[Earlier Today]
Time: 16:47 (04:47) P.M.
Location: Masutafu's park
As soon as the green-haired teen fell to the ground, pale and having breathing difficulties, Katsuki and Toshinori began to panic.
That was two minutes ago.
As of now, Katsuki had his friend on his back (because there was no way in hell that he was going to carry him like a diesel in distress) while Toshinori was on the phone making an urging call to whoever was on the other side. The ash-blond teen really hoped the older hero was making a call to the hospital so they could send an ambulance.
"...we'll head there straight away. Thank you." He hunged up and turned his attention to Katsuki, "Young Bakugo, can you please put young Midoriya in my truck?"
Katsuki bristled, "Are they not bringing a fucking ambulance?!"
Toshinori shook his head as he put his phone in his coat pocket. "No, young man, we're not going to a hospital. We're going somewhere else."
Katsuki narrowed his eyes in suspicion while tightening his hold on Izuku and keeping him as close as possible. "Where?"
[Time Skip: Half an hour]
Location: U.A. University
Time: 17:17 (04:17) P.M.
Katsuki could only look stupefied at the giant H building in front of him. When Toshinori told him they were going somewhere else, he didn't expect the older hero to drive them to fucking U.A. of all places.
Katsuki knew that he and Arms would step foot in this building, but that was during the Entrance exams and when they started their first day here (because, of course, they were going to pass). Nevertheless, he followed Al- Toshinori inside the building without casualties.
It was strange to call his idol by his name in his skinny form, but he'll follow the man's wishes. So would Arms when he wakes up.
This brings them to the current situation in the first place.
As Katsuki and Toshinori walked toward the door, the tall, bony man looked back toward the boy. "How is young Midoriya?" He asked, concern practically dripping from his words
Katsuki huffed, "Still breathing." He glanced behind him at the pale form of his friend. Katsuki did note that his breathing improved, if only a little. "Thankfully."
The man nodded as they continued with silence as they walked.
Katsuki, while still trusting the man, had to ask, "You didn't know this shit would happen, right?"
Toshinori looked at the young man carrying his successor. "No, this never happened before." He looked distraught, which made Katsuki believe him. "Otherwise, I would have brought you both here first, and be prepared for this."
It was utterly silent Through the halls, except for their footsteps and the slow breathing of Izuku.
The silence became deafening, and Toshinori decided to ask a question to break the silence. "So young, Bakugo. Has this happened before?"
Katsuki was quite quick to answer a no before he stopped and thought about it for a second, and then that day came flooding back into his head.
"Well…Arms has never been like this….but he did pass out like this once when we were kids."
Toshinori hummed thoughtfully, "And was that just it?"
Katsuki grunted in confirmation, which made Toshinori's gears turn in his head.
Eventually, the two reached a door that Katsuki knew they were going to as soon as he found out that they were going to U.A.: Recovery Girl's nurse's office.
Toshinori walked up first and knocked on the door.
After a while of no answer, Toshinori put his ear to the door and heard the sound of a keyboard clacking; getting his confirmation, he slowly opened the door, walked in, and motioned Katsuki to follow.
"Chiyo," Toshinori called to the person on the chair. "I'm here."
There was a pause on the keyboard clacking before it continued, pretending as though nothing happened. Toshinori and Katsuki sweatdropped.
Toshinori cleared his throat, "Chiyo, I brought my successor as well as his friend."
The keyboard clacking continued while Katsuki was confused about what the hell was going on.
Toshinori sighed and walked onto the chair. Once his bony hand grasped the chair, the chair turned around and spooked the older hero.
"Haha! Good to see you again, Yagi!"
To Toshinori's and Katuski's surprise, Recovery Girl wasn't sitting at her desk.
"Am I a Dog, a Mouse, or a Bear? The correct answer is: the Dean of UA!"
It was Nezu.
The mysterious white rat creature in a suit and a scar on his eye had a mischievous glint in his eyes as Toshinori looked as though he was struck down.
"D-Dean Nezu!" Toshinori coughed blood from the sudden shock. He looked as though his soul had left his body, he wasn't expecting this at all. Nevertheless, he tried to seem more upbeat. "Why, it's so nice to see you!"
"Why, indeed!" Nezu said as he held a paw, "It has only been what? A week ago? You need to come more often and familiarize yourself with the staff, Yagi."
Toshinori scratched his neck as he nervously smiled, "Heh, yes, I should." Toshinori looked like he would sweat bullets at any moment, but with a quick cough clearing his throat, he continued, "So, where is Recovery Girl?"
"Right here."
Toshinori jumped and turned around when he saw the small nurse behind him. She looked amused while Katsuki put Izuku in one of the beds by her orders.
"Good to see you too, Yagi. Still, you should give us a little warning next time you call out of the blue, saying you're coming here."
Toshinori just sighed, "I'll try not to do it again."
Recovery Girl shook her head and decided to check on her patient. "So what exactly happened?"
"Guns fainted," Katsuki said bluntly before Toshinori could utter a word, all while gesturing to his unconscious companion.
"My goodness." Muttered Recovery Girl, taking note of Izuku's pale face. "How?"
Toshinori stepped up, "Not long after, I passed on my power," Katsuki looked at Toshinori with wide eyes, and the older man assured the teen by placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Young Midoriya started turning pale and had difficulty breathing."
Recovery Girl knew that the boy was breathing abnormally by one glance, but nothing indicated that it was life-threatening. "Well, I might as well check what happened. Does the boy have any allergies?"
"No," Katsuki said.
Recovery Girl hummed in acknowledgment. Afterward, it was silent as they watched the older heroine check on Izuku. The check-up lasted longer than Katsuki would have liked.
After what felt like an hour, Recovery Girl came back with a clipboard. "The boy's breathing is a bit ragged, and he seems to have a mild fever, but he should be fine with some rest." Katsuki let out a sigh of relief as he visibly relaxed.
"Young Bakugo," Katsuki glanced at Nezu, who was patiently watching Izuku, "I would like to ask when you're parents will arrive?"
Both Toshinori and Katsuki froze.
Hearing nothing but silence, Recovery Girl spoke up, "Toshinori," she grabbed the cane next to her, "You did contact both of these boys' parents." She looked at the man with a dangerous glint on her face. "Right?"
Toshinori looked nervously at Recovery Girl, "Ah…well, you see…."
The old nurse smacked the older man on his left shin with her clipboard before going for the other shin with her cane. Toshinori winced in pain and started rubbing his abused shins.
Katsuki sweatdropped but nevertheless pulled out his phone. "I'm gonna call my old hag and aunty." He barely held back a wince at the thought of telling his mother or Inko, already picturing the disastrous outcome. He stormed out of the room, knowing that things were going to get loud.
"Well, at least someone has the brains." Recovery Girl said sarcastically, "I can only hope your successor isn't a knucklehead like you." The older woman then smacked Toshinori again, making the man yelp, "You also neglected to give me your successor's name!"
Toshinori grumbled as he tried to ignore the throbbing in his shins, "Sorry… His name Is Izuku Midoriya."
It wasn't long before Katsuki came in, looking rather unsettled. "They'll be here soon. I'll give the old hag nineteen minutes to get here with everyone."
Toshinori raised an eyebrow in surprise. Having been at times when he had to pick up the boys or even drop them near their home, Toshinori knew the distance between UA and their houses would be around an hour. "Young Bakugo, unless your parents are nearby, I doubt they are going to be here in such a short time."
"You don't know the hag." Katsuki snorted before having a haunted look. "You don't want to know how she drives."
Toshinori could only give the teen an awkward look. "What?"
"Don't ask…." Muttered Katsuki.
Nezu cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention. "Now then, I would like some questions about Young Midoriya's quirk. Like, what's its weaknesses?"
Katsuki hesitated. Sure, this was Nezu, the dean of U.A., but even he had heard of unnerving rumors involved around him. He just wasn't sure if he was trustworthy, but the fact that this rat/dog thing was the dean since All Might's time in U.A. surely counts as something. The fact that Toshinori was nodding at him was all he needed to talk.
"Arm's quirk is Arsenal." He began, everyone having their attention on him, "Arms can turn any part of his body into weapons. Such as swords, bombs, guns, and even fucking cannons."
Nezu perked up at the little information he was given while Recovery Girl seemed impressed, "Quite the quirk your friend has."
Katsuki grinned weakly before it fell, "There is only one weakness he has, and it makes no fucking sense. The doctors don't even have a fucking clue as to why Guns is weak to it ."
