OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla: I had a feeling the Q.A.D did something to Genki's being.
Re: Well I should hope so. I was the farthest thing from subtle.
I'm just glad I can stop beating that dead mule now…
To LoamyCoffee, I'm hoping more people will have Mei come along if word of this gets around. The first reason I thought of was so she and Genki could hang out, but that "by itself" wasn't good-enough, so I thought of other reasons to add in; her studying Quirks in-person seemed like a valid reason as well, so I expanded on the idea that Support Mechanics who know first-hand how Quirks work would be better at their jobs than those who only know the Theory instead of the Applied Physics. The gag with Kyoka's legs I think was from Frozen, and I'm surprised no-one caught that.
As for Genki shaming the Wild, Wild Pussycats, that too is a joke I've wanted to do since the beginning; especially since their outfits are very Idol-like. In fact, that's the first thing I thought when I saw them.
But yeah, the scene with the literal avalanche is the very definition of "into the deep end". The only way it could've been worse was if he threw them into one of those penthouse pools that juts out over the side of the building and then set off a shaped charge in the bottom emptying it out like in Mechanic: Resurrection. We didn't get to see any of 1-A's "landing strategies" in the Manga or Anime, and I thought that was a crying shame so I had fun showing the Yays or Nays in there. And it always surprises me how-naturally writing a "Doting Momo" comes when I write this story, but that just goes to show that plans can evolve in ways you don't expect. I aimed for an OC/Tsuyu pairing at the beginning, but it felt more-natural for her to be more-paced about it, and him reaching out to Momo when she had confidence issues was a consequence of him being around Idols who always grappled with that sort of thing.
The snippet with 1-B at the end was fun to write too since we don't get to see what they went through, and while I abstained from showing the full replay of it as well, it was fun showing the aftermath of what happened after Genki "Zerg Rushed" both the lunch and dinner buffets.
As for (Alter), while Perfect Cell is technically an arthropodic Bioroid, I would never want to give Genki a football goal for a head like Cell's. He is metamorphosing like an insect, this being a long-term plan, but the Q.A.D. will make the extreme transformation a bit more believable than just shoe-horning in a power-up at a convenient time. And given My Hero Academia already has "Awakening" as its own form of [Zenkai Boost]… Well I'm just happy everything came together so-well~
Certain inabilities to understand Nuance by the larger readerbase notwithstanding...
*MHA*
The following morning, everyone woke up at the crack of dawn, or roughly 5:30 in the morning. For teenagers who didn't believe there was a 6AM, let alone a 5:30… Well, it showed in lidded eyes and the bed-head.
In fact the only one who didn't look sleep-deprived was Fumikage; those lucid-enough to crack jokes would've called him an "early bird", but also been unsure if that was "racist" or not.
"Today, the real training camp begins. Ideally, you will all emerge stronger. Strong enough to acquire your Provisional Licenses," Aizawa began looking… exactly the same. "More specifically, there's a growing hostile force out there. Through this, you'll be prepared to face it, so stay sharp and work hard. To start… Bakugou, here, try throwing this."
"This is from the strength test…" Katsuki hummed catching the familiar-looking implement.
"Last time, right after school started, your record was 705.2 meters. How much have you grown since then?"
"Ohh! Testing to see if you've improved?" Mina gushed.
She had the wherewithal to not use the word "fun" again.
"We've been through a lot these past three months! I bet he can make it a whole kilometer!" Kirishima whooped.
"Throw that sucker, Bakugou!" Sero whooped.
"Here we freaking go…!" Bakugou grinned, eager to put that bug back in his rightful place.
The only thing that'd make his moment of triumph better were if he were actually there to see it…
*KABOOOOM!*
"GO TO HELL!"
*Beep*Beep*
"709.6 meters," Aizawa hummed flatly.
"Huh…? Not much farther than before…" Sero hummed.
"Yes. You have been through a lot these past three months. Undoubtedly, you've all grown," Aizawa continued as Bakugou seethed. "But it's only your techniques and minds that have matured. Well, and your bodies a little bit. But as you've all seen, your Quirks haven't kept up with the pace. So, starting today, you'll be improving your Quirks."
1-A in summary, did not like the look that came to the man's face.
"This'll be so harsh that you'll wish you were dead, so do your best to stay alive!"
"I need an adult…" Mina whimpered.
"I am an adult~" Aizawa grinned.
" . . . Aizawa-sensei, do you know where Genki is?" Momo asked after looking around, noticing an absence.
"He's just… sleeping," Aizawa said frankly. "Now, get to work."
*MHA*
"Truly, this is what Hell looks like," Ibara Shiozaki hummed, crossing herself as she and Class 1-B entered the clearing after Vlad King, bearing witness to the metaphorical and maybe literal Hell that Class 1-A was being subjected to as they used the hell out of their Quirks to surpass their own limits.
"Normally, you'd be doing all this at the same rate that your bodies grow," Vlad King summarized the explanation he'd begun when they departed the Catnip Inn.
"But there's no time for all that. Get to it, Class B," Aizawa chimed in.
"But, there's forty of us altogether," Itsuka hummed. "How can just the six of you oversee all of us and our Quirks?"
"Seven, actually," Aizawa began, only to be interrupted by-
"That's right. We're four parts of a whole!"
"Rock on with these sparkling gazes!"
"We've come to lend a paw and help!"
"We come from… somewhere…"
"Stingingly cute and catlike!"
"The Wild, Wild Pussycats (Full Version)!" the four of them said striking Super Sentai-like poses.
"My Quirk is [Search]! I know everything about anyone I lay eyes on, up to 100 people at a time, including locations and weaknesses!" the green-haired Pussycat, Ragdoll grinned.
"With my [Earthflow], I can create the perfect training environment for each of you!" the blond Pussycat, Pixie-Bob announced as Ochako screamed in the background within a zero-gravity ball that the woman sent flying with a sudden rock pillar.
"And I use my [Telepath] to give advice to each of you, all at once," the red-headed Pussycat, Mandalay announced with plenty of 'mom energy'.
"And I'm here to punch and kick you into shape," the manliest member of the Pussycats, Tiger, said menacingly.
"Hey, punching people is my schtick!"
"Oguro, glad you could finally make it," Aizawa hummed as the aforementioned 'seventh' member of their instructors made their presence known.
