Ignited Spark

by 3PeopleInACoat

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, a horrible accident convinces Izuku to give up his dreams of becoming a hero. But with the help of two girls, Izuku finds the inspiration to fight and become a true hero!

8. Shimuras and Butt Kicking

Oh, man.

Izuku really should've put more thought into what he wanted before he told the barista his order.

"Here is your order, gentlemen," She smiled at them as she put down three cups of coffee on the counter, "one Jamaican Blue Mountain, one Mocha Matari, and one straight black coffee, all ready for you."

"Thank you so much!" Tenko grinned as he picked up his coffee from the counter, taking a moment to slip some yen into the tip jar while All Might paid for all three of them. "I gotta say, Midoriya, I'm surprised that you drink something so strong."

"Uh … yeah," Izuku gave him a shaky smile as he picked up the cup of black coffee, trying not to sweat too much, "I, uh … I have a friend who drinks this stuff all the time. Kinda - kinda rubbed off on me."

That was pretty much a lie, Izuku gulped as he hesitantly raised the cup to his lips and took a sip, grateful that he had turned around and facing away from the other two as he made a face at the bitterness. He wasn't really a coffee drinker, preferring to drink some soda if he ever needed to get energized, and when the barista had asked for his order, he had panicked and tried to think of the first blend of coffee that came to mind - which had been the black coffee that Itsuka always drank like it was a religion.

Well, Izuku sighed as he took another sip and tried not to cringe too much at the strong taste, there wasn't much to be done about it now. At least Itsuka would be a little surprised at what he was drinking.

After they had gotten through introductions, Tenko had mentioned that he hadn't had any coffee since arriving to work due to a coworker dragging him into a meeting the moment he had arrived at the teacher's lounge to grab some information from him (he had been muttering at the time, so Izuku couldn't really hear, but he did hear something that sounded kind of like 'trigger', which had put a frown on All Might's face), so the pro hero decided to buy for them, leading them away from UA High to head back down the mountain. Izuku had been kind of reluctant to leave as he stared in awe at the school ("I'd poke fun, but I was the same way when I was his age," Tenko had chuckled), but eventually conceded and followed the two as they headed to a nearby coffee shop down the mountain that UA was on top of, All Might shrinking down to his weakened form so as not to draw any attention to them.

For the most part, both men chatted happily with each other, evidently having not seen each other in a while and wanting to catch up, while Izuku politely stood back and let them talk amongst themselves as he followed them down the mountain. According to Tenko, he had a meeting with the principal in about an hour, so he wouldn't be able to return to the beach with them, but at the very least, he had enough time to chat with him before he had to get back to work.

Honestly, it was taking every tiny bit of Izuku's willpower to not forget about the real reason they were there - to discuss his quirk - and interrogate the teaching assistant all about UA, what heroes were currently teaching there, if he could get Izuku some autographs, or if Tenko himself was a hero. He had to constantly remind himself all the way down the mountain, with UA gleaming in the sunlight behind him as though tempting him to run back and ogle it, that he wasn't there to indulge in fanboyism - he was there to get Tenko's advice to overcome the mental barrier that was preventing him from using his quirk. It wasn't exactly the appropriate time to ask the teaching assistant if he could get autographs for him from his colleagues.

Still though, Izuku couldn't help but pout as they stepped back outside, feeling cool wind blowing through his hair. The one time the temperature was nice and cool, and it had to be when he wasn't on the beach working. Well, he at least hoped Itsuka and Ochako were enjoying the nicer weather while they worked on All Might's instructions today.

"I must say, Young Tenko," All Might sighed as they left the coffee shop into the cool air, walking down the street towards the train station while he sipped from his cup, "I do regret not having a lot of time lately to see you in person since the semester started - I've been pretty busy with hero work and the such. I'm very sorry about that."

"It's okay, All Might," Tenko used his free hand to wave it in the air while using his other hand to drink his coffee, keeping one finger off the cup to prevent himself from using his quirk, "it's not like I've had a lot of free time either - I've had to shadow Thirteen-sensei and Aizawa-sensei for the last few months, and Aizawa's not exactly - uh - well, he's not exactly the best person to get teaching advice from. I've been so busy I keep forgetting to dye my hair again, you can start to see my roots."

"Hm," All Might slowly nodded at that, mentally making a note to not ask Aizawa for a lot of advice while reaching over to mess up Tenko's hair, making the young man laugh.

"And not to mention the whole thing with the second years," Tenko continued to explain, shuddering a bit at the memory, "Mirio's lucky that Nezu managed to talk down the HSPC from getting him arrested. I guess we have to thank the World Heroes Association for letting him off easy."

"Ah, yes … w-well, anyway," All Might cleared his throat, "how has Thirteen been? I know you and her have been doing some work at the U.S.J. in the last few weeks, or at least that's what Nezu told me."

"Yeah, we have! And it's been going pretty well - we've actually installed a new Conflagration Zone, so we've got a new exercise the students can use where everything is pretty much on fire. It'll be great for their rescue exercises, as long as we use robots instead of students as the pretend-victims."

"Well, Young Kendou will be happy to hear that," All Might chuckled to himself, recalling the memory of the young girl puking her guts out into a trash can from smoke inhalation after running into a burning building.

As the two men continued to laugh and catch up, Izuku lagged behind a bit, glancing between the two of them. From what he had seen, Tenko seemed pretty familiar with All Might; they talked like they were friends who had known each other for years, he evidently knew about All Might's true form (which had been a shock for Izuku when All Might had casually shrunken down to his weakened form and Tenko showed no surprise), and they clearly had a pretty good relationship, seeing as All Might referred to him by his first name and messed up his hair. It was almost like All Might was his easygoing, fun uncle.

But … what exactly was their relationship? Did All Might mentor Tenko in the past like he was mentoring Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako right now? And he wanted Izuku to speak to Tenko about his quirk … did that mean Tenko used to be in Izuku's shoes? Metaphorically of course, Izuku thought, glancing down at the red shoes Tenko was wearing that looked disturbingly like his own pair he was wearing right now.

"Ah, well, anyway," All Might chuckled as he glanced behind him at the young boy following them, as though forgetting he was there, "I'm afraid we've gotten distracted, Young Tenko - we're here to discuss Young Midoriya's quirk, after all."

"O-oh, right," Tenko quickly nodded, getting back on track and looking around at Izuku as well, seeing him straighten up when he realized the attention was now on him, "so, uh, Midoriya - well, just so you know, I'm actually a teaching assistant at UA. I'm currently training so I can become a quirk guidance counselor."

"A - guidance counselor?" Izuku blinked at that, looking at the teacher as he sipped on his coffee, "Like - like you want to help out kids with understanding their quirks?"

"Kinda," Tenko shrugged, "well, yes and no. It's less for young children and more for … well, it's kind of similar to Hound Dog being a regular guidance counselor, but where he specializes in talking to the students about potential traumatic experiences they may go through during hero work, or if they just need someone to talk to, I want to act as someone who helps them out with complexes they may have with their quirk, or other quirk related drama."

"R-really … is that - wait," Izuku suddenly stopped in his tracks, looking up at Tenko in shock. "Hound Dog? He works at UA?"

"Yeah," Tenko chuckled, tapping his coffee cup with one of his fingers, "he's a really nice guy - well, unless you get him angry, and then he just starts barking and shaking you, completely forgets about human speech when he gets riled up. And by the way, just to warn you if you get into UA, don't ever use dog metaphors around him, like 'can't teach a dog new tricks' or 'throw me a bone' or any kind of those aphorisms - he takes them really personally."

"T-that's amazing!" Izuku balled his fists in excitement, the fragile restraint he had over his curiosity completely shattered now that he knew Tenko was willing to talk about his coworkers, "I knew Thirteen worked at UA, but not Hound Dog!"

"Yeah, it's really cool, isn't it?" Tenko gave the younger man his own knowing and fanboy-ish grin, "Honestly, I thought I would get used to it after being at UA for years at this point, but I'm still kind of awestruck every time I see Thirteen. She loves to tease me about it."

"W-wow! My best friend - she loves Thirteen, she's her favourite hero! Is she as nice as she is in her interviews?"

"Even nicer! Like, I usually don't use internet terms to describe people, but she's one hundred percent my 'mom friend'. She always makes sure I have my lunch before we head out to the U.S.J. - she always does attendance with the students first, and then turns to me to make sure I have my food. It's gotten to the point where the students are asking me about my lunch before she does, it's super embarrassing!"

"Really?"

"Heh, yeah. You'd think I'd eventually get tired of it, but it always makes me laugh. Especially when I do forget it and she tries to turn the bus around to go back for it. Anyway, she's your best friend's favourite hero? I could get her autograph for her, if you want."

"W-would you?" Izuku gasped, imagining the look on Ochako's face if she was presented with Thirteen's autograph and smiling widely. "T-that would be great!"

"Sounds good!"

"Ahem," All Might pointedly cleared his throat, smiling at the two younger men's antics, "as entertaining as it is to watch you fanboys geeking out, we do need to have a conversation before you start heading back to UA, Young Tenko."

"Oh!" Tenko jumped a bit at the reminder, going red when he realized that they had indeed gotten sidetracked, and glanced back at Izuku as the green-haired boy also blushed a bit from embarrassment. "Y-yeah, All Might, you're right. So Midoriya, from - well, from what All Might's told me, you're having a problem with subconsciously repressing your quirk? You can't use your quirk because of a mental barrier?"

"Uh - yeah," Izuku quickly nodded, raising his coffee cup to his lips to take another sip and praying that he didn't make a face and burn his tongue with the hot liquid.

"So …" Tenko also took another drink from his coffee, "... is it a problem of it not acting correctly? Like - All Might told me you had an electric emitter quirk. Is it not firing properly? Or is it an instance of just not activating at all when you want it to?"

"The - the second one. It won't - it won't activate when I try to use it."

"It's very much akin to your previous situation, Young Tenko," All Might explained for the green-haired boy, "in that Young Midoriya is attempting to make conscious efforts to use his quirk, but due to … er … previous bad experiences he had using his quirk, it seems that he has subconsciously put up a mental barrier that stops himself from using it again."

"I see …" Tenko slowly nodded, looking back at Izuku with an empathetic look, "... so in that case … well, Midoriya, I know that you probably wouldn't want to share any specific details with me, but would you be comfortable with … you know, explaining what kind of bad experiences you've had with your quirk? Just so I can understand what specifically we're dealing with here."

Izuku gulped a bit in nervousness, but still nodded as he took another sip of coffee, trying not to scrunch his face up at the bitterness - after talking about what had happened that day at the playground with both All Might and Itsuka, he didn't have many problems with explaining to new people either. The two times he had to talk to them about it had thankfully helped Izuku at least come to terms with what had happened, although he definitely didn't like thinking about it. Well, in any case, Tenko probably did need more than a few vague answers to help him understand what was going on; he needed the full story.

So it was with that Izuku explained to Tenko all about the playground incident many years ago, with the three of them walking down the street towards the train station. Once they reached the building, as Izuku and Tenko took a seat on the bench outside so Izuku could explain more to teaching assistant about how his classmates constantly told him about his quirk being villainous, All Might noticed that neither of them were carrying lunches, and was quick to head over to a nearby stand to buy both of them bentos for later, when Tenko had to go back to work and Izuku got to get his lunch break back on the beach.

Once All Might had returned with both bentos in hand, carrying his coffee in his other hand, Izuku had finished up his story, letting Tenko sit quietly and hum as he raised a hand to his chin, tapping the mole on his lip.

"Okay," He nodded, continuing to give Izuku a sympathetic look, "I believe I understand. I'm really sorry to hear what you've had to go through, Midoriya - that sounds really tough."

"Y-yeah," Izuku slowly nodded, accepting the bento All Might was offering him as the pro hero sat down on his other side, letting Izuku sit between both men, "it's … yeah, it's definitely been a ride."

"So you accidentally hurt your childhood friend, and your mom," Tenko summarized, "and after that, due to everyone in your school calling you a villain, or saying that you have a villainous quirk … well, you've internalized that, and now you're struggling to use your quirk."

"Yeah."

"Huh … well, I know why you wanted us to speak, All Might," He chuckled a bit, patting the back of his hand with his fingers, "I guess I'm definitely the person to talk to in this kind of situation."