"And that is?"
"Water," Katsuki said bluntly.
This caused the number one hero and the Youthful heroine to pause for a second while Nezu held a neutral expression. Though there was a glint in his eyes that Katsuki could not decipher. Toshinori looked rather dumbfounded at the given information, "…. excuse me, Young Bakugo, but….what?"
Katsuki grimaced as an unpleasant memory hit him. "Aunty warned me beforehand, but I learned the hard way that if Arms is standing in a certain amount of water above his knees, he'll be dragged in and drown."
"Does he not know how to swim?" Recovery Girl asked. She can already picture the problems this teen will bring in the future in water activities.
"He does." Katsuki said bluntly, "But it's pointless. Cause, as it turns out, the water somehow drains his strength and stamina, rendering him useless."
"I see." Hummed Nezu, writing this down in a notepad he pulled out of his pocket.
"Does drinking water affect him?" Recovery Girl asks.
"No, and that's what's fucking strange." Katsuki crossed his arms on his chest as he looked at the floor thoughtfully. "Whenever he's drinking water or even taking a fucking shower, the water doesn't affect him. Aunty did mention that moving water did not affect Arms in any fucking way. But he'll lose his strength and drown if he stands in standing water. Either way, Arms avoids activities that involve water."
Toshinori, while still a little dumbfounded, nodded his head. "Well then, while odd, I suppose it does make sense….though I must ask you to make it sound like he didn't have this problem before he had his quirk, but I've known people to be partially weak to things even before their quirks fully manifest."
Katsuki shook his head. "I'm not fucking sure, but I know before his quirk manifested, he could swim just fine."
This caused both the Dean and the Nurse of U.A. to begin writing down on their clipboards.
After being done writing everything down, the teen said the nurse turned to look at him, "How does Sonny's weakness work? Does the water have to touch his skin?"
"Yeah, if it's at a certain level," Katsuki said as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Arms and I discovered that if he's in water above his knees, he'll lose strength and stamina. But so long as he isn't anywhere shallow, he won't be dragged in and drown."
Nezu then chimed in, "And what were to happen if he were to wear something that would keep him completely dry and repel the water?"
Katsuki was going to resort until he paused and thought about it. Looking back, Izuku always got wet whenever the nerd tested the waters, which resulted in his lost strength. But if they somehow manage to keep him dry…
"I...We never really thought of that." Admitted the teen, "But I'm sure that Arms is more than willing to try."
It was then that Nezu gained a notification from the security feed. As it turned out, Katsuki was wrong. Because it just so happens that their families had arrived ten minutes after Katsuki called. As soon as Nezu let them into the school, Mitsuki stormed to the Nurse's office with Inko and Masaru, looking worse for wear, desperately trying to catch up to her.
"Where's Izu?!" Demanded Mitsuki.
It was then the blonde-haired man stood up. "Do not worry, Mrs. Bakugo, I presume?" The man then gestured to the occupied bed. "Young Midoriya is sleeping over there."
By then, Inko and Masaru were outside the door. Upon seeing her unconscious son, she ran to his form. "Izuku!"
The mother was in tears as she quickly was fuzzing for her unconscious son. Masaru went to comfort the mother while Mitsuki eyed the skeleton man, "How do you know who I am?" She asked bluntly and eyed him suspiciously. "And who are you?"
Toshinori bowed, "I am Toshinori Yagi, and I know of you because of your son."
Mitsuki eyed Katsuki, and the boy looked indifferent.
Katsuki looked at her in the eye and didn't miss a beat. "He's been helping me and Arms train. All Might saw potential in us during the Sludge Villain fight and sent us someone from his company to be our personal trainer for our entrance exam."
The adults were shocked.
"You work for All Might?!" Screeched Mitsuki, looking at the walking skeleton with an incredulous expression.
"Yes." Toshinori said, "I am All Might's secretary, and he appointed me to help these boys with their training." The man then pulled out a business card from his pocket and handed it to the woman. Just by one look at it, it was really legit.
"Holy shit." Mitsuki cussed, looking out of it as she stared at the business card.
Inko looked as though she was going to faint, "Is that why you boys left the Jade Palace?" She and Katsuki's parents did find it odd that the boys left much earlier than anticipated. They had figured the boys would remain in the Jade Palace until their first day in university. They never confronted them about it, as the teens were always so busy with their new workout schedule they suddenly had. If All Might really is the reason why the boys were training… everything started to click into place as the pieces stuck together.
"Yeah." Katsuki looked at his honorary aunt, making an expression that was as close to an apologetic look that Inko had ever seen on the boy. "When Mr. Yagi was introduced to us and offered to train us, me and Izu parted ways with the Jade Palace." He then grinned cockily, "Besides, our masters were running out of things to teach us! All Might knows more advanced shit than they do!"
Mitsuki rolled her eyes at the predicted response from her son, "And you're still an arrogant mother fucker, Katsuki!"
Katsuki looked pissed, "Shut the hell up, old hag!"
"Don't call me a fucking hag Katsuki!"
Toshinori and Recovery Girl could only sweatdrop at the family dynamic that was in front of them while Nezu chuckled in amusement.
"Well, at least I now know where young Bakugou gets his mouth from."
Inko and Masaru looked indifferent at the antics of the mother and son duo. The husband shook his head at the shouting, ear-pulling, and small explosions that occurred and turned his attention to Toshinori with an apologetic smile.
"Is…" Toshinori had no idea what to do here, "...is it all right for this to continue?"
Masaru chuckled nervously, scratching his cheek, "This happens more frequently than you think. Just let them work it out, and they'll calm down."
"If you say so…" Toshinori muttered, unconvinced.
Nezu took a sip of tea and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. Seeing that he had all the humans' attention, the Dean then spoke up, "Now then, I must ask what do you plan to do with the unconscious Young Izuku here?"
Inko bit her lip at the reminder of the state of her son. She wanted to take him home so that she could keep an eye on him and have him rest. But with Recovery Girl here, this would be the only opportunity for her baby to recover faster with few casualties.
"I-if your willing…." Inko said, Nezu nodding at her to continue, "Can I allow Izuku to rest here until he recovers?"
Nezu smiled, "Of course, there is no problem here at all!"
Recovery Girl silently sighed, not as willing as Nezu, but kept quiet.
"There is another thing I would like to offer, though." Nezu said, "As a way to ensure your son is in good hands just in case something like this happens again."
Inko tilted her head, Mitsuki and Masaru also looking interested. "And what would that be?"
"Why have the boys train here in U.A., of course!" Nezu said as though it was obvious.
Inko fainted.
[Present]
Time: 20:36 (08:36) P.M.
"AM I IN U.A.?!"
Izuku was sure he was dreaming.
Either that or he was dead.
Because there was no way he was here. Here, as in the nurse's office inside Japan's most prestigious University, The True Alma Mater of Heroism. He would have been screaming had it not been that he noticed how dry his mouth felt.
That didn't stop him from trying, however.
"WHAT AM I D-?!" The teen went into a coughing fit, hitting his own chest while at it.
Ok, that was a bad idea, but it was not his fault he was freaking out. The teen held his throat as he sat up in the bed he was lying in.
"Ah, good morning, Young Midoriya."
"It would be more correct to say good evening Yagi."
"You two, honestly." The short woman slowly got up from her chair with a glass of water and walked over to the boy. "Here you are, Sonny."
Izuku had to suppress the urge to fanboy about it and ask for autographs later. "T-Thank you." He took the water from the woman and quickly gulped it down, quenching his parched throat. Once he drowned all the water, he returned the glass to the elderly hero's delicate hands.
It seemed that it was then that Toshinori decided to speak, "I'll say you had quite frightened Young Midoriya." He then reached out to the boy. "Are you alright….any pain or discomfort?"
Izuku took a moment to check before he shook his head. "No, I feel perfectly fine, actually." As he said that, a wave of fatigue washed over him. "I-If not a little tired." He finished rubbing his eyes
Toshinori hummed as he helped his successor lay down again, "You need to rest, Young Midoriya."
"I'm fine." Protested Izuku, though he didn't fight back and allowed Toshinori to get him comfortable. He looked around for his friend, but he was nowhere in sight. The lack of commotion or explosions indicated that he wasn't outside either. "Where's Kacchan?"
Nezu spoke up, raising a paw, "Young Bakugo had left about half an hour ago with his family and your mother. You just missed them."
His eyes widen, "Mom was here." He winced and looked around warily, "She hasn't flooded the school, right?"
