"So yeah, I just wanted to apologize again on Nora's behalf. I know that what she put you through must've been exhausting, so I wanted to get a chance to just see if you were alright and that you weren't too upset." Izuku bowed his head slightly at this as he and Tenya shifted into this topic of conversation, Izuku having dropped by Team TABY's Dorm Room in order to do so. With Tsuyu having gone for the holiday, she had left almost immediately, while Yang and Blake seemed to be out and about themselves; Yang was probably in the same boat as Weiss, getting her bandages checked while Blake, Izuku knew, was probably out by herself tending to her own thoughts. All of this had left Tenya who, on top of the verbal report he'd given to the Mountain Glenn Hunters about the events in the Underground Training Facility, was now preparing a written report.
The Mountain Glenn authorities had assured him that such a step was unnecessary and that they only needed the his testimony, but Tenya seemed dead set on making sure the record, on his end, was set. Tenya took in Izuku's words and just gave a firm nod, a slight smile on his lips as he dropped his pen in order to readjust his glasses.
"Mr. Midoriya-"
"Izuku, Tenya, you can call me Izuku."
"-right, of course. Izuku, while I do appreciate the fact that you've come to apologize again for the... paces I had been put through, I have to assure you that it's unnecessary. Your help in getting Miss Valkyrie off of my shoulders was quite appreciated already and, in addition, I held no ill will toward Miss Valkyrie for the events that transpired. Quite the contrary, our combination had proven to be surprisingly effective against both The Grimm and the criminal elements that had invaded The Tunnels. It had been thoroughly exhausting to be certain, but I feel as though that the trade off was worth it. Besides, while Miss Valkyrie's... enthusiasm in her choice of..." Tenya seemed to be reaching for a word as his hands jostled about in the air. "... playing her role meant suffering being called a steed, it was clear she hadn't meant anything negative by it. She was having fun and enjoying herself and it did distract from the gruesomeness of the situation we were in."
"In short Izuku, while your apology isn't necessary, I'll gladly accept it if doing so would put you at ease." Izuku offered up a sigh of relief, as sure a sign as any that it was, as both he and Tenya chuckled slightly. As the two of you seemed quite ready to dip into another topic of conversation, the friendly atmosphere that had been built up was disrupted when Tenya's Scroll went off quite suddenly, the blue haired young man having paused for a moment as he turned to the device and picked it up... and you find yourself surprised as perhaps the largest smile you'd ever seen on Tenya's face sprouted up. "Well this is a surprise! It's a call from my brother, Tensei!"
Izuku's eyes threatened to boggle out of your head as he heard this, his jaw dropping slightly.
"You're getting a call from your brother? The current Ingenium Huntsman?" While all Iida armor made by the family for their purposes of their profession as Hunters was known as Ingenium Armor, there was a certain prestige handed to the oldest, currently active male of the family that Izuku knew of: the 'Title' of Ingenium itself. Hunter Titles were usually handed out by the people as Huntsmen and Huntresses became more and more popular, Toshinori's Hunter title of 'The All Mighty Huntsman' had practically been earned at the same time as his proclamation as 'The Symbol of Peace and Hope'. Despite this there had been certain exceptions to this 'rule', as there often were with informal rules. One of them having been the Iida Family and the title handed to said 'Head' of the family's Hunter activities.
So to potential get to see Tensei Iida, the current holder of such a prestigious title in the Hunter field, through a Scroll got him excited... before Izuku realized the fact that Tenya's brother was calling him personally.
"Oh, jeez, should I leave? It's a call from your brother and I really don't want to stick my nose into anything..." Izuku said somewhat awkwardly as Tenya just gave a good-natured grin.
"Please Izuku, I know how much you have in your notes about my brother. You can't possibly tell me that you 'aren't' excited for a chance to speak with him?"
...
"I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't..." Izuku muttered quietly as he sheepishly scratch the back of his head.
"Well that settles it then!" With that, Tenya jerked his hand around in one of his nervous ticks before accepting the call, Izuku himself flinching as the screen came to life to reveal a man who very much looked like an older Tenya, though without the glasses.
"Hey little brother! How's it going..." Tensei looked a bit surprised for a moment as he noticed Izuku, though the surprised look was replaced by a slight smile. "Ah, I'm sorry bro, is now not a good time? I didn't meant to interrupt if you or your friends were in the middle of something." Tenya rapidly shook his head back and forth as he whipped his hands into a fervor.
"Nonsense dear brother, I can always make time for you! Besides, Mr... Izuku and I were in a lull in our conversation as you called! Allow me to make introductions! Izuku, this is my brother Tensei Iida, the Ingenium Huntsman that you've researched. Tensei, this is Izuku Midoriya, the Leader of Team MNVW and a new friend I've made here at Beacon Academy!" Tensei just seemed to blanch a bit, a slightly amused look on his face as he looked over at his classmate.