"I-is that right?" Izuku looked around at him, feeling a little intrigued, "D-did you, uh - did you go through something similar?"

At that question, though, Izuku immediately realized that he might have been asking something a bit personal - Tenko, who had been looking at him sympathetically, noticeably winced at the question, and All Might let out a small 'mmm'. Izuku felt himself pale as he realized that he might've just made a mistake and reminded the teaching assistant of something sensitive.

"Oh, uh - I'm - I'm sorry if I -"

"No, no, it's alright, Midoriya," Tenko shook his head, giving the younger boy a smile as he leaned forward slightly, resting his arms on his legs, "honestly, that's a fair question - I asked you about your past, so it'd be hypocritical if you couldn't ask about mine, wouldn't it?"

"Are you sure, Young Tenko?" All Might asked in a worried voice, leaning forward to look at him over Izuku's head, "It's - well, it's a lot, I'm not sure if you wanted to go into it right now."

"It's okay, All Might," Tenko nodded, putting his coffee cup down between his legs, "Midoriya asked, and I don't mind talking about it. It'll be something nice to tell my therapist when I go see him next Friday. So anyway, Midoriya … about me. I can understand why All Might wanted us to meet now - honestly, I can seriously relate to your story. When I was a kid, my quirk also came in pretty late - and it was a mutation as well. My dad had a flight quirk, my mom had a quirk that let her dislocate her bones willingly, and my sister had a version of my dad's quirk. Mine, however …" he let out a small sigh as he glanced down and opened his hand, staring at his palm, "... I had the ability to decay whatever I touched with all five fingers."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, glancing down at the teaching assistant's hand as well with his eyes widening, "You could …?"

"Yeah," Tenko slowly nodded, "whatever I touch and hold onto just … disintegrates. Right now, I don't even need to hold on to something for very long, I can just tap something with all five fingers and it just - poof. Dust. That's why I can't touch anything with all five fingers, by the way - I do have a little subconscious control over my quirk, since I use it for rescue work, but not enough to just touch whatever I want. I discovered it when … when I …"

At that, though, Izuku glanced up at his face, and felt startled to see a few tears welling in Tenko's eyes, making him wipe them away with his sleeve before he took a shuddering breath.

"... Midoriya, I didn't … exactly have the happiest childhood," He admitted, "my home wasn't … the safest place. I can't really go into exactly what was wrong or we'd - y'know, be here all day, but … my dad didn't like heroes. He hated even thinking of them. And my sister and I … well … we always admired them, and we wanted to be heroes."

"... oh," Izuku softly said, eyes widening in horror as he realized what Tenko was implying here.

"Yeah. Usually, my dad, uh … he would yell at me, he would drag me outside and lock me out for hours. But one day, I - well, something happened," Tenko said in a quiet voice while All Might stared at the ground, his lips thin, "and my dad finally raised his hand and hit me."

Izuku gasped at that, and Tenko shook his head.

"It was … it was chaos," He muttered, "my mom was screaming at my dad, my sister was crying, my grandparents were protesting, the dog was barking … but no one came to help me. They just watched as my dad hit me and locked me out of the house. I was huddled in the corner, crying my eyes out, hugging my dog …"

"No," Izuku whispered, horrified, "oh, no."

Tenko slowly nodded, raising his hand to rub his eyes. All Might reached around Izuku to hold the young man's shoulder, and Tenko smiled and patted his hand, with one finger up of course.

"I was scared, I was terrified. I … I only found this out later, but my mom confronted my dad. The … well, it was the last straw. She was going to take my sister and me, and leave the house my father built. He told my sister not to leave her room, and came outside to find me … and … saw what I'd done to Mon. He freaked out, hard. I had no idea what was going on, I just needed comfort, and I tried to run to him - but he just grabbed a weedwacker and hit me." He reached up to touch the scar on his lip, furrowing his brow. "I think it was just out of panic, and he realized what he'd done the moment he hit me, but … but I snapped."

Izuku stayed quiet, staring at the ground as Tenko also leaned forward, frowning.

"I … I killed my father." He quietly said. "My quirk spread around to the house, and … and it collapsed on the rest of my family. My sister … she was the only one they ended up finding in the wreckage."

At that, silence fell on the bench outside the train station. Izuku stared at the ground in horror as tears prickled in his eyes, and Tenko quietly studied his shoes. All Might looked between both of them seriously, as though wondering if he would have to placate Izuku over the teaching assistant. And then Tenko let out a small sigh.

"I don't blame you if you're uncomfortable with that, Midoriya," He said quietly, "it's … well, like All Might said, it's a lot to take in."

"I …" Izuku hesitated, and glanced back up at the dark haired-man, "... it's … you're right, it is a lot. But I'm - I'm really sorry to - to hear that happened to you."

"Yeah … well … in the past, I blamed myself for what happened." Tenko admitted, "I thought if I just … you know … didn't mention heroes at all, my dad wouldn't have locked me out, or hit me, and I wouldn't have …"

"Young Tenko, you are not to blame for your father's behavior," All Might made clear, his tone sounding a bit angry and comforting at the same time, "your father … he may have had his reasons to hate heroes, and he may not have had the best childhood either, but that does not mean he should have taken his anger and resentment of heroes out on his family."

Tenko slowly nodded at that, scratching his neck absently. "I … I know, All Might. I know that … at the end of the day, it was just … an accident. I just … you know, it's a bit hard to think about even now. There was a … a lot of resentment there, and not just for my father. It's … a lot of stuff that I've had to come to terms with over the years.

"In any case, Midoriya, after … that, I … left my house. I ran away. I wandered the streets for days, covered in - you know, in blood. I couldn't even rationalize what I'd done for days after that, just that … I killed my family. I had no idea where I was going. I just wanted someone - anyone - to come help me. Save me. I couldn't even speak because of shock. But because of how I looked … I know that I scared people away, telling me that a hero or a police officer would find me and help me."

Izuku furrowed his brow at that, sitting back in his seat while Tenko slowly nodded at Izuku's conflicted look.

"The denser a population is, the more likely it is that when something bad happens, the population will leave it to the heroes to clear everything up. Maybe someone should've helped me, but … honestly, I don't blame them for being afraid of me."

"But - but that doesn't mean you should've been ignored," Izuku quietly countered, feeling a bit outraged on the teaching assistant's behalf, "I know - I know my mom or my neighbors wouldn't have left you there."

"Heh. Maybe," Tenko gave him, "but … anyway, after a while, I thought no one was going to come and help me. I thought that was my punishment for killing my family. That was … until All Might found me."

Izuku blinked, looking around at the pro hero as he nodded and also leaned forward in his seat.

"I had been giving out autographs after a villain fight," He explained, "when I had looked around and saw Young Tenko wandering down the street by myself. I ran over to him, saw the state he was in, and quickly brought him back to Might Tower in Roppongi, in order to get him cleaned up and find his family. It didn't take long for me to realize what was the matter - he refused to touch me at all, and winced at my own touch. So I was sure not to make him uncomfortable, gave him all the space he needed, and eventually, through a few therapy sessions conducted by someone we could trust … he opened up to what happened."

Now the frown on All Might's face deepened. "Very few people know this, Young Midoriya, but it was perhaps fate that I found Young Tenko that day. He is actually the grandson of my former master. Due to … circumstances, she had to give up her son, Young Tenko's father, because of a villain hunting her down, and she thought that, in order to protect him, it would be better to give him to the foster system. It … it wasn't an easy choice for her to make, of course, but … what's done is done. After I found out Young Tenko's identity, I, and a friend of my master's, tried to track down his father's house, and … well, we eventually found his sister. She had been rescued by a neighbor and brought to a hospital."

Tenko let out a small sigh, and leaned forward. "It took us a while, but we eventually reunited. I … well, my quirk when I used it on the house … it took her legs."

Izuku felt his mouth open in shock at that, but then quickly shut it. "Does - is she -?"

"She lives with me now," Tenko finally allowed a smile to grace his face. "She had to recover in the hospital for a few years, go through physical therapy and … you know, regular therapy. And then we both lived separately for a while, just because of our own issues, but we … we reconciled eventually. Now I have to leave my own apartment whenever her boyfriend comes over, but I guess I can deal with having to take - you know, three hour walks whenever she wants the apartment for herself."

Izuku let out a small chuckle while All Might laughed and Tenko smiled.

"In any case, Young Midoriya," All Might took over the explanation, "after we had found his sister, the friend of my masternagreed to take Tenko in, and became his legal guardian. We both came to realize that Young Tenko, similar to your situation, had problems with using his quirk - and since he would refuse to even touch anything, we decided to have him train at UA. Since the school had several facilities that would be able to assist him, the teachers of UA at the time assisted Young Tenko in getting control of his quirk, and getting back his confidence. After several years of therapy, he told my teacher and I that he wanted to become a hero."

"My hero name is just 'Tenko', by the way," The teaching assistant laughed, "I'm not creative enough to come up with a good hero name, and I wanted to be approachable, so it was just my first name."

"Wow …" Izuku slowly nodded, leaning forward slightly as Tenko picked back up his coffee to take a drink, "... so … so even despite what your father did when you - you know - said that you wanted to be a hero, you wanted to become one anyway?"

"... well, if I'm being honest," Tenko gave him another embarrassed grin, "I went through training at UA not really - y'know, expecting to be a hero. I didn't even really get enrolled into the hero course until my final year, I underwent a … well, I guess we could call it a supplementary at risk course."

"A supplementary at risk course?" Izuku blinked in surprise. "I didn't know UA had one of those ..."

"Well, it's not really publicized," Tenko chuckled, "and it's pretty rare for people to get enrolled in that kind of course. We actually have a second year taking that course right now, but unlike me, she enrolled into the hero course immediately, and I entered the hero course in my third year. My plan all along, ever since I got taken in by Gran, was to become a quirk specialist teacher at UA - I just needed a hero license to help me out with that."

Izuku slowly nodded as Tenko leaned back in his seat.

"And honestly … well, like I said, I didn't initially want to be a hero when I started formally attending UA," He reminisced, "but it ended up calling to me. I liked saving people. I like teaching students. I was conflicted, but I talked with Hana, and she convinced me that I could do both. I could teach students that, even though my quirk is destructive, I use it to stop villains in as non-permanent and non-destructive a manner as possible. Because that's what a hero does. They save people."

Izuku blinked at that statement, watching as Tenko finished his coffee and tossed the now empty cup into the garbage bin beside the bench. They were quiet for a minute or so, with Izuku quietly taking in Tenko's story while All Might remained silent (and may have been subtly reaching up to wipe his eyes; talking about his master always made him emotional). Finally, Tenko let out a small sigh and stood up, giving the green-haired boy a grin.

"Well, we really got distracted by that," He laughed, "I'm sorry about taking over the conversation, so enough about me. Let's talk about your quirk, Midoriya."

"O-oh, right!" Izuku gasped, also jumping a little bit - Tenko's story had taken his mind off what they were even here to talk about in the first place, but luckily for him Tenko seemed to be more focused, getting off the bench so he could stand in front of Izuku and he lazily stretch his arms above his head.

"So," He reminded himself, "you're having a problem with using your quirk due to what happened in the past on that playground. But you did mention that there have been times that you've used it since then?"

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, "I've used it - well, I've used my quirk only three times. Once during the - the playground incident, the second when I was - when I was trying to save my friend Kacchan, and then the third time when Nighteye surprised me into using it."

"Okay …" Tenko slowly nodded, "... and you mentioned that during the times you have tried to use it but were unsuccessful, you were trying to draw on the emotions you had been feeling during those, uh - those stressful situations?"

"Y-yeah."

"And … well, what were you feeling? Or like - what was your emotional state during the times you used your quirk?"

"Uh … scared," Izuku admitted, going a bit red as he glanced down at his knees, "and - and panicked, and - I don't know - kind of angry. When - when Kacchan was captured by that villain, I just felt - I don't know, my body moved before I had a chance to think."

"And you also mentioned that when you do try to practice firing off a blast, you see the kid you injured and your mom?"

"Yeah."

"Hm," Tenko slowly nodded, "so when you practice using your quirk, you draw on anger, panic and - and adrenaline to try to fire off a blast of lightning, and nothing happens, right?"