Toshinori shook his head, "No, but uh…she did faint."
Izuku didn't even blink, "Not surprised. Mom usually faints when she's shocked."
"Yes… Young Bakugo and his mother said the same." Toshinori looked a little uncomfortable. "She gave us quite the scare and recovered much more quickly than we expected."
Izuku could only let out a sheepish grin.
Nezu cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Now then, young Midoriya, I will go ahead and call your mother and tell her you're awake. In the meantime, Yagi will explain everything we have discussed while you were unconscious."
While Nezu left the office to make the phone call, Toshinori filled in on Izuku on what had happened since he fainted in the park. The poor young man's eyes widen when he hears that his mother, his honorary aunt, and uncle now know of the secretary of All Might.
"So they don't know you're All Might?"
Toshinori shook his head, "No. As far as they are aware, I am All Might's secretary, and I was appointed by him to train you two."
Izuku relaxed a little on that and let out a small chuckle at the thought.
By that point, Nezu returned to the room, looking just as cheerful as ever, "Worry not, Midoriya, your mother and the Bakugos will be here shortly to pick you up."
Izuku blinked, but once the words were processed, he winced. He knew how… eager his aunty was with her driving. The adults saw the boy visibly shiver, and the human adults had no idea how to react while Nezu was chuckling in amusement.
"Oh…" Izuku said weakly as his face lost color and winced. "I really hope the roads are empty."
Nezu coughed to get his attention, "Young Midoriya, if you're willing, I'm offering a position for you and young Bakugo." Upon the boy's tilt of interest, Nezu continued, "Train here in U.A. Under my tutelage!"
Izuku looks dumbfounded, "Huh?!"
Recovery Girl merely let out a sigh of concept. She knew where this was going, and she was not impressed. Because there is no way anyone is going to walk out unscathed. Sometimes, it's unfortunate to have such a rare healing quirk.
The quirk isn't worth it if you have to heal a couple of knuckleheads who don't think with their heads constantly.
[Meanwhile…]
A car parked in the parking lot in UA with screeching wheels. Inko looked as though she was going to have a heart attack, her hand on her chest, and Masaru gripped himself tightly despite having his seatbelt on. Bakugo looked better than two, but even then, that didn't mean he was unscathed. He looked like he was dragged to the gates of hell and somehow managed to escape. Mitsuki, however, remained unbothered and quickly left the car after taking out the keys.
"C'mon! Izu is waiting for us!" Mitsuki barked at her frozen passengers, which snapped them out of their stupor.
Shakily, Inko got out of the car with Masaru. Katsuki managed to push down his grimace and got out of the car in a better stupor than the two adults.
The ash-blonde teen gave a wary look as his mother walked away, "If Arms is coming with us, then you're not driving, hag!" As he stormed closer to her, he said, "Arms could still be sick, and I don't need you driving to get him sicker and make him fucking barf on me!" He said, clearly knowing his mother would be too rough behind the wheel when going home.
Mitsuki scowled, "Shut up, brat!"
Masaru stepped up before any more shouting could occur. "Mitsuki, Katsuki is right on this matter. If Izuku is to come with us, it's better for his health that I drive."
Mitsuki grumbled but didn't argue. She gave the keys to her husband, and Masaru pocketed them for now. Unknown to the blond woman, Inko and Katsuki looked relieved behind her back.
Eventually, the group begins to walk all together inside the building. Eventually, they made it to the nurse's room. Katsuki opened the door to see Izuku was awake, sitting on the bed. Everyone in the room was staring at the Dean, who had nothing but a smile on his face.
Other than Recovery Girl, they seemingly hadn't noticed the others come in as Izuku processed this. "Nezu, sir…" The young man's eyes were wide, and he was somewhat hesitant to speak, "...you mean to tell me you're willing to let me train here... under you?"
"Why yes!" Nezu chirped, raising a paw. "You and young Bakugo, that is. Both of you have potential, and there is no doubt that you will enter here without problems. But be as it be, to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again, it would be wise if I were to watch over your training so you may properly perfect your skills, and what a better place than here!"
While Izuku gapped at the generous offer, Mitsuki made her and her group's presence known by clearing her throat. Izuku and Toshinori jumped and yelled in surprise while Nezu cheerfully turned his attention to the group. By that point, Recovery Girl decided to sit on her chair and work on her computer.
"How rude of me!" Nezu said, having already known they were there, "I shouldn't have ignored you when you entered! But I needed to finish clearing up a few things with young Midoriya."
Seeing they had been appropriately seen, Inko wasted no time and moved past everyone to her son, "Izuku!" She enveloped her son in a hug as he felt his back pop from how hard she squeezed him. He also looked like he wasn't getting any oxygen in his lungs, but Izuku hugged his mother back.
Both Katsuki and Mitsuki had put their hands on the woman's shoulder. "Aunty, you're crushing him."
The other woman tried to pull her off a bit. "Inko, he's going to pass out again if you don't let him breathe."
Reluctantly, Inko let go, and Izuku breathed in as much air as he could take in his lungs.
Katsuki stormed to Izuku's side, "Arms! You gave us a goddamn heart attack! What the hell happened?"
Izuku rubbed the back of his head, uncertain. He knew the reason, but he wasn't sure if he should say anything. "I…I don't know…."
Katsuki eyed him skeptically, but thankfully, his friend dropped the subject for the time being. He slapped him on his shoulder, "Don't fucking do that again." He said instead.
Izuku chuckled nervously. "I'll try."
"That is not fucking assuring, asshole!"
"Well, the boy is fine now." Recovery Girl said, her hands typing the keyboard and unbothered by Katsuki's profanity. "He needs to rest for a couple of days before he can do anything else. So no training and nothing too extreme for the next week."
She would have preferred if they waited two weeks, but the older woman figured that Toshinori's successor would want to get up and train as soon as possible despite her orders. So, at best, she could shorten it for a week and hope the green-haired teen listens to her.
Toshinori nodded in agreement, "Yes. And once young Midoriya recovers, I will message you on when we can continue training." He eyed the parents carefully, "And I will tell All Might about this. He will understand."
"He better," Mitsuki muttered under her breath, and Toshinori pretended he hadn't heard her, though sweat began to form on his head at her tone.
With that out of the way and with Izuku medically cleared by Recovery Girl, the Bakugos and Midoriyas left the building. Izuku had to have Katsuki help him walk as he was understandably weak and had barely enough energy to stay awake. Izuku was relieved when he found out Masaru would be driving. Once everyone was on and had their seatbelts on, Masaru started the car.
Toshinori watched the car leave the parking lot gracefully and watched its fading form until it disappeared in the darkness. Nezu was next to him, drinking from a thermal full of steaming tea.
"So what is your plan, Yagi?"
Toshinori's eyes remained on the pathway his successor and his friend went, "I still plan to teach him the best I can with One For All, as well as ensuring that something like this doesn't happen again…."
Nezu took a sip of his drink. "Hmm, I see," He then looked at the man with beady eyes. "Well then, I shall help you train and observe the boys' progress as much as I can without crossing the yellow tape."
Toshinori bowed to the Dean. "I thank you, Dean Nezu."
The dean finished with a, "Quite….though I do have one request if you wish for the boys to get combat training."
Toshinori looked at him questionably. He nodded for the chimera to continue, curious about what he had in mind.
"I suggest we call him for help."
Toshinori froze and then felt his soul leave his body as he shivered in fright: anyone but him.
Nezu gave him a look. "I apologize, Yagi, but I can't have my staff train those who are not a part of the current student body, as it would break the law." He then looked back towards the parking lot, "Though I feel it best of you, call him now."
Toshinori said nothing but shakingly grabbed his phone from his pocket and started to call a very familiar phone number. "Young Miodriya….Young Bakugo…forgive me."
Nezu took another sip, unbothered by Toshinori's shaking legs and sweat bullets, as the person on the other side answered.
[Time Skip: One week later]
Location: Nabu High School
Time: 13:43 (01:43) P.M
Day: January 1st, Thursday
Hitoshi was not having a good day. Oh sure, there were the usual things: the bullies, the prejudice, and his insomnia, nothing new, really. Though today really spills the cake.
He felt like he was being forced to jump through extra hoops just to apply for a hero school. He's been to the counselors more these few months than he has in his entire two school years combined. The fact that the counselors themselves looked as though they were waiting for the other shoe to drop made Hitoshi's mood sour further.
"It's like they're trying to stop me." The teen muttered bitterly under his breath. It wouldn't surprise him if they were trying, but there was no way in hell he was going to let this hold him down.
