what.
"We could also test your range. Like how close you need to be to the target that the command is acting on for it to work. Or we could see what different words do." Midoriya lists a few more things that Yuudai could try.
"Sounds good." Yuudai grins, "I'm going to go look for empty cans so that I can practice tomorrow."
"Kojiko-kun, if you don't mind me asking, what's your visualization?"
Yuudai stops at the door to answer his questions, "It's like a lightswitch. I snap my fingers and boom, Quirk on."
Midoriya laughs, "Like the lights that you can clap on and off."
"But snapping!" Yuudai corrects and heads back inside with the groceries.
"Kojiko-kun, are you okay?" Midoriya crouches next to Yuudai who had fallen over and was laying on the floor.
Yuudai catches his breath and coughs, "I'm out of stamina. Can't move. My throat hurts, too."
Midoriya sits cross legged and pulls out his notebook so that he could write some notes. For the past three hours, Yuudai and Midoriya had been experimenting with Yuudai's Quirk. Nothing too major just what could affect the stamina consumption. Yuudai also remembered another side effect of his Quirk was a sore throat, which came with some coughing but that was nothing a little water couldn't fix.
"You're going to need to build up your endurance and stamina, Kojiko-kun. You wouldn't last a single sparring match." Midoriya jokes.
Yuudai finds it funny but doesn't have the energy to laugh.
"So the thing that affects the consumption of stamina is how complex the command is. When you said 'twist to the right' compared to just 'twist,' you got more backlash with the 'twist to the right.'" Midoriya questions Yuudai.
Yuudai nods and tries to sit up.
"Another drawback is that my throat hurts like crazy." Yuudai picks up his water and chugs half of it, "I'll need water or something when fighting."
"That can go with your stuff about hero costumes. You really need to get on that, Kojiko-kun."
"Another thing, I can visualize how harsh I want the reaction to be. Like if I want a 'shatter' that can shatter a cup or a 'shatter' that just cracks a cup. It doesn't tire me out to change the level of impact either, so that's good but if the image isn't clear enough the reaction is sorta random." Yuudai takes a breather and drinks the rest of his water.
Midoriya grins, "This is really fun. There's so many words and phrases that you could use!"
"I was thinking of categorizing them for different situations."
"Like attack class and defense class?"
"I was thinking more of this." Yuudai takes the pen and notebook, drawing out a chart.
Four columns and at the top of each were Capture, Attack, Shield, Emergency.
"Emergency?" Midoriya asks after looking over the chart.
Yuudai twirls the pen, "Words that I have no control over and can make me pass out immediately therefore only for emergencies."
"Smart." Midoriya comments.
"I was thinking of putting 'freeze' under Capture Class but it can also go under Attack Class depending what I visualize." Yuudai points at the two words.
"Freeze in Attack Class is like 'frozen' or 'freeze over,' right?"
"Yeah."
"In that case I'll just put a little snowflake next to it. Now we know what it does." Midoriya scribbles a little snowflake next to the word.
Yuudai smiles at the tiny snowflake, "Cute."
"Tomorrow we can see what your distance limit is. I'm surprised you were able to get enough control to hit a single target within an hour, though." Midoriya praises.
"I'm a genius. Also, you ever think it's more difficult for you because it's not a natural instinct. Not that I'm saying what I'm doing is natural instinct but it's definitely easier for me because I was born with my Quirk while you were given one." Yuudai tilts his head at Midoriya.
Midoriya meets Yuudai's eyes, "I know that I don't move on instinct but I'm getting there. Soon I'll be able to do complex moves like Kacchan and use my Quirk naturally."
"I don't get what's so great about your Kacchan. He was your bully, right? I get that he doesn't do that anymore but he's still pretty mean." Yuudai writes down more words in the columns.
"That's…" Midoriya trails off.
Yuudai stops him, "I get it, I'm not judging him based on that but it's still a part of him. What's in the past is in the past. But he's still a bit of a jerk, right? Maybe a complex or something."
"Probably." Midoriya says in a short tone.
"I'll drop it for now. Either way he sounds like an interesting guy. If he ever gets some help I think he'd be a fun guy to hang around." Yuudai smirks, Bakugou's Quirk and personality were both really explosive. It was probably very easy to have an exciting day when you hung around him.
That night, Midoriya and Yuudai spent a good two hours going over the first term of 8th grade as a refresher. Yuudai remembered most of it already so it was easy. They stopped to sleep at the point Yuudai stopped going to school, though. One term down five to go.
"Good morning, Midoriya." Yuudai mumbles to Midoriya as he shuffles down the steps.
"Good morning." Midoriya replies.