"Y-yeah."

"Okay. Okay, Midoriya," Tenko slowly nodded, "in that case … well, from what I'm thinking, you try to use anger and panic to fire off a blast, but there's no way that's going to work."

"Uh ... alright …?"

"Y'see," Tenko put a hand down on his hip as he used the other one to scratch his chin absently, "naturally, there will be situations where you'll use your quirk in high adrenaline situations, or when you're surprised - but quirks are a natural part of your body. From what you've told me about it, you consider your quirk something you can only use when you feel tense or stressed, but quirks are basically just a superpowered body function. They manifest young, require training and education to understand and master. I think your problem is that … well, you told me that people have called your quirk villainous, and you internalized that. In your mind, your quirk is a villainous thing that you can only rely on in times of extreme danger."

Izuku's gaze lowered to the ground, frowning - but then Tenko chuckled.

"So instead of relying on anger, panic, and all those feelings, Midoriya," He explained, "the first step to using your quirk is to associate it with something positive."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, looking back up at the teaching assistant. "What do you mean?"

"When I started training, and using my quirk," He explained, "I was in a similar boat. I associated my quirk with the death of my father, my mother, my grandparents. I associated it with the fact that my sister would never walk again. In order for me to move past that, I needed to associate my quirk with something positive. And the first step to doing that was imagining a scenario where I had no choice but to use my quirk." Tenko then began pacing, continuing to look down at Izuku as the boy gave him a confused look. "You mentioned before that you had a best friend, right? The one who loves Thirteen."

"Y-yeah - Occhan."

"Okay. Occhan. So, Midoriya, I want you to imagine what I'm about to describe to you," Tenko requested, "you're standing on one end of a stage, and this Occhan is on the other. Can you imagine that?"

Izuku slowly nodded, not really sure where the teaching assistant was going with this but still following along. He imagined what Tenko had described - him, standing on one end of a large stage, and Ochako waving at him on the other end. The goofy image was enough to make him smile a little.

"Now … now I know what you said about seeing the kid you hurt and your mom whenever you try to use your quirk. But when that happens, I want you to try to push those thoughts out of your head - and imagine this."

He stopped pacing around, and held out both of his hands.

"You're on one end of the stage, and this Occhan is on the other," He explained his hypothetical scenario, "and you're standing there. And then, behind Occhan, comes something big. Something large, and dark, and terrifying. Occhan has no time to run away from it."

At that, Izuku stiffened up a bit, looking up at Tenko as he gave the younger boy a serious look.

"And I'm not just talking like Occhan's about to be hurt. I'm talking like - they're about to die. And there's no way you can reach them in time," He explained, "you can run across the stage as fast as you can, you can yell out a warning - but you won't make it in time by foot. There's no way you can make it to save Occhan."

Izuku's stomach clenched at that, feeling his lips thin. Imagining Ochako staring at him in confusion, a dark, dark creature behind her threatening to eat her up. He imagined … well, he hated to admit it, but the first thing that had come to mind was the sludge villain, opening its large mouth to devour her whole. Memories of repugnant slime being pushed down his throat, no longer being able to breathe, the fruitless attempts to get out of it …

… and he imagined Ochako going through that. His fist clenched slightly.

"There's no way you'll make it in time. But there is one thing you can do. All you can do -" Tenko then pointed down to Izuku's hands, noticing the fist he had been making and nodding, "- is raise your hand and fire off a blast of lightning."

He wrung his hands together. "It's a tactic I learned when I was practising my quirk. Imagining my sister in danger, buried under our house, and the only way I could save her was by using my quirk without any problems. It took a little while to do, but … eventually, I imagined saving her, and then I was able to use my quirk. I think it's a tactic you can use as well."

Izuku stared down at his open palm, seeing the red lines of scars from his usage of his quirk from the past. He slowly nodded at Tenko's explanation, understanding what he was talking about … and then he let out a small sigh.

"... and what if I …" He muttered, suddenly feeling embarrassed as he stared down at his shoes, "... what if I'm afraid of hurting myself with my quirk?"

All Might frowned at that, reaching over to pat his shoulder, while Tenko nodded.

"No need to feel embarrassed about that, Midoriya - I understand," He gave the middle school student a small thumbs up, "it's something I used to be afraid of too - touching something, and fearing that my quirk would go out of control and hurt myself. But then I thought of a way to overcome that as well."

"R-really?" Izuku glanced up as Tenko smiled down at him.

"I imagined my sister holding my hand," He explained, demonstrating by raising his one hand, and then the other, interlacing his fingers, "you see, when we were kids, before I developed my quirk, my sister always held my hand whenever I was upset, and it always made me feel better. And when I was going through therapy, and was hesitating to use my quirk because I was afraid of it … it gave me an idea."

Unclasping his fingers, Tenko put his hands in his pockets, "I gave myself the idea to adopt the mentality of 'I won't hurt my sister if I use my quirk'. I made that mistake once, and I promised myself never to do it again. So when I use my quirk, I always imagine my big sister holding my hands. And because I would never hurt her, I try to control my quirk as best I can. So if I imagine not hurting my sister … I don't hurt myself. And I think that's a mindset you can benefit from as well, Midoriya. Imagine holding your friend's hands when you use your quirk … and in no time, I think you'll overcome this mental barrier."

Izuku slowly nodded in confirmation, thinking to himself. He looked back up to ask another question - but then the phone in Tenko's pocket dinged, indicating that he had gotten a message. The three men looked down as Tenko brought the phone out of his pocket to look at, reading the message on the screen, and then letting out a small gasp.

"Oh! Oh, man, I forgot I had to meet up with Mic before my meeting with Nezu," He groaned, raising a hand to smack against his forehead as he gave the two on the bench an apologetic look, "I'm really sorry, Midoriya, All Might, but I probably need to get back before he starts screaming for me, and we don't need to have him shatter all the windows again."

"Of course, Young Tenko, it's alright!" All Might assured him, standing up with a smile, "we've taken up enough of your time as it is."

"Ah, don't be like that," He chuckled, "I'm always happy to see you, All Might. Er - do you mind if I text you about that case we were talking about earlier? I know Tsukauchi's got it covered, but I'm kind of curious to see your own input."

"Of course! I was actually going to ask if I could get a copy of that report."

"And Midoriya," Tenko turned to Izuku with a smile, "if the exercises I told you don't really help, you can have All Might text me, and I can send a few more alternative exercises you can try to overcome this block on your quirk. I'm really sorry that I can't come with you to help directly."

"N-no, you've - you've really helped me out a lot already," Izuku hastily got up as well, extending his hand again as Tenko took it and gave it a shake, "T-thank you so much for talking to me, Mr. Shimura."

"Oh, Tenko's fine," The teaching assistant laughed, giving him a firm handshake, "and besides, it's the least I can do. This is what I want to do, after all - helping students out with their quirks. And if you do get into UA, please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you need more help, okay? That's my job."

"Indeed," All Might chuckled, patting Tenko's shoulder again, "and perhaps the next time you two meet, he can show you pictures of his apartment."

"Oh, come on, All Might …" Tenko whined a bit, going red.

"I'm just saying! You probably have lots of my merchandise that Young Midoriya would love to have a look at."

"Yeah, but he doesn't need to know that! It's bad enough Hana constantly makes fun of me for it!"

Izuku chuckled a bit awkwardly, internally praying that All Might never saw his room.

After a few more laughs, Tenko went on his way, giving Izuku and All Might a parting wave as he headed back towards UA for his meetings. Izuku waved back to the teaching assistant as he rounded the corner and went out of sight, before his hand fell and All Might looked back around at him.

"So … do you believe that helped, Young Midoriya?" He asked softly, "I know that must not have been what you were expecting, but …"

"Uh … no, it wasn't," Izuku sighed a bit, glancing down at his hands again before shaking his head, "but I guess … well, I guess there's only one way to find out if that helped, right? We just need to go back to the beach and try out the exercises he told me."

"Indeed. In that case, I suppose we should head back now," All Might chuckled, patting Izuku's shoulder, and together they turned to start heading into the train station, to buy their tickets to head back to the beach, "we'll be arriving an hour before we said we would be back, but I'm sure Young Kendou and Young Uraraka won't complain. I imagine they've kept themselves pretty busy in our absence."

---

Well, this was just great.

It had been five hours since she arrived at the beach, and this was the third time the tiny yellow human pinball had made Itsuka eat shit.

"Come on, that can't be all you got!" Gran Torino cackled as she slammed face down into the ground, letting out a muffled grunt of pain as she tried to roll back onto her side - but it was kind of hard to do that when Gran suddenly slammed down hard on her back, making her yelp in pain as he landed on her hard enough to slam her back into the ground. Thankfully, the moment he blasted off her again, driving her further into the sand, she quickly flipped back onto her side and rolled onto her feet, her hands growing back to full size again as she defensively raised them to block her face.

That, however, was a pretty stupid thing to do, seeing as Gran decided to take that opportunity to use her hands as launch pads as well. Slamming hard into her left hand and blasting off again, Itsuka gasping as she was thrown off balance. And then he streaked back in to punch her in the stomach, making her double over and wheeze - and then landing hard on her upper back when she leaned down, driving her down to slam her face against the ground - and hard.

Correction. Fourth time she ate shit.

"Oooh," Ochako groaned in sympathy from her spot beside the little ring they had made, biting her lip slightly in worry at the sight of her friend flopped on the ground and not moving to get up, instead rolling onto her side while holding her stomach. Nighteye, who had been standing a bit beside the brown-haired girl, let out an unimpressed hum and crossed his arms as he gave her a cold look, ignoring Ochako throwing a dirty look at him again.

"Giving up?" He asked curtly to Itsuka, hearing her groaning as she pressed her forehead against the sand. "You haven't been able to even scratch Torino. I believe it's time to call it quits."

"Kendou, are you okay?" Ochako called to her, barely resisting the urge to flip off the pro hero beside her as she took a hesitant step forward.

"Mmgh," Itsuka grunted back in response, unable to move her head off the ground but weakly putting her hands on the ground to lift herself up. She could taste iron in her mouth, and once she managed to raise her head she spat out some blood, wincing at the sight of red tinged in her saliva. Once she was sure she could support her weight on one arm, she raised her hand to press against her nose to make sure it wasn't as broken as it felt, feeling relieved that it wasn't too painful to touch - just a little numb.

As she got up onto her knees, she became aware of the sound of footsteps running towards her, and she felt relieved as Ochako sank to her knees, helping Itsuka sit up. It was clear that her training partner realized there was no way Itsuka was getting up on her own. Glancing up at her, she took note of the panicked and angry look on Ochako's face, unable to stop herself from chuckling a bit.

"Wow," She coughed, wiping her lip and trying to sound nonchalant, "this fucking sucks."

"Tell me about it," Ochako muttered, looking around to glare at Nighteye again as she helped Itsuka up onto her knees, "are you okay, Kendou? Er - well, maybe that's a dumb question."

"Maybe a little, but yeah, I'm - I'm fine. I've taken hits like this before, I'll be okay."

"That's good to know!" Both girls turned to see Gran stop bouncing around on the mountains of garbage before landing back on the ground, taking a moment to stretch out his leg, a confident grin on his face as he observed Itsuka. Nighteye, meanwhile, continued to lean against the abandoned car and give Itsuka a disappointed look.

"We've gone three rounds," Gran chuckled gruffly, "and you haven't even tapped me once! Nighteye mentioned you were raised in a dojo, but I'm starting to wonder what exactly they've been teaching you!"

Itsuka grumbled at that taunt, knowing Gran was just trying to rile her up, and let Ochako move her so she could sit down on her butt, glad that the brown-haired girl had the foresight to bring a water bottle with her for Itsuka to greedily drink from.

This had been her life for the past five hours, ever since they had arrived on the beach and Nighteye introduced them to Gran Torino. It also didn't take long for him to be introduced as the man who taught All Might, who wanted to have a few rounds with Itsuka to see what she was made of as they went down to the beach and made an improvised ring for the old man and Itsuka to fight in. She had hesitantly agreed, mostly due to not trusting Nighteye's intentions but not wanting to look foolish in front of the man who had trained her own trainer, and assured Ochako that she would be okay sparring with him a few times until All Might got to the beach.