"I take it my brother still acts like a robot, even after spending more than a month with other folks his age?" Tenya seemed to flinch back at that, Izuku just laughing nervously as he scratched his chin.
"W-Well I wouldn't say like a robot, but..." Tensei laughed as he saw past his attempt to softball this for Tenya, the man just giving Izuku a wink as he leaned back in his own seat.
"Ah don't worry, Tenya won't take offense. He hasn't yet." Tensei offered a lighthearted laugh, one that got Izuku to smile as Tenya seemed slightly embarrassed by the exchange. "So you've done some research on me huh?" Now Izuku found himself the target of Tensei's interest, a blush forming on his own cheeks as he nodded slowly.
"Yessir... don't think it's anything creepy, please! I-I just do a lot of research into a lot of Hunters so I can understand their methods, find out what would work well for me and take their wisdom to heart! I'm not stalking you!" Technically, though the difference between Izuku's near-religious study of various Hunters like Tensei and Blake's recent stalking seemed awfully thin at this point now that he was face to face with Tensei.
'But...it's not like he's taking any real offense though.'
"Wow, that's pretty smart. Good to know that Tenya's getting together with some good people down at that school. Was kind of worried how he'd turn out once he was out of my sight." Tensei obviously teased, though Tenya just coughed into his fist. Tensei, having taken this as some kind of sign, leaned forward in his seat as he looked at his brother through the screen. "So Tenya, I hear from mom and dad you aren't coming back for Color Week." Tenya just nodded, his hands already in the air.
"Yes, I judged that the amount of time during the vacation was too short to justify traveling up to Atlas, unpacking my things, immediately packing back up after a day or two and then leaving!" Tenya declared with utmost certainty in an even tone, as Tensei just nodded.
"Sounds sensible enough... guess I won't be able to see you until the Solstice then." Izuku saw a sudden smile grow on Tenya's face as he looked down at the Scroll.
"So you're going to be able to take time off for the Solstice this year then, Tensei?" The older brother nodded at this, offering an excited grin.
"Yep, actually managed to work something out with a customer that'd give me some time off around the Solstice, so I'll be able to celebrate it with you all this year." Tenya smiled nice and wide at that.
"I see! That's good; who is this client of yours that's allowed you this reprieve?"
...
The atmosphere in the room, or rather both rooms, seemed to shift as Tenya asked that, Tensei having frowned slightly as it came up.
"Actually that was something else I wanted to talk to you about... sorry, Izuku was it?" Izuku nodded slightly as Tensei gave him a kind look. "Listen, could you excuse my brother and I for a moment? I'd like to talk to him about something in private."
Huh, even Tenya seemed somewhat surprised by this about face, the blue haired young man having just looked back at Izuku before the huntsman shrugged.
"Yeah, of course I don't mind taking a step outside! I'll give you guys all the time you need." Tensei and Tenya nodded in appreciation of Izuku's manners as he quickly departed from Tenya's dorm room, heading outside and just kind of waiting around to be given the signal to come back in. It wasn't terribly long, just a good solid ten minutes at most, before he eventually heard Tenya's voice call through the door. Izuku slipped back inside and Tensei still seemed to be all smiles and confidence and, while it was clear that Tenya shares that... there was something more there that Izuku couldn't quite place.
"Well, like I said little brother, I'll be looking forward to seeing you around the Solstice. It's been too long since we've actually chatted face to face. I miss that." Tenya gave a smile as he nodded back to Tensei's image on the Scroll.
"I've missed that as well, Tensei." With that, the much older Hunter looked to Izuku, a wide grin on his face as he gave he a slight salute, which caused Izuku to blush.
"Nice to meet you as well Izuku Midoriya. It really is comforting to know that my brother's making such good friends here at Beacon. Do me a favor and try to help my brother not creep out as many people with those odd habits of his. He'll never get a girlfriend if he doesn't stop acting like a robot."
"TENSEI!" Izuku watched as Tenya's older brother just broke out into laughs as Tenya immediately went into a fit of swinging his arms around, his friend and fellow team leader saying how inappropriate such a topic of conversation was and how, furthermore, he wasn't even looking for a girlfriend right now so don't tease him about it!
"Of course, I'll do my best sir. Though honestly, I feel like Tenya's just as good a friend to me as you think I am to him." Tensei just gave a warm grin, one matched by Tenya, as the older brother just yawned a bit.
"Boy, I'm beat. Think I'll go ahead and turn in early today. I'll see you around little brother... please try to relax." Before Tenya could get a word in edgewise, Tensei's signal cut off as the call ended, Tenya just smiling down at the Scroll as he does so.
"That was nice." Izuku aside with a smile as Tenya just nodded in agreement.
"It was. It's been good several weeks since I last heard from Tensei. It's good to know I'll be able to spend some time with him once the Solstice Holiday hits." Izuku nodded in agreement as he put his hands behind his back, a slightly curious tilt to his head.