The man was a towering, heavily-muscled man with a strong jaw giving him a similar build to Vlad King, he had short dark hair, visibly thick eyebrows, and heavy stubble. His attire consisted of a tight-fitting dark shirt, jeans, combat boots, and a long hunter green trench coat. On his hands he wore a pair of dark gloves topped with brass knuckles, while his right leg was equipped with some kind of Support Item to compensate for his visible limp. What made him look distinctive were the scar running diagonally down his left cheek, as well as the fact that his left eye was completely scarred over.
"Aizawa, is this your friend?" Mandalay asked while Ragdoll rubbed her face as soon as she saw the guy.
"Yes. He'll be lending his expertise while we're Reinforcing everyone's Quirks," Aizawa hummed.
"But how's he going to do that? The guy's Quirkless. No offense," Ragdoll apologized.
"Hm."
"A Quirkless guy that punched the Hero Killer's face in," Aizawa hummed.
"SAY WHAT?!" Bakugou and Iida cried up from their own exercises, Bakugou letting out a yowl as he held his hands in his boiling water for longer than he should've while Iida tripped on his own two feet and epically face-planted.
"Hah, come on, it was just the one time," the now-named 'Oguro' said with a hand wave, not even denying it. "Hey, hold on… You're missing one."
"Wait, are we just going to ignore the fact that some Quirkless guy sent the Hero Killer running?" Sato asked mid-bite.
"If you want more details, ask Koichi. Kid was there too."
"HE WAS?!" half the Hero Course first-years gasped, 1-A in shock while 1-B in amazement.
"Long story, maybe I'll tell you over the campfire and smores," the man shrugged. "Anyway, Tiger, let's go punch some teenagers!" he said pounding a fist into a palm with a meaty *THWACK!*
"Hah. Now this is a guy who talks my language~" Tiger grinned, those with 'Power-Up Type' Quirks feeling a chill run up their spines.
"Remember, kids. Pain is just weakness leaving the body!" Oguro grinned as he cracked his knuckles.
"Pain… and blood… and more pain..."
"HRAAAAAAAUGH!" Izuku roared into the heavens sounding like he'd lost his mind.
*MHA*
Later that day after many hours of torment, closer to the lunch period where they'd refuel themselves for yet more hellish training-
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"What was that?" Kirishima blinked as a howl of unadulterated fear echoed through the woods.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
"It came from the lodge!" Ojiro added, the students of 1-A and 1-B stopping what they were doing as the sound of feet on the well-worn trail made its way over to those with enhanced senses.
The next moment and bursting through the dappled light of the forest path was a young man with a look of unadulterated terror in his pupil-less crimson-colored eyes as he fled from who could only be Pixie-Bob, the only thing he was wearing apart from his expression a towel around his waist.
The man in question was slightly taller than six feet when barefoot and incredibly handsome with a lean Adonis-like face that'd turn heads anywhere in the country. He had the robust, muscular build of a martial artist with pectorals that looked more like armor plates and abs that could grind meat, his muscles powerful like bridge cables with an overall physique like something you'd find carved from marble. His skin was tanned to a lovely shade of bronze that caught the mid-day sun quite fetchingly, and his messy mane of back-length hair in contrast was a shocking white like fresh snowfall, giving him something of an exotic but nonetheless adventurous look.
Hell, with the white hair, red eyes, and tan skin he could've passed for one of Mirko's siblings. Assuming he wasn't already.
All in all, more than one young woman from the Hero Course found their breaths catching in their throat.
"Who the heck is that?" Hatsume blinked as she looked up from her notes as the mostly-naked young man sought for cover, Pixie-Bob prowling after him on all fours and cackling like a crazy person.
"Oh god, she finally did it…" Tiger shuddered. "She finally abducted a college boy and dragged him to her sex dungeon."
" . . . What?" Aizawa blinked.
"I mean, we never thought she'd actually use it but…" Mandalay trailed off.
" . . . What?"
"God, the PR nightmare is going to suuuuuuck…" Ragdoll groaned.
" . . . What?"
"We mean she's finally snapped!" the Wild, Wild Pussycats groaned as Pixie-Bob pounced, cackling gleefully and practically drooling. The handsome man tripping over his own two feet and barely maintaining what little modesty his towel afforded him, before Pixie-Bob could get her literal and metaphorical claws into him, Aizawa shot out his Binding Cloth. The fake cat-girl falling short, the handsome man crab-walked away from her until he bumped into the table reserved for Momo and Rikido's snacks, quickly scarpering around on all fours until he was hiding behind them.
"Um, young man, listen, however Pixie-Bob got you here, I'm sure whatever the pretense, we can make all of this go away," Mandalay said walking over to him non-threateningly as Tiger doubled-down on Aizawa's Binding Cloth with his own [Pliabody] after Oguro hog-tied her with his grappling hook.
" . . . What?" the man blinked matching Aizawa's tone.
"Tuition! We can pay for your college tuition!" Mandalay insisted.
" . . . What?"
"Or we can reimburse you if you've already paid for it!" Ragdoll added frantically.
"Wh… What are you idiots talking about? It's me! Genki!"
" . . . "
" . . . "
" . . . "
*MHA*
The- "EEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH!" -that followed sent wildlife scattering in all directions for miles around, also frightening Koda out of his skull in the middle of his vocal exercises.
*MHA*
*SPURT!*
"WHAT?!" everyone in both Hero Course classes gawped, spitting out their drinks as-applicable as they tried to remember what Genki looked like before and associate it with… well… THIS.
"What? What's with those faces?" the now-identified Genki(?) blinked.
"Um… Have you looked in any mirrors lately?" Sato asked.
"No, not really," the young man that identified himself as 'Genki' said as he rubbed at throat. "Why do you ask?"
"Genki… You got taller…" Shoji hummed, finding that his peer now stood only an inch shorter than he.
"Shoji, people don't get taller overnight. If anything, the rest of you have just gotten shorter," Genki countered before pausing. "Wait…"
"Um… Genki…" Momo said walking up to him, chin tilted up as she held out a polished mirror from her hand. "Maybe look into this mirror, but try not to freak out."
"Momo, I spent the last twenty minutes running away from a thirsty fake cat-girl. There's nothing in this mirror that'll make me freak… out… THE FUCK IS THIS!? Whose face is that?! Whose BUTT is that!? And whose voice is this?!"
"Remember when she said not to freak out? This is what she meant," Kyoka deadpanned as Genki looked himself over with the polished surface, and then feeling his own towel-clad ass.
"Huh. Seems like you molted sooner than anticipated," Aizawa hummed.