What then commenced was three utter curbstomps in Gran's favor, with the orange-haired girl not even able to land a hit as he bounced around like a manic pinball machine. Three fights that lasted over the course of five hours, and Itsuka's entire body felt like one giant bruise, and she wouldn't be surprised if she went home tonight and immediately had to lie down in an ice bath.

Honestly, she wouldn't be feeling so frustrated at the moment if she had gotten at least one hit in during the three fights they had - the skills she had mastered after years of hard work at the dojo was pretty much useless when her opponent was too fast for her to keep up with, and used that opportunity to hand her her ass. Ochako had been forced to stay on the sideline, wincing and watching her friend get the hell beat out of her by a cackling old man, while Nighteye made unimpressed comments on the side that made her want to throw hands with a guy twice her height.

"There's no need for this to go on anymore," He said as Itsuka took a heavy drink of water, being careful not to let the bottle touch the bruise starting to form near her mouth, "you've fought with her three times and she hasn't been able to touch you once. My point has been made, Torino."

"Has it?" Gran laughed as he straightened back up, cracking his fingers, "You had me spar with your pupil a few times before you called it - and he had the advantage of being hard to actually land a hit on. If Kendou here wants to have another go, I'd be more than happy to spar with her one more time."

"Torino," Nighteye got off the car to approach the small old man, looking annoyed, "it would prove absolutely nothing. You've sparred three times with Togata, and now you've sparred three times with Kendou. Togata was able to defeat you once, and Kendou has not. I was right to be concerned about her as All Might's successor, if she can't even give you a single scratch. Her quirk is simple enough that a toddler can master it, she's untrained and unremarkable, and I was hoping you would see that for yourself and help me make All Might see reason."

Ochako's glare intensified the longer Nighteye shittalked her friend, turning her head slowly in the direction of the thin man and clenching her fists tightly - if he didn't stop talking right this instant, the next fight wouldn't be between Itsuka and Gran. Thankfully, though, the older man scoffed a bit, and looked back up at Nighteye.

"You seem so sure about how the next match will go, but it hasn't happened yet," He noted, raising an eyebrow, "so let Kendou take a moment to rest before we get back to it. I'd rather do that than just write her off. Just because she hasn't been able to land a hit in yet doesn't mean she won't - I'm not invincible."

"Torino, can't you see -"

"- that All Might's making a mistake?"

Ochako and Itsuka blinked at the sudden change in the old man's tone - the somewhat cocky, sure of himself voice that he had been using for hours suddenly vanished, replaced by coldness and sternness. They turned to look at Gran, seeing him giving Nighteye an unimpressed look just as good as the one he had been giving Itsuka for hours, and then looked around at the orange-haired girl.

"Kid," He called to her, "if I give you a minute to get yourself together, would you be up for another round?"

"I -" Itsuka hesitated for a moment, while Ochako gave her a worried look - and then she nodded, raising her other hand to wipe some blood from her lip as she gave the old man a determined look, "- yes. I - I can go another round. Just - just give me a second."

"What would be the point?" Nighteye disdainfully asked, pushing his glasses up his nose while Ochako helped Itsuka sit back up. "Another fight will prove nothing. My point has already been proven - she's inadequate to be All Might's successor."

"You've already made up your mind on her," Gran shook his head, "I want to give her another chance."

NIghteye scoffed at that, but didn't argue anymore, instead turning on his heel to return to the spot he had been watching the fight while Gran continued to stretch. On the ground, the two girls glanced between the older men, while Ochako glared at Nighteye and bit her lip slightly as Itsuka sighed.

"What exactly is his problem with you?"

"Ah, well …" Itsuka hesitated to give her an answer to that, though - she knew exactly what Nighteye's problem with her was, but she wasn't exactly at liberty to say. As well, she couldn't help but feel a little distracted with how close Ochako was, and how she was pretty much leaning on her - normally Itsuka wouldn't mind such closeness with Ochako, the two girls usually having an arm around each other or jokingly hugging, but all it was doing right now was reminding her of how closely she had been wrapped around the brown-haired girl when they woke up that morning, and she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

Thankfully, Ochako didn't seem to be thinking about that right now, continuing to throw Nighteye a dirty look while clenching her fist.

"Comes onto the beach and throws a human pinball at you," She growled, "and gets shocked when you don't fight well because he threw you off guard. What a dickhead."

The curse made Itsuka blink a bit, taking her out of her embarrassment to look up at her friend, and then she let out a small giggle. Ochako blinked, and looked around at Itsuka in confusion.

"Uh - what?"

"Nothing, nothing," She waved her hand, still giggling, "just - y'know, three months of working on a beach with you, and I'm always so shocked whenever you swear."

"Oh, come on," Ochako laughed a bit, "I'm not some innocent nice girl. I curse."

"Oh, I know that - still though, I have to stop myself from gasping whenever you go off on one of your tangents. I'm tempted to bring a swear jar for you to fill."

"Please, don't," Ochako shook her head, "I'll go flat broke in a week. You know, unless we use it for just you and Deku, and I get to keep the money. That way I can put it in my savings."

"Ha! Sure, why not. A quarter for every swear. By the end of this you should have a hundred yen or so."

"Hm - well, best get started. Shit, fuck, goddamn, balls, ass."

Itsuka let out a mock theatrical gasp, putting a hand to her chest, and both girls giggled together at their antics. Once they got control of themselves, Itsuka let Ochako help her back to her feet, the brown-haired girl glancing at the bruises forming on her face, chest and arms, and felt her small smile from their giggling fall as she gave her a concerned look.

"Kendou, are you sure you want to play along with this?"

"I mean, not really," Itsuka shrugged, still smiling as she wiped her lip again - oh thank God, the cut there wasn't bleeding anymore - "but there's no way I'm just going to prove Nighteye right by standing down. Besides, Gran Torino over there's been whooping my ass all morning long, and he's right, I haven't even gotten a hit in yet. I can't just let him get away scott-free, I have my pride after all."

"Still -"

"Hon," Itsuka turned to give her an understanding look, which stopped Ochako in her tracks when she looked around at her, "honestly, I know this is stupid, and I'm being dumb. I don't have to fight him if I don't want to, I know. But Nighteye's already swung by to ruin my day once, and I'm not going to let him do it again. So I'm going to head back in there and throw the human pinball over there to the moon."

"Ha!" Gran laughed from his spot, "I'd love to see that!"

Itsuka rolled her eyes a bit, but still looked up at her friend as she patted Ochako's arm. She still looked unsure, glancing between Itsuka and Gran, but still relented and nodded, letting Itsuka slip her arm out from where Ochako had been holding it over her shoulders, and took a step back once she was sure Itsuka wasn't going to fall flat on her face again.

"Okay," She slowly nodded, "but he makes one wrong move, and I'm running in."

"Heh," Itsuka chuckled, "well, I'll be glad if you didn't - I've seen your form at the dojo, odds are if you hop in you're gonna end up punching me instead."

"Careful, smartass, or I'm gonna text Deku and tell him not to bring you coffee."

"So cruel!" She laughed, although her eye did twitch a bit - she'd completely forgotten to make herself a batch of coffee to bring with her this morning, and she was kind of dying at the moment without her caffeine.

"Anyway," Ochako took a few steps back, standing near the edge of the small ring and close to the stairs leading up to the parking lot, "I'll be over here. Try not to get your ass kicked this time."

"What," Itsuka smirked as she looked back at her, "no kiss for good luck?"

"Oh, please, drama queen - wait," Ochako blinked a bit, also looking around with a slight blush, "do you actually want a -?"

Itsuka tilted her head slightly, her smirk widening at the tinge of red on her friend's cheeks, and Ochako caught on that she was messing with her, letting out a small snort as she flipped the orange-haired girl off. Letting out a small laugh, Itsuka took a moment to hop up and down again, looking back around at Gran Torino as he gave that weird wide smirk as he got himself ready - and then she let out a small sigh.

She let her hands grow back to their full size using her quirk, and she lifted up her fists to hold in front of her face, ready for the fight.

"Okay," She nodded, trying to feel determined as Gran lifted his arms in the air, "let's do -"

Before Itsuka could blink, however, Gran moved. One moment he was in front of her, with his arms raised up in the air in a stretch - and then he was behind her, kicking her right in the back and making her gasp out as she was shoved forward unexpectedly.

"Good! I've run out of patience!"

With a cackle, Gran leapt off of her and began bouncing around again. She quickly whipped her head back and forth, trying to keep track of the tiny old man as he zoomed around the garbage. Her hands, tense and ready to strike the moment she saw him, raised defensively as she tried to follow where he was moving, but before she could blink, she felt a pair of feet slam into her right palm and push her back a bit.

Gritting her teeth, Itsuka swung her right hand towards the ground, hoping that Gran would be carried with it - but the old man had already bounced off, and his fists slammed into her back, making her yell in pain as she was sent flying off her feet. Luckily she managed to recover in time, throwing her large hands to the ground to flip herself around and back onto her feet, panting a bit and raising her hands defensively.

"Oooh," Gran chuckled in an impressed tone, "you recover quick. But your defense -"

BAM

"- is sloppy!"

As Itsuka was thrown off her feet again, Gran cackled as he continued to bounce off the garbage. Itsuka quickly let out a quiet pant as she rolled onto her feet, keeping on her toes as she bounced left and right, trying to make out the yellow blur zooming around her. She knew that in this fight, speed was not on her side - and despite being a tiny old man, he hit like a truck. He wasn't going for large hits to her head, but to her back, her side, her stomach, her enlarged hands. He was using her as a springboard while inflicting minor damage.

But that was his strategy, Itsuka narrowed her eyes as she caught sight of the tiny old man landing hard on a nearby fridge, denting it as he bounced off again. Death by a thousand cuts. A single hit hurt but not too much, but he kept connecting every hit. Eventually her body would be too damaged, and it would give out on her if she took too much damage to properly fight back. It was the strategy Gran's been using, and he hasn't adjusted it in their last fights because it's always worked.

And she'd been trying to use her training and her grandpa's training, but it was clear that Gran could read her movements like a book. So ... she needed to change it up, be reckless. Catch the old man off guard.

As she grunted in pain from Gran slamming his boots into her back again, Itsuka quickly looked around and - yes! There he was!

This time, Itsuka didn't take her eyes off of him, raising her hands defensively. He was bouncing around, on the ground, off a fridge, off the car, to her left, off a TV - and now he was flying towards her enlarged hand, boots out.

Itsuka let him approach, letting him think that he was about to use her hand as a springboard - and then, the moment his boots were about to connect, her hand shrunk.

"Oh?" Gran raised an eyebrow in intrigue as his springboard suddenly vanished, and Itsuka let out a yell as her other hand came down over the pro hero, intending to grab him and slam the tiny old man into the ground - only for Gran to suddenly change trajectory, flipping his boots to land on her chest and bounce off.

As Itsuka gasped, air escaping her lungs, she felt him kick her in the back. Then the stomach. Then the back again. Then her face. Then her right leg.

The moment she hit the ground on her side, Itsuka let out a small growl, more than a little frustrated that her plan backfired - and then her gaze flicked up, and her eyes widened.

"Now then," Gran grunted as he landed on the same fridge he had bounced off of before, grinning as he shot back down towards her, "let's -"

Before he could even finish that threat, though, Itsuka suddenly scrambled to her feet, and let out a small yell as she slid underneath a car parked beside her. Scoffing, Gran bounced off the ground, then another dresser, and then flipping through the air until he was above the car his opponent was hiding under.

"Come now, you can't hide from me from under -!"

BAM

Gran's eyebrows shot up as the car was suddenly punched up into the air, right towards him. He could tell that Itsuka had enlarged her hands and used that strength to send it flying towards him - but this wasn't something he couldn't use to his advantage. With a grin, Gran slammed against the hood of the car, and bounced off it. Thanks to the force of his kick, the car was sent flying over Itsuka, being sent straight towards -

- and that was when Gran realized his mistake, eyes widening as the car was sent flying straight towards Ochako.

"Look out!"