Just a few more months, he reminded himself. Just a few more months of this hell hole, and off he goes to U.A. With Kendo training his ass, there is no doubt both of them will go into the hero course. And then he could forget about his high school years and prove to these suckers that he could be a hero.
But for now, it's just a bad day. But it was about to get a whole lot worse, and he knew it.
"Ugh, I have gym next with those stooges." Hitoshi scowled at the thought of those idiots who made it their personal mission to bring hell to him. Even with Kendo's threat to chop them, that did nothing to deter them.
Gym class itself was terrible as it is but with those idiots? It made it a whole lot worse. As tempting as it is to skip the class, he really does not want it to bite him in the ass. The teachers made it their personal mission to antagonize him, and every little bad detail was put in his permanent record. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if the staff had tampered with it to make it look as though he was a menace to society.
"Maybe I can put sand in their-"
*BEEP! BEEEEP!*
Hitoshi stops dead cold at the alarm blaring in the hallways. He covered his ears and winced at the screeching noise.
"The hell-?!"
"Emergency! Emergency! Villains have invaded the school! Please find the nearest room and hide!"
Suddenly, the intercom beeped on, "Students, this is your principal speaking. Villains have invaded the school and are currently in the gymnasium and are holding a class hostage! I ask that you get no closer to the gym and stay where you are. Please wait for the heroes and police to arrive." The principal made a few fumbling noises before the intercom went silent.
Hitoshi was frozen on the spot.
There were actual villains here?! Sure, he knew that a few pity villains were roaming around despite All Might being spotted around here. To blatantly take a school, especially his school, hostage is borderline terrifying. And foolish.
Hitoshi debated on what to do here. He could go hide in one of the classrooms or even the janitor's closet and wait for all of this to blow over. But didn't the principal state that the gym was taken over?
Unfortunately for the purple-haired teen, the gym doors were right in sight. He was right down the hall. He was stunned, unsure of what to do. Thankfully, his body made the decision for him.
Carefully, the teen slowly but silently made his way to the door, putting his back on it and peeking into the window while carefully avoiding getting caught, listening.
He couldn't see much, but he could make out a few students and some unfamiliar faces. There was a man with a Crocodile mutation in front of the students. The one guarding the door looked like he had a buff body covered in fur, though due to the angle, Hitoshi couldn't precisely tell what he was. There was also a woman, the only normal-looking one of the trio, who was smoking near the hostages, uncaring about the smoke and ashes falling on them.
She was a tall and beautiful fair-skinned young woman with wavy, hip-length pink hair, large light blue eyes, long legs, and a curvy figure. She wore high-end brands and fashionable clothing, emphasizing her flattering form. She also had a couple of knives on person and even a gun holster, which probably meant that she had a mental quirk of sorts that was useless for combat. She looked aloof and uncaring, bored if the expression on her face said anything. Never mind that the hostages were looking fearfully at the villains.
She apparently was the leader of this little group, as she pointed to the doors and said something. Hitoshi saw something shift and, at the last minute, removed his head from the window as he noticed another villain peeking through the window. He prayed that he wasn't caught, but when he saw the villain lean in the door instead, he let out a sigh of relief.
"We're good!" Hitoshi heard the villain on the door gruffly say, albeit muffled by the doors.
Unfortunately, the villain's masculine backside was blocking the window, so he couldn't see much anymore. But thankfully, he could still hear bits and pieces.
"I don't care how you do it; just shut these brats up!" Came the woman's muffled voice. She sounded tired and irritated.
There was some scruffling as well as a couple of yelps and squeals.
"I don't understand….why do we have to deal with these kids?" came the muffled complaints from the Crocodile man.
The one guarding the door spoke up, "It's because you slipped up and tripped the goddamn alarm! And because of your idiocy, we had to flee the cops and heroes! A hostage situation was our best bet."
"Why you-!"
"Shut up! Otherwise, I will decapitate both of you in your sleep!" The Crocodile villain yelped at that threat while Hitoshi heard the villain guarding the door gulp.
It was mainly quiet after that, but there was some shuffling and a few whimpers from the hostages.
Hiroshi weighed his options. "Is going in there really a good idea? I should probably just hide and let the heroes deal with them."
With that in mind, he slowly began to back up from the door as he got ready to sneak away and hide.
"Hey! That one is getting away!" Came the intimidating shout of the guard.
Hitoshi instinctively backed up to the door, thinking he'd been seen. Thankfully, that hasn't been the case, but unfortunately…
"What are you waiting for, you idiots?! Grab him!" The woman yelled.
"Please help!"
Hitoshi heard a voice from his fellow classmate cry out as he heard running around before it finally stopped.
"Let me go!"
"Hold still, you little brat," Came from the Crocodile man. "Or I'm going to break your legs!" There were some muffled cries and pleas from the unfortunate victim.
"I don't care what you do; just shut him up!" Came from the woman, now sick of the whining and whatever was happening there.
Hitoshi stopped dead in his tracks. And before he knew it, his body acted on its own. What was he doing? He had to hide. He had to run. The heroes would be here soon and save them. These people would have thrown him under the bus in this situation.
But yet he couldn't. His body turned to sand and slowly went underneath the door.
The villain standing guard at the door, bored out of his mind, looked at his comrade push down the teen back with the rest of the whining hostages. The teen was crying and begging for his life, and their female comrade was at wit's end. She looked ready to castrate them.
It's not like she was the only one suffering here. If their comrade hadn't messed things up, they would've gone home swimming in millions of yen by now. Instead, here they were, dealing with a bunch of school brats to get the heroes off their backs and get easy cash.
His attention was attracted when he felt something slither on his shins. He looked down and saw a bunch of sand coming underneath the door.
"What the fuck?"
He didn't get to tell his comrades. As a hand formed from the sand and began to shoot from the door at blinding speeds, picking him off the ground. The two looked up to see the commotion only to see their colleague get blasted into the air with a stand, and the door gave and sandblasted through, opening it.
"Shit! It's the heroes!" The Crocodile villain and the woman got into fighting positions, with the latter holding a knife.
Then, Hitoshi began to reform his body, which made the villains stop in their tracks while the hostages looked at the tired teen with wide eyes.
"It's only a kid!" Guffaws the Crocodile man, "You got your ass handed to you by a fucking kid?!"
The villain scowled, and Hitoshi had a better view of the man. He had the head of a ram and the tail of a demon. The villain stood up, wincing a bit, and growled at Hitoshi, "So, a little kid is playing hero, huh?" He sneered. "You'll regret it when I rip your head off your shoulders!"
Hitoshi gave the man a smirk. "I'd like to see you try."
The villain let out a roar, "I'm going to f-!" before immediately going silent, face relaxing and eyes glazing over.
The boy's smirk grew more mischievous. Always worked like a charm. "Just sit there and wait for the police to arrive."
The mutant villain obeyed and sat down. His eyes remained blank while his comrades looked with wide eyes.
"What the hell?!" Before looking at the boy, the Crocodile mutant said, "The hell did you do to-!"
The woman was quick to speak while slapping him, making him yelp, "Shut up, you dumbass!" She hissed, "He obviously has a mental quirk like mine." The villainess then looked at the boy. "Clearly, he's trying to provoke you to speak."
Hitoshi frowned. So, she figured it out that quickly, huh? Oh well, at least he could have fun with his other power. So lazily, he lifted a finger and pointed at the Crocodile mutant. Both villains stared in confusion, and Hitoshi let out a smirk.
"Bang."
Sand blasted out of his finger and right to the bulky villain. The Crocodile yelped, not expecting that attack, and was blasted to the walls, far away from the hostages.
The woman stared in shock at her comrade. "What the hell?!" She turned to glare at the insomniac nuisance. "I thought you had a mental quirk! What the fuck was that?!"
Hitoshi smirked mischievously, "Will, Ms. Bitch," Said bitch growled in anger, offended. "Since you asked so nicely," He drawled sarcastically, further angering her to the fear of the hostages. "I can tell you this; I never said I had only a mental ability."
She snarled but didn't say anything. Hitoshi could clearly see that the pink-haired lady was the smartest of the three since the two muscleheads seemed to follow the motto: "Attack first, ask questions later." Or, In this case, never.
Hitoshi tsked and eyed both villains, bodies tense and ready to fight. The Crocodile villain shouldn't take long, but the woman… he still had no idea what her quirk was. Though, at least he was correct on the matter that it involved something mental. But that didn't mean much because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of metal quirks out there. So be cautious. Otherwise, things could get ugly.