"Wait, you knew about this pending metamorphosis?!" Iida chimed in, chopping his arm robotically.
"I knew he was in the process of molting since we found him in the basement; it isn't completely unheard of for arthropodic Heteromorphs. I just didn't think he'd have this much of a growth spurt, with so-radical a change to his physical characteristics in so short an amount of time," Aizawa waved off like he'd seen it before.
Possibility existed he had seen it before with one of his previous classes….
"Wait, you mean this is really Genki?!" Monoma gawped incredulously, trying and failing to associate the smoking hot man-meat his female peers were drooling over with the humble, plain-but-also-kinda-girly-looking teen that'd prostrated himself before him to get the low-down on Bakugou's Quirk.
"Well, I mean… yeah, it is him," Ragdoll hummed, realizing that her [Search] had-in-fact verified his identity.
"Huh. Looks like we'll need to design you an all-new suit," Mei hummed as she lifted the rear of his towel like a pervert peeking up a skirt.
"Mei! Could you not!" Momo cried as she hastily made some boxers and a Yuuei tracksuit in the appropriate size.
"Momorozu, I know that from a scientific, economic, and biological standpoint that Heroes with round, muscular butts are more popular than those without," she making curving motions with her hands in front of her own derriere as Genki pulled away from her.
"Mei-chan! Could you not put adjectives in front of my body parts?!" Genki cried, cheeks dusting red as he stepped behind some bushes to change once Momo had finished.
"Only issue now is learning to 'own it'. Maybe he can get lessons from All Might? HE has a round muscular butt too, and it's a major selling point if all the promotional material of him 'looking off into the distance' has anything to say about it."
"Um, in Japanese, please?" Kyoka inquired.
"Sex sells."
"It suuuure does~" Mina swooned dreamily as she drank in the Heteromorph's bulging muscles before he pulled his top down and stepped out into the clearing.
"Damn… My shoes aren't going to fit anymore…" the formerly plain-looking Heteromorph said looking down at his bronze-skinned feet. "Ugh… And why the hell is it so bright out…?" he asked shielding his eyes. "And could you all stop jiggling in place? You're giving me a migraine…"
"Dude, all of us are standing still," Kaminari deadpanned. "Also, WHEN AND HOW?!"
"Hm. Let me get a look at ya," Mei said suddenly dragging him down by his collar until they were practically nose-to-nose. And then until they were nose-to-nose, lips mere millimeters apart.
"M-MEI-CHAN!" Momo cried, scandalized.
"Uh huh… Uh huh… I see…" Mei hummed as she stared deeply into his crimson-colored eyes. "Looks like your optics got a bit of an upgrade. You've got compound eyes out the wazu in there."
"Compound eyes?" Mina blinked.
"You know how whenever you try to swat a fly, they suddenly have the Sharingan?" Izuku spoke up. "That's basically why."
"Sharingan? Oh! From that super-retro ninja anime!" Pony spoke up eagerly.
"Wait, for real? How many we talking?" Toru asked eagerly.
"Half a million each, give or take a few thousand," Mei shrugged. "Momorozu! I got a work order for you!" she said scrambling furiously in her notepad.
"Oh?" Momo blinked.
"Genki isn't completely used to his compound eyes yet, so we're going to need to give him some functional blinders until he can acclimate to the neural load," Mei said handing Momo a sketch of round black spectacles, details including their opacity and the pinhole going through the center. "It's a common affliction with meta-growth in the midst of puberty."
"Ah, I never realized," Momo hummed as Genki visibly squinted his eyes. Furrowing her brow, Momo made a pair of framed lenses, and then the ear pieces, Mei snatching them up and assembling the final product before passing them over. "So… how do they feel? Is the pinhole wide-enough?"
"It's… actually a lot better…" Genki said letting out a relieved sigh. "Even if I do look like a hipster."
"Still, a million compound eyes…" Izuku muttered. "We should probably screen for which parts of the nonvisible spectra he might now be capable of seeing, as well as-"
"SHUT IT, NERD!" Bakugou shouted, stomping over to his pot to resume training.
"Vlad-sensei, does this constitute as an Awakening?" Itsuka inquired, remembering Koichi's own talks regarding the leaps and bounds his own Quirk had grown by during his tenure as a Vigilante, and the assignments where they were asked to theorize in what way their peers' Quirks might also Awaken if pushed far-enough.
"It's possible… Or this could merely be a maturation of his Quirk as his body continues to develop. The thing about arthropodic Heteromorphs is that they tend to develop very Quickly, whereas their human components don't cause them to be short-lived like actual insects."
"So like Bug-Types in Pokémon, but with none of the drawbacks?" Togaru Kamakiri questioned.
Koichi too had made Pokémon references in his lectures once it came up just how many varying Quirks he'd faced during his time in America. Certain Quirks naturally had inherent advantages and disadvantages against other sorts of Quirks, so the metaphor not only kept everyone engaged and the lessons fun, but also helped with the nuance when there were literally billions of Quirks out there to plan and teach around.
"If you want to put it that way," Vlad King shrugged.
"Genki, do you need to sit down?" Aizawa inquired.
"Honestly? I still feel a little sore all over, but I also don't want to sit still."
"Well, I guess that's expected. You basically reconstituted your body from soup, after all," Oguro hummed scratching at his stubble.
"Wait, he did what!?" the other kids gawped.
"Too loud…" Aizawa sighed. "Genki, if you feel any sort of complication, let me know immediately. If you try to hold out on me…" he said letting the threat hang.
"I'll keep that in mind," Genki said as he looked down at his hands, experimentally flexing them. "I'm going to have to re-learn how to do… everything, aren't I?"
"Probably, yeah," Aizawa shrugged.
"Come on, kiddo, I'll help you through this. It'll be like the good-old days when I taught you how to throw your first punch~" Oguro grinned.
"He taught you how to throw your first punch?" Aizawa deadpanned with a raised brow.
"My 'gruncle' also gave me my first set of brass knuckles. In middle school," Genki deadpanned.
"Yeah, that tracks."
"Hey, what's with the look, Shota?" Oguro asked at the man's look.
"Wait wait wait… Are we just going to ignore the fact that this scruffy old grandpa-"
"Not that old," Oguro chimed in.
"-punched in the Hero Killer's face? OR the fact that Crawler-sensei was there too?" Kirishima asked.
"You don't need a Quirk to punch someone in the face," the scruffy older man huffed, he and Tiger slapping five.