Ochako let out a small gasp as she realized she didn't have time to dive out of the way of the car, feeling like a deer in the headlights as the car slammed once into the ground and bounced off right towards her, raising her hands over her face as car seemed posed to slam straight into her -

WHOOSH

She let out a squeak as a sudden burst of wind blasted right by her, knocking her down onto her back as she squeezed her eyes shut, ready to be crushed by the car - but after a few seconds, she suddenly realized that not only was she still alive, but the sounds of the car crashing down on the ground suddenly vanished. Feeling a bit confused, she squinted one eye open from her spot on the ground - and then both her eyes blew wide open as she realized who was currently lifting up the car and preventing it from collapsing on her.

"What …" All Might growled, straining as he lifted the car above the ground, and then tossed it aside into the closest mountain of garbage, where it collided with the ground with a loud crash that made everyone present jump a bit in surprise, "... is going on here?!"

As Ochako stared blankly ahead, slowly realizing that she had come very close to being crushed, she heard the sound of footsteps hurrying towards her, and looked around to see Izuku running as fast as he could towards her, eyes widened in panic as he made a beeline towards her. As All Might turned towards Nighteye and Gran, he skidded to a stop just before her, falling to his knees and grabbing her arm as he hastily put down his coffee cup.

"Occhan, are you okay?!"

"I - uh -"

Ochako continued to stare blankly ahead, the shock slowly fading away so she was aware of how hard her heart had been hammering, but still reached up to put her hand on Izuku's wrist to let him know she was okay. Hastily, Izuku helped Ochako sit up, the brown-haired girl suddenly aware of how much he was shaking and the tears that had started welling in his eyes, and made sure to pat his wrist to assure him. She heard the sound of footsteps running towards her again, and looked up to see Itsuka hurrying over, eyes wide and tears beginning to build as she collapsed on her knees before her.

"I - I'm so sorry, Uraraka," She stammered, "I didn't - I didn't know - I -"

"Do you do nothing right?!"

The three teenagers on the ground quickly looked around as Nighteye stormed up to Itsuka, looking angrier than they had ever seen him as he pointed an accusing finger down into her face. At the sight of the pro hero, Izuku's mouth thinned into a line, immediately understanding what was going on here.

"You almost killed her!" Nighteye barked, making Itsuka flinch. "You were reckless! How do you expect to be a hero when you don't even pay attention to your surroundings?!"

"I - I -"

"You could have gotten her killed!" He continued to reprimand her, ignoring Ochako coming out of her shock and beginning to look thunderously up at the pro hero, while Izuku clenched his fist and glared up as well. "You could have gotten her killed because of your sloppiness! You're inexperienced and incompetent! If you knew what was good for them -"

"Enough, Nighteye," Gran shook his head, jumping down from where he had landed on the garbage heap and raising a hand to the very angry looking All Might, silently requesting a moment to speak before the Symbol of Peace could smash both their heads together, "that wasn't her fault."

"How on earth was that not her -?!"

"Nighteye," Gran interrupted sharply, "shut up for once. I'm the one who sent the car flying towards Uraraka. That was my fault. Kendou," The orange-haired girl, with tears continuing to build in her eyes, looked around at the old man as he gave her a comforting look, "based on the trajectory of that car when you sent it up into the air, if I hadn't kicked it, it would've just come down on the garbage heap. I'm the one who kicked it in Uraraka's direction. That was an accident that I made, so don't blame yourself for this."

Nighteye, however, wasn't convinced, clenching his fists as he wheeled around at Itsuka. "But if she hadn't -!"

"You're biased," Gran narrowed his eyes as he looked back at Nighteye, the taller pro hero shutting his mouth and wheeling around as Gran scooped his cane up from where he had left it propped against a barrel and pointed it at him, "completely against her. You act like every step she takes is one step backwards, but I happen to remember your own protégé back in his first year - at the sports festival. 'The student who flashed the world', I believe the tabloids referred to him as."

While Ochako and Itsuka blinked at the weird nickname, Izuku felt his brow furrow, as though remembering something unusual, but he didn't have time to comment as Gran continued his reprimanding.

"Your protégé made an idiot of himself," The old man reminded Nighteye, "and yielded poor results at the sports festival. He didn't even make it to the third round. And not to mention that he was a sloppy student as well, as I recall when you sent me notes about him. And yet, you still gave him a chance, and took him on because you saw potential in him. The only reason Togata is the hero he is today is because you took a risk with him, and it paid off. Without you, he probably wouldn't be anywhere near ready to replace All Might."

"Where exactly are you going with this?" Nighteye said in a low voice, narrowing his eyes while All Might glowered at him.

"You're comparing a teenager who's had years of experience working with his quirk, a very complex quirk I might add, and someone that you trained personally," Gran tapped his cane against the ground, "with a middle-school student who hasn't had any experience and is just getting started. You act like this girl should already be at Togata's level, when at her age he couldn't even make his way through a wall. You've convinced yourself that she's inadequate, when you just haven't given her a chance."

"But -"

"You dragged me here to convince me that All Might was making a mistake in choosing his successor," Gran raised his eyebrow, "but he isn't. The girl definitely needs training, and experience out in the field, but she'll make a great hero. Because like you with Togata, All Might is giving her a chance to prove herself. I support her as his successor."

Nighteye sputtered at that, about to open his mouth again to protest that - but then All Might stepped forward, drawing everyone's attention to him. The three middle-school students on the ground couldn't see his face since his back was to him, but glancing over at Nighteye's expression was all they needed to know that he wasn't smiling at the moment.

"Mirai," All Might crossed his arms, "you and I are old friends. Despite our schism, I know that we always will be. I respect you. But I have made my decision, and you will need to respect it. With that said, you will not come to this beach to bother Young Kendou again. If I see you again and you're trying to pull this crap, I will be sending you away with much harsher words than I am right now. And if you even think of sending any of your sidekicks to spy for you, I will be recommending they find another agency to work at - one that won't waste their talents."

Nighteye stared at him for a few moments, his face falling slightly - for a moment, he looked genuinely hurt, and remorseful - but then he hardened his expression, and spun on his heel, moving away from the small ring that Itsuka and Gran had been sparring in. The three teenagers, All Might and Gran watched as he stormed his way up the stairs to the parking lot, evidently realizing that his presence at the beach wasn't wanted by anyone there.

As he left, All Might maintained his muscle form until his old friend was out of sight, and then let out a sigh and instantly deflated.

"Can someone please tell me what's been going on?" He managed to cough out as he waved away the steam blowing off him, wiping some blood from his lip as he looked down at Gran. "Sensei, what are you doing here?"

"Well," Gran leaned slightly on his cane, "a few days ago, Nighteye swung by my place, telling me about how you were making the biggest mistake of your life by handing - er, making someone that wasn't Togata your successor. He insisted I accompany him to the beach today to spar with the girl, and see how she compares with Togata."

"What on - and you agreed to that?"

"Well, can you blame me?" Gran chuckled, raising his cane to poke All Might in the chest, "I get one letter from you telling me that you selected your successor three months ago, and then absolutely nothing after that. I had to make sure Nighteye wasn't being his usual jackass self and that you weren't screwing anything up."

"By beating up my student?"

"Well, it worked on you, didn't it?"

All Might grumbled at that, shuddering at the memories of his own training with his teacher (or, as he remembered it, spending day after day getting the absolute shit kicked out of him), and then looked over at the car laying on its side against the hill of trash, "And that?"

"Well, that was a mistake on my part, I didn't lie about that," The old man admitted, scratching his beard sheepishly, "the girl caught me by surprise by sliding under it and punching it into the air, and I wasn't looking where I was kicking it. Didn't even realize it was heading for Uraraka until it was too late. Kendou," He called to the girl still kneeling on the ground and looking down with tears in her eyes, "I meant what I said to Nighteye, that wasn't your fault. It was mine. And Uraraka, I'm sorry about putting you in danger. I have no excuses."

"I-it's okay," Ochako shook her head, Izuku still holding onto her shoulder and arm as he tried to calm himself down.

"Are - are you sure?" He asked, still shaking a bit. "You - you were in serious trouble, Occhan, I didn't - if All Might didn't -"

"Deku, I swear, I'm okay. Just … just a bit in shock, that's all."

"I - Occhan, it's - it's okay if you -" Izuku stuttered, still evidently panicked, and let go of her shoulder to wipe at his eyes, his voice cracking a bit, "- you almost - you - I didn't -"

"Deku," She said in an assuring voice (a bit funny, she thought, that she was the one who nearly died and needed to comfort everyone else), "I'm okay. I swear."

As he tried to calm down, Ochako turned back towards Itsuka as she stared at the ground, Ochako noticing her own hand shaking.

"Kendou? Are you okay?"

"..."

"Kendou …?" Ochako wrinkled her brow in worry, while Izuku looked up from where he had his hand over his eyes.

"... I'm sorry," The orange-haired girl muttered, continuing to stare at the ground, "I'm - I'm so sorry, Uraraka."

"Wha - Kendou -"

"I didn't think that I was - I'm - I'm so sorry."

Ochako let out a small sigh, glancing around at Izuku. She could tell that her best friend was still in a bit of shock himself, his eyes a bit glazed over as he slowly tried to work himself out of shock, but she could feel him shaking, based on the hand that had been on hers for the last few minutes. Honestly, at any other time she'd find it kind of hilarious that she was the one who recovered the best towards her being almost crushed by a car, but now wasn't the time for jokes.

… or was it? She had to stand by and fume as Nighteye dragged Itsuka through the dirt all morning, and now everyone was obviously miserable. Maybe they needed a small pick-me-up before she got to comforting them. And they obviously needed to get out of this funk, so …

With a small sigh, Ochako sat up properly, raising one hand to push some of her hair out of her face - and then brought her hand up, and swiftly down on the top of Itsuka's head, giving her a small bop.

"Ow!" The orange-haired girl squeaked in surprise and pain, looking up in shock as Ochako brought her hand back up and tried hard not to giggle when Izuku jumped a bit and looked between both girls in surprise and a bit of fear, as though he had just walked straight into the path of two wild animals about to fight over a meal, "What the f-?!"

"Sorry," Ochako shook her head, "but you were both being really mopey, so I needed to do something to get your attention."

"And you decided to do that," Itsuka rubbed the offended spot while pouting a bit, "by trying to break my head open?"

"I mean, it's not like you haven't bopped me or Deku before. A few times, actually."

Itsuka opened her mouth to retort, and then paused, blinking, and let out a watery sigh as she reluctantly smiled. "Okay, you got me there."

Both girls giggled a bit while Izuku sighed in relief, and Ochako scooted a bit closer to Itsuka, Izuku taking his cue and letting go of her arm so she could kneel down beside her.

"Listen," She said with a small smile, "it was an accident, Kendou, and it wasn't your fault. I'm fine, I'm okay, All Might got here in time. Everyone's okay."

"I know, but …"

"Kendou," Ochako smirked a bit, raising her hands to put on her shoulders and making the orange-haired girl look up at her, "if you keep blaming yourself for this, I'm going to bop you on the head again. It was just a stupid accident. Not your fault."

Ituska pouted at her for the small threat, and then let out another sigh as she shook her head, raising herself slightly from where she had been leaning down.

"... you're sure you're okay?"

"Positive. And that's all I'm going to say about it today. I'm fine. I'm okay."

"... okay. Okay." Itsuka exhaled, raising a hand to try and wipe the tears from her eyes, "But I'm gonna be giving you a big hug right freaking now."

"That's more than fine with me," She giggled, letting Itsuka scrub some of the tears out of her eyes, and once she was done she sat up to wrap her arms around Ochako's neck, bringing her in for a tight hug. Ochako let out a small giggle and wrapped her own arms around Itsuka's midsection, resting her chin on her friend's shoulder as they embraced. Izuku sat back as well, keeping quiet so the girls could have their moment, with Itsuka clearly needing a little cuddle and Ochako more than happy to serve.

As Izuku reached over to the coffee cup he put down to comfort Ochako, however, Itsuka's still teary gaze flickered to it.

"Is that coffee?" She asked in a small voice, making Izuku blink.

"H-huh? Uh - yeah."

"What kind?"

"Er … well, I kinda panicked when the barista asked for my order, and I kinda just - uh - picked the first thing I thought of. It's, uh … it's black coffee."

"Mmm," She grunted a bit, unhooking one of her arms from around Ochako to reach out to him, making tiny grabbing motions, "can I have the rest?"

