"You seem remarkably calm, for us having barely avoided vigilante charges," Iida Tenya says with a sigh, as the four of them pack up to leave the hospital.
Yukimura Kenzo , she told him to call her Ken , only shrugs.
"Not the first time."
"Huh?!" Midoriya Izuku cries, snapping his head over to her. "Not the first time?"
"Me taking down my father with my quirk, by law, was vigilantism," Kenzo explains simply, dark eyes… less focused than usual. Her stance is the picture of at ease, though. "The obvious domestic violence muddled that, though. Plus my being thirteen definitely helped my case with the jury."
Uncomfortable silence fills the small hospital room.
"Your quirk is very strong to have managed that that young," Todoroki Shouto says blankly.
Izuku sputters a "T-Todoroki—!"
Kenzo snorts. "Some of my best work, really, and I had a stress manifestation in the middle of it! Miracles do happen."
...Tenya is starting to think, maybe, Kenzo is not as well adjusted as he had previously assumed. He has held her to some esteem, admittedly, especially after her voting for him as class president, then her great showing at the Sports Festival. Considering her now more and more self destructive seeming tendencies, bold of him to point fingers after the past few days , he grows more concerned.
"My father is here," Todoroki says, looking down at his phone ringing, but not picking it up.
"You want me to bend his car keys out of shape?" Kenzo asks, nonchalant.
Huh?!?
Todoroki— He seems to be genuinely considering it!
Tenya sends his uninjured arm down in several firm karate chops, aghast.
"That is an improper use of quirks and a misdemeanor—!"
Kenzo laughs, reaching over and patting Tenya's taller, and uninjured shoulder.
"Anything's legal if you're bold enough," Kenzo says sagely, as if that makes any logical sense!
Tenya takes it back, and reaffirms his first impression of the girl from their Quirk apprehension test! He has no clue how she has managed to be top of their class!
They make their way down to the hospital lobby, doing what is admittedly bickering.
They spot Endeavor first, arms crossed and eyes narrowed on the four of them.
Tenya watches a seeming… shift , in Kenzo's demeanor. She gives Todoroki the younger a level look.
Todoroki nods. Oh dear.
Kenzo grins, and because Tenya was looking for it he sees her gaze level onto Endeavor's person and flick a finger.
"Shouto! Hurry," Endeavor growls.
Shouto— rolls his eyes at him??
"You, you are Yukimura Kenzo, from the Sport's Festival?" Endeavor shifts his firey gaze on the girl.
"Never heard of her," Kenzo says, eyes half lidded but her posture awake.
Tenya does not know what Endeavor has done to earn what she only gives villains, but his wariness heightens.
Endeavor snorts.
"Humor. You are a fitting rival for my son. He will not be beaten by you again," Endeavor says.
"Rival? What, like you and All Might?"
Kenzo's voice is casual, lax, but Tenya physically tenses, now.
"No thanks. Text you later, Sho?" Kenzo turns and promptly ignores Endeavor.
Tenya and Izuku share eye contact, but from the look on Izuku's face it becomes clear Tenya is the only one missing something here.
"Of course," Todoroki says, and Kenzo raises a fist for a fistbump, Todoroki blinking, before doing so.
Meanwhile Endeavor looks… very upset .
"I've got a train to catch, see ya!" Kenzo walks out of the lobby with one raised hand in goodbye.
"Wait- Yukimura- Kenzo , you are meant to sign out!" Tenya says with a sigh, hurrying after her.
"I already did , Tenya," Kenzo almost whines.
"Well, regardless, I cannot leave you to walk back to Mustafu when my family car is going to head that same way," Tenya says before he can stop himself, and his previous embarrassment from this week's events rears its ugly head. "I- It is the least I could do, Yukimura-san."
And then he bows ninety degrees, wincing as his abdominal muscles disagree with such an action.
Kenzo hisses a English curse, hands pushing at his uninjured shoulder in an attempt to make him stand up straight.
"Quit that, it was no problem, Tenya. I accepted your apology for your stupidity at least a day ago," Kenzo says low and frantic, and when Tenya straightens he sees she's flushed. "Public displays of respect from mini pro heroes are not good for my street cred!"
She does take the ride, though, and they spend the time going over their math homework.
—
yukiyukiken : hey Izuku?
Midoriya Izuku blinks at the notification.
ZukuDeku : Oh! Hi Ken! What's up?
yukiyukiken : Ive gotten a better look at your quirk after the fight with Stain.
Panic fills Izuku's body, and he looks frantically around his room. Oh god, what if she's figured it out??
yukiyukiken : I think the reason you keep breaking bones is you're shoving too much of the energy your quirk creates into one spot. You're a late boomer, right?
yukiyukiken : *bloomer
...Maybe she hasn't figured it out?? Izuku clutches his All Might plush with a panicked grimace.