"What're you high-fiving him for?" Pixie-Bob asked.
"I don't need to use [Pliabody] to punch someone in the face," the buff transgender man huffed proudly.
"If you have time to talk, you have energy to walk. Now get back to work," Aizawa chimed in before they lost too much daylight to this. "You, Genki, quick question."
"What?"
"Can you see that girl?" he asked pointing to a floating bag of potato chips.
Genki for his part lifted his very Aburame-like shades and looked in Toru's general direction before his eyes widened, his cheeks flushed red, and he turned around, an awkward silence going through the clearing before-
"KYAAAAAAAH! I CAN NEVER GET MARRIEEEEEEEEEED!"
"Hah, looks like you lost one!" Vlad King chuckled as clouds of dirt got kicked up.
"Well, I guess that answers that he can see into the non-visible spectrum," Oguro hummed. "SO!" he said clapping Genki on the back. "Was she cute~"
"D-Don't talk like a perverted old man! She's still a minor!"
"And the age of consent in Japan is-"
"Gruncle Iwao, I swear to Kami, I will…!"
"Problem children, all of them…" Aizawa sighed as he gave himself some eye drops.
"Hey… Hey, Shiozaki, what's with you?" Monoma asked turning to the only Catholic in 1-B.
"Thank you, o lord, for crafting this magnificent creature in your glorious image~" the [Vine] user sighed dreamily, hands clasped in prayer as she looked heavanward with wistful eyes.
"Dammit, we've lost another one," Monoma said pounding his forehead into a tree.
*MHA*
While Genki did some light stretches in preparation for his own light training, he took the time to observe what his peers were getting up to.
Yuga Aoyama was repeatedly firing his [Naval Laser] into the air with a porta-potty on standby for his upset stomach. Mina Ashido was using her acid on boulders with a pained look on her face. Tsuyu Asui was training up her Heteromorphic traits with rock climbing. Tenya Ida was practicing long-distance endurance running in big laps around the field. Ochako Oraraka was being bounced around the field in a zero gravity ball while using her Quirk on herself. Denki Kaminari was passing an electric current through a powerful-looking portable generator. Eijiro Kirishima was using his [Hardening] to endure a barrage of attacks by Mashirao Ojiro's [Tail]. Koji Koda… could be heard doing vocal exercises in the middling distance. Rikido Sato, as well as Momo Yaoyorozu, were stuffing their faces while continually activating their Quirks; Rikido was lifting a massive dumbel no-one his age had any right to curl that-easily, while in Momo's case she was carrying out "work orders" under Iwao Oguro's supervision, making provisions that'd probably see use through the rest of the week, intermixed with mass-producing Matryoshka dolls to increase the speed of her Quirk and lipid conversion rate. Mezo Shoji was making multiple sensory organs on each limb like the branches of a tree, far surpassing his original limit of one-per. Kyoka Jiro was stabbing her [Earphone Jacks] into rocks and metal plates with a pained look on her face. Hanta Sero was continually producing tape, wailing in agony as all the moisture was sucked from his body. Fumikage Tokoyami… seemed to be having an episode in a dark cave with a warning sign slapped in front of it. Shoto Todoroki was in a large drum barrel alternately blasting ice and fire all around him. Toru Hagakure… was nowhere to be seen meaning she was either training her stealth, or was still AWOL from when she'd given him an eyeful. Katsuki Bakugou was sticking his hands into a pot of boiling water before letting out massive explosions directly overhead. Izuku Midoriya was training with Tiger, trying to hit the [Pliabody] user with 5% of his Full Power and getting punched in the face when he botched it.
All in all, logical Quirk Reinforcement exercises given what he knew of their Quirks already.
What Class 1-B was doing was what he was really interested in, since he'd barely seen any of their Quirks in action.
Yosetsu Awase seemed to be using his Quirk to repeatedly fuse and then break apart the runoff from Momo's own exercises; mostly with failed [Creation] products, but also with rocks and stuff that Pixie-Bob kicked up with her Quirk (once her hormones got under control). Sen Kaibara's Quirk seemed to let him spin parts of his body like drills, and he was training them to not only increase in speed and duration, but also in power as he bored through soft earth. Togaru Kamakiri was making and retracting multiple blades of all shapes and sizes from all parts of his body to increase speed and number. Shihai Kuroiro was in a cave similar to Tokoyami's visible only by the shock of white hair that'd flit out of the darkness on occasion, with Oguro taking a pickaxe to it and making it smaller or just making holes to let daylight in. Itsuka Kendo, Nirengeki Shoda, and Hiryu Rin seemed to all be using their Quirks on Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu's [Steel] while strengthening their own Quirks. Yui Kodai was repeatedly making objects alternate between big and small, likely to increase the size multiplication as well as the duration and speed, and he could immediately see that it was similar to red-clad senpai's [Object Gigantification] from the Edgeshot agency, with the added caveat that she could make larger objects small on top of the inverse. Kinoko Komori seemed to be growing… mushrooms all over the place in a shady area with the help of a Support Item while also branching out into barren plots covered by daylight, a thick encyclopedia about mushrooms in her hands. Ibara Shiozaki was spreading out her [Vine] Quirk into the underbrush, likely for longer distances and faster growth since their number was actually fixed. Jurota Shishida, like Izuku, was attempting to hit Tiger only for the [Pliabody] user and occasionally Oguro to come over and counter. Pony Tsunotori seemed to be firing off the horns from her head, re-growing them, controlling them, and also practicing controlling multiple pairs. Kosei Tsubaraba seemed to be using a breath-dampening mask while also doing power-type exercises alongside those "sparring" with Tiger and Oguro, using his [Solid Air] as much as he was able to not only strengthen his lung capacity but also the speed and how much damage they could incur. Setsuna Tokage seemed to be splitting her body up into more and more pieces and moving them from longer distances like that one clown pirate from that retro pirate anime. Manga Fukidashi, the guy whose head made his head look like a speech bubble, seemed to also be doing vocal exercises like Koda, just on the opposite end of the clearing. Juzo Honenuki seemed to be softening large patches of ground while also swimming through them. Kojiro Bondo appeared to be excreting large volumes of birdlime-like glue from the holes in his face into large containers that Momo was also making with her Quirk. Neito Monoma… Genki assumed the guy was going around and copying multiple Quirks to increase the number he could hold as well as "uptime", making use of them where he could but focusing more on quantity than quality. Reiko Yanagi seemed to be practicing her Quirk on lead weights that Momo had made, not only increasing the number she could control but also the weight threshold.
