15/10/2022

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, you are the greatest!

The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 16 - Help People Help Themselves

"Shit Chui! You're ripped!"

"What?" Izuku looked around. The rest of the boys in his class were turning to face him. They were at PE, which for Management students was held in the morning. The facilities were used for the General Studies students in the afternoon.

"Fuck man, you are!"

Izuku looked down at his abdomen. He knew he was muscled but then he looked at his classmates. They had… no definition. "I like to keep in shape," he said, turning away.

This had happened before. Once he started working out with Gigantomachia he'd developed muscles and the kids at his Middle School had commented. He knew the best thing to do was to ignore it.

He didn't get to work out with Gigantomachia as much as he used to. He could only see the giant of a man once a week but he made the best of it. And in the meantime he went jogging and had found a gym he could use. They had some high strength machines which were good. It meant he could work out with his quirks if he wanted. He just had to be a bit careful to make sure he wasn't observed being too strong. So no double quirks. That was a bit annoying. He could tell he was losing stamina, despite his efforts not to.

"That's a bit more than keep in shape, Chui," someone said.

"Nah!" Someone else said. "That's why Zellia is so hot."

The rest of the teens laughed. Izuku froze. What did they mean? Wait, no, he knew what they meant but… he wasn't interested. Zellia was nice enough he supposed but…

Oh god… is that what she meant when she said she'd share anything?

"Yeah but she's gotta get through hero girl."

"And support girl," someone else said.

Again the teens laughed. Izuku wondered how he should respond. It didn't matter what he said because he knew it would be taken in the wrong way. But he also knew if he claimed Ochaco and Mei were just friends then they'd always bring it up. He had to say something else. So he turned back to his classmates as he pulled on the shirt of his PE uniform. He gave them a bland look as he ran one hand through his light blue hair. He let his look morph into a cocky smile and Izuku realised he should have kept the shirt off if he really wanted to pull this off, but it was too late now.

"Ochaco will be the first Hero signed to my company," he told them. "And Mei will be my support specialist," he announced.

They might be new to the management of heroes but most of them had studied existing companies before they got here. They knew that the best hero agencies had inhouse support specialists.

Thankfully his flat announcement broke through the sexual innuendo they had been spreading.

"And you'll be able to manage them all?" Someone chuckled.

Izuku sighed knowing that he hadn't quite pulled it off so he might as roll with the feeling. It would only be here. He knew that. If it was another class it would spread but these guys were devoted to management, not innuendo. Or at least, it would only be in the locker room. "I think I've got the stamina," he announced, letting the cocky smile back on to his features.

The other teens stared for a moment and Izuku snorted, laughing in their faces. It was a good way of breaking the tension.

"We'd better get ready," he said into the silence. "Otherwise, Mr Mokuzai will have us running drills."

That elicited a groan from the rest of the class but Izuku was pleased when they all turned back to getting changed. He shook his head slightly before he stopped. He knew what his dad would say but… this was normal and that was good. This is what dad wanted to experience.

So it was good. It might be inane. It might be just boys but it was normal and that was good.

-ted-

Izuku went through the supermarket, putting groceries into his basket. Kurogiri helped him out each week by providing a list and some pre-cooked meat. It made things a lot easier when he was shopping 'cos he simply followed the list.

He went to the register and put the items through before putting them into his bags. On his way home he usually cheated and then put all but one bag into his pocket. It made things a lot easier. But he realised it was the sort of thing he had to be careful with. It wouldn't matter if someone saw him do it as they'd think it was his quirk but it did matter if someone from UA saw.

As he walked home he couldn't help the way he looked at all the shadows. Gigantomachia had made sure to teach him to observe. After the attack, the large man had tried to each him everything and Izuku missed him but… he recognised that his father was right. He had to make his decision and then… Then it would depend on what the decision was. But now wasn't the time to think about it.

It was because he was looking into each shadow that he saw them.

It was a woman he decided. She was huddled in an alleyway and appeared to be crying.

"Ma'am?" Izuku called, as he stopped at the mouth of the alley. He didn't go in. He wasn't going to go in. And he did ready a few quirks, just in case.

She sniffed but didn't answer.

"Ma'am?" he called louder. "Are you okay?"

"Wha?" She looked up. Her eyes were red from crying and she seemed surprised that someone was talking to her.

"Are you okay?" Izuku repeated.

"No," she said with a little hiccup.

Izuku looked at her. She was dirty but that was hardly surprising given where she was sitting and she looked thin. He lifted the bag he was holding and fished through it. Kurogiri had put mandarins on his list this week so she could have them. The rest of the food wasn't going to be that good to eat without cooking or some sort of preparation. Kurogiri did not believe in pre-prepared food. He shoved the bag into his spatial pocket and held out the fruit. "Here," he offered.

