Midoriya wasted no time. She instantly powered Full-Cowling up to 8%, leaping to the top of a nearby hill to get a better view of the arena. Because of her speed she was able to get into position to see her opponents fanning out in various directions. Two of them were running in her direction.
'The blonde guy has a large tail… That's an easy enough Quirk to understand. The brown haired guy seems rather fit, he's also holding a small metal vial in each hand. Projectiles? I'll have to keep an eye on what he does with them. Well, I'm going to let them approach me to see what they do. I definitely want to be reacting to their actions until I can eliminate some members. I don't want to be overwhelmed, or rush into multiple people who's Quirks I don't know.'
Midoriya stood on her perch, watching as the two boys continued to sprint towards her. They would likely arrive in about fifteen seconds if they kept the same pace. The other four members were no longer visible, but she wasn't worried about them just yet.
'With my current position being so close to a corner, there's really only two directions to approach from. I should easily notice if someone approaches that isn't these two guys.'
After a moment of running, Sato decided he was close enough. He popped the top off one of his vials, not wanting to use both at once due to how quickly his strength wore off. He downed the contents and his muscles swelled and bulged; he used the extra strength to increase the speed of his approach dramatically. With two strong strides he was at the bottom of the hill the green haired girl was standing on. She'd still yet to move. Ojiro flanked him, landing nearby. They exchanged a quick glance, nodded at each other, then simultaneously pushed off the ground.
The ground under Sato cracked as he pushed off, lunging at the girl with surprising speed. The tail-user leaned back and pushed off the ground with his tail, springing himself into the air and kicking off a nearby pillar.
'Hmm. The brown haired guy is a little fast. He certainly seems to focus on strength rather than speed. He got stronger after eating whatever was in that vial. Interesting Quirk. The tail guy doesn't seem like much of a threat. They're both flying at me from the same direction, just different heights. That's no good.' Izu made a face of disapproval, the corner of her mouth raised slightly. 'Their quirks certainly have potential, but they obviously lack fighting experience. Nor do they know how to work together. But that one is obviously forgivable.'
Midoriya simply side stepped as the two teens flew past her. She clasped her arms behind her back as she continued to think about what she was seeing.
'What? She dodged so quickly… and why does she seem so distracted? She wasn't even looking at either of us. You think we're not even worth your time? I'll show you, green girl!' Ojiro was about to lash out again, but the rational part of his brain realized what she was probably doing. 'She's gathering information about what we can do. She's in a six on one, so her top priority is probably figuring out what shes up against. Once she knows what each of us can do, she'll start taking us out one by one.' This was when everything clicked in Ojiro's brain. 'She must know she has us both outclassed, thats why shes looking off in the direction our teammates went!' His thoughts were interrupted when he heard her speak in a quiet voice.
"H-Hey, I don't wanna embarrass you guys or... hurt you." She was still facing away from them as she spoke. "But… I can't imagine you guys will give up just like that, right?" She made eye contact with Sato, who'd spun around to face her after his leaping strike missed. He stopped his sprint midway. His legs shook, arms up in a defensive stance.
'What. What is happening? What am I doing?! Why am I so… intimidated? She's so short, go get her Sato!' He swallowed. It slowly dawned on him where the sinking feeling in his gut came from. 'Her words… she doesn't want to embarrass us. It felt like… that felt like the truth. I didn't sense any ego or get the feeling that she's lying to us. That's… what she truly believes will happen!' As Sato searched for the motivation to move, Ojiro leapt forward, propelling himself off the ground with his tail. He twisted mid air and lined up a huge sweep with his tail.
'She's glancing back at me over her shoulder. Her back is still to me and her arms are clasped. It doesn't matter how fast you are, girl, you can't dodge in that position from this distance!' As Ojiro's tail came within a foot of striking his target, a strange sensation washed over Ojiro. Time froze. 'But… I'm aware that time is frozen? What's happening? Why can I think but not move any part of my body?' He focused intensely on the scene before him. 'Wait… stuff is moving, it's just really slow. I can see my tail inching ever so slowly towards her. What is happening?! Is this her quirk? She can stop time?! Why can I think as normal though?'
His surprise reached its peak as he saw her arms unclasp. She seemed to be moving at a normal speed. 'What? She can move now? I'm still frozen!' Ojiro watched her turn around and bring a hand up to catch his blow. She didn't appear to be moving exceptionally fast, but everything else was slowed down in comparison to her movements. In an instant Ojiro's perception of time was returned to normal. His body completed the striking motion he'd intended, but his tail connected with her waiting palm. She seemed to absorb the impact with no issue. She stood, unflinching and seemingly unaffected by his heavy blow. He panicked as he felt her grip his tail.
Green electricity surrounded her arm, and with incredible speed she flung him to the side. With no way to change his momentum or trajectory, he flew out of the ring. He landed gracefully, sliding on the concrete before righting himself. He stood up quickly. 'I… I'm out. What just happened to me? Was that all her doing?' He held his hands out in front of him, giving them questioning looks. He glanced back at where Sato was standing… still? 'Is Sato also frozen? No I can see him moving at normal speed. Why is he… shaking?' As if reading Ojiro's mind, Sato turned around and walked out of the ring. Just like that.
Ojiro was dumbfounded. "Dude, why did you do that?!" His hands shot up to accentuate his point, and his frustration.