ZukuDeku : You noticed, huh? Yeah, I am.
yukiyukiken : Takes one to know one.
yukiyukiken : Anyways, try circulating the energy all throughout your body, okay? You're trying to pour an ocean through a plastic straw. Without your brain stopping it your muscles clench so hard they're shattering your bones.
yukiyukiken : (which is admittedly very metal ngl)
yukiyukiken : (hehe get it because i have a—)
Izuku stares very wide eyed at the screen of his phone, drops his phone on his face, and promptly accidentally calls Ken.
Circulating it through his body—
Why didn't he think of that???
He'd been so focused on just lowering the total amount he lets come through the straw, instead of making the straw bigger!
The circulating through his whole body he definitely figured out over the internship, but, it definitely helps to get more insight from someone.
" As much as I like you, Izuku, I'm at work. "
Izuku makes a panicked noise in the back of his throat, stumbling through apologies.
"Ah! My bad, Ken! I accidentally dropped my phone on my face!"
He hears the girl laugh through the phone.
"That's actually adorable. Oh, and while I'm on the phone, there's one more thing I need to talk about."
Izuku blinks, looking at the girl's contact photo, the time for how long they're on the phone slowly ticking up
" Try and be less suspicious around All Might. Anyone with eyes can tell the two of you know eachother better than just through school. That's dangerous. Especially if what I'm thinking is true, okay?"
Izuku chokes on air.
" Ah, I think that's all I have to say? Oh! Remember to hydrate and not further exacerbate your injuries. I gotta go now. See you at school? "
Are they— are they really that obvious???
"Wait! Ken!" Izuku cries, and luxkily she hasn't hung up yet.
"What… what do you think is happening?" Izuku doesn't really think he wants to know that answer.
" Nothing that's my personal business. I'll leave it at that, unless you feel the need to tell me. " Ken pauses. " I respect your privacy. I'm just worried for my friend, y'know? Now I really actually have to go. Bye Izuku, try not to break any more bones between now and school tomorrow. "
"R-right. Ok-okay-ay," Izuku stutters. "Go-oodbye."
That is a nervous tick he thought he grew past.
" Hey, be chill, alright? Again. Your business. Bye. "
She hangs up. Izuku drops his phone beside him and runs a hand down his face.
Keeping secrets is hard.
—
Yukimura Kenzo straightens her dark black gloves when she lands before Yagi Toshinori, better known as All Might.
"Well done, Yukimura! This race was admittedly unreasonably in your favor, but I trust you to be a good sport!" Toshinori says with a big thumbs up, grinning.
A metal obstacle course definitely wasn't fair to her classmates. Toshinori will have to take that more into account next time, if only to actually challenge the girl.
The metal plates on her costume shine dully in the sunlight and she nods.
"Will do, All Might. It's not their fault metal is in just about everything," Yukimura says with a shrug.
Toshinori is glad that she doesn't have an ego like young Bakugou. It would not do well on top of her proficiency with her quirk.
The other students land eventually, put out, but Toshinori raises their spirits with positive words of encouragement like his teaching book said, and they wander off thinking of it as more of a learning experience than anything.
Opponents will not always be easy to beat, after all, and heroes are not always at the advantage.
"Can we do something in the woods some time, All Might?" Yukimura asks, having stayed behind. "I just don't really feel challenged by cityscapes. I recognize the others' growth is just as important as mine, though, and what challenges me and them is different."
That… is the most Toshinori thinks he's heard from the tired first in class. And very well thought out!
"No, you're right to pursue things that challenge you! As your teacher it is my place to facilitate your growth!" Toshinori booms, and he watches the small girl before him's hands tense minutely at the noise. Ah. He should reel that in, perhaps, at least for Yukimura.
"I will be sure to see about it, either before the finals or after break! Training camp is going to be in a heavily forested area, in the very least, and that should help!"
Young Yukimura nods, tired eyes half lidded. "Thanks, Sensei. You're a good teacher when you're not yelling."
It feels like a physical stab to the chest. Ow. So honest!
"Have a good day sensei." With that, Yukimura is walking away.
Ah. Well. That's that. He should hurry to get to the meeting spot with Midoriya, he can feel his time running out on his muscle form.
"And you as well, Young Yukimura!"
—
"We should all meet up together at someone's house and study for finals."
Eyes turn to Yukimura Kenzo.
Hope fills Kaminari Denki's chest.
"Oh man, you'll help us study, Ken?" Denki asks, grinning.
"Sure. Just can't do it at my house. No room," Ken says with a shrug.
Yayorozu Momo, who got second in the Midterms, seemingly brightens.
"I have room! And I would love to help as well!"
Ken grins tiredly.
"Well that's settled. We can make a group chat for anyone interested. You can settle on time, since it's your house, Momo," Ken says, taking charge with genuine ease.
See? This is why Denki thought she should be Class Prez. She's so sure of herself!
Oh, here's to hoping she's just as sure in her tutoring abilities. Denki really wants to go to training camp!
The bell for lunch rings, and thus they wander out of class.