Mei for her part was recording all of it, taking pictures, capturing audio and video, and even writing old-fashioned notes. The girl was situated on a rocky spire, with perfectly-formed stairs, and as using her Quirk to drink everything in simultaneously.
All things considered, he had no idea where Momona's superiority/inferiority complex was coming from; each and every one of them in Class B could become amazing Heroes someday. The only difference between them and 1-A was they didn't have the jumpstart in media exposure.
Overall, very wholesome, very normal ways of Reinforcing their Quirks. Like what his family made him go through as soon as Reinforcing his Quirk wouldn't stunt his growth.
Like filling 42-gallon drums with his [Oilpiration] until he was a withered husk. Or wrapping him in plastic wrap to get him used to using [Dermal Respiration] on places other than his mouth. Or using tennis ball launchers to train his [Air Pressure Sensing] with light or heavy clothing while blindfolded. Or shooting him with beanbag rounds and chicken guns to train his [Cockroach Durability]. Or firing off air through his [Spiracles] with greater force, frequency, or number to counter paintball strikes. Or trying to increase the uptime he could leave the ground with his wings. Or doing what Iida has been doing for hours on end only with bread instead of orange juice as well as lead weights.
You know. Normal stuff. Probably.
At the moment thought, what Iwao was going to have him do was anything but 'normal'.
The man was having Momo use her Quirk to make him stacks of art supplies including pencils, paper, a clipboard, as well as a big heavy ball and a skateboard with a dent in the center to likely stand on.
The art supplies made sense in that he'd probably have to retrain his dexterity since, well, his entire body now fit him like an ill-fitting suit; even the little stuff he'd have to retrain himself on how to do because everything was longer or wider or closer to his head. The heavy ball and skateboard were probably for him to retrain his balance on since his center of gravity was also not where he remembered it being.
At least he wasn't being asked to play paddleball with both hands while watching the Discovery Channel. Again. Sure, it trained his Giant Interneurons/Ganglion to act independently of conscious thought, but it was soooo booooring!
*MHA*
The day prior, the Wild, Wild Pussycats had pampered them… at least in regards to lunch before Genki ate the buffet line and then raided the pantry like a swarm of ravenous locusts forcing them to subsist off MREs and CalorieMate until late in the evening. Today however, they were on their own for dinner; the menu was curry.
" . . . Why're you all looking at me like that?" Genki asked as the eyes of his classmates turned to him after seeing the piles of food they'd been given to work with.
"You aren't going to zerg rush again, are you?" Kyoka asked as she raised her earlobes in a defensive posture, remembering how he'd acted like an alien from a horror movie, or something.
"I only did that yesterday because I was going to molt later. My hormones aren't out of whack anymore," Genki said crossing his arms, fumbling for a second because they were longer and the shoulders were broader.
"I still can't believe it," Mina hummed. "I mean, I saw the before-and-after shots, but I still can't believe it."
"Believe it!" Mei cackled giddily as she held up a… cobbled-together flamethrower. "Let's light this candle!"
"Mei-chan, down girl," Genki said palming the muzzle back toward the ground.
"Down? Well, alright, if you insist."
"WHOA! Mei-chan!" Genki yelped as the girl took to a knee right in front of his crotch.
"I need to get measurements for your new costume on a part of out-growing your old one~ Tell me, has your masculine anatomy also grown in proportion to the rest of your body? Need to make sure there's plenty of room in the crotch to avoid chaffing and wardrobe malfunctions. Gotta protect the next generation too!"
"Mei-chan, stop making those grabbing motions with your hands! And wipe that blood off your nose!"
"This is purely professional. Now let me at those gams~!"
"AHHHHGH!" Genki cried as Mei tried to pull his tracksuit pants down.
"Well, at least she's trying to strip him the old-fashioned way," Sero hummed as he eyed the girls from 1-B, many of which were unashamedly ogling 1-A's transfer-in before averting their eyes when they got caught.
"We can never let Midnight-sensei find out about this…" Sero hummed.
"Realistically, we can only keep this hidden until the next term," Kaminari commented, the others nodding their heads in agreement.
"I just don't get it, though. What about all… this, is attractive?" Genki asked as he felt at his face, which was completely unfamiliar to him.
"Dude, I'm straight as an arrow and even I think you're smoking hot," Ojiro chimed in.
"Really?" Genki blinked. "Maybe it's a 'normie' thing…"
"Dammit, extras! Are you going to help make curry or not?!" Bakugou demanded as he blasted the firewood with his Quirk, turning the pile to ash.
"Anything except knifework. My GIs aren't where they used to be. Also, I think there's more of them."
"What a fun problem to have," Kaminari deadpanned as he spied the girls in 1-B, save Itsuka Kendo and Reiko Yanagi, ogling the transfer-in once again amidst their own curry-making.
He almost thought Yui Kodai was uninterested as well, but no, after interning with the Azure Striker: Gunvolt, he learned to recognize when even the stoic types were eye-stripping a hot piece of man meat.
Kaito was more "cool" than "hot", but that tease of midriff he exposed to help vent overheating actually did more for his brand than going straight-out topless like some Heroes opted to.
Which had the [Electrification] user wondering, what direction would Genki take his new costume in? Would he just get his old costume re-sized to fit his new… everything, would he go for increased "exposure", or go for a different "theme" entirely?
Questions for another day, he supposed.
*MHA*
"Probably not good-enough to serve at a restaurant, but given our situation, this is beyond delicious!" Kirishima cried as he stuffed his face.
"Speak for yourself, jerk!" Kaminari chuffed, also stuffing his face.
"You sure can pack it in, Yaomomo," Sero hummed.
"Hm. Yes, quite," Momo hummed as she ate, prim and proper where everyone around her was stuffing their faces. "My Quirk converts the lipids in my body into different types of plastic, ceramic, metal, and other materials. The more I store up, the more I can produce."
"Oh, like how poop works," Sero hummed.
"BAKA!" Kyoka cried as she slapped the [Tape] user across the face, Momo curling up off to the side and covering her face in shame.
"Momo-senpai," Genki said taking a knee in front of her, the pretty girl's eyes widening as she felt strong muscular arms draw her into an equally muscular chest. "Don't let what he said get to you. If anything, what you make with your Quirk is closer to new skin cells, or nails, or hair. Not… that."
