To say Izuku was a tad excited, would be a like saying the ocean is just a bit deep. As soon as his mother left and he got his Gi on, he bounded in place like a rabbit, eager to start his first lesson and first step into heroism. After being shown by Ryoya how to properly tie his belt, he went to the main area, where he saw both sensei talking.
"Okay!" Ken said loudly. "How's everyone doing today!?"
Izuku's energy was off the charts while Ryoya just sighed deeply.
"Good!" Ken continued. "Since we have a new warrior here today, why don't you introduce yourself to the rest of the class?"
Completely ignoring Ryoya's pained groan, Izuku bowed deeply. "My name is Izuku Midoriya and I like heroes! I want to be a hero, just like All Might!" He announced with a frankly blinding smile.
"That's the spirit!" Ken said, matching the boy's energy while Ryu simple nodded, having already gotten used to Ken's antics. Ken gave a thumbs up that somehow sparkled before dramatically gesturing to Ryoya, who had the driest look on his face possible. "You! In the orange belt, what's your name!?"
If it was possible for Ryoya's face to get even drier, it would've. The tan child let out a sigh as if in pain. "Ryoya Harushi. I like to cook and sing. I just want to help and protect good or kind people."
"Both good goals, children! I'm your instructor for today, Ken Masters!" Ken flexed his large arms before chopping the air strong and fast enough to create a loud snap. "Now, normally I'd run you through the basics of Shotokan, but Harushi here is a bit further ahead. So, I'm just gonna start it like a man!"
Ryu pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why wouldn't you just start with the basics?"
"Because Gouken-sensei didn't?" Ken said, genuinely curious. "Don't you remember? He literally had us fight the first time I saw you."
Ryu blinked. "No, I do remember that. But I was hoping you wouldn't have a nine and ten year old fight when one is clearly more skilled than the other." Ryu gave Ken an exasperated look so fierce, that it was a miracle Ken didn't turn to dust right there.
"Heavens no, Ryu!" Ken waved his hands wildly before taking on an insulted expression. "What do you take me for, an animal?"
The man in the white Gi let out a sigh of relief, "Oh, thank God. For a second there-.."
"I was gonna have them fight me!" Ken suddenly said, his bright smile coming back.
Silence. Then two very deadpanned glares from both Ryu and Ryoya followed by a confused sound from Midoriya.
Shortly after the haze of battle ended, (read, Ryu and Ken coming to blows for a second time), Ryu managed to take over the class for their first official day. Completely ignoring the purple bruise on his cheek and the small burnt parts of his gi, he stood before the boys.
"Okay, now that that's over, we can begin in earnest. I won't bore you with something you already know, Harushi-kun. Can you dash in the back and get a first aid kit while I give Midoriya-kun a heads up?" The tan child nodded silently and walked away. Ryu watched him leave for a bit before turning back to Izuku, who's eyes were also on Harushi.
Ryu cleared his throat to get the boy's attention. "Okay, for starters, Shotokan is a well-rounded, beginner-friendly style. It's simple really. But one of the teachings is beauty in simplicity. One of the most basic teachings of the Shotokan style is knowing the difference between light, medium and heavy strikes." He waited for Izuku to absorb the information before continuing. "It's really as simple as it sounds. A light attack, in this case a punch," he demonstrated with a snappy jab. "Is supposed to be used as a poking tool in a fight. It's supposed to be quick and light so don't expect for it to be particularly high damaging." He explained before looking down in confusion as Midoriya seemingly manifested a notebook out of thin air and took notes.
"After that," he continued, "is medium, your main method of attack in most fights. It's basically going to be the thing you rely on the most because it offers a good mixture of speed and power without compromising too much on either." He jabbed again, this time with enough force that Izuku felt his hair blow back a bit even though he was roughly fifteen feet away. "Heavy strikes are usually used as combo-enders. They're really slow but the most powerful of any action you'll take." This time, when he jabbed, it was much slower than before and he grunted with exertion. The force of the punch was enough to completely blow Izuku off his feet and flat on his backside. The green-haired child looked at him with wide eyes. "You won't be using them often, so my recommendation is only go for it when you have a clear shot at landing it. Anything else leaves you open to getting punished for over-committing.
"Got all that?" Izuku nodded, quickly getting to his feet just as Ryoya returned with a red box with a white cross.
As he walked pass, Ryoya's eyebrow went up. "...you take good notes." He said simply.