"So what did you two talk about anyway? It sounded pretty important." Izuku saw Tenya's expression shifts. Not gravely or in a dramatic way... but ever so slightly. There's a sudden quiver of the corner of his lips that threatened to turn into a frown for a moment as his fellow team leader looked down to the Scroll.
After a moment, Tenya just gave Izuku one of his more usual, cool and calm grins as he shook his head. "Oh, just some work my brother will be doing soon after the actual holiday is all. It's why we won't be spending the entire Solstice season together. Nothing major just... well, being the Head of the Family and a Hunter is busy work, after all." Izuku nodded in understanding at that; considering how busy his own dad was, so much so that Izuku rarely ever saw him, Izuku could easily understand that. "Anyway Mr. Midoriya... as I said, I thank you for your apology but it is unnecessary. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work I need to be doing myself." Izuku blinked slightly at that, both the sudden change in Tenya going back to referring to Izuku so formally and Izuku seemingly rushing Izuku out having caught him off guard. For a moment, Izuku considered pushing back... but he just got this feeling, this slight sense of hesitation, coming off of Tenya. This didn't feel like the time or the place for this particular talk. Besides, Tenya might just really be busy.
"Alright Tenya, that's fine. That's all I was really looking to drop by and say anyway." Tenya smiled as he offered Izuku a nod, one which the green haired hunter returned. "I'll see you around Tenya."
"Yes, see you around Izuku." With that, the air in the room seemed to lightened as Tenya went back to what work he had on his desk, Izuku slowly turned to depart from Team TABY's dorm room. Still, that heaviness that had been in the room prior... Izuku couldn't help but still feel it cling onto him a while after having left.
"... Ribbit, ribbit, this really can be a pain." Izuku blinked slightly as his jaunt down the hall suddenly found itself momentarily interrupted by a friendly voice from down one of the halls. He quickly cracked his head around a corner and, lo and behold, Tsuyu Asui was in the hall, carrying a few suitcases in hand... or maybe more than a few.
Like, a lot of suitcases.
'Wow okay maybe too many.'
Yeah definitely too many, as she nearly dropped them by the time do his best to speed over there and catch them.
"Woah Tsu, be careful there!" Izuku had to imagine that there was some sensitive stuff in the suitcases that Tsuyu might not have wanted to see broken, so he'd done his best to softly handle the suitcases before they hit the ground. The frog girl blinked in some confusion, obviously having not expected his sudden arrival, before she turned her head up to look at Izuku, that ever present expression on her face as she stuck her tongue out slightly.
"Ah, hello there Izuku, I didn't expect to run into you, ribbit ribbit." Izuku nodded in agreement as he helped Tsuyu rearrange her suitcases, giving a small huff of air as he did so.
"Yeah, I hadn't exactly expected to do a suitcase save myself either but hey, today seems to be a bit of a surprise." Izuku offered with a bit of a chuckle as Tsuyu... just nodded and kept that neutral expression on her face. By the Gods, Tsuyu really could be hard to read sometime. "Anyway Tsu, what's up. I know you said you were leaving for a family trip but... well, seems like a lot of suitcases for one little vacation." One of the rare times in Izuku's friendship with Tsuyu occurred as he watched her crack a slight grin, the frog Faunus having just scratched her cheek... with the corner of a suitcase, admittedly, but still done so as she looked at all the various suitcases.
"I take it you've never been out in a bog before. Trust me, you either take 'a lot' of changes of clothes or you pretty much get ready to do laundry every night." Tsuyu hefted the suitcases around as she looked out a nearby window. "Besides, there's also some school stuff I wanted to bring so that I could finish it over the holiday. You know, some books, some projects, some work. I guess I might've over packed a little bit, well, this is going to be a pretty full trip so I couldn't really afford to pack light, ribbit ribbit." Izuku nodded slowly at that; he supposed it made sense. A weeklong trip into what sounded like a pretty messy part of Vale where she also had some plans to get school work done. Honestly, Weiss probably would've commended her for that if not for her family's pick in reunion locations. Still...
"Why haven't you asked anyone on your team to help? I'm pretty much positive they'd all agree to lend a hand if you asked." Tsuyu's expression returned to its neutral stare as she nodded in agreement with Izuku.
"Oh yeah, definitely, but everyone's a little busy at the moment. Peach has been pretty much riding Yang to make daily checks in with her to make sure her wounds heal up completely well, she's not taking any chances with Yang's devil may care attitude," Yeah, Izuku could understand that, "Tenya's busy because he's volunteered to give more details as to what he and Nora were up to in their time in the Tunnels as 'doing his part to help with the investigation' however he can. Blake? She's free but she seems like she's got something pretty heavy on her mind. I figured she wouldn't be of too much help with just her so I'd leave it be and just let her work through that, ribbit ribbit. So it all just came down to me." Izuku nodded slightly at that as he placed his hand on his chin, scratching it as he thought over the situation.
Well, there seemed to be a distinctly obvious solution to Izuku.