—
"I think the highlight of my day today was Bakugou threatening to kill me," Ken says as she and Toru trail into the Yayorozu mansion.
"Pfft, Ken ," Toru laughs.
"Man you should stop pissing him off, Ken, he's like a loose canon!" Denki says with a grin.
"Eh, worst he'll do is try to shoot explosions at me," Ken says with a wave of her hand. "I've met worse bullies and curb stomped them."
"Yeah but you've got a good quirk," Denki says with a shake of his head. "It's different for us plebians."
"Dude, I was quirkless till thirteen," Ken says.
The entire group's energy changes, wide eyed at her.
"Huh?? Really???" Mina asks. "But you're so good with it! You've only had it for, what, two years?"
Ken shrugs, like that's normal.
They reach the door, and Momo waves excitedly at them.
"Hey Momo!" They greet.
"Hello! Oh, I've prepared one of the parlors for our academic endeavors! This is going to be great!" Momo says, very excited. "Feel free to keep your shoes on, as well. The home is European styled."
Of course, then they start studying, and the problems start.
They're reading along to the English textbook. Everyone else looks like they know what's going on, so Denki looks like he knows what's going on!
He can't read it.
He can , but, barely. Words moving too much.
"You alright there, Denki?" Ken asks, leaning over from where she'd been explaining punctuation to Toru.
"Yeah!" Denki says before he can stop himself. He doesn't want her to think he's stupid, alright? She's so nice. Usually kids got, uh, less nice, when they realized he was shit at reading.
"I'll read aloud for us both," Ken says, and Denki suddenly realizes, ' Oh, she can already tell. Shit. '
"No it's fine!" Denki protests.
"Yeah, it's perfectly fine that I'm reading it aloud. Thanks for agreeing," Ken says in a low, dry drawl, before starting to read it.
Denki tries not to sigh, but listens along anyways, mumbling questions here and there.
"Yeah, conjunctions are dumb but they're important for understanding what someone's talking about," Ken says with a shrug. "Like, here. I want ice cream AND donuts ," She finishes in English.
Denki nods. "Wouldn't it be easier to just say Icecream Donuts ?"
Ken shakes her head. "Then it implies you're getting ice cream donuts instead of two things."
Denki leaves the Yaoyorozu house admittedly much more confident in his exams then he expected.
—
Sero Hanta doesn't really know Yukimura Kenzo that well.
He knows her, like they've spoken once or twice in class, but he's definitely not apart of her usual circle.
And now they have to work together to take out Ms. Midnight.
"Well, this isn't what I thought the Practical exams would be like," Hanta says cheerfully, tapping his costume visor.
"I had a feeling," Yukimura says with a sigh. "Does your visor work like a gas mask?"
"Ah, yes?" Hanta says.
Yukimura sighs again, deeper, with feeling. "How long can you hold your breath?"
"Er, around thirty seconds?"
Hanta has the stark feeling he is disappointing Yukimura.
"It is ridiculously lucky I just got a gas mask added to my costume," Yukimura grumbles, tapping her chin and looking very exhausted. "I can probably wrap my cloak around you and send you at the escape gate if need be. The weights Midnight has on aren't metal like the other teachers, so they planned for me."
Well. They can try??
—
On screen, Midnight hops back from the capture handcuffs flying after her every move, opening and closing.
"I do love it when they put up a fight!" Midnight says with a very weird sense of glee.
"Sensei I'm very uncomfortable!" Ken shouts back, a metal mask over her nose and mouth. Her cloak also flies after the teacher.
"Aw don't be no fun, Yukimura-kun, it's just a gimmick!" Midnight says back. Sero shoots sets of tape at Midnight, missing. Yukimura throws him back by the metal in his suit to avoid midnight from opening his visor, but he smacks hard into the ground.
Kenzo trips on a rock, making Midnight dart forward- and—!
"Gotcha," Kenzo hisses, plates of metal on her suit slamming into the pro and smacking her onto the rocky ground, the handcuffs snapping around her wrists far above her head.
"It's unfortunate we couldn't pair her with All Might," Snipe says, arms crossed. "Too many of us can't beat her proficiency with metal."
"You have to admit, Bakugou and Midoriya need to work through whatever they have going on, though," Present Mic, or Yamada Hizashi says, still shivering from his fight and encounter with bugs.
"Yukimura and Sero win!" Is chimed into the announcements.
Yukimura walks over to Sero and kneels over him, flicking his nose.
"We won, Sero-saaaan," She drawls.
Sero groans.
"You gotta admit something isn't adding up, though. She added that mask a week before now," Snipe points out.
"What, you think she knew beforehand?" Aizawa Shouta finally adds from where he's leaned back in his seat.
"Sounds stupid," Snipe says with a shrug. "Just. Somethings off about that kid. Ain't no reason for someone who got their quirk two years back to know it like they've been using it for ten. Weird vibes, is all."
"Shh, All Might's match is about to start," Cementos interrupts.