"Thank you, Harushi-san!" That was the first time anyone had ever complemented his notes.
"Anyway," Ryu said, taking the kit and regaining their attention. "Let's begin."
And begin they did and by the time the day had ended, Izuku was sore, tired, beaten and bruised, but happier than he been in a very long time. Ryu-sensei was a fair teacher, clear and concise, while Ken-sensei was a bit more energetic, choosing to visually demonstrate more of his teachings. When his mom picked him up, she was worried at how dead his arms seemed, but he waved off her concerns. This was his first step toward being a hero, after all. A little bit of soreness wouldn't stop him.
And so his routine continued for the next three months. He would get up, do his morning stretches, eat a healthy breakfast that his sensei had recommended and took off for his morning jog before school.
They were adamant to not let him near any of the weights as they said it would've stunted his growth, and he didn't argue. Or at least, he would've tried to argue if not for going against Ryoya. Sure, ever since they met, they became slow but good friends. He learned that the golden eyed boy was from a Japanese mother and a Hawaiian father, and that he'd been back and forth between the two places before he was forced to move to Japan permanently for an unsaid reason. He explained that he was in a rough spot before being found by Ryu-sensei a few years ago and he's lived at the dojo ever since. All of this would've made him feel fairly sympathetic towards the boy had it not been for how viciously he fought.
Even in fights where either Sensei had restricted them to only light or medium strikes, Ryoya still hit like an absolute bus. The one time he misspaced his heavy high kick and Ryoya punished him severely with a light sweeping kick that took Izuku off his feet and a heavy Shoryuken to Izuku's unguarded chin. There were several lessons learned that day. First being something Ryu-sensei had told him before, never simply throw out heavy strikes unless you're sure they're going to connect. And the second being that it was possible to literally punch someone vertically off their feet.
After school, and avoiding his usually bullies and Kacchan, he made it about ten minutes away from his dojo before something roughly grabbed his shoulder and pinned him to a wall.
"Oi, Deku!" Bakugo barked. "Where the fuck do you think you're going? You got some nerve for pulling the shit you did today!"
Izuku tried really hard not to shrink in on himself but Bakugo's snarl made it so difficult. "W-what are you talking about Ka-kacchan?"
Heat started too pool on Izuku's shoulder as Bakugo's palm started smoking. "You know what the fuck I'm talking about! You distracting me so we couldn't put that extra in his place!"
"H-he was covered in burns in bruises, Kacchan!" Izuku shouted back indignantly. He opened his mouth to say something again, but Bakugo roughly pulled him off the wall and slammed him back.
"It was his own damn fault for looking down on me, Deku!" The heat on his shoulder got worse. "Sorta like you're doing now. The fuck's up with you, you little shit?!" He raised his free hand and sparks started to fly.
"N-no one is looking down on you! You're j-just being m-mean!" Izuku argued before closing his eyes and expecting the worse. Never before could he have responded to Bakugo like that and not get hurt.
"Oi." A calm voice came from his right. A voice Izuku knew very, very well.
Bakugo turned to see one Ryoya Harushi, standing completely still with a straight face, but Izuku knew better. Ryoya might not be as expressive as most people, but the small crease in his brow and the way his mouth turned down into a frown told Izuku everything he needed to know.
"Who the fuck are you, extra?!" Bakugo demanded.
"A friend," Ryoya responded simply, his golden eyes staring intensely in Bakugo's red ones. "Now, what do you think you're doing?"
Bakugo scowled, "Bullshit, this quirkless fuck doesn't have any friends. So I'll ask again, who the fuck are you?"
Ryoya didn't respond verbally, and Izuku flinched when he noticed a very, very subtle shift in Ryoya's posture. He was about to move if he didn't get an explanation.
"Harushi-san! It's o-okay! Me and Ka-Bakugo were just talking!" Izuku lied, trying to defuse the situation.
"Me and Deku here were just having a nice little fucking talk, so unless you want to get involved, I'd recommend you go away." Bakugo sneered after seeing Izuku flinch.
Then, quick as a flash, Ryoya moved in and punched Bakugo square in the lower ribs, dropping the boy to the ground instantly.
"Ka-kacchan!"
"Don't even bother." Ryoya said coldly. "I hit him in the liver. He's not getting up right now." He said as he watched Bakugo fold in on himself, writhing in pain. "Let this be a warning, boy. Leave my friend alone. If I find out you've been harassing him, things will not be pretty."