The woman narrowed her eyes at the purple-haired teen. Taking a breath of her cigarette, she blew smoke on his way. Hitoshi was not interested in getting his face blown with smoke, so he tried to wave it away with his hands.
Hitoshi then took a look at the smoke, and there was one very big red flag about it.
It was pink.
He gritted his teeth and held his nose as he tried to get rid of the smoke. He quickly raised a hand and shot a small sandstorm to blow away the smoke. While he was distracted, he neglected to see the female villain gesture at the Crocodile villain.
The Crocodile looked at her for a moment, confused. The female villain wanted to facepalm. Castrate him, too, while she's at it. She motioned over to the distracted boy, and it took a moment before a lightbulb lit up in his head.
Finally.
Quickly began to move across the room to a distracted Hitoshi, who had started using both hands to create sandstorms to blow the smoke away. It was too loud to hear that Hitoshi didn't hear the Crocodile's footsteps.
As the Crocodile man was right behind him getting ready to open his jaw, one of his classmates yelled, "Shinso, look out!"
Too late.
The Crocodile's jaw clamps down on the distracted Hitoshi's head. However, instead of tasting blood as he expected, he tasted sand, and the Crocodile mutant began to spit and gag at the unexpected mouthful of sand.
The female villain took no sympathy for him and instead focused his attention on the Jersey Devil-looking villain. He remained blank-faced and still under the effects of the purple-haired teen's command. Taking a whiff of her cigarette, she blew the pink smoke on her comrade. Once the pink smoke was directly on his face, the mutant's nostrils blared.
"Wake up, you idiot!" She snapped.
The Jersey Devil snapped back into reality, "What the fuck?!"
She smacked him, "Get up!" She hissed, and the man followed her commands, "We killed the kid, and we undid his quirk."
By that point, the Crocodile villain came by, still slightly sour at the remaining sand in his teeth. "Eugh, why the fuck did I do that? Ugh! I got sand in my mouth." He complained.
He got smacked as a result, "Suck it up." She sneered at him, "We dealt with the pest problem. Now, all we can do is wait. Maybe a dead kid will encourage the heroes to back off to not risk the rest."
The hostages, however, were horrified at the decapitated teen. Sure, they never liked the purple-haired teen and treated him like a villain, but it was still unsettling how he was killed without remorse. Some started to whimper and pray to whatever god was out there to spare them, while others began to cry at the teen's fate.
"Shut up!" Snapped the female villain, managing to quiet some of them down while a few others still whimpered. She was thoroughly done with this, and the dead kid pushed her patience thin. The hostages' whining, however, snapped whatever patience she had left, "Or the same will happen to you!"
However, what everyone failed to notice was the fact that the body was still standing. The lack of blood should've also been taken into account, but the hostages were too busy being terrified, eyeing the enraged villainess. Even her comrades were wary of her rage, but they both kept their attention focused on the hostages. While everyone was distracted, the sand that was all over the room started to slither to the surprisingly still-standing, decapitated teen.
Soon enough, the sand started regenerating the body.
Once his mouth was available, Hitoshi spoke, "Ya know…." Everyone jumped and stared at Hitoshi's body in disbelief. Some even started whimpering that he was some kind of undead zombie. The villains stared wide-eyed as the sand regenerated the purple-haired teen's face. Once the eyes came into view, the teen gave them a bored look, which honestly unnerved the villains. "You should always make sure your victim stays dead."
"H-how?!" Sputtered the Crocodile.
How the fuck was this kid still alive?!
Hitoshi snarked, "I'm made of sand. Something like a bite from a wittle Cwocodile won't kill me." He said, looking at the Croc with a mocking cutesy voice. The villain didn't take the insult well and snarled, "Nothing can kill me now. Trust me, I checked."
"Well, except for water." Hitoshi held a grimace as he remembered nearly drowning back at the hospital. But he decided to keep that bit of information to himself.
The hostages had no idea how to act on that. They were still gaping over the fact that Hitoshi had survived a gruesome death. In fact, a few of them felt relief in their bodies, their muscles relaxing once they processed that bit of info. The female villain, however, scowled. This runt has been a nuisance and, so far, a great obstacle to their goal. They needed to take care of him before the heroes showed up.
"Change of plans." The villainess said to her comrades, glaring at the nuisance. "We need to take care of him before the heroes come."
The Crocodile villain cracked his knuckles threateningly while the Jersey Devil villain let out smoke from his nose. Apparently, they had forgotten about Hitoshi's ability and were about to run head-first and use brute force. However, the pink-haired villain stopped them before they did anything foolish.
"You idiots!" She hissed at them, smacking them on the head, to their dismay. "In case you have forgotten, brute force won't get us anywhere!"
"Well, at least someone has the brains." Snarked Hitoshi. "Otherwise, you idiots wouldn't have been here."
The two mutants scowled at him but did nothing and remained silent while the female villainess huffed and rolled her eyes.
The purple-haired teen narrowed his eyes at his opponents.
"I can't believe I'm doing this." He mentally grumbled. "I could get in trouble for using my quirk without permission and ruin my chances of going to UA." In the corner of his eye, Hitoshi eyed the hostages and narrowed his eyes when he spotted three familiar faces among them. "They aren't exactly on my good side. Is it worth risking my life and chances for these guys?"
As much as Hitoshi hated them, they were afraid. He wouldn't be petty and allow them to be killed by these villains.
"Besides…" He let out a small smirk. "This will show them that I am not a villain."
So with that, he thrusts his left hand, releasing a blast of sand.
The villainess quickly hid behind her comrades, and both of them received the brunt of the attack. The mutants let out yells as they were shot towards the wall painfully. The woman shrieked when her meat shields were blown off, and her hair was covered in sand. "My hair!"
Hitoshi quickly scanned the area. While he had temporarily incapacitated the goons, they were still close to the hostages.
He needs to get them away from each other.
Hiroshi let his brain rack around how. Well, if he could control sand…
Without hesitation, Hitoshi slammed his foot on the ground as his body deformed and disappeared, and a giant wall of sand separated the three villains and hostages. Both parties let out shouts of surprise.
"What the fuck?!" The Jersy Devil shouted.
The Crocodile sneered, "Did you really think that a wall made out of sand is going to stop us?!" He went on to tackle the wall like an American football player with his comrade rushing by his side.
"So a kid pretending to be a hero." Sneered the woman, "I would have thought that with a villainous quirk such as brainwashing us and being the living sandman, you would be like us."
Hitoshi ignored the remark and waited no time as his head popped out on the hostage side. "Get going out the window!" He grunted when he felt the force of the villains and used everything he had to prevent them from crossing over. Then he formed a fist on the other side and punched both villains away." Now!"
Most of the hostages were frozen, but the leader of the three bullies shouted, "You heard the Sandman," As complicated as the relationship between the two, the leader didn't want to die at the hands of actual villains. "Let's get out of here!"
The hostages scrambled to the door and the windows. The three bullies opened one of the windows and helped the other few hostages escape.
"Stop them!" The woman shrieked as both her comrades scrambled to get on their feet. They rush to the wall of sand, in which Hitoshi blocks them from reaching the hostages.
"We can't go around because the little brat will shift his sand to block us again." The pink-haired villainess grimaced as she glared hatefully at the wall of sand. "Brute force does nothing, and as shown earlier, decapitating him had no effect on him." She gritted her teeth. "Damn it! We're running out of time, and by this point, we'll get arrested!"
She could only watch helplessly as her comrades were thrown all over the place like ragdolls by the sand. Her quirk was useless here; weapons would have no effect on him, and her comrade's brute force was going to get them nowhere.
So there was one last option.
Slowly reaching down her belt, she pulled the gun out of the holster. Without hesitation, she shot the wall of sand.
Hitoshi's sand jolted in surprise and the gunfire but quickly rebuilt himself and held together. The bullets went through him. "Have you really fo–!" A scream cuts him off.
Hitoshi's head reformed on the other to see the commotion. "Hey, what hap-" He stopped cold.
And there, leaning on the wall, was his bully, holding the side of his stomach and the white of his uniform shirt now bringing to stain red, and his two lackeys looking out the window. It clicked to Hitoshi that the leader of the bullies was about to escape from the window when the bullet was shot.
"Boss!"
Hiroshi watched with wide eyes as the two lackeys that followed the teen watched helplessly as their leader fell to the ground while he held his wound with a pained cry. The purple-haired teen could only stare for a second.