"What she said earlier. She wasn't lying. Her concern for us was real. I… I can't compete against her right now." Sato explained his actions, looking sorry for himself as he stared at the ground.
Most onlookers were equally confused. Midoriya had seemingly eliminated two enemy members while barely doing anything herself! Ojiro caught Sato's gaze. They had shared similar experiences of helplessness in such a short period of time. He glanced back at the green girl. Her electricity was gone, and she was facing them. Her concerned expression was plainly visible. She took a full step towards them, her arm slightly outstretched in their direction before she abruptly stopped. She recoiled her arms, before they slowly relaxed to rest at her side.
She turned back to face the hills their teammates had run to at the start of the game. She stood, unmoving, for a number of seconds. Ojiro and Sato watched her dash off after her brief pause. Green electricity once again surrounded her. They turned to look at each other, exchanging a look that confirmed their similar experiences. Ojiro sighed. He'd been defeated so easily.
'Well. That's UA for you. It has certainly lived up to its reputation so far. No wonder it's attracted such strong people.' He smiled at the thought. 'And there are bound to be more strong people in the class. They're my classmates. I… I look forward to working with them, most of them anyways. But I clearly have much to improve on if I want to be any competition for the upper echelon of the class.' Ojiro smiled, a determined look in his eyes. He clapped Sato on the shoulder, breaking him out of his own thoughts no doubt. "Lets go, Sato. We can watch the rest of the match with the rest of our class."
"It sounds like Ojiro and Sato were eliminated." Jiro said as she retracted her earjack. Her expression was grim, clearly not liking what she heard.
"Already? It's not even been a minute since we started…" Uraraka exclaimed. "Should we abandon this hill now that we've owned it for a little bit? To go team up with our other members? Even if she captures this hill she won't pass us in points immediately."
"I… I'm not sure. If you think that is the right thing to do then I'll follow. I'm not too sure how us two would fair against her if we ran into her. As I said, I can't change my attack trajectory without stopping to aim again. So unless she's immobilized I won't be much use against her. Shoji could probably immobilize her if he grabbed her I guess."
"Yeah… I can't exactly immobilize her, but if I could touch her once I could greatly lower her maneuverability."
"So lets make our way over to Shoji and the french guy." Jiro's eyes met Urarakas. She was nervous. 'Well that makes two of us, Uraraka…'
Just as they stepped out of the circle, a green blur whizzed by them, followed by a slight rush of wind. Midoriya stood about 10 feet in front of the duo. Green electricity surrounded her, arcing off of the nearby terrain. Jiro could feel her intense gaze bore into them. No one spoke.
Finally the silence was broken. Midoriya's quiet voice washed over the two girls. "What are your Quirks like?" Uraraka could sense the legitimate curiosity stemming from Midoriya's question. She had no doubt it was genuine. Out of the corner of her eye, Uraraka spotted Jiro's earjack snaking down her back, towards her feet. She knew what she had to do. Distract.
Uraraka answered honestly, hoping to take advantage of Midoriya's unfiltered curiosity. She also wasn't confident in her ability to come up with a different quirk on the spot. She needed to sound convincing, so the truth it was. "My quirk lets me make anything I touch with all five fingers weightless. I do have a weight limit, though. I can end the effect by touching my fingers together like this." She demonstrated the motion.
Midoriya's eyes lit up at the honest answer. The gears in her mind turned, formulating various questions she hoped to ask at some point. However… 'The other girl is up to something. She isn't paying attention to what either of us are saying. She's focused on something else. I saw earlier that she has some funny looking earlobes. A mutant type quirk of some kind…' Midoriya's eyes swapped from Uraraka to the black haired girl. Jiro narrowed her eyes as Midoriya unabashedly scanned her up and down.
Jiro slowed her actions as Midoriya looked at her. 'What an intense gaze…' She swallowed, feeling a bead of sweat form on the side of her head. 'Keep going, Uraraka! I'm almost there! I can't signal her at all, not while Midoriya is staring at me… Should… should I just go for it? No. No, I can't throw away this chance. I need to count on Uraraka to get her attention again. My chance will come!'
Jiro internally squealed as Uraraka spoke up, asking a counter question. "What about yours, Midoriya? You seem to have quite the impressive quirk. Aizawa-Sensei certainly recognized that, considering he placed you on a team by yourself." Midoriya's eyes didn't move off of Jiro as she answered.
"I can power-up my body. Move fast and increase my strength. That's all." She nodded at Jiro, their eyes locked in an intense battle of gazes. "W-What about you?"
Jiro opened her mouth to answer before she had even thought of an answer. However, she was saved from stuttering, as Midoriya was hit square in the back by a blinding laser. At the same time, one of Shoji's arms extended and swept Midoriya's legs out from under her. Jiro was a millisecond away from plugging her earjack into her boots, but stopped as she realized; 'Crap, now my teammates are in the way! I'll have to look for an opportunity to handcuff Midoriya if Shoji manages to restrain her.'
Midoriya hit the ground, letting out a surprised grunt. She whipped her head behind her. She saw the multi-armed guy and the Frenchman a number of feet behind her. 'The other students. How did they know to show up?' Her eyes darted over both new arrivals. She paused, looking at the tips of the larger guys extra arms. 'Ears... he can make ears? He probably heard me talking to these two girls, and knew to come and ambush me.'
