Curious sighed as she twirled a lock of her hair in one hand feeling dreadfully bored.
Which was pretty hard for her to be when she was standing in an auditorium with a large group of reporters waiting for the golden opportunity to interview U.A's staff.
Looking over the sea of people Curious couldn't help but huff and wonder if these things were always so boring and she just couldn't remember it, or if her youth gave her a different view of the entire event.
It had been quite a few years since she had been to an event like this, she remembered the looks her co-workers gave her when she told them she was going.
Letting her head fall to the side Curious couldn't say she blamed them though, she had been doing nothing by one-on-one interviews for... god how many years now? Twenty? Had it really been that long?
Just thinking about it like that made her feel so old, which was stupid since she wasn't even forty yet.
Curious exhaled and pinched the bridge of her nose after letting her head fall back from her annoyance.
"Kizuki? What a surprise to see you here." A voice suddenly called out and she was startled from her thoughts.
Turning she let out a huff and crossed her arms "Oh? My work does end up in these circles more often than not, but what about you Tokuda? Who are you here for? Yomiuri? Mainichi?" Curious questioned her younger colleague.
Tokuda was about five years her junior but had certainly made a name for himself faster than she had, and considering she had Re-Destro's connections to help her grow that was quite the feat.
Especially for a free-lancer.
The man merely let his head hang slightly to the side with a small bemused chuckle "Try Asahi Kizuki." he answered.
Curious blinked surprised and she eyebrows furrowed "Asahi? Didn't expect you to work for such an inde paper considering the offers you would've gotten from the bigger outlets." she commented trying not to be offensive.
You never know when you could cross a line and it was far better to be cautious than offend an ally, doubly so with a strong one like Tokuda would be.
Tokuda hummed back putting his hands in his pockets as he leaned back on the wall next to her "It is smaller than my usual clients, but I wasn't interested in the tagline of the bigger guys, not interested in running a smear campaign ya know." Tokuda told her.
*Ah, so that's it.* Curious thought with a nod and began twirling a lock of her hair again.
Most of the media wasn't being that kind to Deku since his dynamic debut, and what a debut it was, chewing out a hero certainly was one way to get a lot of attention.
The reveal that Deku was quirkless was quite the plot twist, but Skeptic's sources were hardly wrong.
And Deku had made no point in trying to hide his lack of a quirk, which was quite brave of him in her opinion.
To openly admit to being quirkless in this day and age, Deku had to know what he was doing and here they were waiting for the chance to ask him questions themselves.
Oh she would've loved to have a chance to press the boy's flesh one-on-one and get to know the nitty gritty details of the boy but Iceman had protested the decision, he didn't want to scare the boy off.
She would've been offended at the boy's arrogance but she knew that she could be intense and they still weren't in a place to turn down his help, especially since it was so clear that they needed his assistance.
Iceman's mastery with his quirk had risen in leaps and bounds and he was already quite a powerful young man in his own right before Deku got his hands on Iceman, and the few things that Iceman shared had greatly helped the other ice quirked users.
A lack of quirk didn't stop Deku from learning how to play quirks like fiddles.
They were probably behind on this because despite their shared focus on quirk liberation they didn't have a lot of people interested in quirk science or anyone that was deeply researched in the field.
So there was a lot about their quirks they didn't know, stuff they could've known if they were actually able to use their quirks as they were meant to be used.
Curious hummed making a mental note to add his views on quirked based laws to the growing list of questions she had for Deku, once she finally got the chance to speak face to face in a private interview.
Until then however she would have to be satisfied with appearing at groups events like this one, looking back toward the stage she saw that the staff members were starting to get ready for the beginning of the event.
"Hm, seems we won't be able to catch up, shame." Tokuda said pushing off from the wall.
"Indeed, pity." Curious replied also moving away from the wall and heading towards the chairs, taking careful note of who on the staff was there.
Nezu, the principal was up there obviously.
As was Deku since he'd be the main focus of the conversation.
Then there was man roughly her age from what she could tell, she recognized him as the homeroom teacher for 2-B, a Sano if she remembered correctly.
And the head of the business course, odd pick but she supposed that Himawari would be an ideal mouthpiece given her quirk.
They also had Vlad King, probably the Heroics teacher for the year then.
Old woman Mikoto also, given her views the board must have had a random pick for her to be here.
And that man in the suit at the end of the line she didn't recognize must be from the legal team.