He saw her eyes go wide as she looked between him and the offered fruit.

"Go on," Izuku said as if he was dealing with a child.

The woman came forward and snatched the offered fruit. She was careful not to touch him though. Quickly she peeled the skin off one and shoved a piece into her mouth. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much," she cried.

"Will you be okay?" Izuku asked. He hadn't done anything. He'd just given her some fruit.

She swallowed but didn't answer. Izuku thought quickly and then reached for his phone. He tapped search and looked up a shelter. There was one close by and thankfully it was one that did take women. He knew some didn't.

"Do you know this address?" Izuku asked as he read out the information.

She nodded.

"You should go there," he said. Sometimes people needed encouragement.

"I will. I will, it's just…" She didn't finish.

He didn't really know what to say. "I know it's hard," Izuku said. "But you have to take the first step." It sounded like something Tomura would say. He'd be calling the woman an NPC who couldn't even help herself and while Izuku didn't agree with that, he did agree that people had to help themselves. It was just sometimes they needed a bit of help to figure out what would help. He thought the shelter would, so he suggested that.

"You saved me. Thank you," she said again and this time Izuku watched as she got up and walked out of the shadows on to the footpath. .

He nodded to her as she made her way down the road, still eating the mandarin. When she turned the corner Izuku sighed and then smiled. It was a bit extravagant to say he'd saved her. He'd just given her a bit of food and advice but…

The thanks felt good and while he knew he probably wouldn't see her again he hoped she'd be fine and that whatever was the problem would be dealt with.

He continued home with a little bounce in his step.

If this was what it felt like to be a hero, he could sort of see why people wanted to do it… but… if this is what it felt like, why weren't more of them proper heroes?

He didn't know the answer to that. Except he knew it felt good to help.

-ted-

"What's that noise?" Hitoshi asked as they walked back from the cafeteria towards the Support Department.

The Support Department Tower was one of the back two when you were looking from UA's main gate. The Heroics Tower, which had most of the whole school facilities in was closest to the gate, along with the Management Tower. As promised they'd met up for Lunch but Mei had insisted on rushing back to her lab. Ochaco had gone with her, leaving the two boys to pick up lunch for all four of them and bring it to the ladies. They were heading back via the Management Tower and were on the walkway between the towers.

"It's probably that," Izuku said, jerking his head towards the glass. They could see the gate and streaming in through it was a hoard of civilians.

They were carrying a variety of notebooks, microphones and cameras.

Hitoshi sighed. It sounded hard done by. "Media," he grumbled.

Ever since the news had broken that All Might was teaching at UA, the media had been camped at the gates. It made getting into school on time rather annoying.

But since Hitoshi's uniform had two, spaced out buttons representing the General Studies Course, and his had three buttons, they had no problem once the media saw that. Ochaco had some trouble but once she said she was in 1B they'd left her alone and apparently Mei had walked straight through them, the two buttons of the Support Course granting her passage. Izuku had already loaned Ochaco his blazer for tomorrow. It should make things easier for her if they thought she was in the Management Course.

"How'd they get in?" Izuku asked aloud. The gate had an alarm system on it and had been closed. That's why the media had been in a pack outside the gate in the morning. Students could get through the gate but if the media tried the alarm went off.

Hitoshi moved to his side and looked down at the scene. He frowned and squinted. "Where's the gate?" he asked.

"Isn't it there?" Izuku asked, looking carefully. The gate retracted into the wall.

"No, it's-" whatever further Hitoshi had to say was drowned out when the alarm sounded.

Izuku didn't have a hearing quirk but he winced at the noise. Then he looked at Hitoshi. His frown asked the question his friend was also thinking. Where were they meant to evacuate to? One of the rules about evacuations was that you didn't head towards the danger and they could see the danger, so there was no point in trying to get down stairs and outside.

"Mei's lab and close the door?" Hitoshi shouted the suggestion at him.

"That's good!" Izuku yelled back and turned back down the corridor.

Hitoshi followed and as they made it to the edge of the walkway, Izuku could see that the teachers were rounding up the media and pushing them back towards the gate. It was kind of interesting to see their strength since the teachers formed a single line which was effective against the mob of media. He shrugged. He supposed that was their job before he moved back into the tower.

"What's the alarm about?" Ochaco demanded as soon as they got back to the workshop. Thankfully, as they'd made it back to the lab, the alarm had been turned off.

Izuku rolled his eyes as he sighed. "Just the media breaking down the gate."

Ochaco shared his sigh but she'd been questioned the most out of all of them and Class 1B hadn't even seen All Might, though supposedly he was teaching all the heroic students for at least some of their classes.

"I don't get why he doesn't just give an interview," she muttered.