Yuudai munches on the microwaved taiyaki and drinks more water. The eggs seem to have all gone missing again. Midoriya stretches and warms up, he'd be sparring with Gran Torino all day. Yuudai secures his forearm crutches and heads outside.
"What're you doing today?" Midoriya asks Yuudai as he heads out.
Yuudai stops at the door, "I was going to look for somewhere a little more abandoned to try some new stuff."
Midoriya looks up the stairs and then joins Yuudai.
"I'll come with you. You'll probably need help getting back." Midoriya follows Yuudai as they walk towards an empty lot down the street.
"Thanks." Yuudai says quietly.
Midoriya smiles, "It's no problem."
"I think that's enough from me for today." Yuudai huffs and chugs another water bottle.
Midoriya finishes up his notes, "New discoveries, distance limit is only eyesight and distance doesn't affect stamina consumption. You suggested goggles that would help you see far away targets for battle. But based on your accident, you don't need to look at your target to affect it."
"No, but it makes it easier to be specific with my Quirk. Unless you want me to make the whole city float instead of just the can?" Yuudai smirks.
Midoriya laughs, "Right. The rest is just a bunch of words and what they do. Also, more notes that you need to build stamina."
Yuudai smiles, "Don't keep telling me that. I know I have no stamina because I'm on the floor and you're doing just fine."
Midoriya laughs, "I've just been training Full Cowling, it wears me out but I'm saving my energy for sparring with Gran Torino."
"You know, I still have no idea how this will work in battle." Yuudai says.
"What do you mean by that?"
Yuudai hums, "Will I have enough time to focus on the target? Will I be able to capture the target without harming them? Will I be able to protect people around me while fighting? Will I be able to protect myself?"
"Good point." Midoriya wrote down more notes, "I could try teaching you basic combat and we could also try creating a special move for you that raises your physical abilities using your Quirk. You could also carry small weapons or projectiles that you can steer with your Quirk. There's a lot of possibilities."
Yuudai hoists himself to his feet, "You're right. I'm sure I'll think of something. In the meantime, I'll take you up on that offer for self defense."
Midoriya had been sparring for Gran Torino for a total of four hours. Yuudai had been designing his hero costume for three hours, not four because he'd given up for a few moments. He'd also tried to look at the lessons for the second term of 8th grade but they made his brain backfire even more so he went back to hero costume designing. Yuudai had decided to incorporate some sort of crutch in the left knee because of that persistent off and on pain.
In the middle of sparring Midoriya also suggested a cleaner haircut. Yuudai's hair had grown longer during his coma so the first day he'd found a pair of scissors he chopped most of it off. Currently his hair was unevenly cut, short at the back but really long at the sides, with one side longer than the other, and his bangs hung just above his eyes. His hair is a royal blue with small streaks of gold and brown mixed in. The blue and gold came from his dad while the brown came from his mom.
Yuudai settled for a simple design for now, using the U.A.'s gym uniform as the base. He'd need ankle supports built into his shoes and knee supports and guards in the pants. Yuudai also requested more support in the elbows and shoulders. Something to store small items or maybe a backpack specifically for battle. Then he also requested the goggles, putting a small note to make the lenses dim so that no one could tell where he was looking. Yuudai thought about self defense, maybe something that would make hits hurt more because right now he was pretty weak. Brass knuckles or something. Hopefully the development studio would be able to make something out of his mess of an idea.
"Do you think I should get a mouth covering?" Yuudai asks Midoriya as he jumps past him.
Midoriya paused for a moment to answer, "Why would you need one?"
"Well, it's not like my target needs to be able to hear what word I'm saying and if they do hear it's probably more of a hindrance to me than a help. They might be able to figure out what my attack is if they hear me say it. Maybe something to muffle my voice so that can't happen." Yuudai glances at Midoriya's mouthpiece.
"That's not a bad idea." Midoriya scurries over and draws out a small mask with breathing holes.
"Maybe something more like this." Yuudai edits the sketch to be less bulky and sleek.
Midoriya nods and dodges a kick from Gran Torino. Yuudai continues to draw, writing down small objects that he could carry for attacks. Marbles, maybe smoke bombs, rope, paper, nails, small knives. Of course he could also carry things for helping people like bandages.
"Maybe a jacket…" Yuudai mumbles to himself, "Pockets on the inside for secrets."
Yuudai already was wearing hoodies daily, they help hide how weak looking his body is. Not that he was still a skeleton but he'd prefer to build some sort of muscle mass. Also, hoodies are comfortable. Maybe he'd be able to get a tougher material for one that would survive battles.
After dinner, Midoriya helped an extremely frustrated Yuudai with starting his second term of 8th grade. They didn't even manage to get through two lessons. Yuudai almost begged Midoriya to tell him what his ida from a few days ago was but Midoriya brushed it off and said it could wait until later.