Her hand rested on her chest as she breathed. 'I wasn't prepared for whatever hit me in the back. I was completely shields down. Not good, I can't afford to take another hit like that.' She heard someone kick off the ground. She saw Uraraka lunge towards her out of her peripheral vision. 'She wants to make me weightless? It will be hard to move around if that happens. They'll probably be able to push me out of bounds. I guess… I guess I have to use a little more.'
'One For All: Full-Cowling… 15%!'
Time slowed to a crawl as the electricity flared aggressively around Midoriya. She pushed off the ground, landing on her feet in one fluid motion. Uraraka's dash seemed to be moving at a snail's pace. Midoriya closed the distance between them in four steps. She stepped around the girl, electing to chop the back of her neck. Her body moved downwards. As Uraraka started to drift towards the ground, Midoriya took a moment to try and figure out what the other girl was trying to accomplish earlier. Now behind the duo, she could see the black haired girls ear's had extended down towards her boots.
'Interesting. I wonder what she can accomplish by doing that. How far can they extend? What do they plug into? Can she actually hear things if she plugs them into technology? I wonder…' Midoriya continued to think of various applications of the dark haired girls quirk as she delivered a second chop to the other girls neck. Time resumed normal speed. The first thing the two males registered was the rush of wind that blew past them. They looked at the ground, and were surprised to not see the green haired girl. She had been there only a moment ago…
Two bodies collapsed lightly onto the ground. Shoji gasped as he saw Midoriya standing between Jiro and Uraraka. They were both crumpled on the ground, groaning as they rubbed the back of their necks. 'She took them out instantly? They aren't unconscious, but likely can't fight anymore if their groans are anything to go by.' He spared a glance at the Frenchman to his right. Aoyama seemed unfazed by Midoriya's show of power. He simply stood in his pose from earlier, eyes darting between the two girls on the ground.
Midoriya's voice broke the brief silence. "I'm assuming you shot me in the back with that, right?" She pointed at the belt around Aoyama's waist. "How's it work? It just felt like an impact, no burning."
Aoyama smiled. "Well, if you must know my Quirk is-"
Shoji took the opportunity, his eyes narrowed. He wrapped three of his arms around each other in a twist, and extended them all at once. Almost instantly his reach was tripled. The punch soared towards Midoriya's upper half. He couldn't be very precise with his aim at this distance, but he was confident he would hit her. 'This'll get her!'
The octopus-man smirked under his mask in satisfaction as he felt his fist connect. His confidence was shattered as he realized a moment later what had actually happened. His hands ached. It felt like he'd punched a wall. 'She… she caught my punch?! At this distance?' Midoriya had a surprised look on her face as she glanced down at the large triple-fist she was now holding.
'That was… way faster than I expected. His limb extension is almost instantaneous. Plus that actually packed a decent amount of force. If I didn't increase to 15% there, that hit would have forced me backwards a little. He's impressive.' She chastised herself for being so careless, almost two times in a row. In a similar manner to Ojiro's elimination, Midoriya gripped Shoji's fist and swung her arm to the right. Shoji had no choice but to follow his arm as he was unceremoniously thrown out of bounds. He landed in a heap, his arms retracting to normal length.
The greenette turned to face the last remaining member. He still seemed unfazed by her demonstration of power. The electricity around her flared as she zipped behind him. She found what she was looking for, quickly undoing a latch on the back of the belt. It fell to the ground a moment later. She could see him tense up, but he didn't turn to face her.
'Well. I guess I won. That seems to be everyone disarmed. Plus I got to learn about their Quirks!' Smiling to herself in satisfaction, she surrounded herself in electricity one last time. She briefly glanced at the two girls, still groaning on the ground. A brief look of guilt flashed across her features. She jumped out of the ring, and immediately the buzzer blared over head. Aizawa announced the winner.
"Uhh. Midoriya is out of bounds and… Team B win's via elimination."
The first thing Midoriya did upon landing outside the white border was remove her hairband. Her hair fell down, resting in its usual spot. Instantly she felt much more relaxed. She walked back towards where the rest of her class was sitting. She could feel many confused sets of eyes on her. No doubt many were questioning her decision to throw the match after she had it won.
Aizawa watched the greenette meander back to her spot. 'So she threw the match after showing she could win. I should have expected this when I promised to increase costume budgets… No doubt some selfless bastard would give up a victory to give that many classmates a boost. This will be a much bigger hit to my wallet than originally anticipated…' A hand pressed against his temples as he quietly cursed himself for making such a stupid promise.
She approached Kirishima and Bakugo, the two who were sitting closest to where she'd left her sweatshirt. She stole a glance at both of them, confident in remaining hidden behind her wall of hair. Kirishima was giving her a, rightfully, confused look. Bakugo was only looking at her with the side of one eye, so she couldn't decipher his expression. But his gaze felt… angry. 'As before, he really doesn't want to be caught looking at me. He's seems so… upset... usually. Like it's his default emotion. Either that or anger. Hm. Sounds like someone I know.' She rolled her eyes at her lame self deprecation.