Izuku blinked at that, glancing down at the cup in his head and then back up to her, and then sighed. Well, he had been taking little sips of it, and it was probably cold now, but he didn't want to just waste All Might's money by tossing it away. So he reached out and gave her the cup.

"Er - just to warn you, it's probably -"

Alas, before Izuku could warn her about it being cold, Itsuka unwrapped herself from around Ochako with a sniff, letting her sit back, and raised the coffee cup to her lips to start chugging it down. If she minded that it was cold, she didn't show it, tilting her head up as she took it all in one go, and let out a small gasp as she finally drank it all in one gulp. Wiping her lip with the back of her hand, she tossed the empty cup into the trash can beside them as she sighed again and wiped her eyes one more time.

"Okay," She nodded, "okay, I feel a little better now. I wanna say I'm sorry again, Uraraka, but I have a feeling you'll just bop me on the head if I say it again."

"Honestly, yeah. Yeah, I will."

"Okay, okay, in that case," She smiled at last, "thank you, Uraraka."

The two girls shared another smile as Izuku sat back, letting out his own small sigh as he also grinned at them. He was happy that Ochako was okay, and Itsuka wasn't blaming himself for what happened. However, before any of them could say anything else, All Might walked over, joined by Gran Torino.

"Young Kendou," All Might sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and exhaling through his nose, "I really am sorry that you had to go through Nighteye's … well … Nighteye-ness. I swear, that is never going to happen again. If he turns back up here, or confronts you anywhere else, please text me and I'll come and deal with it."

"Yeah … yeah. Okay, All Might."

"With that said," He shook his head, frowning, "I'll be honest with you three, after what you two had to deal with this morning and what I walked in on, I'm not quite in the mood for training today. I think it'll be better to call it a half-day. Young Kendou, I encourage you to go home and unwind a bit, alright? Trust me, I know from experience that Gran Torino here doesn't pull his punches, so you should take some time to rest and recover. A hot bath works wonders, trust me. As for you, Young Uraraka and Young Midoriya, you both should -"

"W-wait a second, All Might!"

The pro hero faltered when Izuku suddenly spoke up in a voice a bit louder than what they were used to. Everyone turned to look at him as he sat up, and then blinked when he realized that he interrupted his mentor, squeaking and raising a hand to his mouth.

"Oh, uh - s-sorry, All Might -"

"No, it's fine, Young Midoriya," All Might chuckled, waving his hand, "what is it?"

"I just - uh -" Izuku hesitated, glancing down at his open hands, and then letting out a sigh as he looked back up at his coach. "- I - I understand that you want to send us home, and - and I won't complain about that. It's just - well - before we head home, I wanna give, uh - T-Tenko's advice a shot. At least once."

"Tenko?" Gran raised an eyebrow, glancing back up at All Might. "Is that where you were this morning?"

"Yes," All Might nodded, and scratched his cheek, "it's a long story, Sensei, but we were getting some advice from Young Tenko to help Young Midoriya overcome a - well, a mental barrier that's been interfering with his training. But Young Midoriya, are you sure you'd like to try it today? I wouldn't blame you for wanting to take the rest of the day off."

"I'm sure," Izuku immediately nodded, determination filling his face as he clenched a fist, "I'm already behind. At least - I want to do it at least once if I have to take the rest of today off. I've wasted enough time, I need to catch up at once."

The way he said that, unknown to Izuku, made Itsuka and Ochako blink as they looked up at where he had sat up, and then back at each other. The way he had said that … it reminded them of what they talked about last night before bed, about Izuku's weird behavior and their thought of what exactly he's been doing when they weren't on the beach - but for now, they kept their mouths shut. No need to bring it up in front of All Might, and if they had the rest of the day off, they would talk to him about it later.

"Well … if you're sure …" All Might tapped his foot once, obviously conflicted, but then let out a small sigh as he buffed back to his true form, "... very well, young man. We'll head over to the usual spot and give Young Tenko's advice a try. Young Kendou, Young Uraraka, if you two wanted to get going while we -"

"No," Itsuka shook her head at once, getting up alongside Ochako, "we'll be leaving together. We don't mind staying for a bit longer."

Izuku glanced between them, and smiled when the two girls gave him a thumbs up for encouragement. With that decided, the small group began to walk over to the usual spot Izuku would use to practice his quirk, with Gran intrigued enough to walk along with them to see what was going on.

Once they got down to the water, Izuku moved to his usual spot, glancing around as All Might sat down on the tire with Gran standing beside him. Ochako and Itsuka, meanwhile, stood together, looking a bit intrigued and concerned by what Izuku was going to do now that he got this mysterious advice, and the boy glanced at All Might as the pro hero leaned back.

"Alright, Young Midoriya," He gestured to him, "whenever you're ready."

Izuku nodded in confirmation, and then looked back at his target, letting out a small sigh as he looked at the car parked in the sand, and raised his arms and spread his legs, closing his eyes.

Tenko had recommended not thinking of anger, fear, and aggression to use his quirk - that had been Izuku's mistake. Trying to draw on the emotions he had felt when he used his quirk before was a double-edged blade; sure, he was focusing on what he had felt then, but being afraid and angry didn't exactly help him out with trying to casually use his quirk. No, what Tenko had advised was to focus on something else. What Tenko had recommended. A scenario where the only way he could do anything was by using his quirk.

And that was …

For some reason, once he had managed to stuff down the thoughts of a young Katsuki injured on the ground, and the horrible scar on his mom's arm, he thought of something that happened … about only twenty minutes ago now. He remembered arriving at the beach, talking and laughing with All Might as the pro hero joked about Tenko's treasure horde of All Might merchandise, and as they had gotten to the stairs leading down to the beach, he had looked out to see -

- to see Ochako about to be crushed by the car.

He hadn't had much time to react, and All Might had immediately buffed up and flew down to save her, but Izuku had frozen on the top stair. Seeing his best friend, his oldest friend, in such danger had made his stomach lurch violently, and - and for a moment, before Izuku had even thought, he had raised his hands. It was as if he had been trying to stop the car by sheer telekinetic force, but seeing her in danger had panicked him. And now …

… now he understood what Tenko had been telling him.

"There's no way you can make it to save Occhan. There's no way you'll make it in time. But there is one thing you can do. All you can do - is raise your hand and fire off a blast of lightning."

Imagining Ochako in danger … of being slammed into the dirt by that car … imagining raising his hands, shooting out a bolt of lightning to slam the car away … to protect her …

And then Izuku felt his palms and forearms tingling.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, and there, buzzing across both his arms, were flickered of green electricity, sparks shooting out of his palms as the lightning moved up to his shoulders, humming and flashing.

Itsuka and Ochako let out twin gasps of excitement, and All Might pumped his fist with a large grin while Gran raised an eyebrow, but they stayed silent as Izuku shook a bit in surprise at the sight of lightning on his arms. Still, the green-haired boy tried to concentrate as he looked back up at the car, raising his arms and trying to focus on firing off a shot as he took a deep breath -

- but before he could fire, the electricity buffered, and then completely died off, leaving Izuku's arms bare as he blinked down at them.

"Oh," Ochako furrowed her brow, taken out of it - but at least Izuku wasn't upset about it.

"Okay!" He muttered excitedly, clenching his fists slightly, "Okay, okay, okay. That's - that's better than nothing."

"Indeed," All Might nodded, starting to get up from his seat with a wide and relieved smile on his face, "this is a great development, Young Midoriya - I'll have to let Young Tenko know that his advice was sound. Now then -"

"W-wait, let me - let me try again," Izuku quickly requested, trying not to sound too pleading as he looked around at his mentor, "I - I think I nearly had it, I know what I have to do. Just - just one more time."

All Might raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged and nodded anyway, sitting back down on the tire while Gran tapped his cane against the sand. Itsuka and Ochako also glanced at each other, and hastily decided to cover their ears, just in case things got loud.

Taking another deep breath, Izuku raised his arms again, palms up, and closed his eyes tightly. This time, instead of Katsuki or his mom, he envisioned the look on Ochako's face as the car approached her, about to crush her, and inhaled, then exhaled. He imagined, when the car was overtop her, Ochako frozen under its shadow, he would raise his hands up, a bolt of lightning streaking out and smashing against the vehicle, sending it flying away from Ochako. He imagined saving Ochako's life as repayment for her friendship over the years.

He imagined saving Ochako.

He Imagined saving her.

He … imagined … saving … Ochak-

BOOM

Izuku let out a gasp of surprise and pain as a bolt of lightning emerged out of his right palm, shooting out quickly and slamming against the car. As the loud bang made him jump, Izuku leapt back in surprise and shock as his eyes widened, realizing that he had done it. On the side, Itsuka and Ochako also jumped out of their skin from the sudden display of power (they had seen Izuku's arms flicker with lightning for a second before the bolt of lightning shot out), and All Might immediately leapt to his feet, aiming his hand and flicking his fingers together to send off a gust of wind that put out the fire that immediately started as the car rolled onto its side from the impact.

For a moment, everyone on the beach was quiet, wincing slightly at the loud ringing in their ears - and then they became aware of Izuku muttering something. Their attention turned to him as he stared at the ground, speaking quietly enough no one could pick up what he was saying - and then he suddenly threw his fist up into the air, looking around at his friends with a wide grin and visible excitement.

"I did it!" He cheered, jumping in celebration. Ochako was quickly infected by his happiness, cheering as well as she also threw her fists in the air, and Itsuka laughed as she gave Izuku an impressed round of applause. All Might laughed bombastically as well as he put his hands on his hips, obvious pride on his face, and Gran shook his head at their antics, although there was a hint of a smile on his face.

"Deku, this is great!" Ochako celebrated, "You did it!"

"Yeah," Itsuka giggled a bit, giving the happy boy a big grin, "you finally got it, Midoriya. You finally got to fff…ire."

Ochako blinked at that, hearing Itsuka suddenly trail off, and looked around to see the orange-haired girl's happy and proud look fading away, staring down at Izuku's chest. For some reason, realization and panic filled Itsuka's face - and then Ochako suddenly smelled smoke.

"Fire!" Itsuka cried as All Might blinked and looked around at Izuku as well. "Midoriya, you're on fire!"

"Huh?" Izuku's happy look faded, feeling confused - and then he felt something hot poke his chest. Glancing down, he let out a yelp of shock at the small licks of flame starting to spread across his shirt, probably from one of the sparks that had come off the lightning he just fired off. As Ochako gasped in horror at the sight, Izuku quickly batted at the flames, but before either girl could move forward to assist him, or All Might could flick some wind at him to blow away the flames, he turned right around, obviously in panic, and charged straight into the water.

The four on the beach watched in surprise and horror as Izuku continued to pat the shirt as he ran, until the water was up to his waist and he immediately dived into the water, the waves slamming straight into him and submerging him. It was thankful that Izuku's arms were no longer sparking with electricity, or they would've just watched him cook himself in the water.

"Deku!" Ochako called out to him, still panicked as Izuku poked his head out of the water with a loud gasp, managing to get back to his feet despite the strong waves pushing into him. "Are you okay?!"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine!" He shouted back, starting to waddle back to the shore, only to yelp again when another wave slammed into his back, carrying him face down back into the water. The girls watched as he trudged out of the ocean, coughing and spitting out some salt water with a grossed-out expression, and letting out a small, defeated sigh as he looked down at his wet clothes.

"Man," He groaned, "and just when I thought I could be happy that I actually used my quirk, I set myself on fire and now I really need a towel."

"Are you alright, Young Midoriya?" All Might asked, jogging over and plucking a piece of seaweed off his shoulder, throwing it back into the water, "I can go grab you the spare clothes you keep in my truck - I parked it on the sidewalk of the beach this morning before I flew over to meet with you at the Kendous."

"Y-yeah, thank you, All Might," Izuku nodded, shivering slightly as he glanced down at the wet white t-shirt with a few holes burned into it. He let out a small sigh - this was his favorite workout shirt, but he couldn't be too mad about it. Realizing that he should probably take off the wet shirt before he chafed, he grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt, not really putting much thought into it, and began to lift it up.

"Okay," Itsuka sighed as she and Ochako turned to watch All Might jogging towards his truck, moving slightly faster than they expected, and then turned to look back at Izuku, "so All Might'll grab you your spare clothes, and we caaaaaan …"

... oh.