"Well then how about I help you carry this stuff to wherever you're going? It looks like it's really slowing you down and I'm pretty good at lifting stuff." Izuku offered with a kind smile. At first Izuku might expect Tsuyu to insist on not taking his help, or to start this off by politely declining. Instead, he was a bit surprised as Tsuyu suddenly unloaded the various suitcases he'd helped her catch onto Izuku, he took a quick gasping breath as he braced himself and prevented a fall.
"Thanks Izuku, I appreciate it. Izuku really didn't have to if he didn't want to though; you were probably on your way somewhere, ribbit ribbit." She said this after she unloaded a few suitcases on him anyway. It was pretty funny, actually. Izuku chuckled slightly as he finally moved the suitcases around to more easily carry them, having hefted them around before he shrugged.
"Eh, I have time. I'm mostly just kind of bumming around so I can rest up after yesterday's whole... you know." Tsuyu nodded as she looked forward.
"I feel ya. After I get this all settled and my folks finish arranging for us to hop aboard a caravan out of town, I'm pretty much dead set on resting too. I'm still sore from yesterday." Tsuyu, her hands now much more free, placed a long finger on her chin as she looked up slightly. Izuku could only imagine so, especially with how he felt after everything. Finally the two of them started to move along, suitcases in hand as they both walked through Beacon's halls to get down to the air docks. It started off silently as you two seemed to take a moment to adjust to the weight of the suitcases but, after a moment, Izuku figured that then would've been as good a time as any to kick up a topic of conversation.
"You know Tsu, you talked about your family before but not all that much." Tsuyu blinked slightly at that as she placed a finger on her chin, looking up ever so slightly.
"I guess you're right. I only ever brought up my dad a little bit, and that was more in service to a point I was making." Tsuyu stuck her tongue out a bit as the frog girl turned to face him, a slight tilt to her head. "Why, are you curious about them Izuku, ribbit ribbit?" Izuku blushed slightly as he shrugged, laughing a bit nervously.
"Uh, yeah, I guess. I mean, if you don't want to talk about them that's fine, I understand, family can be a bit of a personal matter, but-"
"Nah, it's cool. I'm fine with talking about my family." It was weird; there was a slight inflection to the tone of her voice. It had been in no way negative, but it was noticeable just by merit of it having been off from Tsuyu's usual calm, even tone of voice when it came to speaking. It had, honestly, sounded a bit like... pride? "Well let's see. I already told you some stuff about my dad... but boy, I didn't even say his name. His name's Ganma and he's... hmmm... forty something? Forty-six, I think. Like I said, he used to be part of The White Fang when Ghira Khan headed it up, but after Ghira left my dad pretty much swapped out for his current job as a salary man."
"Then there's my mom, Beru, who's just a bit younger than my dad. She met him while they were both in The Fang and she's had a few jobs to help my dad support my siblings and I, ribbit ribbit." Izuku saw just the barest crack of a smile begin to form on Tsuyu's lipped as she continued to speak. "Then there's my two younger siblings. There's my little brother Samidare who's recently turned twelve and that's been fun to put up with, and my baby sis who's still the tadpole of the family at 8." It was so unusual to see Tsuyu speak with such a smile for a length of time but, as she talked about her family in some detail, it just seemed to stick. "We're all pretty much one ribbit family, ribbit ribbit."
"Ah, so you're all Frog Faunus then?" Izuku asked, somewhat curious. He knew that Faunus had a tendency to cross over between the various breeds at times, though it wasn't uncommon for 'pure breed' Faunus to walk around and keep to their own 'species' as it were...
Faunus genetics were confusing, especially from Izuku's human standpoint and the above didn't even get into the mess that were Chimeras.
"Yeah. I think you can imagine that a lot of reptile and amphibian Faunus don't exactly appeal to other kinds of Faunus or humans, so we usually end up sticking to our own, especially when we inherit animal features strongly in our bodies or our face." Tsuyu widens her mouth ever so slightly as she sticks her very frog-like tongue out ever so slightly. "My siblings and I mostly inherited some more minor features that go unnoticed, but you can definitely tell my parent's Faunus heritage by looking at them. Dad's got a square jaw that'd look normal for most people, but his eyes are pretty much on top of his head. Mom's got the biggest mouth out of all of us, I honestly think she could probably fit my head in there if we put our minds to it, ribbit ribbit."
Izuku actually shivered a bit at the mental image that provokes... and then immediately blanch at his reaction. "S-Sorry, I didn't mean anything by that, I don't think-"
"It's cool, that is pretty creepy and my parents do look pretty weird by most people's standards, ribbit ribbit." Izuku did his level best to keep himself from slapping his forehead at this... of course Tsuyu would even be really blunt and straightforward about her own parents too. "You didn't mean anything by that anyway, you were just creeped out. It doesn't mean you think anything less or weird about my parents. It's kind of like how Yang and Ruby reacted when they saw you and your mom." Izuku froze up a bit at that, nearly having tripped over his own two feet when Tsuyu brought that up. He looked over at her with a slight blush on his cheeks, sheepishly scratching at the back of his head.