"What do you mean?" Hitoshi asked as Izuku slid a yakisoba bread into Mei's hand. If they didn't make sure she ate, she tended not to remember lunch.

"They just want to know what All Might is like as a teacher," Ochaco said, gesturing vaguely towards the gate. "And probably to ask All Might why he has taken up teaching. He could answer one of those questions if he gave a press conference… or even released a statement," she huffed.

"He could but-" Izuku didn't say anymore as an announcement came over the PA.

"The crisis is over students. Classes will resume as normal." It sounded like the Principal.

He chuckled. "Crisis over," he repeated with a grin. "Eat the yakisoba Mei!" Izuku chided, "Don't use it as a screwdriver," he added when he saw the other teen about to use the bread as a tool.

"Oh," Mei murmured.

That had Ochaco and Hitoshi in stitches. They'd discovered that when Mei was involved in her work, she was really involved in her work. It was doubtful she'd even noticed the alarm. He looked over to Ochaco. "Have you done anything in hero class yet?" he asked curiously. Class 1A's battle trials had been all over the first year.

"We have done quirk demonstrations," she said primly.

"I thought you said you were going to do a combat class?" Hitoshi said, remembering what Ochaco had described earlier.

"Basic drills, then a combat class," she replied. "We are still on the drills."

"Safety first?" Izuku asked with a side look.

"1A wasn't meant to do that battle trial," she said. "Vlad was pissed when he found out," Ochaco chuckled.

"It does seem to be a bit of favouritism towards All Might," Izuku said carefully.

"You should have heard Vlad about it," Ochaco agreed. "Though I can sort of see why All Might did it. We aren't going to know what quirks villains have when we go up against them," she said. "But the class will know what my quirk does when we get to the combat trial."

"It will be safer though, won't it?" He pointed out.

Apparently two of class 1A had been sent to see Recovery Girl after the trial. "Yeah but less realistic."

"Oh well," Izuku sympathised. "Who has the most interesting quirk? Apart from yours," he asked.

"Hmm…" She thought about it for a few moments. "They are all interesting. Monoma can copy your quirk if he touches you, Kodai can change how large things are, Manga can make things from a comic book… oh wait… You'd love Momo's quirk! She can make anything."

Izuku frowned, and he noticed Mei looking up at that. "What do you mean anything?" Hitoshi asked for them.

"I mean anything," Ochaco said earnestly. "So long as she understands the composition of it, she can make it from her fat cells or something like that."

"You have to introduce me!" Mei practically screamed, running over to Ochaco. Her yakisoba bread went flying.

"First, we have to get her as a client!"

"Okay, but… I think her family has a standing contract with Acine," he told her. Tomura had been quick to give him details about the recommendation students. The Yaoyorozu's had featured prominently along with the Todoroki's. And… he had noticed that Setsuna had gotten in as well. He was glad she wasn't in Ochaco's class. He hadn't decided what he'd do about her if he saw her again. Probably nothing. Though… She could be a problem since she knew his name wasn't Mitei. Or Chui and he really didn't feel like explaining that his dad's businesses were large and using other names was normal for him to hide his identity from any number of unsavoury characters… That was the cover story and he knew his dad's business were that large but most wouldn't include All Might and other heroes in the list of unsavoury characters.

It had been hard enough explaining it to Hitoshi, Ochaco and Mei, though Mei hadn't really cared. Hitoshi had agreed to say his quirk was Fire Proofing with Fire Breath if Setsuna ever asked. He wasn't planning on giving her the opportunity.

Mei didn't look deterred.

"We'll work something out," Izuku said. "That is a very interesting quirk," he added even as he wondered about the limitations. How did she turn the fat cells into other material? Could she create metals? From where? Did she convert her bodily metals or the fat cells? Was it really the fat cells? Ochaco hadn't been that clear. What were her calorie requirements? How big an item could she make? How complicated? What happened if she ran out of fat or whatever cells they were? You needed fat, a little bit anyway to live. Did she pass out? Could she recover or did she need medical attention? How fast could she generate fat cells? Did she have to eat a lot that morning or could she eat as she generated things? That didn't seem likely but could be possible.

Hitoshi sighed. "We've lost them both," he whispered to Ochaco.

Izuku looked up in time to see Ochaco grin and then they all laughed.

It was a good way to spend lunch.

-ted-

Tomura is still doing things to pursue his goal and Izuku is on the outside observing. But while there is no one in Class 1A Izuku cares about, if Tomura makes a mistake then... well, let's just say he better be careful. Though AFO is guiding him, so he should be smart enough to avoid irritating Izuku.

And now Izuku knows how good it feels to help someone. Will that be enough to make him look at things differently? Or can he figure out how to make his desires all align? Only time will tell.

My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. It's a year old now! YAY!

-ted-

Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!