Izumi was sleeping in a spare bedroom Ryuko had in her home, when a sudden weight landed on her, jolting her awake. "Time to train!" She heard the familiar voice of Miruko and groaned internally.
She got up and changed into her exercise clothes and headed to the gym for training. When she got there, Rumi handed her a set of weights to be put on her body. "Get this on. We're working on your stamina today."
Izumi did as a shudder ran through her from the red eyes watching her. Once she was ready, Rumi took her on a run outside. Izumi was struggling slightly, even though she was using her quirk, as she tried to keep up with Rumi who kept a set pace.
Rumi looked back at the girl. 'Damn, All Might did even worse than I thought with her. I've really got my work cut out for me with this one. Guess I'll have to do my hell training like I did with Izuku.' "Come on kid! If you can't catch up with me with only 500 pounds on you, how can you hope to catch any villains running away?!"
"I-I'd use my telekinesis."
"Ha! And what if that doesn't work?! If you can't catch me by the time our run is over, I'll make you train twice as hard!"
Izumi was breathing hard. She had already run a mile and now she had to catch Miruko? 'I swear she's trying to kill me! Tch, not like she doesn't have a reason.' She tried to run harder, use more of One for All, anything but it didn't matter.
They had reached the house and she couldn't do it. Miruko stopped in front of the house, wiping away the sweat she had built up and looked over at Izumi as she was struggling to reach her.
By the time she did, Izumi was completely exhausted. Rumi brought her inside and took off the weights and had her take a break. As she was sitting there, she couldn't stop herself from thinking if Izuku had to go through the same training. "If you're wondering about Izuku, yeah, he did the same training. And damn did he work hard at it." Rumi smiled at the memories of training him.
Izumi thought to herself for a second. "And h-how do I compare to him?"
"Tch, doesn't matter. You two are different people so your bodies react differently and adapt differently to training. What you need to do is stop comparing yourself to him. What you should be doing is comparing yourself to how you used to be. Are you stronger than before? Faster? More responsive? Those are the things that matter in the hero world. If I went out every day, comparing myself to All Might or Star and Stripe, I'd be a much worse hero for it."
Izumi sat there, thinking about her words.
Miruko stood up. "Now come on, we need to get back to training."
——
Izuku was walking the streets with Mirio, getting some practice in for patrols. "Hey Izuku, you were raised by Miruko and Ryukyu, right? What was that like?" Mirio asked.
"Oh, heh, honestly, they were great. I don't think I could have asked for anyone else to be there for me like they were." Izuku remembered back to when Ryuko was teaching him how to fly with his wings.
——
"Come on, Izuku, just focus." Ryuko looked down at the small, twelve year old Izuku as he tried to fly with his new wings.
It felt so weird just having three more things to control on his body and he begged Ryuko to teach him how to fly, much to her worry. He was trying to flap his wings in unison to begin gaining altitude but he was struggling.
Tired, he stopped and his wings slumped down his back. Ryuko came back down. "Hey, it's alright. No one expects you to manage it on your first try. You wanna know something?" Izuku looked at her curiously. "It took me a month before I managed to get off the ground. So chin up, okay? With enough time and practice, you'll be flying through the sky like you were born to, okay?"
Izuku nodded and smiled at Ryuko. "O-okay. C-can we try again?" Ryuko smiled and nodded.
——
Izuku smiled at the memory. "I knew I could always count on them when I needed them. To be honest, I always thought of them like moms but I… I've always been scared to tell them."
"Why?"
"I… don't really know. There's been plenty of times where I wanted to tell them but I either chicken out, thinking they wouldn't want to be seen as a mom to me or I just think too much about it and they're already gone by the time I say it."
"Hm, hey you know Nejire, right?"
"Nejire-Chan? Yeah, I met her a few times when I went to m- eh, R-Ryukyu's agency to train. She seemed pretty nice, if a bit hyper and talkative."
Mirio laughed to himself. "Yup, that's her. She's actually talked to me about you before. Always said you were so focused on getting stronger. But you know, heroes aren't just about strength. They're also about making sure the people are happy and feel safe."
Izuku looked up at the blue sky. "Yeah."
——
Izuku POV
We've been patrolling for about an hour now and not much has been happening. It's been pretty quiet over all. "Help!"
At the sudden cry for help, both me and Mirio ran towards to cry and saw a woman under a car, screaming frantically. I rushed over and lifted the car up so she could escape.