"Y-You guys saw that?" Tsuyu just turned to look at Izuku with that vacant stare of hers, the frog girl's eyes having pierced into your very being as she looked at him.
"Izuku, I think 'everyone' saw that." There was just such finality that Tsuyu spoke that sentence with, a way that made certain that you knew she was speaking as a matter of fact.
"... Everyone?"
"'Everyone'." Tsuyu said, finally, as you just sighed.
"O-Oh jeez." Izuku blushed as he looked off to the side. "What'd they say?"
"Well, Ruby was just kind of awing over it, she thought it was a really sweet moment. Yang was cooing about how adorable you looked with your mom."
...
'Adorable huh?' Izuku felt the final bullet enter his pride as a man, leaving whatever had been left of it dead, 'Lucky me, right?'
"Anyway, point is that I think Yang and Ruby would show restraint if they ever met your mom face to face and not bring up how big of a show she made in public or how cute they thought she looked hugging and crying over you. Similarly, I don't ever think you'd actually shiver or call my parents weird looking to their face; you all are more polite than that and don't want to potentially insult people willy-nilly." Tsuyu scratched her cheek. "Now me? I'm probably a different story. People tell me I can be pretty straightforward and blunt, ribbit ribbit."
"Yeah." Izuku nodded in agreement as he kept his eyes forward, trying to walk off the embarrassment.
"See, like I said." Tsuyu gave a slight crack of a smile at that, as if satisfied she'd proven her point, before she hefted her luggage again. "Still, I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty nice to see. I didn't get a chance to tell my folks in the immediate aftermath that I was alright... but seeing your mom react to seeing you safe, I guess you could say it gave me something to look forward to." Despite himself, Izuku couldn't really help but smile at that as he nodded. "So what is your mom like? She seemed really nice but... well, she also seemed like she was kind of high strung... actually, it seems like you two are really alike, ribbit ribbit."
Izuku chuckled slightly.
"Heh, yeah. She can be kinda quick to worry at times, though I've probably given her plenty of reasons to fret over the years. But she's been nothing but loving and supportive of me and my dream. She's the best, and she's a lot tougher then she looks." The smile you have on his face... well, he honestly don't think you could've possibly chipped it off with anything. It's just stuck there as he thought of his mom and his relationship with her. Tsuyu just nodded slightly as she took this in, the two of them having gotten down to the bottom of some stairs as they spoke.
"With that look on your face, I'd believe it." Tsuyu said bluntly as she opened the door for both of you, the sun shining out at Tsuyu just took a look at the bright day before you both. "Moms are just pretty great like that. My mom's been equally supportive of me coming here... and even if they doubt what I think about humans and Faunus getting along, they don't really discourage me or me trying to live that example by being a Hunter. Honestly, mom can be pretty picky at times and she can worry a lot too... but, well, that just means she loves me. You gotta put up with the annoying stuff when it comes to family like that because... well, they mean well."
"They do..." Izuku said with a smile as the both of them approached the air docks, both he and Tsuyu sighing in some relief as they both dropped the suitcases to be loaded up. "Alright, thanks Izuku. I think I can handle things from here. My family should be waiting down at the air docks in Vale for me to show up and from there, well, the actual docks, ribbit ribbit." Tsuyu turned to face him, that vacant expression still on her face. "Gonna be on a boat for at least half a day... that's gonna be fun. Then again, I definitely prefer it to your train ride to home." Tsu stuck her hand out, the Faunus girl having offered you a shake. "Enjoy your Color Week Izuku, I'll see you next week, ribbit ribbit."
"Thanks Tsu... you have fun with your family too. We'll all miss you." Tsuyu cracked a rare smile as she looked back at Beacon.
"Please, Yang's probably overjoyed that she's doing to be able to make puns without me tongue-slapping her. I'd leave it to Blake but, you know her, she only jumps in on the cat puns..." Izuku chuckled as he gave Tsuyu a shrug.
"I'll keep on top of that for you..." Izuku said, as Tsuyu just gave him a look.
"No you won't, if anything you'll just encourage her, ribbit ribbit."
'... Okay so that attempt to joke around fell flat.' It wasn't even like Tsuyu was wrong or anything. Still, the frog girl just patted Izuku on the shoulder as the door to the airship opened up. With one last wave he watched Tsuyu depart, glad to have been able to help his friend get to her family vacation all the faster.
Izuku took a relaxed breath as he just walk around Beacon's campus, passing through a few buildings here and there to take in the sights. After all, all that work he'd put in yesterday had worn him down, so just taking some time to walk around, smell the roses and just be with his own thoughts had come in handy. Not that he would've turned down some company, not by a long shot but... well, for now it seemed like this was just going to be one of those moments where he'd just be with himself. Maybe some time to reflect on himself and really consider his progress would help-
"Heyooo!"
