Chapter 9
Inko decided that it would be best to home educate Izuku until the stigma had died down.
Inko had expected home education to be difficult but the full syllabus was online and Inoo arranged the exams with Izuku's previous school. The main cause of concern was that as Izuku became more distant he would only leave the house for his doctors, Knuckleduster, Fatgum's outings or his different lessons. Izuku, when left to his own devices, got through the school work quickly. Izuku's favourite outing was with Fatgum to a karaoke bar. It was especially funny as the large hero couldn't sing. Izuku himself couldn't sing a large range of songs but was very good at songs that needed a deep voice. His favourite however was between Bon Jovi and Summer of 69 whenever he sang either he'd get applause from the crowd at the bar. A couple of times Fatgum would take Izuku to the local hero bar where heroes could go to loosen up without fear of the media. Izuku loved it there as he would be allowed to play piano sometimes. The only ones who had an issue with the boy doing so were quickly silenced when Endeavor appeared one day at Fatgum's behest.
Izuku was a regular face at the karaoke bar. One day he had just finished singing piano man when he heard the others in the bar clap. The bar went silent when a single voice shouted "wow who knew a villain could sing" everyone in the bar turned and stared at the person who looked around the age of Izuku shrouded in shade. Izuku looked distraught, this was his safe space and now he was a target here. He thought everyone would turn on him when they realised who he was. To Izuku and the strangers surprise, the person on the table next to the stranger got up, walked over to the stranger and suddenly the stranger jolted and held his head as he slumped on the table. The large waiter then walked over, picked up the stranger and threw him out the door into the alleyway outside. Izuku couldn't hold back his tears and began openly crying whilst his thanks were spoken into the microphone.
"Don't worry about it us mutant types have to stick together" a feminine voice shouted from where the guy was knocked out
"Yeah kid you're one of us even if you are bigger we won't let anyone hurt our giant cinnamon roll" shouted the waiter.
Izuku got off the stage and was enjoying his evening when a girl who looked the same age as him got on stage and began to sing. She had an amazing voice. Izuku was muttering about how good she was when the girl walked over with a red face and said "I'm glad you liked it so much but it's kinda creepy to hear an adult i've never met compliment you for a full half an hour"
"Y-y-you could hear that I-I-I'm s-s-sorry" said Izuku being reduced to a stuttering mess the he realised " I-I-I'm only 11 though"
"WHAT?! You're the same age as me" the girl said with confusion. The girl then began to look around Izuku confusion turning to distrust "If you're 11 where's your parents they'd never let you out at this time?" She said accusingly
"My mom's at home. I'm here with my trainer to help me learn to deal with attention." Responded Izuku a little offended at his age being questioned
"Really where's your trainer?" The girl asked
"He's upstairs, he's friends with the owner but he should be back soon" responded Izuku.
Almost as if he had heard him, Fatgum walked back into the room. "Hey kid, you made a friend?" The hero asked cheerfully.
"Y-your Fatgum?" Said the girl
"I told you" said the greenette with snark
"Okay, okay, so what's your name anyway green pole?" Said the girl with cheer
"Green pole? I'm Izuku Midoriya, why green pole and what's your name?" He said nervous that she would be mean.
"I'm Kyoka Jirou, Yeah cause your hair but I can call you green giant if you want me to" she continued with the same cheer in her voice
"No-no p-please don't call me giant" he said visible saddened by the comparison
"Hey your size is just a part of you the same as my earphones jacks" Jirou said twirling an earphone jack in her finger
Izuku then noticed the earphone jacks were connected to her ears
Jirou felt nervous. Being a mutation type people always pointed out how weird her ears were. She wasn't bullied but that was mostly due to her being willing to stab people with the earphone jacks.
"Are those connected to you?" Asked Midoriya
"Yeah, why? Got a problem with that?" She responded now guarded
"No-no they look really cool. Theylookliketheyhaveasecondaryeffect.quirksaresocoolandtheylooksharp.cantheydoanythingelse?canyoulistentomusicthroughthem?couldyouusethemlikeasonardetector?thatwouldbegreatforahero. Ouch!" Midoriya said as Jirou stabbed him with an ear Jack while Fatgum looked surprised.
"I can transmit my heart beat through them.yes I can listen to music through them. I don't know if I could use them for sonar but will have to try and do you really think so?" She responded Fatgum's jaw was on the ground as Izuku nodded "you answered him in order" Fatgum said bewildered.
"Why don't you exchange numbers? We need to go soon, Izuku, "said the only adult in the trio.
As they got phones out and exchanged numbers Jirou mother walked over
"Excuse me, what are you doing with my daughter?" She said
"We're exchanging numbers so we can talk some more" said Jirou
Her mother frowned at this "what do you think you're doing exchanging numbers with an 11 year old child"
Izuku looked puzzled then realised and became nervous "I-i-i just wanted to make a friend" he said with tears nearing his eyes
Jirous mother glared at him with accusing eyes
"Mrs Jirou I see where you're going but young Midoriya is actually 11 years old his quirk causes his size increase" Fatgum interjected.
"Oh… oh I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I assumed you were… never mind I'm sorry. I know how bad it can be for a quirk to be the only defining feature of a person people see." Mrs Jirou said apologetically when she realised her mistake.
The two children kept talking for a while and Izuku told Jirou about how he played piano and was learning guitar but needed really big ones due to his size. Eventually the issue of the Naruhata incident. Jirou's mother brought the issue up and between Fatgum's reasoning and Izuku seeming to be to delicate, despite his size to have wanted to cause such destruction.
Eventually, the two children were taken home with promises to hang out at another time. When Izuku got home Fatgum was immediately told off by Inko. Inko was pacified when she found out that Izuku made a friend.
The two would hang out every so often normally at karaoke but sometimes at takoba beach so Izuku could relax and they could play guitar together but Jirou wasn't a fan of the dump. Izuku wanted to spend more time with Jirou at the beach so he started to clean the beach.
Izuku began to open up to his mentors.
He had maintained his 10ft height and doctor Shiba believed he wouldn't grow anymore, making him and his mother very thankful. Due to this his mentors agreed to start training since he wouldn't get any negatives since he'd already finished growing. Knuckleduster started training Izuku on the beach by moving the rubbish. Most of the rubbish was light to Izuku but there were a couple of trucks that were heavy enough to make Izuku work.
Izuku's form had begun to grow in density; he weighed 900 kg and had needed more quirk shoes from Fatgum. Due to his weight he also needed specialist wristbands that Knuckleduster provided for his birthday. They were nearly indestructible but weighed a significant amount on their own as a result they were very thick and looked like old fashioned ball and chain cuffs. Izuku's barrier had also been increasing in strength; it was now able to withstand most blades. During the training Izuku had sparring with Crawler to help increase his manoeuvrability he could easily dodge attacks but would never be able to bounce off walls easily unless they were reinforced and was increasing his speed he was nearly half as fast as crawler whilst running. Izuku began weapons training when he was first taught how to use escrima sticks which were 40" in length. For distance fighting he was taught how to fire a grappling gun using a paintball gun and how to use a kusarigama after he almost squashed Knuckleduster with a disguised wrecking ball when he sneezed whilst pulling the chain. Izuku didn't want to use weapons as a hero but Knuckleduster convinced him it would be useful to know in the event he needed them.
Izuku came home one day to find a large envelope from his dad. He'd not really thought about his dad recently. His dad was his hero when he needed help with hero studies, his dad was there. When he wanted someone to cheer him up when people were verbally abusing him on the street he was there. But he hadn't heard from him for over a month and his mom was worried. So when they opened the envelope to see divorce papers they were very surprised.