" . . . Thank you for that," Momo nodded, feeling immediately better as he helped her to her feet.
"Is there something on your mind?" he asked as she looked up at him.
"Honestly… I thought you were perfect just the way you were before your metamorphosis," she said aloud with a hand resting prettily on her cheek.
"Hey! Momo! What'd you say to make him cry!?" Mina called out as water trickled down the now-tan-skinned teen's face, Genki's admirers in 1-B shooting the busty teen the stink-eye.
"I-I'm not crying because I'm sad," Genki said wiping at his face. "It's just… no-one's ever told me I was perfect just the way I was before. I was always 'too plain' or 'too girly' or 'too gross'. Hearing someone say I'm 'good-enough', even in the past tense… It means a lot, you know…~"
"What about your parents?" Tsuyu asked.
"Parents are supposed to think and say that. It doesn't really count."
"Huh. Fair point."
"Still, what do you intend to do about your brand now that you look like this?" Monoma inquired aloud. "Originally you could've passed yourself off as an 'everyman', something for ordinary people to look up to, but looking the way you do now… On looks alone it'd be quite easy for you to get into the Top 10; assuming you don't go into another cocoon and come out look like your dad-*whack*-URK!"
"What he's trying to say is," Itsuka said lightly chopping him on the back of the head, "that your new appearance is very attention-grabbing. While a plain-looking girl like me doesn't have any ground to stand on, it'd be a bit of a shame to hide yourself behind your costume."
"Itsuka-senpai, what're you talking about? You look amazing," Genki replied, the orange-haired girl feeling eyes on her back as well. "Admittedly, I'm not the best judge when it comes to 'normies', but even if you were just a background character in Uwabami's photo shoots, I still think you're quite lovely. You could definitely become an Idol if you wanted to."
"Aw, thanks," Itsuka smiled even as she felt Kinoko staring holes into the back of her head. "All things considered, I think you're pretty great too. Now your outside, matches your insides."
"Really?" Genki asked as he looked at his reflection in a spoon. "I'm not sure I see it…"
"What a great problem to have…" Kosei Tsuburaba hummed off to the side, the very epitome of 'plain' from his face to his costume and even to his Quirk.
"Hey, but seriously, did your grandpa-uncle really punch the Hero Killer in the face?" Yosetsu Awase asked.
"Well, back then he called himself 'Stendhal', but the guy had the same knives, the same sword, and the same body-paralyzing Quirk whenever he ingested his opponents' blood," Genki answered. "Koichi was actually uniquely-suited to getting away from the guy because his Kowtow Evasion didn't stop working just because his body was paralyzed."
"But how'd a Quirkless guy send someone that took down forty Pro Heroes running?" Togari Kamakiri asked, Stain something of an inspiration to him as a fellow blade-user.
"Well… he's kinda bad at telling that part of the story beyond 'I punched him in the face really, really, really hard'…" Genki said scratching his cheek. "Mind you, back then he was a Vigilante who only targeted Instant Villains and the like, but I think the fact that mainstream Hero society left Naruhata out to dry just because there wasn't a ton of money to be made there, might've helped contribute to his worsened opinion of most Pro Heroes down the line…"
At that, the mood grew suddenly somber, especially for those who'd encountered Stain in-person, save for Midoriya who'd wandered off with a plate of curry to who-knew-where.
*MHA*
Later that evening in the rotenburo, the girls of 1-A and 1-B both decided to make use of the open air bath at the same time since there was room to spare, and a hot new topic of conversation had come up.
"So he could really see you then…? As in see you-see you," Kyoka asked.
"He looked me right in the eye… So embarrassiiiing…!" Toru wailed, the hollow cavity in the water changing shape as the girl sunk herself up to her nose.
"Still, I didn't recognize him at all when he came in screaming," Ochako hummed aloud. "For a minute I really did think he was a college boy that Thirsty-Cat-Sensei abducted~"
"How shameful…" Ibara said thoughtfully, both at the concept and Ochako's adorable giggle.
"So, show of hands! Who here's been eye-stripping Genki-sama 2.0 today?" Mei unashamedly asked, the girls around her shifting awkwardly in the water. "Also, I've been eyeballing all of you all day too, so if you're lying, I'll just call you out on it. Remember, IIII seeeeeeee eeeeveryyyythinnnng~"
This statement coupled with her manic wide eyes had the desired effect, because hands went up with significantly less reluctance.
Mina held her hand up like she were in class, Toru held her hand up out of the water even as she came up to breathe through her nose, Momo prim and proper raised her hand prettily, and Tsuyu croaked awkwardly as her hand came up for a brief instant. From Class B, Yui's hand went up alongside pink cheeks on her stoic face, Kinoko bashfully raised her hand with a much-reddened face, Ibara coughed demurely into her hand while looking away and raising the other, Pony raised hers with an innocent smile on her face, and Setsuna raised a peace with an eager grin.
"I see, I see…" Mei said taking out what they assumed was a waterproof notepad. "I might be able to pencil a few of you in. Assuming I can wear Genki-sama down and his metamorphosis also heightened his libido to arthropod levels as well."
"L-Libido…?!" Ibara gulped, eyes darting as she crossed herself.
"Cockroaches are prolific breeders, so I hypothesize that his refractory period is quite short compared to most mammalian humanoids, though I'd need datapoints to confirm or refute this theory," Mei replied with a completely straight face, the girls beginning to blush as a whole. "His humility might actually work against us in this case despite the way he looks, but I'm sure with enough positive reinforcement he can be made to open up to the idea, even if his libido doesn't necessitate it like they do in Eroge."
"I still can't believe Nezu and Midnight signed off on those Dakimakura…" Kyoka deadpanned.
"Oh! Oh! Are you going to make new ones? I wouldn't mind snuggling next to a hot surfer boy," Pony said lapsing back into English.
"I'll need to go through my records, but since I've been recording everything today, I might be able to edit in a swimsuit to replace that towel."
"I-I wouldn't mind one of him in a towel, 'noko," Kinoko chirped, something eager glinting in her cross-pupiled eyes.
"Kinoko Komori, right? The girl that wants to become an Idol Hero?" Mei asked looking down at her notes.
Part of her Support Course studies included studying the Quirk Registry and Costume Request Forms of the first-year Hero Course students. In most cases this information would be kept quite confidential, but because Yuuei used trusted designers and Support Companies, this information could legally be shared without committing breach of contract. It wasn't only the designs of the costumes themselves that gave insight into a prospective Hero-in-Training, but the motivations behind costumes being made to look the way they do as well. Hence, why Mei knew something that only Kinoko's closest friends were privy to.