While I did, I heard her yell again. "Ah, monster! Help!"
I just sighed to myself as Mirio came in and helped the woman out from under the car. I put it down as Mirio talked to the woman. I saw other people around, talking, whispering to each other.
I didn't need my enhanced hearing to tell what they were saying. Suddenly, an arm wrapped around my shoulder, a loud laughing coming from next to me. "Hahaha! Nice work, partner! Not sure if I could have gotten that car off of that woman without you!"
I was slightly confused on what he was doing since I'm sure he could have dealt with that without me until I heard the people stop whispering and began cheering for us. I smiled, rubbing the back of my head. "Uh, yeah. No problem. Where did it even come from anyways?"
I looked down the street and saw a huge guy who looked like he was carrying a bank safe. We ran over and quickly took care of him. The police came and thanked us before taking the villain away.
"Not bad, Veldora. Your response time is great!"
"Yeah... Back there, did you…"
"Don't worry about it. People sometimes have trouble seeing a hero beyond someone's looks. Like Gang Orca, people had a lot of trouble coming to terms that he was a hero early on in his career. They just need a sign." He winked at me and I smiled, nodding.
——
Kaina POV
I just got back from a patrol with Ryukyu, taking care of mostly minor crimes. As we were walking, Ryukyu got a call on her phone. The call was short and when she was done, she looked at me.
"We've got a request to help out in the neighboring city. We will be taking the train there tomorrow night. Make sure you're prepared."
I nodded. "Will do, ma'am."
——
We were riding the train towards Hosu for whatever it was that Ryukyu was called to do there. She ended up bringing Miruko and Izumi with us.
I was texting Izuku while Izumi looked out the window, seemingly thinking about something. "Hey, what's on your mind?"
She looked at me for a second before sighing and looking down. "I just… I don't know anymore. All my life, I've been told by my parents that I'll be the best. The strongest. And for a long time, I was. It got to the point where I didn't really see much point in training since I could already use my quirk well enough and when dad, you know. One for All just seemed like some minor hurdle I'd need to pass and it wouldn't be much of a problem.
But after I fought you and Izuku during the battle training that day, I began questioning if I really was the best. For so long, I've only seen him as a weak, useless kid. Someone who could never stand up to me. But during that battle, I was helpless. I was the weak, useless kid. He'd surpassed me in every way.
He knew what I was going to do and planned ahead for it. He didn't even need to use his full strength to beat me and I barely even scratched him with all the power I had. That moment… it made my whole world collapse around me. I couldn't even tell if I was ever really strong. I just… I don't know, maybe thought most of my power was just something I was born with and I didn't need to train but Izuku trained relentlessly for years and beat me like it was nothing."
I stared at her for a second. "Well, you were born with a very powerful quirk. But you definitely underestimated how much stronger you could have been had you actually trained. Hell, you might have been able to be an actual challenge for Izuku then."
"Hey, Izumi." We looked at Miruko who was sitting across from us. She looked at Izumi with a serious look. "Forget all that shit. All that stuff doesn't matter anymore. What does is moving forward. Making yourself better than you were, remember? You're strong in your own right."
Izumi nodded with a small smile. "Thanks, Ms Rumi."
Something outside caught my eye and I looked outside to see what it was. It looked like… "Is something flying toward us?"
Everyone looked out of the window. Miruko and Ryukyu immediately began to get ready for combat as me and Izumi followed after. The thing flew into the side of the train, causing it to stop. It was some pale thing with wings. It looked like that Nomu from the USJ but different.
It was on top of a hero I didn't recognize and Miruko immediately took action, kicking the thing off the train and chasing after it with Ryukyu following. Me and Izumi ran after, hopping on Ryukyu's back as she turned into her dragon form and took off into the sky.
——
Izuku POV
I was sitting in the bed Nighteye let me use while I was here, looking at my phone. I sent Kaina a text but she hadn't responded. "That's weird. She always responds back right away. She said she was headed to Hosu. The hero killer was just spotted there, right?"
Getting a bad feeling in my gut, I left my room and headed to Nighteye's office. Opening the door, I walked in. "Sir, can I fly to Hosu?"
He looked at me, away from his computer. "Why?"
"I'm getting a bad feeling. Kaina said she was headed over there and the hero killer was spotted there. Now she's not responding to me. I just want to make sure she's okay."
Nighteye stared at me for a second. "Very well."
I walked onto the roof of the agency before taking into the sky, flying towards Hosu as fast as I could.