She scooped up her sweatshirt, throwing it on without a second thought. She plopped down, leaning against the wall before scooting to the right. 'I'd rather not be so close… if I can help it. But I'm relieved to have my sweatshirt on again... And I'm glad I didn't start sweating during that match. That would've been awful…'
Kirishima leaned towards her as she settled down. "Hey… you know you lost, right? You had them all subdued, but you walked out of bounds? What were you trying to prove by doing that?"
'Trying to prove? Hmm. I guess I see where he's coming from.' She turned towards him, answering. "W-Well I never wanted to win against them... I'd rather… rather let them have the increased costume budget. Better for six people get it. I didn't have… an agenda going into the match. Be-Besides maybe learning Quirks."
Midoriya's match had only lasted around two minutes. Considering the first match was also called off before the ten minute mark, and there was only one match remaining - they probably wouldn't remain here for much longer. 'We'll have more time remaining in the day than I thought… Maybe this is a good opportunity to ask if she wants to come with me and Bakugo to the weight room.' Kirishima turned towards the explosive blonde. Their eyes met and Kirishima raised his eyebrows. The two engaged in a silent conversation. Various eyebrow movements, nods, shakes, and jerks later, a consensus had been reached. 'Okay. Bakugo doesn't seem too thrilled, but he didn't explicitly say no either… I knew you'd come around to her, you fool.' Kirishima smirked to himself, glad that his read on Bakugo earlier was correct. 'You can't help yourself when it comes to strength. I bet that's what draws you to being a hero, explosion boy.'
Five pairs of footsteps caught the attention of all those nearby. All of Team B, minus Sato and the Frenchman, approached the small green girl. As this happened, in the distance Aizawa could be heard calling the last matches participants up to their spots.
The clatter of feet on concrete stopped as they stood a few feet away from their target. Shoji was the first to break the tense atmosphere. "Midoriya… why did you throw the match?"
Ojiro followed up immediately. "Are you trying to embarrass us more than you already did? What gives?!" The two girls of the group stood farther back, simply waiting to hear her answer. Kirishima, having just heard the answer to the same question, opened his mouth to speak in her defence. He was interrupted by the small girls voice.
"I didn't think it was f-fair to take the costume budget from six people. One person budget increase… versus six. That's what I made my decision off of. I… I-I didn't mean for it to be offensive." Her head rested on her knees, which were curled up in front of her.
Ojiro let out an exasperated sigh. He walked away without another word. Shoji stood for a moment, not quite sure what an appropriate response to her answer was. Uraraka spoke up from behind him. "Th-Thank you, Midoriya. I'll ask Aizawa sensei if I can share some of my budget increase with you. That's only fair, considering what you did for us." Midoriya looked up at the brown haired girl. Clearly not the response she was expecting. Uraraka bowed deeply towards the greenette. Midoriya's blush was thankfully hidden. Shoji and Jiro nodded in agreement.
As Shoji and Uraraka made their way back to where their belongings were. Jiro lingered a bit longer. She looked down at Midoriya's small form. She bit her lip and said, "You know… none of these exercises should be taken personally. Right? Ojiro's not thinking clearly if he's personally offended by the outcome of a class lesson. That's what this is, and we'll have many more like it in the future, I'm sure. So… you shouldn't worry about offending anyone with your actions." Jiro's eyes narrowed, she could just barely make eye contact with Midoriya through her curtain of hair. "And you should always try your best to win. Even if you think winning isn't the best outcome for the overall group."
Jiro flashed her a smile before turning to walk away. 'I know. I… know she's right. Nothing should be taken personally, and I should only focus on myself and my own performance. I need… I need to work on that last part. Gran Torino said that thinking too much was both a strength and a curse. I always thought he meant in battle, but… it holds true outside as well.'
Midoriya sighed as she lost herself in her thoughts. She was vaguely aware that after some time the buzzer blared above her. The last match had started. 'It's only been one day and I feel like I've already made myself a polarizer… And everyones… everyones so wise and smart. I don't feel like I have any words of wisdom to impart to anyone.' The buzzer blared overhead, again. 'What? So soon? What happened?' Midoriya lifted her head up from its spot on her knees. A large portion of the concrete arena was covered in a sheet of ice. She looked to the right, her eyes widening at what she saw.
All five members, and a floating pair of clothes, were stuck. Their feet were embedded in ice that covered a majority of the concrete course. They'd barely moved a foot from their starting position. She looked to the left, towards the source of all the ice. Todoroki was already walking back towards the class. Aizawa's voice broke her stare.
"Team E, Todoroki, has won the match via elimination. Everyone please return to the rest of the class so we can discuss the results as a group."
The ice covering a surprising portion of the stage seemed to melt away on its own. The six members on the far right were unabashedly stunned at how quickly the match had ended. There was no competition.
Midoriya wasn't able to pay full attention to the group discussion on the results of the exercise. Her mind had shifted into overdrive, trying to come up with an answer to what Kirishima had asked her after the last match ended. 'Do I want to go train with him and the other guy after the discussion? I stupidly mentioned that I had already planned to go check it out before he'd asked me. Meaning I can't back out with the excuse that I have something else to do…' She wrung her hands nervously, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she waited for the discussion to end.
After what felt like an eternity the crowd of students dispersed slightly, some headed towards the exit. 'I feel a little bad for not listening to everyones thoughts on the exercise… but at the same time I can't imagine too much insight was able to be drawn from this. Aizawa is still learning how each of us operate alongside our quirks. Most feedback must have been fairly superficial.'