Socially inept spaz as she was however, she didn't feel the need to keep that tidbit to herself…
"Y-Y-Yes… I almost went to the Ares Idol Agency, but I didn't really have the confidence until after I went to Yuuei," she admitted bashfully.
"Hmmmm… That might be an inroad we can use. Meet with me later and we'll talk details~"
"So you're really all thirsting over Genki-kun like that…?" Ochako asked, realizing how far-away he'd grown from the 'boy next door' look he'd had when she realized they were neighbors.
"It's nothing unusual. The hottest Heroes always have the largest female fanbases," Kyoka hummed thoughtfully. "Same with Heroines on the inverse. I'm sure Momo will have scads of fans when she debuts."
"Oh? Why do you say that?" she asked stretching her arms above her head, her womanly attributes bobbing in the water.
" . . . No reason," Kyoka sighed as she looked down at her own chest.
"Oh, and by the way, Frog Girl," Mei chimed in. "I don't think you should hang out with Genki-sama anymore until you get your priorities straight."
"Wh-What the heck are you talking about?" she croaked, suddenly feeling like frog soup.
"You were pretty so-so about him back when he was plain and kinda girly-looking, but now that he's a smokin' hot piece of 'surfer boy' eye candy, you can't stop croaking whenever you see him," the salmon-haired girl said causing Tsuyu to sink into the water and look no-one in the eye.
"Huh, yeah, I guess I never realized how his look might change this whole… dynamic…" Kyoka hummed aloud.
"You know what else is going to change? Shipping Wars!" Mina cried out. "Who's Genki-kun going to get shipped with now that he looks like… well… that?" she said making a vague gesture to the dividing wall where at this very moment, the boys of 1-A were soaking their fatigue away.
"Way he looks now, probably everyone, girl or boy…" Toru hummed thoughtfully with a completely straight face. "Internet searches are going to get real weird for him after he gets his face out there…"
"Oh, so like with All Might and the other Top 10 Heroes, basically…" Kyoka deadpanned, realizing that was part of 'the life' too.
Because contrary to what the students who went to the I-Tower "After-Party" thought, people had been shipping All Might and David Shield (aka "Shield Might" or "D-Might") wayyyy before the whole thing with Wolfram. In fact, people started retroactively shipping them once All Might returned to Japan and started flaunting that "round muscular butt" of his as he ascended the Hero Rankings. Hence why it was an "industry standard" for Heroes and those working at their Agencies doing internet searches on themselves or one another Pro to use filters so nothing "NSFW" would appear on their search history.
Or Kami forbid, on their computer monitors when an intern happened to be walking by…
Hell, one of Endeavor's desk drones almost got incinerated when he caught some with "Alldeavor" fanart on the guy's monitor when he was actually researching case resolution ratios between "All Might and Endeavor".
*MHA*
Elsewhile with the boys, their sum number was greater than their half of the rotenburo's peak capacity, so the division between class remained.
Not that the boys were as-eager for naked skinship as their female peers…
"Well, glad I still have these…" Genki hummed as he stood in front of the mirror and fluttered his elytra, which now looked like slightly-darker planes of skin going down his muscular back, and were far more flexible than before, actually conforming to the shape of his back.
"Think you can actually fly, now?" Izuku asked curiously.
"Hard to tell. Unless my wing muscles got a significant upgrade, it might actually be harder for me to get off the ground…" Genki hummed thoughtfully as he flexed his arm, his new bicep ballooning impressively.
"Oh boo-fucking-hoo," Bakugou grumbled as he furiously scrubbed at his hair.
"Bakugou's just salty because now you literally look down on him," Denki chuckled, only to hide behind Sato when the explosive blond leered at him.
"That aside, truly this is a glorious rebirth," Tokoyami hummed as [Dark Shadow] scrubbed his back.
"An inquiry, if I may," Aoyama hummed. "Mademoiselle Hagakure, how magnifique was she truly?"
"Well… Not really sure how I can describe seeing in the non-visible spectrum to people that can't see on that waveform…" Genki said scratching at a blushing cheek. "Hagakure-san… She's got long, messy, wavy hair that I wanna say is chartreuse I think… with pink specks. She has bushy eyelashes, big round eyes, teal irises with yellow insides. She's a little short, and a little 'fluffy', but she's definitely cute. I assume," he summarized since the 'colors' he saw might not fully translate into the visible spectrum. "A lot of you 'normies' tend to blend together after a while, but Hagakure-san is definitely one-of a kind."
"Huh… That's definitely more to go on than the whole 'Yang Guifei & Francis Xavier' mashup she said she looked like," Sero hummed.
"Is that what Oguro had you drawing all day?" Kaminari asked.
"I didn't draw her genitals, so don't bother asking."
"I-I wasn't! Seriously, I wasn't going to go there!"
"Mineta would've. Rest in peace, buddy," Sero faux-sobbed.
"He isn't dead, he just went to another Hero School, I think," Genki sighed.
"Genki."
"Shoto?"
"How do you think Hagakure cuts her hair?"
"Wait, that's your takeaway?" Sero deadpanned.
"Well, if she can describe herself as looking like the maybe-baby of a Chinese consort and a Spanish missionary, she can probably see her own face," Genki shrugged. "That or her barber can also see into the non-visible spectrum."
"Still, this is an impressive development," Shoji hummed, having gotten all of those hard-to-reach places thanks to all of his Quirk Reinforcement. "I wonder how-far your new vision goes."
"It's still awfully bright out, even under starlight…" Genki said squinting his eyes. "And my voice… I barely sound like myself. I'm kinda worried my mom won't recognize me."
"I-I'm sure you'll be fine. Moms just have a way of knowing, you know?"
" . . . "
" . . . "
" . . . "
"HOLY SHIT! YOU JUST SPOKE!" half the boys cried out when they realized it was Koda that'd spoken.
"Koda speaks all the time, what the heck're you talking about?" Genki deadpanned.
"Yes, thank you," the rocky-headed boy sighed.
"Damn, those vocal exercises must've done wonders for you," Kaminari hummed.
"B-By the way, what sort of costume are you going to get?" Izuku spoke up. "Your old costume was a mix of Super Sentai with a splash of Kamen Rider, but now that you look like this… I-I'm not into boys or anything, but I think it'd be a disservice not to show your face off. A winning smile can do more to save people's hearts than a helmet with a nostalgic design."