Usually, when someone bad had something coming, Hitoshi couldn't help but wait and see them get what was coming to them, But this….
This was wrong.
Hiroshi got angry at times, but it always subsided eventually.
This was different.
Rage burned inside him like an inferno.
This.
It was the burning white hot sensation of rage!
Without a word, Hitoshi reformed as the wall disappeared.
No words.
No eye contact.
Just… Shaking.
The pink-haired woman didn't seem to notice as she saw the boy she shot on the floor as the blood began to pool up. "Alright, I go-" she didn't get to finish, though.
Before she knew it, a mass of sand overtook her, and in a split second, she was slammed into the wall far behind her.
As Hitoshi pulled back, the woman moved from the wall. Her comrades could see chunks of stone had been removed, and cracks began forming. The woman took no single moment to fall on the hard wooden floor with a pained grunt.
The woman seems incapacitated now, having a coughing fit and in clear pain.
"You damn fucking brat" The Jersey Devil had decided he wasn't going to waste time with talk and charges at him while the Crocodile went to help their female comrade by gently helping her slump on the wall. Trying to charge and punch at him.
It was useless, though, as every punch went through him.
And with every attack he let off, Hitoshi let off a punch of his own, following it with a small sandblast.
"You little–!"
"…"
"I won't let you!"
"You…..better"
"….."
"….stop"
With every blow, the Jersey Devil slowed down before he eventually began to wobble.
"You…..you," the Jersey Devil said, barely able to form a fist.
Hitoshi's answer came in the form of a fistfight on his chest.
"You should've listened when I told you to sit down."
And then, he was sent by a blast of sand right next to his friend.
He tried to get up before.
"Uggghhh," he slumped back down, too tired and sore to move.
Only one left.
And in a move of brilliance and surprise for his size, the crocodile man had snuck behind Hitoshi, ready to clamp down his head once more.
He let his jaw snap as fast as he could.
Only for a muzzle of sand to come down out of it.
Hitoshi was faster.
Hitoshi quickly moved the man to face him.
And then he saw it.
The crocodile man saw that in the place of a punk kid.
We're the eyes of a demon staring back at him and looking into his very soul, begging him to try something.
All his confidence was gone.
Hitoshi brought his fist back without taking his eye off the reptilian man.
"It's over."
And let the crocodile villain rocket through the air and fell onto his friends with a pained grunt from all of them.
The fight was over.
He had won.
And yet he took his eyes off of the villains and turned to the bully behind him.
Hitoshi began to walk over, his footsteps echoing in the now quiet gym. The blood began to pool around the leader of the bullies, yet he was still conscious, albeit wheezing. Hitoshi grabbed the clean, dry part of his shirt and lifted him slowly and gently so as not to aggravate the wound. All the way to the window. Into the arms of his lackeys. He could hear the loud alarms of the police and ambulance and the shouts of pros.
"Get him one of the nurses outside!"
The boy didn't need to be told twice, "R-right, you got it!"
"C'mon boss, we gotcha!"
It was done
Everyone was safe. It was done
…but not for Hitoshi.
He walked over to them slowly them. He saw the raw panic in their eyes as he got closer. But they couldn't react as they were pushed back against the wall, neck deep in sand.
Hitoshi wanted…
No
Needed answers.
He stopped as soon as he was in front of them. There was high tension in the air as the villains stared warily at the stoic Hitoshi. It was mainly quiet, with the horn of the ambulance and police outside being the only ones bringing some background noise, but neither side acknowledged them.
"...why?" He simply asked.
The female villain shakily spoke, wincing at the pain, "W-why what?"
"Why did you do all of this," Hitoshi said, glaring at them.
The Jersy Devil weakly glared at him, "Isn't it obvious? For the money and for the police and heroes to back down."
"No." Hitoshi shook his head, glaring at them, "I mean, why did you become villains."
They went quiet, and the villainess spoke with a pained grunt, "Why should we tell you?"
Hitoshi glared at her, "The fact you mentioned earlier how my quirk would be more fitting to be more villainous tells me so much." He took their silence as confirmation, "All three of you have scary quirks, so I wouldn't be surprised if you were confronted with quirk discrimination."
The Crocodile villain looked down with a pained expression while the Jersy Devil and the villainess looked away.
Hitoshi took in a deep breath, his expression turning stoic, "I will admit I know how it feels. Every day, teachers and the quirk counselor are breathing down my neck, expecting me to snap and do all types of things I know I would never do. No one wanted to befriend someone with a villainous quirk, so they treated me like trash. Like scum."
"So you know why we became like this." The Jersy Devil rumbled, "So why does someone like you play a hero if they treat you like a villain?"
Hitoshi paused for a moment and pondered the question for a moment. For a few seconds, the three villains thought he wasn't going to say anything, at least until the purple-haired teen opened his mouth.
"To be honest, the reason I wanted to become a hero was out of spite." He admitted honestly, catching the villains off guard, "Everyone expects me to become a villain, so I said, 'Why not prove those jackasses wrong and become a hero?'" He snorted, "Not that everyone was making it easy on me." He placed his free hand in his pocket, "But… then I made my first real friend." He admitted with a soft-spoken voice he never used, "She didn't know about my quirk, but when she found out, she didn't abandon me like those other assholes did. She stood by my side and assured me that my quirk didn't represent who I was." He took a deep breath, "She wanted to become a hero too, but her reasons for becoming a hero differed from mine. That said, she's the reason why I am achieving to becoming a hero." Hitoshi glared harshly at them, which made them flinch.
"Seeing you three made me realize that it was good that I held onto that idea. You gave up. You could have been heroes or maybe regular civilians, but you could have proven your tormentors how wrong they were about you." He looked at them disgusted, "Instead, you went through it and decided to become the people everyone expected you to become. You were willing to kill as indicated when you tried to decapitate me and shoot an innocent bystander."
Not that they were that innocent, to begin with, but Hitoshi decided to put it aside for the time being.
"That said, I sympathize with you for going through the same way I am," His eyes hardened as the villains remained silent, "But don't think that I will ever sympathize you going as low as you did. No one will sympathize you for killing whatever innocents you've gotten in the crossfire."
By then, the doors to the gym slammed open, and the Pros and police rushed in and rounded up the villains while one of the heroes checked on Hitoshi before guiding him away from the crime scene. The teen didn't turn to see what the villains were thinking. He said his piece, and nothing was left for him to say.
As it turned out, the ambulance, heroes, and police showed up only shortly after Hitoshi defeated the three villains. Thankfully, there were no critical injuries other than the teen who was shot in the stomach. Said teen was taken to the hospital immediately.
The heroes and police handcuffed the villains with quirk suppressors and even went as far as to add a muzzle to the woman as though she were a rabid dog. The entire school watched as the two mutants and the angry woman were taken to the ambulance, where they would get treatment before being shipped off to prison, with the Pros watching intently in case they attempted anything.
Hitoshi watched the woman, who undoubtedly gave a defeated scowl underneath that muzzle, as the door was shut and the ambulance left. Hitoshi remained stoic the entire time, but even then, he couldn't help but sympathize them as they were treated like wild animals.
Like him, they were outcasted and discriminated against because of their villainous quirks. Having no other choice, they chose the path of villainy to survive. Having been treated as much as he did, Hitoshi knew what it felt like. But that did not mean he'd allow everyone's assumptions to put him down and become like them.
Sure, he wants to be a hero, but as he told the villains, his intent purpose had been to spite those who thought otherwise. Now, though…?
He was silent the entire ordeal. Even when the Pros berated him for using his quirk without permission and warned him not to do that again while praising him for doing what was right, they didn't pierce his brooding. The detective in charge of the whole ordeal kept Hitoshi in for questioning. The man was friendly, Hitoshi had to admit, and he told what occurred in the room. From the moment he stepped into the moment, the villains shot the bully, and he went ballistic. He was let go an hour later, but even then, most of the students remained in the school under the principal's orders until the pros gave the okay.
It didn't help that everyone was talking about him the entire time he was there. It remained uncertain to Hitoshi whether it was a good or a bad thing.
After the whole incident had been swept thoroughly, the pros allowed the students to go home under the condition they were careful, and thus, Hitoshi wasted no time in leaving the place. He had to get out of the stares and whispers that surrounded him. And hey, maybe everyone would leave him alone for the rest of the school year.
But he knew that was just wishful thinking.
"Shinso!"
Hitoshi jumped and tensed before relaxing upon seeing it was Kendo.