"So Midoriya, do you have an answer? Me and Bakugo were going to head there now." Kirishima said from somewhere behind her. She turned to face the redhead, seeing Bakugo standing next to him. He had an air of 'standoffish-ness' to him that really put her on edge.
'Is he ever not like this? Kirishima seems to have a pretty good understanding of him, so there must be more to him.' Kirishima raised his eyebrows at the girl as she was lost in her thoughts. She blinked, realizing he was waiting for an answer.
She answered while looking at her feet, her voice quiet. "Um. I-I don't know if I'll actually do any exercise there. I havav-" She stuttered. She closed her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath as she tried to right her thoughts and regain her composure. She continued after a brief moment. "I have to see what is… available to know if it will actually be of… any use to… me." Bakugo scoffed at her.
"So you're coming then? Great. Lets go, Kirishima." Bakugo didn't wait for a response. He turned to leave the building and began walking, rolling his eyes as he did. Kirishima turned to her, wincing slightly.
"He's not always like this. I mean, I've only known him for a little over a day, but I'm sure he gets better as you know him. He's already not as bad as he was yesterday, for me at least... Give him a shot, okay?" Kirishima reasoned. Midoriya was a bit taken aback by Bakugo's bluntness and harsh tone, but she had some faith in Kirishima's judgement. He'd been nothing but polite so far. She'd trust him for the time being.
'Worst comes to worst I can leave. With or without an explanation.' She concluded. Kirishima walked after Bakugo, and she followed just behind.
They walked in silence for some time. Midoriya questioned if the silence was a good or bad thing. She didn't know. Eventually Bakugo broke the silence. He said "Hey green, you could've beaten those losers on the other team nearly instantly, right? What did you think about the other solo teams match? If you'd even consider that a match." He still looked forwards.
She thought on his question for a moment, surprised that he actually cared enough to ask for her opinion. However, she didn't actually see what Todoroki had done in his match. She had her head down until the very end of the match. She only saw the aftermath; when everything was covered in ice. "Um. It was very… fast. I wasn't looking until it was over. Sorry." Was her reply.
"It was pretty impressive! Todoroki managed to incapacitate every member on the enemy side simultaneously. I don't know if I would've been able to avoid his ice attack. It was probably too fast for me to dodge." Kirishima said, answering in her stead. Bakugo said nothing in response. Kirishima continued, "Your match was also super impressive, Midoriya. What did you end up doing to Sato, though? From the look of it, he just gave up."
'Crap. How do I answer this. I don't know why, Sato was his name apparently, walked out. I know he said something to the tail guy after doing so, but I couldn't hear it.' She decided to answer honestly, despite how unsatisfying the truth was. "I… didn't do anything to him. He walked out after I d-dodged his first strike, without a word to me.
Thankfully the rest of the walk was completed it silence. This left Midoriya with time to collect and organize her thoughts and emotions in preparation for the coming… thing. 'What do I even call what I'm doing right now? Going to train? We don't know if that will happen. A… visit to the gym with my classmates? That's… a mouthful.'
The trio arrived back at class 1-A's dorms after the brief walk. Midoriya followed Bakugo and Kirishima downstairs. She had to suppress her excitement as she walked into the weight room/gym. The room had mats covering the floor and a large section of the walls. There were exercise machines crowded over in a corner for every imaginable muscle group. Similarly to upstairs, there was a collection of benches and weight racks holding many different ranges of weights. The room smelled faintly of chlorine. Midoriya looked to the left and saw a door leading to a tiled room, no doubt containing the pool she had heard about earlier.
As she was surveying the room, Bakugo had turned towards her. Noticing his gaze, she turned towards him. He spoke, asking "What does your normal training regiment look like, being an enhancement type Quirk user?"
Her eyebrows creased in a questioning look. "Do… Do you mean training my body, or my Quirk?"
"It's the same for enhancement types, Isn't it? You would know better than me, considering you've had it for years now."
"Well… I'm actually not confident the training I'm doing is… correct? My Quirk is an accumulation based enhancement Quirk. I didn't actually know I had a quirk until about a year and a half ago…"
Bakugo shot Kirishima a look. Another conversation occurred exclusively through facial expressions and looks. Kirishima shrugged. Bakugo closed his eyes briefly, thinking on the information. 'She's clearly incredibly strong. And yet she isn't sure if the training she's doing is correct? What kind of bull shit is that? Is she lying? She doesn't seem like one to be disingenuous, though. And accumulation based enhancement? I've… never heard of that subtype of Quirk before. If that's true then she is pulling this extra energy, which enhances her speed and strength, from a finite pool. Is that correct? Considering the energy she's output so far that seems hard to believe. Accumulation Quirks are typically emitter types. And they run out of "fuel" rather quickly after outputting massive amounts of projectiles or energy itself.'
Bakugo was wrestling with his extensive Quirk knowledge, trying to make sense of the girls statements and what he saw her do earlier. He needed more information from her. "Well you haven't answered my earlier question. What does your normal training regiment look like?"