...
"AAAAH!"
As his mind finally caught up with his body and with what he was seeing, he stumbled backwards, flat onto his ass, as he came nearly face to face with Mirio Togata, the older student's head sticking out of a wall as he nearly fell back, Mirio just chuckling as he pushed himself all the way through.
"Well fancy meeting you here Izuku. Good to see you again!" The ever cheerful Mirio greeted him with a bright smile as he offered a hand to help Izuku back up onto his feet. As spooked as he'd been by Mirio's sudden appearance, he found himself relaxed somewhat by his easy demeanor as he took the preferred hand and, with his help, lift himself back onto his feet.
"Oh, hello Mirio... good to see you again, too." Izuku offered, genuinely, even as he took a deep breath to push the shock out of his system. "Is this gonna be a thing with us? You're going to pop out of a wall every time you find me?" Mirio offered some hearty laughter as he slapped Izuku's shoulder, the force having been nearly enough to send him flipping back down on the ground but, thankfully, he knew his strength and Mirio seemed to keep his in check just enough.
"Oh no, sorry Izuku, I didn't mean for that to happen this time,"
'This time?'
"-you see, whenever I'm trying to save a little bit of time I tend to just go ahead and pass through buildings and hallways. It really is quick and efficient and, best of all, I barely get into trouble anymore now that I've mostly memorized where I'm not just allowed to go straight through." Izuku wasn't gonna lie, that did sound awfully convenient. Still, that had raised a question.
"Are you in some kind of rush Mirio?" The young man offered a slight shrug as you asked this question.
"I suppose I am, in a way. Tomorrow I'll be heading out on a quick trip so I figured I'd try to get as much done as I needed to back here in Beacon as quickly as possible before then." Izuku blinked slightly as Mirio laid this out, a tilted to his head as he crossed his arms.
"Oh, is that so? It's nothing too bad, is it? I mean, you just got back from a mission..." Mirio chuckled slightly as he shook his head.
"No no, not bad at all. Quite the opposite, it's a trip I usually enjoy taking after every mission." Mirio scratched his cheek, seeming... well, rather oddly sheepish, as if he was thinking something over. "It's to visit someone... and, well, he'd probably not like me to get into too many details, like to keep a lot of things close to his chest, but let's say he likes to put me through my paces every so often to make sure I'm doing well." Izuku nodded; he supposed he could respect that. If someone wanted their privacy, someone wanted their privacy and if Mirio, someone he'd taken to be quite open so far, seemed to need a moment to think about what and what not to say, then it probably was for the best to let it slide. However, moments after that, Mirio slapped him on the shoulder again as he gave him a grin. "Thankfully, I'll be back in time for Hunter's Day at Mountain Glenn! I was a bit worried that, between my mission and the visit, I'd miss it... but I guess I should've known better than to think that he'd put me in that kind of a spot." With that, Mirio casually waved his hand off to the side as he shook his head. "But enough about all that! How are you Izuku?"
Izuku rubbed at his shoulder a bit as he look up at his upperclassman.
"I thought you said you were in a rush to do what you needed around Beacon before this trip? Why spend it on talking to me?" Mirio just gave a mirthful chuckle as he looked down at Izuku.
"Well hey, what's the point of saving time if you don't spend a little of it! Besides, I gotta figure that, after the stunt you pulled off during our fight, that you got up to something pretty interesting while I was off on my mission." ... Wow he was actually blushing at the compliment, considering this is a 'third year' he was talking to. Still, that does leave him curious...
"You mean you haven't heard anything yet?" Izuku tilted his head to the side as Mirio just seemed a little curious.
"About what? Something big happen?" Mirio scratched his cheek. "I know gossip and rumors spread fast around here but... well, when you 'just' get back from a mission you tend to be a bit slow on the pick up." That had sounded pretty reasonable to Izuku. Still, he didn't even know if there 'would' be rumors all things considered... though he had to imagine that Mirio would hear some details about what had happened the previous day at any rate.
He swallowed a slight lump in his throat as he look around. The coast seemed relatively clear and, if Mirio had felt comfortable enough just passing through walls without fear of running into anyone or stepping into something private, surely he'd be aware of whether there were folks around or not too. Izuku personally considered it pretty important that Mirio and, heck, as many people as possible knew what they could about the incident. It was a big deal; a major attack on Mountain Glenn with the goal of killing Toshinori Yagi, The Symbol of Peace? That wasn't going to just be swept under the rug... and if Izuku had to guess, it wasn't about to stop there either. Those guys seemed determined. Still, he had been trusted by Mountain Glenn's authority to keep what he had seen in The Tunnels a secret... and he really didn't want to reveal his own personal involvement in the whole case. That felt too much like boasting when dealing with a situation as important as this.
Still, Mirio was his senior and, more than that, an obviously, insanely talented Hunter in his own right if their spar spoke of anything. If he had information to go on if he ever ran into these guys, that might just make the difference between him getting caught off guard and hurt and him being able to do something.