As one might have predicted, Itsuka and Ochako both turned around to look at Izuku at the same time, to make sure he was okay and the fire hadn't left any burns - and got a good look at his bare chest and stomach as he struggled to get the wet shirt over his head. Itsuka's initial concerns about making sure he was okay trailed off as her eyes automatically went down, widening slightly and suddenly feeling a bit hot under the collar as her mouth zipped closed. Ochako, meanwhile, was the exact opposite as her mouth dropped open slightly, all of her pride over Izuku shooting off a blast of lightning and worries about him catching on fire blew away in her head like air escaping a balloon.

Both girls momentarily enraptured by the sight before them, Ochako and Itsuka gulped as their faces suddenly felt quite hot, glancing down and seeing water dripping down from his ... okay, when the fuck did he get so well toned?! Ochako felt like she was screaming internally as she tried to wrap her head around the fact that the last time she had seen her childhood friend shirtless, it had been at the public pool when they were ten, and he had been thin as a noodle, and now he had - he had abs, her eyes kept trailing down towards his pelvis where trails of water dripped down his abs before it was absorbed in the waistband of his pants, and her mind was going to a very inconvenient place as her cheeks continued to feel uncomfortably hot.

As for Itsuka, she gulped as her gaze flickered up to his arms, feeling her own cheeks start going a bit red as she saw him unintentionally flex as he struggled to get the shirt over his head. For some reason, she was suddenly feeling very thirsty, grabbing the neck of her shirt and giving it a small tug as she realized how hot it was, even though there was still a cool wind blowing into her.

In summary, while Ochako was thinking 'whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck' in an increasingly panicked tone, Itsuka reluctantly thought 'hamina hamina hamina hamina'.

"Okay," Izuku grunted as he finally managed to get the shirt over his head, holding it in his hands and unaware of Ochako's eyes being glued on his chest, and Itsuka's eyes tracing his toned biceps, "that was a lot more difficult to get off than I was thinking it would be. So, uh, I guess I'm heading up to the bathroom ...?"

He trailed off, however, when he finally looked up and realized that his training partners' attention was no longer on his face, and felt a bit confused - what were they looking at?

"Uh … guys?" He asked unsurely, glancing between the two girls while they soaked in the sight before them, but at the sound of his voice, they both came out of their trances. Ochako let out a weak noise that sounded like something between a squeak, a giggle and a grunt, and quickly glanced away, awkwardly coughing and looking anywhere but at her best friend; meanwhile, Itsuka straightened up, quickly clearing her throat and glancing away as well, looking around so Izuku didn't see how her entire head looked like it was on fire with how her cheeks matched a similar shade to her orange hair -

- and her eyes immediately met Gran's, who had been standing there in silence the entire time, and raised a knowing eyebrow with a smirk as she comically paled, realizing that the guy who had kicked the crap out of her all morning saw her openly ogling Izuku.

Oh god, Itsuka quietly thought with a quiet groan, if you're there, please smite me right fucking now.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for All Might to come back with dry clothes for Izuku ("I have returned with a change of clothes and a towel!"), letting him excuse himself to the bathroom to get changed into dry clothes, and giving Itsuka and Ochako a chance to calm down from … whatever the hell that was. Once Izuku came back, drying his hair with the towel and back in high spirits from his success, practically skipping across the beach in his happiness that he managed to fire off a blast of lightning, All Might formally excused the three of them, wanting to show Gran around the beach a bit to show him what they still needed to do.

As All Might and Gran walked off, and Izuku turned to lead the two girls back up to the parking lot, however, Ochako and Itsuka exchanged a small glance. It was apparent that they were both thinking of the same thing, and knowing that now was the perfect opportunity to bring it up, Itsuka cleared her throat.

"Hold on a sec, Midoriya."

"Hm?" Izuku looked back at her, still smiling. "What's up? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's, uh - everything's fine. It's just …" Itsuka hesitated again, and then sighed and decided that it would be better to do this now. Sitting down in the sand, she glanced up at the green-haired boy, and patted the spot next to her expectantly.

Izuku furrowed his brow in confusion, but still got the message, grunting as he sat down in the sand beside her. Ochako was quick to join them, and soon the three of them sat together in a small circle in the sand, enjoying the cool wind blowing through their hair.

"So … Midoriya," Itsuka began, wincing slightly as she tried to think on the fly how to go about this, "we're really happy that you've figured out what's going on with your quirk. It's great."

"Uh … okay?" Izuku was feeling more than a little confused now, glancing between them.

"It's just …" She hesitated again, glancing at Ochako, and then sighed, "... we just wanted to know if you were … well … okay, you know what, fuck it," She shook her head, looking up at Izuku, "is there something you've been doing?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, crossing his legs slightly as he glanced between Itsuka and Ochako. "What - what do you mean, Kendou?"

"..."

"..."

Both girls stayed quiet for a moment, and then exchanged a small look. As Itsuka slowly nodded at her, Ochako let out a small sigh, realizing that she would have to be the one to start this since she technically brought it up last night - and then took a deep breath. She remembered what Itsuka said last night, about being gentle instead of being interrogative, and nodded back to her friend as she turned back to Izuku.

"Deku," She said in a quiet voice, "you've been overworking yourself, haven't you?"

The girls got their answer pretty much instantaneously - the confused look on Izuku's face immediately faded away, his eyes widening slightly in panic, and he quickly straightened up, glancing away as though it were suddenly hard to look at them as he tried to will his face to look blank.

"I - uh - overworking? What do -"

"Deku," Ochako slumped over a bit, giving him a small pout - not the Danger Pout, but a more adorable, sad pout that she knew would break through his defenses easily, "I'm not dumb. I know you've been going out for runs when everyone was asleep."

Izuku winced at that.

"And ordering exercise equipment."

He turned his gaze towards the ground.

"We're not angry at you," She made clear for him, although that was only technically the truth - she was definitely angry when it had been brought up last night, but not so much anymore now that she was talking it out with him, "we just - we wanna make sure you aren't doing something dumb."

There was a small silence for the trio, the two girls watching Izuku as he continued to study the ground for a few moments, guilt written plainly on his face - and then he let out a small sigh, and slowly reached into his back pocket. Slowly, he pulled out his notebook, putting it in his lap before flipping it open to a specific page, and, after another moment of hesitation, he extended the notebook to Itsuka, offering for her to take it.

Wrinkling her brow, Itsuka accepted the notebook, turning it around so she and Ochako could read, and the first thing that caught their eye was the title:

'Proposed Independent Training Menu'.

… oh boy.

Feeling their lips thin into a straight line, Itsuka and Ochako leaned forward and began to read the page's contents, Ochako reading over Itsuka's shoulder. Izuku, waiting for them to finish reading the page before they would blow up on him, simply chose to sit there and wait for the inevitable explosion, closing his eyes and waiting as the two girls read the details of what he had been doing.

Finally, Itsuka closed the book, and Izuku glanced away - he could feel Ochako staring at him, but he knew it wasn't a good look.

"Midoriya," Itsuka quietly said as she handed him back the notebook, "let me explain something to you, okay?"

Izuku said nothing.

"There's a reason why All Might is having us follow the AIm to Pass plan," She told him, "he specifically adjusted each of our plans with our developments in mind. And he adjusts it all the time to make sure that we're on the right track. What you're doing right now," She tapped the notebook in his lap, "isn't improving yourself. It's just adding more and more work. If you don't stick to the Aim to Pass plan, it's going to have the opposite effect of what you wanna do."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking up at them for the first time. Thankfully, neither of them looked angry, just worried and a bit sad on Ochako's part.

"If you keep doing this - adding more work, going for more runs, just overdoing it in general - it's going to actually cause more harm than good. The Aim to Pass is tailor made for each of us, ensuring that we're receiving plenty of rest and maximizing our growth," Itsuka continued to explain in a patient voice, "and if you deviate from the schedule, you're going to end up collapsing sooner or later. And then you're going to end up falling behind, because you'll need time to properly recover."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... oh," Izuku said in a small voice, glancing back down at the ground while Ochako sighed.

"Deku, why are you even doing this?" She quietly asked, leaning over Itsuka to look at her best friend. "We're doing such a good job here anyway, why would you put more work on your shoulders?"

Izuku stayed quiet for a moment, letting the two girls lean back slightly to give him some space, and then he sighed again.

"... I'm sorry," He muttered, "it's just … with my quirk development not doing so well … I thought that putting more work into improving my body would make up for it. But … but there was … maybe something else, too."

As the girls blinked at that, Izuku looked back up at them, biting his lip slightly,

"I'm aware that … look, I'm not an idiot. I know that I've wasted years of my life being - I've wasted years of my life by denying that I wanted to be a hero. I know that everyone else that's applying for UA, including you guys, have been practicing with your quirks since we were kids. Tokage, Kodai, Kirishima, you guys. I've - I've got a big disadvantage here." He wiped his eyes at the sudden feeling of tears, unable to stop them from escaping his eyes. "I thought that improving in one part of my training would make up for the lack of development in the other. And I - look, I know that being a hero is enough. But I don't just wanna get into UA."

The girls watched as determination filled Izuku's face, clenching his fist slightly as tears continued to flow down his cheeks. "I wanna be like All Might - I wanna be the kind of hero you're going to be, Kendou, the kind of hero you already are. Someone who - who's fearless, who's inspiring. I want people to see my fearless smile and feel safe. And I know that today, I actually managed to use my quirk, but I don't wanna just stop there. I want to keep on trying with everything I've got, until I have what it takes to become that hero. I don't just want to be a hero - I want to be a great hero."

Both girls blinked at that, seeing how determined Izuku looked at them, and glanced between each other. Honestly, Itsuka was the one feeling a bit taken aback - hearing Izuku comparing her to All Might, telling her that he wanted to be like her … it made her heart skip a beat slightly, making her look back at Izuku with a small dusting of pink on her cheeks.

Before they could say anything, though, a large hand suddenly grabbed the back of Izuku's shirt, and the boy let out a loud yelp as he was unexpectedly lifted up into the air.

"You go-getter fanboy!" All Might boomed, grinning as Izuku looked around in shock at his mentor apparently having overheard everything as Gran shook his head behind him. "That fighting spirit is one of the things I like about you, young man! That heroic enthusiasm!"

"A-All Might!" Izuku yelped, going a bit red while Itsuka and Ochako let out surprised giggles from their spots on the ground. "D-did you hear what we were -?"

"Every word! When Young Kendou asked to talk, I decided to stay behind to listen." All Might grinned, lowering Izuku slightly as he put a hand on his hip and looked up at the sky dramatically, letting Izuku look sheepish as he dangled in the air like a cat being lifted up by the scruff. "With that said, Young Midoriya, she's right - we can't exactly rush things now. Overworking yourself will have disastrous effects on you instead of improving you." Suddenly All Might lifted Izuku back up so they were face to face again. "But I understand your feelings. Now that we know that you've overcome the mental barrier, leave it to this old man to adjust your plan!"

"B-but you're not that old, All Might …"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Itsuka and Ochako also laughed from the other two's silliness and their mentor's dumb laughter, and Gran shook his head.

"The girl's right, kid," He told Izuku, the boy glancing down at the old man as he tapped his cane against Izuku's leg, "overworking yourself isn't going to make up for your lack of practice with your quirk, it'll just exhaust you faster. Now that you've gotten a handle on it, or at least now that you've stepped in the right direction, you can focus your efforts on taming it."

"Uh … right," Izuku slowly nodded, still a little confused as to who exactly this old man was (he didn't recognize the costume, anyway, and judging by his age he was pretty old school, information to look up later) but at least a little comforted that he knew what he was talking about.

As Izuku was lowered back to the ground, Itsuka grabbed the notebook from where it had fallen, glancing at him as Izuku looked relieved that he was back on solid ground.

"Midoriya," She smiled at him as he looked around at the sound of his name, "I'm going to take this independent training menu out of your journal, okay? Just to make sure you don't think I'm ripping up your notes."