Now it was Midoriya's turn to stop and think. 'Do I really want to reveal more information to these guys? I don't think they have any ill-intent… at least none that I can pick up on.' She paused as she remembered her time training with Gran Torino. After they'd finished combat training, he'd encouraged her to find someone she could improve alongside. Someone that could learn from her and she could learn from. She made up her mind then. "I… I would usually spread my power throughout my entire body, and strain my muscles to try and get them used to being stressed under the effects of my Quirk. I'd usually do that for an hour or two before I'd tire out."
Bakugo's eyes widened. What she said had insane implications. 'She can hold that level of power for an hour or more? Does that mean the pool she's pulling the energy from is just ridiculously huge? Or does it mean she doesn't actually "spend" any of the accumulated energy if she doesn't move? Is it something else entirely? I… do I want to just ask her that?' Bakugo hesitated. He glanced over at Kirishima, who had started placing weights on a machine he was planning to use.
"So as an accumulation type, do you NOT use energy from your accumulated pool if you don't move then? Does it just use significantly less? Considering the power you're capable of outputting, or atleast what you've shown thus far, it's hard to believe that you can maintain it for an hour or more if it consumes energy all that while. Have you ever had a sparring session for the same duration of time that it normally takes for you to get exhausted? Did you run out of energy faster?"
'Woah. He certainly knows a lot about Quirks. I… I haven't tried that yet. Sure I've done exercises for long periods of time with One For All active, but not exactly a sparring session. Sure I've fought against Gran Torino for a while, but nothing of that length. That would be like martial arts training or something… right?' "I haven't... had a sp-sparring session like that." She confirmed.
One of Bakugo's hands went to his chin as he tilted his head up in thought. Sounds of clanging metal came from the right. Kirishima was still setting up a machine, piling up more and more weight onto a bench press bar. Bakugo was falling down a rabbit hole of Quirk questions.
The girl before him was an enigma. He would've called her crazy, and a liar, if he hadn't witnessed her power firsthand. 'She is the real deal when it comes to enhancement power. Definitely on the stronger end of enhancement quirks I've seen. And if it's an accumulation type? That has major implications for her growth potential. And she's only been training with her Quirk for under two years?!' As Bakugo's interest in the girl grew, he turned to face Kirishima. An idea hatched in his mind. He turned to the girl, who was once again surveying the room they were in.
"Okay, Midoriya, you've seen the weight room. What are you going to do?" Bakugo questioned.
She still didn't have concrete answer in mind, despite thinking about it along the entire walk here. "I… appreciate you guys showing me the weight r-room. But I think it would be better if we did this… another time?" Her eyes opened wide, hidden by her hair (thankfully). Her hand shot up to her mouth, but she caught it halfway. She took half a step backwards. 'Why did I suggest we find another time…'
The blonde wore a hard to decipher expression. He'd noticed her wide-eyed expression. That, and she clearly forcibly stopped her arm from going to her cover her mouth. 'She didn't mean to say that last part. She almost looks to be… injured?' He glanced over at Kirishima, who was facing the opposite direction. 'So he only heard what she said.' He clicked his tongue as he turned around to grab some weights nearby. 'Whatever. I'll let Kirishima handle her if he wants to. I've no doubt I'll have to deal with her again in the future. I'll learn more then.'
Kirishima approached, having finished setting up his machine. "Alright. I'll bring it up another time then, Midoriya. Cya around!" He shot her a thumbs up as he bent down to move a bench.
Midoriya climbed the stairs back up the first floor in silence. One of her hands traced her lips, as if trying to find out if anything was wrong with them. 'I… didn't mean to say that. Right? It just… came out. It's usually the complete opposite. I have to force myself to talk.' She could hear commotion on the first floor. Multiple voices, and some shuffling of feet. Izu turned onto the last flight of stairs. 'Bako… gu? I think that was his name. He… noticed my reactions. Clearly. I could tell he saw through me.' She sighed heavily, rubbing her face. 'I'm already slipping. He doesn't seem to care for others that much… I hope he keeps what he saw to himself.'
As she crested the top of the stairs, she saw a number of her classmates sitting on couches around a table. Some small figurines sat on a colorfully decorated board. Izu's eyes widened a tad. 'I know that game. Settlers of Catan… I used to play that in elementary school game club.' She smiled fondly as the memory played in her mind.
One of the students around the couch, who seemingly wasn't playing in the game itself, noticed her head pointed towards them. The blue haired boy raised his hand, a silent greeting. Midoriya hesitated. 'Well he caught me looking at them. It… would be rude to just ignore him.' She decided to simply stay put and wait. If he approached, she'd hear him out. If not then she was in the clear to leave. 'He did say he wanted to talk to me later… and it is later now…'
He answered her unasked question as he approached her, his arms moved in sharp angular motions as he walked. He looked robotic, almost. Izu bristled slightly, remembering the last time he approached her like that. At least this time he wasn't yelling…
This time Iida, thankfully, waited until he was within typical-conversation-distance to start speaking. "Midoriya-san, could I have a moment of your time?"
She cocked an eyebrow. '-san? That's… odd. You're probably older than me. And you have a good head and a half on me…' She waited a beat before answering. "I… yeah."
He took a few steps off to the side, away from potentially prying ears. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. His eyes shot open as he began. "I am deeply sorry for making you uncomfortable yesterday. It was my mistake for not reading the environment better. My volume was way out of control for a conversation that should've been kept private. Additionally, I should not have touched you without your permission, especially since we don't know each other beyond family names." He bowed deeply to emphasize his words. "I wish to start over so that we can work productively alongside one another."