"... Understand that there's some stuff I really can't talk much about, so just bare with me, okay?" Izuku saw this immediately catch Mirio's attention as he blinked down at him, that ever present smile on his face having disappeared almost immediately. A surprised expression soon became a even one, Mirio not having furrowed his brow or frowned, he just gave Izuku a look that spoke to the attention he'd managed to grab from his senior. That said, Izuku take a deep breath as he leaned in conspiratorially. "Yesterday, during the First Year Student Exercise at Mountain Glenn... there was a terrorist attack in the Underground Training Facility."
"What?"Mirio clearly looked surprised as he crossed his arms, those odd eyes of his having blinked a couple times as he tilted his head. "You being serious? That place got attacked? I remember going there halfway into my First Year... they have that place locked up tighter than ten banks." As Izuku just nodded your affirmation, Mirio seemed to take your words quite seriously as he dropped his arms. "Wow, no kidding. That is some pretty big gossip to not have heard about." Izuku waited for some kind of inevitable question from Mirio but... he don't get one. Izuku blinked, somewhat surprised, before Mirio raised his hands and gave a quick spin. "Well, you said you can't talk about some stuff. No point in asking potentially useless questions when you can just talk about what you can."
...
'Wow that actually makes an immense amount of sense.'
Mirio breaks out into his usual smile as he just pats the side of his head. "I've gotten drilled into me that I really shouldn't waste time like that. So, continue."
"Right. Anyway, I know what you might be thinking, but it actually wasn't The White Fang. It was some group called the Monochrome League: they were this whole group of Faunus and Humans who seemed to be working together." Mirio was pretty much exactly surprised as he expected him to be and, hey, for good reason. For years now, if someone talked about terrorist activity they were talking about The White Fang. Other groups were either so small that they never could pull off such large scale attacks or were utterly outshined by the efforts of The Fang when it came to these kinds of things. To hear that some other group, some 'brand new' group at that, pulled the resources together to do that...
"They had a lot of resources too; fine Dust for bombs, a good number of guns for a lot of their just regular grunts, poisons, toxins. They had a lot of things going for them in the attack. No one's even sure where they got it from yet." Which, speaking of, the Dust in question had left Weiss somewhat mystified in the aftermath. She hadn't said anything about it yet but... well, it was clear it was on her mind. "Plus... there were a lot of guys there. Like, over a hundred of them, easy. Still, most of them were either completely new or were just experienced with having a Semblance, it didn't seem like a lot of them had formal training."
"Out of everyone, I think only three really stood out. There was this birdbrain guy who was really strong and really tough but Toshinori beat him with Professor Aizawa, there was this other hand guy who I didn't hear much about... but the biggest guy there seemed to be this mist guy named Kurogiri." Izuku spread out his hands to give an approximation of his full 'mist' size. "He looks like this giant cloud of darkness and his Semblance seems to be teleportation, using himself to act as a portal to let people through and to transport himself and them to different locations. He also uses it to obfuscate his actual physical form... which does seem to be in it, somehow and someway. Enough force could blow his Mist off of him." Mirio nodded at all of this before Izuku capped it off.
"To make matters worse, it didn't even seem like the attack was their primary goal. They seemed more interested in trying to kill Toshinori Yagi."
If all of this had gotten Mirio's attention, 'that' there really seemed to catch him off his footing.
"Seriously? They'd honestly try something like that?" Izuku nodded in agreement as Mirio smiled a bit. "Still, I'm guessing by the fact that Toshinori seems to be up and about that he's done just fine!" He smiled as he nodded, that was certainly true. "Still, all this information is kind of a doozy there Izuku." Mirio's expression dropped back down into a neutral look as he rubbed at his head, as if trying to soothe it before a headache broke out. "I've honestly never even 'heard' of a Monochrome League before, much less any group other than The Fang that would have the resources to pull something like this off." Izuku nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, but it does seem to be separate; none of the Faunus that were mixed in seemed to be on databases that linked them to The White Fang." The blond young man gave a firm nod as he scratched at the side of his head.
"I see. So beyond The Fang which had already proved to be a pretty big thorn in everyone's side, we now also have this new organization capable of acquiring and teleporting large amounts of people and resources even past the most secure zones for surprise attacks. That's not exactly good news." Izuku frowned as he lowered his head, Mirio still keeping that even expression on his face as he spoke.
"Yeah, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I know it's probably not what anyone wants to hear, but-"
"Pfft, you kidding? There's no need for you to apologize. You're doing your job." Izuku blinked in surprise as he looked back up to Mirio, the young man having just smiled nice and wide down at he as he raised up his fist to lightly tap it on his shoulder. "Being a Hunter, it's all about protecting and saving as many people as you can. Without this information, if I happened to come across this group during any of my missions, that could've been a potential disaster if my team and I went in completely blind. Now that we know, we're that much better prepared and that means that if these guys try this again, we might just be able to save a lot of people." With that, Mirio's smile grew even wider. "If anything, I should be thanking you for telling me all this."