Quite the hefty line-up for U.A.
Normally they'd only have four or five people, interesting perhaps they wanted to show greater support for Deku? Or maybe they expected the crowd to be more aggressive than normal, which was a fair concern.
Settling in her seat Curious got out her notepad and double checked with the camera man that he was ready to record.
They wouldn't want to miss one second of this conference, this would be the first time that Deku would be in the public eye, and they needed to know just how he would react, especially to an overwhelmingly negative crowd around him.
Currently the boy seemed to be rather collected as he quietly went through some papers, Curious did note that the boy wasn't wearing the bandages and band-aids Iceman claimed he did, nor the numerous messy braids or mis-matched hair accessories.
Whether it was because the boy's normal attire wasn't appropriate for this or if he purposely wore different things when he was doing his work as Deku-Sensei was something they'd need to look into.
Going so far as to separate himself with different clothes for each of his jobs was a sign of competency that Iceman stated the boy had multiple times when arguing with Trumpet about his methods.
Not even fifteen and yet he had the forethought to re-make himself or put on a persona for his different ventures? If he did then she would have to agree with Iceman that Deku had a better head on his shoulders than Trumpet said he would.
Nezu stood up and she let her eyes leave Deku in favor of the first speaker, though they didn't trail far, what with Deku being on Nezu's right.
Coincidence or a symbolic choice? If it was the latter, was it out of protection or a quiet show of the boy's importance to the rat? Could Deku have wormed his way to Nezu's inner circle in less than two weeks?
"Hello everyone, thank you for coming out, as I'm sure you're all quite eager to discuss the matter at hand." Nezu greeted and the room was bathed in muttering she was certain that if Nezu didn't speak up again someone would've tried to start asking questions early.
"As stated in the emails inviting you, we shall be speaking about the expulsion of the three second year students on the first day of classes this year, why we chose to expel them, and the current state of the lawsuit pertaining to this matter." Nezu outlined for them.
"Now for our speakers today," Nezu said motioning to his right as Deku stood up and bowed to the crow.
"This is Midoriya Izuku, a teaching assistant and the one whose name is on the expulsions of the students, and thusly the main target of the suit." Nezu said introducing the boy and Curious was sure he continued on to introduce the others but Curious only half listened since Skeptic already told her about everyone here, bar the lawyer.
Then once the round of names and titles was through Nezu gave the floor to Deku since he was obviously the main speaker for the evening.
"Thank you, Nezu-San. Now I shall be brief since the matter is rather clear cut. On Monday the 11th of April this year I was shadowing the head of the Heroics department, one Bullet-Jacker, and during her class with 2-B the three expelled students all took part in a cruel prank that could have led to serious injury to it's intended victim." Deku said and Curious nodded along.
She had made sure to get the basic run down before the conference to refresh her memory on it. Three boys with some decently strong quirks had been expelled for a water bucket on the door prank.
"As is outlined in U.A's charter, we do not tolerate bullying and offenders will be expelled on their first offense, because of this the three boys were brought to Principal Nezu's office and formally expelled. As for the lawsuit, we cannot currently give any details since the case is ongoing." Deku finished off rather professionally for such a young man.
Curious wondered of the many times he must have practiced his piece to speak so confidently, he'd also addressed all three of the issues in under three minutes. Iceman had said the boy had a penchant to ramble on if you let him.
Unfortunately, the other five speakers weren't that interesting and there were a lot of them repeating the same thing Deku stated, not word for word but it was close enough for her.
Their involvement on the day of the expulsion, followed by U.A's policy and finished off saying they couldn't speak about the ongoing lawsuit.
She could understand the lawsuit one if nothing else because there wouldn't be much they could say if anything at all.
Then Nezu opened the floor questions and as expected more than one person immediately stood up and began asking questions all at once.
The ones she could make out were.
Why would you expel them on their first offenses?
Were you really the one to expel them?
Nezu why would you allow someone quirkless to teach in the heroics course?
Oh, and one lovely man demanded to know if Deku hid the fact he was quirkless from U.A. when he was hired.
However, her eyes were on Deku during the barrage of questions, and the boy simply and calmly sipped from his bottle of water and looked to be quite unaffected.
Curious let out a little hum and tapped a finger to her lips.
Given Iceman wouldn't let her approach him she would've expected the boy to fold over at the rush, or even flinch for that matter regardless of his expectations of the crowd, well if their questions were bothering the boy he sure knew how to hide it.