'Yeah I kind of expected this. I mean… I forgive him. How can I not? I definitely… blew it out of proportion.' Her voice was shaky as she responded. "Please… please don't bow. I am as much to b-blame for the incident." She wrung her hands incessantly as she waited for him to straighten himself.
As Iida righted himself slowly, his eyebrows creased in confusion. Had he heard her right? "Midoriya you are not to blame for this! Please do not… you do not have to shoulder any responsibility for what hap-"
"It's fine now. Please, just drop it. We can st-start over." She glanced around the room, looking for an escape route. "I'm going to go…" And she did, not waiting for any reply from Iida.
She opted for the stairs, not wanting to wait around for the elevator with Iida still standing in the room. She entered her room and collapsed on the bed without a second thought. She felt something poke her in the ribs as she landed. Izu grimaced as she rolled to one side. Two small boxes sat there, a small slip of paper was taped to one of them. She reached for the paper, twisting it towards her.
"Midoriya,
I hope you find these useful on your journey to become a hero.
From Nezu"
'Oh. That's right. The letter Nezu included with my acceptance message mentioned something about a gift…" She picked up one of the boxes, shaking it gently. She could hear metal clanking inside. As she started to debate if she really deserved a gift or not, her hands automatically began opening one of the small boxes. Inside she found… she wasn't sure what it was. It appeared to be a mess of flat metal pieces, springs, and elastic straps. There were two identical ones.
Puzzled, she opened the other box and found two similar contraptions. These were shaped slightly differently, but appeared to serve the same purpose. This box had another note resting on the bottom of the box. She read it without hesitation.
"These are braces for your arms and ankles. They should help absorb some of the impact and vibrations that occur. Of course as you train to master control over One For All, these will eventually be obsolete. I had them custom made by David Shield to fit you. He owed me a favor." A winking mouse face was drawn, clearly in Nezu's handwriting. "Make good use of them, Midoriya!"
Izu failed to suppress a gasp as her eyes glided over "David Shield". Was she really in possession of a support item from THE David Shield? She looked at the braces as if they would leap up to bite her at any moment. 'How much… are these worth? Did they cost Nezu a lot?' She shook her head. 'Nezu mentioned a favor. But I sure hope these weren't expensive.'
She looked them over again, admiring the quality. 'I sure would like to try them out… but I don't know if I should go out and train after telling Kirishima and Bakogu that I didn't want to train with them…' She weighed her options. There was still lots of time left in the day. Plus she had the weekend still before class started. If she really wanted to avoid being seen, she could do her regular quirk exercises indoors…
She fished through her still-unused backpack (her mom had gotten her a new one as a celebration for getting into UA) and grabbed her wallet. She counted the values of various bills she had. 'Maybe I'll go to a home improvement store. I can pick up darker curtains and maybe some stuff to put up a shelf or two…'
After the, thankfully, uneventful trip to the nearest project store, Midoriya returned to her room with a bag of materials. She surveyed the room, scoping out various locations she could place shelves. After debating between a couple spots, she eventually decided on three locations to install shelving. It was a fairly simple procedure. She'd explained to the salesperson what she wanted to accomplish, and they pointed her towards the correct materials for an easy implementation. After some short trial and error, she had three nice looking shelves all setup. One above her bed, one above the desk, and the final one above the fridge/microwave.
Satisfied with her handiwork, she dragged a chair over to try and reach the top of the curtains… But her hand fell just short. She stretched and tried multiple different positions. No luck. 'Id really rather not move the entire desk just to stand on it for one minute… If I did that I'd have to remove everything on it.' She sighed, looking around the room for an alternate solution. Kirishima's words flashed in her mind; "Come by to talk sometime".
'Does… does this apply? His help would make this a whole lot simpler.' Her ears went hot as she thought about what she wanted to do from a different angle. 'So the first time I talk to him of my own volition will be to… get his help because im too short…' She sat down on her bed and sighed, her back slumping forward. 'Do I value my dignity enough to just move the desk?'
A soft knock came from Kirishima's door. Quiet enough he wasn't sure if he imagined it or not. He paused his game, placing the controller down beside him. He waited a moment, but no other knock came. 'I swear though…' He approached his door cautiously. Now standing in front of it, he heard some quiet shuffling from outside. He heard a door click open outside to the left. He threw his door open, just in time to catch Midoriya half inside her doorway. She froze like a deer in headlights.
He smirked at her. He had heard a knock. "Hey! Whats up, didja need something, Midoriya?" His expression shifted slightly. Her body language spoke for her. 'She's uncomfortable. Why did she knock on my door though?'
Her hand didn't leave her doorknob. She turned to face him slightly, unsure of what to say. An awkward silence descended on the two. Midoriya rolled her wrist, clearly unhappy that her other hand wasn't there to help her relieve her stress. Kirishima took note of the long pause, and took the initiative again.
"I'm glad you remembered my open invitation, Midoriya. I'm always willing to lend an ear or a hand. What did you need? Really." His hands went to his sides, palms open and facing forward. He tried to make himself look as inoffensive and approachable as possible.