"Kendo." He breathed in relief before narrowing his eyes in confusion, "What are you doing here?"
The orange-haired girl gave him a look. "For one, school ended." It did? After all that happened, Hitoshi hasn't been paying attention to time. "Second, I heard about the break-in and came to check on you. Are you alright?"
Geez, the news travels fast. "It's fine." Hitoshi waved off her concern. "I'm made of sand. Those villains wouldn't hurt me even if they tried." That was true. They couldn't physically hurt him even if they tried.
Kendo shot him a look before letting out a sigh. "Fine, I won't push for details now. You can tell me when you're ready." She grabbed his hand and dragged him to who knows where. "Come on, we got training to do!"
After his entire encounter, Hitoshi had forgotten about this. So he did the most reasonable thing after fighting off a couple of villains.
He groaned.
Location: U.A.; P.E. Grounds
Time: 16:53 (16:53) P.M.
Day: January 2nd, Friday
Izuku and Katsuki had no idea how they ended up in this situation. This situation being that they have their heads buried in the dirt.
As for how they ended up in that situation…that's a funny story…
[Flashback: Thirty minutes ago]
After the whole fiasco with One For All, Izuku recovered at home under his mom's watchful eye. He wasn't allowed to train until the week was done, and he couldn't go to Aldera until he recovered enough to even walk. Thankfully, Katsuki always came by with homework and notes so he could catch up. He returned to Aldera in three days, under the condition he didn't do anything extreme.
Once the week had passed, he finished school for the day, and his mother gave him the okay. He immediately called Toshinori. The disguised hero picked him and Katsuki up by car and drove them to U.A. Today was their official day to train at U.A., and it thrilled the boys. Too bad they failed to notice how tense Toshinori was in the car seat as he drove.
"Now boys…." He began, catching their attention from the back seats, "I know I promised you both that I would help you with training." His grip on the wheel tightened, knuckles very pale to be considered healthy. "But for certain reasons, I contacted my old teacher, and he agreed to train you both."
Both of them perked up. They were going to meet and be trained by the person who taught All Might himself? What an honor! Katsuki, in particular, had a big, scary grin.
"Who is your teacher, All Might?" Izuku had to ask. Katsuki likewise looked at Toshinori's back head curiously.
The traffic light went red, and Toshinori pressed slowly on the brakes to stop the car. Taking a deep breath as he waited for the light to turn green, he spoke, "His name is Gran Torino." His voice was even, but his body began to tremble a little upon the name leaving his lips.
"Gran Torino?" Izuku ponders over the name, "I've never heard of him."
Katsuki gave him a look, "Well shit. If the walking hero encyclopedia doesn't know anything about a hero, then that means no one does."
Izuku blushed a little at the given nickname and remark. He smacked the blonde on the shoulder, earning a guffaw from his childhood friend. "Shut up!"
Toshinori, oblivious to what was happening behind him, let out a shaky breath as he tried not to shake his legs at the memories. Oh, he has done this and that, and how can he forget that?! Damn, it! He needed to focus on the streets!
The lights turned green, and Toshinori pressed the acceleration pedal, trying his best not to push it all the way to continue. "Y-yes. Gran Torino was my homeroom teacher in U.A., and he only ever taught for one year. He also prefers not to have so much attention, so he's more of an underground hero."
Izuku took the given information while Katsuki grinned. They couldn't wait to meet this teacher!
Both boys stared blankly at the tiny old man in front of them.
As soon as Toshinori parked in the parking lot, both boys and Toshinori went to U.A. and were given the U.A. PE uniforms to put on. Nezu himself brought them to the P.E. grounds after leaving the locker rooms.
When they came out, they expected a strong, powerful man. Instead, they were met with a midget, senile old man who was trembling because of his old age and eyeing them blankly. He was dressed in a monochrome suit along with a yellow cape, a belt with the letter "G" on it, very thick yellow gloves and boots, and a dark domino mask. He also had a walking stick to help him walk.
"Toshinori? Is that you?" He asked, his voice gruff as he eyed Katsuki carefully behind his mask.
Katsuki glared at him, frankly disappointed and irritated with the outcome. "Fuck no, you senile fucker! The name's Katsuki Bakugo!"
"Kacchan!" Berated Izuku, displeased with his rudeness but not surprised.
"Eh? What was that, sonny?" Gran Torino said as he leaned his ear closer to Katsuki, which thoroughly pissed him off even further.
Toshinori, meanwhile, was on the other side; his legs were trembling, and he was doing everything he could to stop them from shaking. Nezu was with him, drinking his cup of tea and sitting in a comfortable chair that was brought earlier by robots.
Izuku just sweatdropped as he watched Katsuki have a one-sided argument —read: blowing up figuratively, with the older man.
Maybe in his youth, this man in front of them was strong and powerful, especially since he trained All Might. But it seemed as time went on, he started to lose his touch.
Izuku placed his hand on Katsuki's shoulder, "Kacchan, just drop it." He sighed as his childhood friend turned to glare at him. "Look, I'm also disappointed with the outcome, but yelling isn't going to get us anywhere, so there is no point talking to…this elderly man." He gestured at the man, struggling to find the right words for him.
Katsuki scoffed. As annoyed as he was, he could see where Guns was going with this and that all he was doing was losing his breath.
"Fine." He grumbled.
So, without another thought, both boys turned around and started to make their way to their idol. As a result, they missed the sudden, devious aura on the senile old man's tiny figure.
Toshinori, however, noticed and shivered.
"Young Bakugo… Young Midoriya… please forgive me…"
And then, all hell broke loose.
No, they will not explain what happened afterward. But to put it simply, they had their asses handed to them in the most humiliating way possible.
[Present]
"You big oaf!" The old man fumed, dropping the senile act, and turned his attention to the deflated symbol of peace after he put down the boys. In a matter of seconds, he was in front of Toshinori and kicked him in the face.
Toshinori fell on the floor but made no effort to get up. If anything, he looked like a man recalling a horrendous war. By then, Izuku and Katsuki managed to get themselves off. They stood witness as Gran Torino was basically chewing out the number one hero.
"You don't call me for weeks, and the time you do, what do you do? Drop a bombshell on me and tell me you found a successor, and you tell him and his friend about One for All!" He groused at the fallen man, who remained dazed.
"What the fuck just happened?!" Swore Katsuki as both boys watched the entire thing with uncertainty.
"We got our asses handed to us." Izuku snarked because why not? He and Kacchan had been humiliated and had to watch his mentor get kicked down and lectured by the same old man that kicked their asses. "And All Might is getting yelled at by the old man you had called senile."
Katsuki scowled but didn't say anything else other than a "Tsk!"
Eventually, things calmed down, and the old man turned his attention to the boys. Toshinori remained lying on the floor, dead to the world.
"So," He gruffly said, eyeing Izuku, remembering the description he was given. "You're Toshinori's successor?" He then eyed the other boy, "And you are the other kid he told about One for All?"
Izuku nodded, "Hai! I am Izuku Midoriya, sir." He clapped a grumbling Katsuki's shoulder, "And this is my best friend, Katsuki Bakugo."
"I could introduce myself, you nerd." Katsuki barked, but Gran Torino could see that the brat didn't seem to have any bite in his words.
Izuku merely laughed and waved him off. Katsuki, in turn, grabbed the green-haired teen's head in a headlock and started to noggie him, all while ignoring his protests.
The old hero scratched his chin thoughtfully. Watching the boys interacting with each other, he could definitely see the bond Toshinori mentioned, so it wasn't difficult to see how close these two were. It almost reminded him of Nana and himself back in their heydays. This is turning out more interesting than he thought. Maybe Toshinori was on to something, but he'll have to check before he makes a final decision.
"Ahem." He coughed to get their attention, Katsuki letting go of Izuku. "Well, boys, if you really gained Toshinori's approval, I need to see it myself."
"You want us to fight you?" Asked Izuku in surprise.
"Hell yeah!" Katsuki grinned maliciously, "Now, this is what I'm talking about!" It seemed the blond wanted to redeem himself after getting his ass kicked in the most humiliating way.
"Hmmph!" Gran Torino liked the blond brat's attitude. "I like the way you think. Now hurry up and get in position!"
Gran Torino expected the two to get into a sloppy fighting position and attack him right away, but to his surprise, both boys bowed at him and got into a proper battle position. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was more polished than he thought. And apparently, they were waiting for him to land the first hit.
"So it seems these brats have some training under their belts." He huffed, "Best not to underestimate them as much as I did. But still, best I teach these brats about fighting dirty."