She also expected Nezu to silence the crowd since he seemed to be acting like the mediator before, yet even after a minute the shouted questions continued.
Just what were they playing at?
Once Deku finished setting down his bottle though that's when things changed as soon as he turned his eyes back to the crowd Curious's breath was quickly stolen from her as an ominous air filled the room.
"Quiet." Deku told the room and the few that were still standing were cowed into sitting back in their chairs completely taken aback by the change in the atmosphere, herself very much included.
The only other time she felt such a swift change was from one of their recruits' quirk, and Skeptic had verified the boy as being quirkless so there was no way he had a hidden quirk like a few of their members.
So just what the hell was that energy Deku just made?
Deku's eyes slid across the room unimpressed as he continued to speak "You lot are adults here for your job, act like it or we shall have security remove you from the building."
Oh how those words stung some of the group, the woman next to her (whom partook in the aggressive questioning) practically changed into a prune from how furious she looked.
"If you have a question, raise your hand or wait for your turn to be called, and remember to address your question to the person you want the answer from." Deku further added, and if he wasn't being patronizing about it she would turn in her two-weeks' notice once she got back to the office.
"Now then, I shall address some of the main questions you seem to have so that we can get them cleared and out of the way." Deku told them.
"The contract I signed allows me to expel students just as any other member of staff, as the other people here have said this decision was brought to their attention and they agreed with my choice to expel the three. I have a degree in teaching and yes, Nezu-San was fully aware that I was quirkless before he gave me the offer to teach here, since my quirk status is the only reason he could legally hire someone under the age of eighteen." Deku listed off for them.
"So, any other questions?" Deku asked with a raised brow.
Naturally a few people raised their hands and Deku pointed to one of the ones on the left side of the room "Midoriya, were the students really expelled at the first offense?" a woman questioned.
"No, the three students each had a previous warning for offensive comments, the nature of which I shall not disclose but were towards the same victim of the prank." Deku answered.
Deku called for one of the men in the front row to speak "Sano-San do you think that expelling them was too harsh and that another punishment should've been given?" the man asked, completely ignoring what Deku had said.
Sano's eyes changed color, an icy blue now "No, if I had been on scene when the prank happened I would've also expelled them, none of the staff will tolerate such malicious behavior." Sano firmly replied.
"Isn't it your job to teach our children acceptable behavior?" A woman pointedly asked.
"These 'children' are seventeen, exactly one year from being adults. Teenagers make mistakes but they are old enough to know the consequences of their actions, and if they can't they clearly aren't mature enough to be professional heroes." Deku answered with a deadpan.
And the irony of Deku indirectly calling the students older than him immature wasn't lost on anyone.
"What makes you qualified to judge if anyone can be a hero?" the woman demanded right after.
Curious watched Deku carefully and he didn't do much more than blink lazily, than exhaled in a scoff-like manner.
"Officially? I don't have certificate of the subject. But let me ask you this, would you feel safe if the heroes we licensed were known to have seriously harmed civilians for shits and giggles?" Deku asked with a raised brow, the crowd in turn falling to silence.
"No? Neither do I, nor any other member of staff." Deku said "They are young and expelling them now could ruin their futures, I will acknowledge that.
But no one forced those boys to do what they did, they made the choice to risk seriously harming their classmate over what is, frankly speaking, petty high school drama." Deku followed up with a hand wave.
"And it is my job as a Teacher's assistant to de-escalate the situation, however, I also have the responsibility to not only guide those children as they prepare to become heroes but protect them, even from themselves." Deku told them his eyes narrowing again, and a much lesser but no less suppressive gloom filled the air.
"Being a pro-hero is not fun and games, these children are choosing to join one of the most dangerous professions in Japan. Many heroes die in the first year after graduation, not to mention the many lives we put in the hands of these heroes. Because of the seriousness of the profession we have to hold hero students accountable as the young adults they are." Deku sternly stated, his tone allowing no room for argument.
"U.A's rules on harassment and bullying are very clearly outlined not only when they first applied to study here, but in a speech that is given reminding students of the exact punishment they would face at the beginning of each year. The three knew exactly what they were doing, and U.A. will not coddle them." Deku firmly said finishing off his little rant before taking another sip from his drink.
Curious startled a bit when she realized she had been leaning in and quickly righted herself.