"Cu… Curtains…" She whispered. Truth be told, Kirishima hadn't heard what she said. He took a step towards her, closing his door as he moved away from it. He saw her point into her room, but couldn't see what she was referring to.
His eyes lit up. "Sure! I can help. Just let me know what you need me to do." He didn't let the opportunity get away. 'Well this is interesting. I've no idea what I just agreed to, but she asked for my help! No way I can say no after my promise earlier. Plus… it looked like it took a lot for her to even just ask me. Even then she gave up after a single knock…'
She hesitated, then cautiously moved into her room. Kirishima followed. He stepped inside and the door slowly slid shut behind him. He tensed up slightly, his eyes struggling to adjust. 'There are no lights on…' His gaze darted around the room, trying to make out what he could. Her bed was unmade, black sheets covered it. The room was largely undecorated. In fact, the only "decoration" he could spot was a photo on her desk. It was too dark for him to make out the contents of the photo, however. 'Her room looks the same as mine did when I first moved in. The only addition I can spot is those shelves…'
He looked at her. She was standing in the middle of the room, facing away from him. His mind halted as he drank in what her body language said. She was tense, and visibly shaking. The room was so quiet, he could hear her breathe. Her shoulders shuddered with every breath.
His smile faltered. Worry took over. What had he just walked into? "H-Hey Midor-"
"Can! C-C-could you hang up… t-t-these curtains?" They spoke at the same time. Her voice quaked with uncertainty and unease.
'Curtains?' He saw her gesture towards some black cloth that covered the chair by her balcony door. 'Oh. She wants me to put up different curtains? Why's that? She can't do it herself?' He took a step towards her. She flinched at the sound, jumping to the right to let him pass. Deciding to question stuff later, he walked towards the glass door, grabbing the black cloth as he arrived.
Without a word he shoved both existing curtains to the sides. Light poured in. He saw her flinch and turn away as the light hit her. A few moments passed, neither of them said anything. He quickly finished replacing the curtains with the darker version. He stepped down from the chair, the gray curtains draped across his arm. He glanced at her again. Realization struck him. 'She couldn't reach! No wonder she needed my help doing something like this.' She was still facing away from him, but he could see her doing something with her hands.
He turned towards the chair he stood on, placing the gray curtains in the same place the black ones were. He heard her moving. She wordlessly brushed past him, dragging the curtains to a close. The room was plunged back into a more intense darkness than before. 'Well now it's REALLY hard to see…' He thought. 'She's… okay with being in the dark all the time? She didn't have a light on when I walked in…'
Kirishima became more and more aware that they were both just standing there again. One second turned to five. Five to ten. Neither of them moved or said anything. He could hear her sleeves brushing against each other as she continued to do something with her hands. He swallowed, finally having built the courage to speak. "Was that all you needed, Midoriya?" He asked her back. Her hands stopped moving at the sound of his question.
"Ye-" She cut herself off. he was able to briefly pick up on the emotion in her voice. A tangled mix of many things. She sounded… terrible, frankly. She simply nodded her head in an exaggerated manner, still facing away from him.
He took a step towards her, now within arms reach. "Hey. What I said earlier… still applies, you know? You… don't sound okay right now. I'm sorry if that isn't what you want to hear, but I can't leave you like this in good conscious... without offering my help. Let me?" He pleaded. His expression was one of worry, care, and something else.
He heard her sniffle. Her left arm went up to her eyes, wiping across them. Her right arm raised slowly, pointing meekly towards the door. His shoulders slumped, hurt and defeat flashed across his eyes. "I… I won't stay if you want me to leave. But…" He stopped as he heard her speak. He didn't want to miss anything she said.
"P-Please. Out." She sniffled again, her exhales more pronounced. She suppressed a cough.
Kirishima sighed. He could sense when enough was enough. He wordlessly shuffled towards her door, grabbing the handle. Before opening it, he turned back towards the greenette. He forced a smile, even though she still wasn't looking at him. "Thanks for coming to me for help, Midoriya. You should… stop by again sometime? I'm always ready and willing to help a friend in need." He heard her breath catch as the word "friend" echoed through the small room. With that, he opened the door and took his leave.
Authors note:
Longest chapter so far. I'm hoping to get around 10k words per chapter as I keep going.
Please let me know what you think! Suggestions are always welcome! I read them all.
Also please point out typo's ;-;. I always miss stuff. I try to update the chapters as I read through them.
Review responses:
Raven Mordrake: Yes! I am aware. AFAIK no one has called her Momo yet. If someone did then that's a mistake on my part. I plan on her asking most everyone to call her that. Yaoyorozu is a mouthful.
lemonfactoryxx: I'm sorry ;_;! I hope you end up liking it, though! Also Shoto x Izu is definitely a possibility. Right now I'm doing a lot of setup and building characters. Once class starts everyone will interact a lot more. Which will lead to... stuff.
Guest: Well thanks! I'm flattered you think so highly of it so far!
A fan: Thanks for the compliment! And I want to keep Izu's power a little in check. If she gets too powerful, I find it hard to plan battle scenes that actually have tension. I have a plan that (I hope) will be a cool remedy for keeping her power interesting and strong, but not broke OP. In contrast, I'm trying to make everyone else in 1-A a little stronger as well. I mean, they did get into UA. They should be badass!
~Till next time!