"I ... yeah, okay," He nodded, letting out a small sigh and taking this chance to wipe the tears off his cheek, smiling when Ochako reached over with her handkerchief to help him out. With his go ahead, Itsuka put the journal in her lap, flipped to the independent training menu page, and, after checking to make sure she wasn't going to rip out other notes on the other side of the page, carefully took the page out of the book. Once it had been removed safely from the book, Itsuka decided to have a bit of fun, folding it into a paper airplane, and with a grin, she held it up, and offered it to Izuku.

The boy hesitated for a minute, and then chuckled as he took the paper plane from her. Glancing around, Izuku aimed carefully for a garbage can, and threw it into the air. The three and All Might watched as the page sailed in the air, thanks to the wind, and then landed in the garbage can, Ochako leaning over Itsuka again to give Izuku a high-five for the shot.

"Now then!" All Might laughed, clapping his hands together as he grinned down at his students. "I believe I've excused you three for the day already. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here! Although I would recommend you eventually go home, Young Kendou, and have that bath I recommended. It helps with the swelling, Sensei here doesn't hold back with his kicks."

"Careful, Toshinori, or you'll be the one I kick next."

While All Might winced and moved back a bit in fear, Itsuka, Ochako and Izuku got up, chuckling a bit at their mentor's reaction. Itsuka glanced down at Gran, and sighed a bit as she bent forwards in a bow, making the older hero look up at her in a bit of surprise.

"I know it wasn't exactly a nice first meeting," She said, and looked up slightly to smile down at him, "but thank you for sparring with me today, Gran Torino."

"Good to meet you, kid," Gran nodded in acknowledgement, "I don't imagine this will be the last time we see each other, but for now, just take the rest of the day off and try to relax. I imagine Toshinori here is going to be running you into the dirt tomorrow to make up for today."

"Er … yeah, probably," Itsuka sighed, shaking her head but smiling as she looked over at Izuku and Ochako. "Now then, you two - I don't know about you, but I'm freaking hungry, and in the mood for some fast food. I think we can move our cheat day to today, so let's go."

"R-right, sounds good!"

"... Kendou, you know I'm poor."

"I'll pay for you."

"No, you don't have to -"

"I nearly killed you with a car today, Uraraka. The least I can do is buy you food."

"... if I let you buy me food, will you shut up about the car?"

"That I will, ma'am!"

As the three teenagers made their way up the stairs to the parking lot, Ochako giving Itsuka a playful shove while Izuku laughed, happier than he had been in a while, All Might smiled softly behind them as he deflated back to his weakened form, coughing a bit as Gran scratched his cheek, the old man's eyes clearly on Itsuka as they left.

"So," All Might sighed, deciding to get it out of the way, "I might as well ask. What are your thoughts on Young Kendou?"

"She's a good kid," Gran gave her, "she's tough - I kicked her ass for hours and she never stayed down for long. That said, she's clearly inexperienced, and it's clear she hasn't gotten into a fight with an opponent outside her grandfather's dojo. So she had a hard time adapting on the fly."

"You know about her dojo?"

"Nighteye did his homework," Gran explained shortly, while All Might's frown deepened, "and you do know that he does have a good point about Togata. The boy is ready now, and Kendou isn't."

"That's -"

"But I also meant what I said," He interrupted his pupil before he could defend Itsuka, "Nighteye's biased, and he's trying to influence who you give One for All to. He might be in on the secret, but at the end of the day, it isn't his choice to make. And while Kendou's inexperienced, so was Togata. Things might've been different if you met him before you met her, but Nighteye's hung up on you rejecting his chosen one."

"Mm."

"Still," Gran tapped his cane, smirking a bit knowingly, "today did highlight the main difference between Togata and Kendou for me. I think things make sense now as to why you chose her."

"Er - sorry, sir?" All Might looked around, feeling confused by what exactly that meant, "I'm a bit confused - what are you talking about?"

"The girl," Gran tapped his cane on the ground, smiling a bit gruffly, "she reminds me of her."

"H-her, sir?"

"You know who I'm talking about, Toshinori."

There was a small silence between both men, watching the three teenagers laughing together as they moved out of sight, off to go get something to eat - and then All Might sighed.

"... she does remind me of Nana," He muttered, face turning a bit softer as he looked towards the ground, "no one knows this, but the day I met Young Kendou was pretty similar to the day I met Master."

"Oh?"

"Yes. You know the story of how I met Nana - running before my body had a chance to think. Young Kendou was the same way - while I had run out of time that day, standing there in a crowd and watching a building burn while I cursed myself for my uselessness, Young Kendou couldn't stand by while an apartment filled with children burned down. Both times, I ended up running after them both," He chuckled, "I ran after Nana to ask her about the possibility of a symbol for the people to rally behind - and I ran after Young Kendou to ask her to take that spot from me."

"Hm," Gran frowned at that, glancing away - and then All Might sighed again.

"Do you think … do you think Nana would have approved of her?"

"..."

"..."

"Heh," Gran tapped his cane against the ground again, looking up at the sky and taking a deep breath, "I think that's Nighteye's greatest disadvantage here. He's trying to compare Kendou to you ... and here we are, comparing her to Nana."

All Might slowly nodded, glancing down at the ground.

"In any case ... yes. Nana would have approved of whatever choice you made, Toshinori. I believe she would've liked Kendou."

All Might stared at the ground for a minute, and then turned away. For his part, Gran merely looked away, letting his former student have a moment to compose himself - even talking about Nana decades after her death was enough to make both men nostalgic for better times. Had it not been for them finding Tenko a few years back, the both of them probably wouldn't even be able to think about her without tears coming to their eyes.

Gran knew it was a betrayal, he grimaced a bit, taking care of Tenko after Nana made him promise not to look for Kotaro. He had stood with her on that building the day she had left her son in the care of a foster family, holding her while she sobbed her heart out, and gingerly agreed to her request not to look for her son in case she died to that bastard - but he knew that she would understand that this was different. There was no way All Might or Gran could have left Tenko. No way.

She would've understood.

Finally, All Might let out a shuddered breath, and nodded, trying to smile as he looked back at his mentor.

"Thank you, sensei," He looked down on the old man, "I know that I probably should've given you more updates about Young Kendou, so I'll keep you updated on when I give her One for All - I believe I'll be giving it to her much sooner than I originally had planned, but perhaps a few more spars with you will get her ready for the entrance exam."

"Ha! I sure as hell hope you keep me updated." Gran grinned - but then the smile on his face faltered. "But speaking of One for All, there's something we gotta talk about."

"Hm?" All Might blinked, looking down and feeling confused by the stern look on the older hero's face, "What's that?"

"The Midoriya kid. And Uraraka," Gran's eyes narrowed a bit, "are you going to tell them?"

All Might sputtered, briefly shocked, before he managed to shake his head a bit. "I - well, Young Kendou and I did discuss the possibility of letting them in on -"

"Possibility? Toshinori, at this point it's less a possibility and more of an inevitability."

"Huh?"

"You've got these three working together for months," Gran raised an eyebrow as he once again tapped his cane against the ground, "and they're going to know the ins and outs of each other's quirks by the end of it. And if they do get into UA together, it's not like they'll just drift apart, even if they're in separate classes - they're going to get to see Kendou using One for All sooner or later. They're going to put two and two together, and realize that something's going on."

As All Might winced, Gran shook his head, and began moving up the stairs to the parking lot, "You can debate it with yourself all you want, but from what I saw today, neither of those two are stupid. They'll figure out something's wrong, and question her about it. So let me ask you, Toshinori, would you rather those three suffer through a schism because you didn't let them know you're giving Kendou your quirk, or cut the shit and let them in on the secret?"

All Might stayed quiet for a while, glancing down at the ground as Gran waited for an answer. After a few moments, he let out a sigh.

"... I'm aware that Young Midoriya and Young Uraraka are clever. They will figure out something's amiss if Young Kendou can suddenly punch as hard as I can." He admitted. "I … honestly, I don't want to push the burden of keeping One for All's secret onto them … but I know you're right, sir. I can't pretend that this won't be a complication that we can easily avoid by just being honest."

Clenching his fist, he nodded to himself, "When Young Kendou finishes cleaning the beach, I'll bring in Young Midoriya and Young Uraraka on the secret of One for All. For their hard work and support of her, I owe them at least that."

---

Well, today was an absolute disaster.

With a weary sigh, Nighteye sat down in his office chair, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. He had just gotten back to the office after a long drive, walking past Bubble Girl as she rubbed cream on the scratches she'd gotten a few days ago from hiding in the bushes, complaining to Centipeder about itches, and had made his way up into his office to sit down and take a moment to reflect. He just didn't like what he was reflecting on.

He knew he crossed the line today - charging onto that beach and shittalking Itsuka was one thing, but making her fight Gran Torino and showing no sympathy was clearly one step too far. He knew that All Might now had a good reason to be angry with him - he was letting his own emotions cloud his judgment, making him desperate to convince the Symbol of Peace that he was making a mistake.

It was just …

Memories of what Nighteye had seen in his foresight quirk came to mind. Memories of All Might collapsed on the ground, a towering villain in shadow sneering down at him as he died a gruesome death. Foresight had never been wrong before … and now All Might was running out of time.

A new threat will rise soon, and All Might would be defenseless. Giving One for All to Mirio made sense, it did! But All Might insisted that it would be handed to Itsuka. He was -

His thoughts, however, were interrupted by the sound of his work phone ringing in his pocket. Wrinkling his brow, Nighteye grabbed the phone and lifted it up, checking the caller ID and raising an eyebrow as he answered it.

"Detective Tsukauchi."

"Good afternoon, Sir Nighteye," Came the detective's easygoing voice, "I was hoping I'd be able to talk with you about something."

"Ah," Nighteye quirked an eyebrow, "so this isn't a cordial call. It's business."

"Well, as much as I'd like to sit down and have some coffee," Naomasa chuckled a bit darkly, "I'm afraid what I'm calling about needs to be addressed pretty much immediately. Perhaps I'll take you up on it some other time."

"Hm. Well, perhaps another time. So? Did you call for advice?" Nighteye leaned back in his seat, "Or is this about a case?"

"A case. The underground network actually reached out to police late last night, and we came across a crime we'd like the Nighteye Agency to help investigate, as it did happen in your region."

"Oh?"

"Indeed. I take it you've heard of Trigger?"

Nighteye blinked at that name, staying still for a moment in his seat. The mere mention of that name was enough to get his undivided attention as he sat forward again, reaching to begin typing on his laptop as he held the phone between his ear and his shoulder.

"The quirk boosting drug? That Trigger?"

"The very same one. It's been on the black market for years now, ever since the start of its development by the Villain Factory. We apprehended its designers, but bootlegs and variants have been trafficked by various villains for years." Naomasa explained.

"Yes, yes … there've been several hero reports over the years detailing various versions of Trigger. None with the potency of the original, of course."

"Well," Naomasa sighed, "I'm afraid this isn't one of those cases."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah. Late last night a firefight between two rival gangs broke out in a warehouse. Police and heroes summoned to the scene got there a little too late, and we discovered that the gang occupying the warehouse was using it as a drug lab. From what we've seen … well, we haven't confirmed anything, but from what some forensics boys have told us, they managed to develop a variant of Trigger that closely resembles the original."

"Alright …"

"The bad news," Naomasa's voice was serious, "is that we believe the gang that invaded the warehouse took the Trigger that had already been developed. We only got a small amount to analyze, and confirm that it's the drug."

"And … how much was taken?"

"We're still looking into it, but we believe there was enough to fill an entire unit in the warehouse. So from what we're guessing ... they might have barrels full of the stuff."

Nighteye felt himself tense up at that thought, feeling his eyes go wide. That ... that was not good at all. One syringe full of Trigger was enough to make a subject's quirk go out of control … but someone having enough to potentially supply the entire criminal underworld ...

"Do you have any leads as to who might've taken the Trigger?"

"Maybe." Naomasa said in a grave voice, Nighteye hearing the sound of him leaning forward in his seat. "There wasn't anything to indicate who exactly attacked the drugmakers - the bodies we recovered wore the same hazmat suits, so we presume they all belonged to the gang that was attacked. But we had a look around, and there was a number written on the wall of the warehouse, beside who we presume was the leader of the gang they killed - it was written in his blood. We don't know if it's some form of calling card, or if it's a message."

"And …" Nighteye's eyes narrowed a bit, "... what was the number?"

"9."