...
'Aw shucks, I'm blushing.'
"Still, first the White Fang starts escalating, then there's a series of robberies that break out across Vale and now this? Seems like all the trouble is hitting Vale at once." Mirio scratched at his chin. "... I wonder what teacher would make of this..." Izuku tilted his head slightly to the side, as Mirio just waved his hand off. "Anyway, I don't really see why these crooks and criminals are bothering with Toshinori Yagi around. He'll kick them around any day of the week." Mirio declared, with absolute certainty, as he smiled down at Izuku. Izuku actually smiled at that, glad someone has the same faith in Toshinori that he did.
"So you really have a lot of faith in him then, huh?" You're surprised with Mirio gives a big old hearty laugh as he points to himself.
"You kidding? The guy's my idol! I've wanted to be a Huntsman like him for a long time! I was inspired by him to follow this path and become a hero!"
...
'By the Gods…'
Izuku tried to show restraint.
He really did.
He didn't want to just nerd out over the fact he had found another person who had taken strongly after Toshinori Yagi in trying to be a hero…
He didn't want to out just how much of a fan boy he was...
You 'knew' that Toshinori really doesn't think it was cool and he know how much of a nerd it made him look like…
So he really do your level best to try to avoid coming off like that, maybe even slightly change the conversation to a more important topic...
It all failed spectacularly as he rapidly nodded like a freshly powered jack hammer.
"That's awesome Mirio! I feel the exact same way about Toshinori! Ever since I was a little kid way back when, he was the entire reason I wanted to be a Huntsman! I wanted to be a Hero who could protect everything and everyone, just like him! Heck, I've basically modeled myself after him!" Almost literally now that he'd had his Semblance, One For All, passed onto him now that he thought about it. Mirio gave a grin so wide that it nearly matched Izuku as his younger friend spoke, his eyes having twinkled as his own enthusiasm built up alongside Izuku's.
"That's awesome! Gosh, it must be so great to have him as your instructor for the live exercises then! I know I'm a little jealous of the fact that the First Years get to be taught by the Symbol of Peace himself. Don't get me wrong, Professor Port was surprisingly good when it was his job, but man, to be taught by Toshinori!" Izuku nodded in vigorous understanding; if he was in Mirio's spot, he'd probably be envious too. "But just to have him here at Beacon has been very cool! My own team actually got a chance to meet him a few weeks back! He came in through the door with that smile and confidence of his and started his spiel. I was so merry I ended up interrupting his 'I am here' introduction!"
That was totally embarrassing!
Izuku completely understood where he was coming from!
"When he first showed up for those exercises, I really couldn't help myself! He was wearing his classic outfit, the cape and suit weaved in with Gravity Dust to help protect his person! He jumped in from nowhere and landed right in front of us and it was just so cool and I couldn'thelpjusthowexcitingitallfelt!" Mirio ended up sheepishly scratching the back of his head as he chuckled slightly.
"I've done my best to get my Hunter nickname to reference how he's inspired me. I know we're supposed to wait and see how the public deems us, The All Mighty Huntsman, The Endeavoring Huntsman, The Good Witch Huntress, etc., but... I dunno, I just was so thrilled! So I always declared to people that my goal was that I'd save one million people, as a Hunter to surpass even Toshinori... and it stuck! The Million Huntsman... and I'd like to think I've gotten a good start on that."
"You know, I could totally make you a Toshinori figurine if you'd like, I can carve and paint it myself!"
...
"You do that kind of stuff?" The conversation broke down for a moment as Mirio seemed genuinely surprised by that, his odd eyes blinking slightly as Izuku's own expression faltered.
'Oh Gods, I've gone too far! I've let too much of the nerd out. Oh jeez, this was exactly what Toshinori has been talking about! Here I've been establishing a repertoire with my senior and now he thought I wasn't just a fan boy and a nerd like him, but 'super nerdy'. Like, the kind of nerds other nerds looked down on for being nerds! What am I going to do now, how can I possibly salvage-'
"That'd be great Izuku, thanks! That's really something that you can pull off something like that. I'm afraid I'm not much of an artist myself." He couldn't help but smile wide at that as Mirio's enthusiasm returned with a vengeance, the young man just gave a loud laugh as he looked at his watch. "Oh jeez, look at the time. This has been a blast and everything Izuku and... well, you know, really informative about these Monochrome guys. I'll look into them myself to see if anyone else knows anything." Izuku nodded as Mirio calmed down a bit, though a smile was still just plastered on his face. "I'll see you around then Izuku!" With that, Mirio departed through another wall as Izuku just watched him leave... Izuku realize that he still hadn't said anything after he nearly spiraled into panic.
Well, maybe Izuku could try talking later. For now, his cheeks hurt from grinning.