If Deku regularly spoke with such zeal it was no wonder his followers were so loyal to him, she almost wanted to put the boy on the same level as Trumpet when he wasn't using his quirk.
But Trumpet wasn't as good with improv and judging by the looks from the other staff members Deku's little speech wasn't planned beforehand.
As she tried to regather herself Curious saw someone stand up and raise their hand, and she was surprised that someone was willing to try and ask a question directly after the dressing down Deku had just given.
"Yes... ?" Deku trailed off, perhaps unable to see his I.D. badge from where the person stood in the back of the group.
"Tokuda for Asahi," Tokuda calmly introduced himself "Midoriya-San, from what I can gather the prank involved a bucket of water on top of a classroom door, I would like to know exactly how dangerous this bucket would have been if it hit its intended victim?" Tokuda inquired.
Deku blinked, tilting his head and took a second before he answered.
"The doors for the classrooms are a little over six meters tall and the bucket was one taken from the support course and mainly used for strong acids and weight roughly six pounds when empty, so when it fell it did so with the strength to crush the average human skull." Deku answered matter-of-factly.
A series of gasps could be heard and the angry woman next to Curious went pale, which was quite understandable what with her jelly-body quirk.
Tokuda gave a small bow before he sat back down and a new wave of questions were being asked about the details of the 'prank' instead of Deku's position.
By the end of the conference Curious hadn't asked a single question but she had certainly walked away knowing far more about Deku than she thought she would.
And oddly enough as she did, she found herself more or less agreeing with Iceman's stance on getting Deku over to their side.
As she worriedly twirled her hair Curious couldn't help but think about the steely control Deku had over the room and even her while she was in it.
The boy was not someone they could underestimate due to his age or lack of quirk, and Deku certainly would not take kindly to any attempts at being cowed into line by them, and they surely would've sharply turned the boy away from the movement if Trumpet had his way.
Since Iceman had managed to keep a healthy rapport with the boy it would probably be best to keep following his lead in order to ensure Deku's support.
"Kizuki-San." A voice called and she jumped turning around only to stop when she saw Deku right behind her.
"A-ah, Midoriya-San!" She exclaimed completely taken aback unsure how she should play this off, Iceman said that being overly friendly with him despite knowing he was quirkless would only make him suspicious so she couldn't be cutesy with him.
Before she could come up with a suitable act Deku brought up a hand revealing something that made her stomach drop, dangling in his hands was a key ring that should have been in her apartment.
"I believe you forgot this Kizuki-San." Deku told her and she gulped holding out her hand and did her best to hide her trembling.
How the hell did he get his hands on that? Or find her apartment on such short notice and break in without triggering the security system Skeptic had specially made?
"T-thank yo- ahh!" Curious said only for Deku to yank her down by her hand and caught her by the shoulder which kept the two of them from falling over completely.
"While I'm happy you accepted my invite Curious, I don't recall giving you a plus one." Deku whispered into the hidden mic in her left earring causing Curious to completely freeze up with her eyes wide as saucers.
How did he-
"You aren't the only one with eyes and ears all over Skeptic, so unless you want me to blow the lid on your little side project in Deika city, I highly advise you to stay in your lane and refrain from intruding in my business unless I ask for you." Deku said his grip on her shoulder becoming even tighter.
Curious's mouth immediately went dry.
Deku knew about their training.
"I don't like people butting into my business when I didn't explicitly invite them to, I hope that you keep that in mind the next time we meet Curious, I would hate to have to burn the bridge I just made for you over something like this." Deku whispered in her ear as he passed the keyring into her trembling hands.
"Midoriya-San! Are you okay?" someone- Sano from the panel called out and Curious quickly pushed herself up and to her feet again.
"Yes, Kizuki-San here merely fell." Deku cooly explained with a polite smile, as if he hadn't been threatening her seconds before.
"R-right, I lost my balance for a second, new heels." Curious lied running a hand through her hair to calm herself.
Sano narrowed his green eyes at her "I see, come along Midoriya-San, Nezu-San's asking for you." Sano said and Deku nodded.
"Of course Sano-San, right away." Deku promised and quickly following the man back inside the building.
But not before throwing one last scalding look over his shoulder in her direction before focusing his attention on his co-worker.
Curious stood there trying to comprehend what had just happened while clutching her keychain tightly to her chest.
"Fuck." she cursed after a few moments.
Deku really wasn't someone they could afford to piss off.