Taking a deep breath, he activated his quirk and zipped straight past them faster than they could react. The boys were caught off guard, but they quickly recovered and began sprinting towards him. But at the exact moment, the man sharply took a turn after hitting the wall, damaging it while doing so.
Izuku narrowed his eyes at that. as the retired midget hero went in Katsuki's direction, but the blond managed to dodge before the man collided.
"Kacchan!" He shouted at his friend, gaining the blond's attention as he kept his eye on the target, and he turned his arm into a grenade launcher. "Code: Hot Potato!"
Katsuki grunted, mentally groaning in exaggeration, knowing precisely what Izuku was talking about. "We are still changing the fucking name, Arms!" He barked. Nevertheless, he listened and started to get into position.
Izumi wasted no time shooting grenade after grenade in a split second low to the ground, letting them gather around Gran Torino's feet.
Gran Torino was a bit confused when they didn't automatically explode, but he realized what they were after a closer look. Before he could say a word, he launched himself up a second later, and the grenades went off one after another.
Explosion after explosion, and Gran Torino was quick on his feet. He used his quirk to remain airborne, hitting the walls to ensure that he did not hit the ground as all the remaining grenades exploded.
"Sting Ball grenades, huh?" He gruffly muttered, impressed. "Seems like Toshinori's successor knows his stuff." He grunted as he collided with the wall and shot in a different direction. "But the kid better get a license on his weapons. Otherwise, he'll get in deep trouble."
Izuku didn't waste any time, though. As the grenades died down, he quickly made his way. Under Torino and gained on his back, turning his leg.
Katsuki wanted to shake his head and tell off his friend so badly, but that would be for later.
"We really need to get a better way to do this combo move," Katsuki thought to himself with a sigh.
Gran Torino only looked confused about why the kid was on his back, only to see the kid rise and a gun barrel come out of his stomach.
Izuku had turned his stomach into a turret.
Before anyone could see it, izuku's bent leg transformed into a missile engine, and he began to spin like crazy. Then he let loose and fired wildly.
"Special move: BULLET HELL!" Izuku yelled as gunshots echoed in the room.
Before Gran Torino knew it, he was under hot water. He hastily took in another deep breath and shot all over the place to avoid the onward of bullets. Katsuki had been using explosions to avoid the bullets that shot in his direction, shouting a string of curses every time some of the rubber bullets collided with his skin.
Toshinori and Nezu were protected by a bulletproof glass that the dean himself had installed on his chair. The rat creature was letting out a burst of maniacal laughter, nearly spilling his tea, at the number of bullets Izuku was releasing at such speed, while the number one hero looked like he was going to have a heart attack as he eyed his successor's special attack with wide eyes.
"This kid is crazy! I like him." Gran Torino cackled madly and remained unscathed from the amount of bullets. "Toshinori certainly chose a good successor!"
Izuku was not feeling too well. "Hold it in," He thought to himself, feeling like he was gonna lose his lunch as his face turned nauseous. "Alright, time to reel him in," and with that, he untransformed his stomach turret to transform his leg into another gun barrel, shooting wide.
Gran Torino kept dodging and weaving, eventually noticing that Izuku's Center was wide open with no bullets flying. As the old man kept flying there, "Kid has a bit of a risky side," He thought to himself. "No good if you can't make More than Three guns with your quir-"
BOOM!
Torino then looked above him to the sound.
Katsuki, now right above him, his explosions once blocked by the raging gunfire, quickly made his way toward the old man. Without using his explosions, Katsuki began slowly making himself spin faster and faster before gaining enough momentum to nose-dive into the man.
"Special move, TORPEDO SPINNER!" The boy yelled
As Gran Torino saw the boys, he couldn't help but have a slight smirk on his face. "So their plan was to draw me in so I had nowhere to run." The retired hero gave Katsuki a satisfied smirk. "I'll admit that this trick would've worked on any amateur hero." Still, it didn't change that he was impressed. Maybe Toshinori was onto something when he chose the green bean and his friend.
Oh well, he had his fun. Might as well end this.
Within a second, Gran Torino shot up, just brushed by Katsuki enough to cause him to spin back up onto his side, losing his momentum.
The surprised boy let out a "The Fu-" but he didn't get to finish. Because it just so happens that Gran Torino slammed down onto Katsuki's head first before letting out all his air on a giant gust downward.
Before they knew it, everything came to a stop as the boys crashed into each other.
The elderly hero decided he wasn't done, however, as he jumped up before slamming back down into Katsuki's feet first, now causing Izuku to reform his body parts.
Both boys were now on the ground, in a pile of limbs, as they let out pained groans.
Gran Tofino landed in front of the mess and gave a smug smile. "You zygotes have a long way to go."
Izuku groaned while Katsuki flipped the hero off. "Fuck…off…" The blond teen muttered weakly.
They were defeated. Again. At least their prides was spared from any more humiliation. By that point, Toshinori gained the courage to leave the safety of Nezu's chair and went to check on his successor and his friend. The dean of UA had been more busy writing everything down in his little notepad, his tail wagging.
Whether that was a good thing remained unseen.
Gran Torino seemed thoughtful as he saw the number one hero help his successor and friend up on their feet. "They are certainly interesting." He huffed, "They're smart and are in sync. Had I not been as experienced as I was, I would have fallen for their trap." He scratched his chin. "Toshinori certainly picked an interesting successor, and if that exploding pomeranian is willing to be with him at all times… If something were to happen to Toshinori's successor, he would be a potential step up." He chuckled. "They are even batshit crazy! Nana, you would have gotten along with these two maniacs."
"Well, Toshinori," He spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "I'll never thought I'd say this, but you have certainly chosen a good successor."
Toshinori shone upon the praise.
"I would have thought that you would have chosen a complete musclehead like yourself. For once, you used your brain. Never thought I'd see the day." He stated bluntly.
Toshinori's good mood took a swan dive, and he hunched over in a despaired state.
Both Izuku and Katsuki, momentarily forgetting their pain, sweatdropped at the scene.
"Boys," Gran Torino ignored Toshinori's depressed state and turned his attention to them. "I'll admit, when Toshinori told me he found a successor and that he told his friend about One for All, I was enraged and skeptical." He grinned at them, "But you two are certainly something."
Both boys beamed in their own way. Izuku smiled happily, and Katsuki crossed his hands on his chest with a cocky grin. No matter how sour they were from their defeat, they were pleased to know they impressed All Might's old teacher.
"That being said, you Zygotes still have more to learn." He bluntly said. "So we will continue training."
Toshinori snapped out of his stupor and blanched upon his old teacher's words. This…was going to be painful for the boys.
"Young Midoriya…Young Bakugo…Please forgive me…."
Izuku tiredly made his way to a nearby vending machine to grab a drink. Gran Torino was a slave driver, and he could see why someone like All Might feared him. After Recovery Girl healed them (she was not impressed by the amount of bruising they were given) and, both boys were allowed to take a small break. Katsuki decided to use the restroom, but Izuku wanted something to quench his thirst.
When they entered the locker rooms, Katsuki went inside one of the toilet stalls to take care of his business while Izuku left to pay for a drink on a vending machine just outside the locker room.
"Man, Gran Torino is tough. He moves faster than I can aim or even transform." Izuku huffed as soon as he grabbed his cold Aquarius sports drink."Maybe close combat would work, though I doubt I could lay a scratch on him even with blades," he griped with his thoughts. "Maybe blunt weaponry?" He didn't hesitate to drown his drink.
Taking a moment to relish the cold liquid in his heated mouth and quench his parched throat, he released a satisfied sigh as he stepped back from the machine.
"Maybe something from afar, and extending weapon perhaps." Izuku thought about it before, unexpectedly, someone answered his question.
"Nah, I say something with a lot of smoke. Zipping through the air is no good if you can't see where you're going."
He pondered for a moment. "Wait, yeah, that could wo-" It was then Izuku paused as an obvious thought processed his brain.
Who was he talking to? It wasn't Katsuki because that wasn't his voice.
He quickly whipped his head in the direction where the voice came from at a speed that would have broken his neck. But the green-haired teen could care less about that. Izuku could only stare wide-eyed as he looked at a smiling blonde with beady blue eyes. What made it earth-shattering was that only his face was visible through the wall.
He did not shout, but when the head spoke, "Hey there, I saw you and your friend fight. You guys were impressive for fighting someone as tough as that old guy! Care for a spar?" Izuku couldn't help it.
He screamed.