As Ryoya turned to walk away, ignoring Izuku's frantic gesturing towards the fallen blond, he heard Bakugo's wheezing.
"Is that a-," He harshly coughed up some spittle, "Is that a fucking threat?! Do you not know who the fuck I am?!"
Ryoya merely side-eyed him. "No, that wasn't a threat. It was a promise."
Ryu sighed and rubbed his temples. "Harushi-kun. I'm proud that you chose to defend Midoriya-kun like that. It makes me very happy that you didn't hesitate to do what you felt was right." He said slowly, already feeling a headache coming. "But it's not usually a good idea to punch someone in public. That's assault."
Ryoya had the gall to look confused at that. "But he was hurting Midoriya." He said as if that answered every question.
Ryu had to hold back a sigh. It was simply too late in the afternoon for him to want to deal with this kid's logic now.
"Exactly!" Ken said with two thumbs up. "You should've kicked him while he was down! Show him what happens when someone bullies his rival!" A book suddenly found itself upside Ken's head, curtesy of Ryu.
"Stop encouraging him! Look, Harushi-kun. You did a good job today, but you still need to know that it's not a good idea to randomly punch people in the liver." Ryu said, in a "not mad, just disappointed" voice that made Ryoya visibly deflate.
"Yeah, aim for the face next-" Ken was cut off by another book.
"Damn it, Ken!" While that fight broke out, Ryoya stealthily crept out of the room.
His sulking was cut off before it ever truly began since he saw Izuku practicing kata with a bit more vigor and aggression he'd ever seen before. Deciding now wasn't the best time for a talk, Ryoya resigned himself to his room. Or at least, that was the plan before Izuku apparently saw him and called his name.
"Harushi-san..." Izuku started nervously like Ryoya hadn't just watched him practice punches strong enough to crack bone. "I, uh, just wanted to thank you for today." He gave a low bow. "And to apologize. If I was s-so weak and scared, I could've s-stood up to Ka-Bakugo myself."
Ryoya didn't say anything at first, instead choosing to stare at the boy with his weirdly expressive eyes. "...about the first one, there's no need to thank me. Friends help each other. You needed help. It's no big deal." He said simply with a half-hearted shrug. "And for the second part, don't be sorry. Be stronger. We've fought how many times since you've started here, and I know first hand that you know how to defend yourself."
Izuku laughed sheepishly. "But I've never beat you in a spar before." And that was a minor annoyance that Izuku would never admit kept him up at night sometimes.
"Doesn't matter. You need to learn how to stand up for yourself. I know you don't like fighting back because 'then you're no better than the bullies' or whatever, but how can you claim to want to be a hero and save people when you can't even save yourself?" Ryoya's tone shifted at the very end to something Izuku couldn't quite place and his eyes grew hard.
Izuku... didn't have an answer for that. Thankfully, he didn't need one because just then, Ryu-sensei and Ken-sensei entered the room, looking rough.
"You both ready for class today? Good. Because we have an announcement before we get started." Ryu started, gently poking at the white square on his cheek. "You both have been doing really well these past few months. Midoriya-kun, you've gotten a pretty decent handle on how to fight like a Shotokan and improving at a rapid rate. Harushi-kun, you've continued to impress since you've started here. Keep it up. If there's one thing to critique about each of you, Midoriya, you could be a bit more forward in spars. You stay back too much and don't attack enough. Harushi, it's the opposite for you. You are too wild, you need to learn when to slow down."
After Ryu finished his brief review, he gestured to his blond rival. Ken wasted little time.
"We've enrolled you both in a tournament coming up next week!"
Izuku's jaw dropped. Ryoya, the much more reserved of the two, felt his eyes widen.
Ken put his hands up to silence the impending questions. "Before you get all riled up, we've had this planned out a few days ago. Not only are we confident that you both would be completely fine in an actual tournament setting, but you both were starting to develop bad habits only fighting each other. It's only logical to fight other people." Ken explained, beaming brightly the whole time.
"Next week Saturday, to be exact." Ryu continued. "It's hosted by our friend Chun-Li to help raise money for the local at-risk youth and community improvement. But the winner still gets a pretty nice medal and a small cash prize."
As the two young boys listened, Ken started to wiggle his thick, black eyebrows. "Also, Ryu has had the hots for Chun for a while now! He's mostly going so he can see her agai-oof!"
And just like that, another fight broke out.