"Indeed. It would be quite a crime terrible to hide that glorious visage from the masses," Aoyama added sagely, slipping into French.
"Well, part of the reason I went with Kamen Rider for the helmet was because I was 'plain-looking' and I wanted to lean more into the 'cool' of my bug theme instead of the 'gross' connotation," he said making air quotes. "Now that I'm apparently 'eye candy'… No idea what I'll do. Maybe something'll come to me after the Training Camp."
*CRASH!*
"KYAAAAAH!"
"MEI-CHAN! MOMO! TSU!"
Before the rest of the boys could even get to their feet in response to what they thought was another attack by Villains, Genki had already shot into the air, wings fluttering madly as he vaulted the dividing fence before leaping into the open air above the girls' half of the bath, wings beating as he shot at the intruder through the steam.
"RIDER KIIIICK!"
*CRACK!*
*BUHI!?*
"Ah, geez, please tell me that was a wild boar and not a really ugly little person…" Genki said as he adjusted his towel, his foot buried in the neck of his target as they pressed up against one of the decorative rocks. "Girls, is everyone alright?"
"Y-Yes, we're fine!" Momo said covering her chest, the Wild, Wild Pussycats crashing through the doors and popping their claws.
"We heard a scream! What happened?!" Mandalay called out.
"Why hello there, sexy~" Pixie-Bob purred as she spied a broad, muscular back of the masculine variety among a litany of slender feminine ones.
"I heard a scream. And nothing else happened," Genki said as he sidled along the far wall, refusing to turn his head. "Sorry for the intrusion, ladies. My body just moves on its own."
"Are boar attacks normal?" Yui Kodai inquired.
"Geez, that sucker's fricking huge!" Mina gawped as she beheld the size of the thing.
"We'll give you a pass this one time, but don't make a habit of it, okay?" Ragdoll said in Genki's direction, only because she was surprised by how-big the boar was.
Certainly big-enough to break through their reinforced fence. And was that a burn mark on its hide…?
"Exactly the reason I'm not turning around for literally anything else," Genki replied, almost to the wall before wet feet padded across stones.
"Genki-sama!"
"Mei-chan?"
*Gyuuuu~*
"Arigatou!" she beamed happily.
"H-H-H-Hagakure-chan! Put some clothes on!" Ibara cried out as Mei hugged her naked body against Genki's towel-clad one, which at the moment had gone ramrod straight.
In more ways than one.
"Why? It's not like he's looking."
"Th-That's hardly the problem…" Mandalay stuttered.
"I wanna get in that action!"
"Pixie-Bob, no!"
"PIXIE-BOB, YEEEES!"
"Run, Genki! Run from the thirsty cat-lady!" Ragdoll cried out.
"Oh no! He's frozen with fear!" Kinoko cried out as Mei continued to hug him.
"It's not 'fear' that's locked him up," Kyoka said whipping out an earphone Jack to trip up Pixie-Bob before sending its sibling across the way and into Genki's side.
"ACK!"
"RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIFE!"
"Running! Running away now!" Genki said hastily extricating himself from Mei's grasp, leaving his towel behind and flashing the girls (and transgender man) he left behind with his round, muscular butt.
"So… Anyone know how to butcher wild boar?" Ochako asked miserly, seeing a mountain of free meat slumped against the rocks.
Meanwhile-
"Dude, how the heck are you still alive?" Sero asked as the ripped Heteromorph returned with as much blood in his body as he had departed with, but not the same amount of modesty.
"I didn't look at naked teenage girls. It's not a difficult concept to grasp," Genki deadpanned, his face still blushing from the full frontal hug of the manic Support Course girl that refused to leave his thoughts.
"Genki, maybe you should leave? You're looking a little red."
"Dude, that isn't why he's red-faced," Kaminari said to Shoto's deadpan comment.
"Cold shower. I'm going to take a verrrry cold shower," Genki said hiding his engorged tissue with a wash basin as he scampered away.
"Tch. Fucking drama queen," Bakugou huffed.
*MHA*
Later that evening, while the girls were all having a sleepover in 1-A's room as an extension of their little pow-wow in the Rotenburo…
"Remind me again what this is all about?" Genki asked off to the side as the boys of 1-B with Monoma at the head squared off against the boys of 1-A with Bakugou at their head.
"It's about which class will get to use pork over beef in tomorrow's dinner," Shoto hummed.
"Ah, right, that… Now I remember."
The whole thing started partway through their evening curry. Mandalay had announced that the dinner for tomorrow evening, also hand-made by the students, would be nikujaga stew; meat, potatoes, and vegetables stewed in a soy sauce base with a bit of sugar, a staple of Japanese comfort food. When it came down to the meats, while pork was traditional in eastern Japan and the western parts of the country favored beef, even then it could vary from household to household regardless of region. Similar to what was and wasn't acceptable to put on fried eggs, it was the subject of much controversy.
Neito Monoma, ever one for stirring the pot, doubly-so after he found out Class B had "fallen behind" Class A for the end-of-terms by he himself getting a failing mark in the practical, instigated a war over who would get to use pork.
Bakugou, hothead that he was, fell right into the taunt dragging the rest of his class with him.
"*Sigh* This is all getting kind of ridiculous," Izuku sighed.
"It sure is," Shoto and Genki said in stereo, the latter scratching at his throat as Iida, the agreed-upon referee, announced the beginning of the arm wrestling tournament. Pure strength, no Quirks or other additives; first to three would get the pork while the losers would have to 'settle' for beef.
Class B's chosen warriors stepped forward; Nirengeki Shoda, a strange choice at a glance, Juzo Honenuki, a recommendation student, Jurota Shishida, an obvious choice, Yosetsu Awase, an obvious choice when it came to grip strength more than raw power, and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, doubly-obvious even if he did lose out to Kirishima in the Sports Festival.
From Class A, it was Rikido Sato, who had interned with the strongest Heroine in the country, Mezo Shoji, the "muscular octopus", Eijiro Kirishima, the unflatteringly-called "palette swap" of Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Katsuki Bakugou, the hot-head of Class 1-A and one of its undeniable strongest, and-
"Hey, bug-face!"
"'Bug-face'? I don't know anyone by that name. Shoto, do you know anyone by that name?"
"I do not. Maybe Bakugou's confused?"
"He did soak in the water for a good while."
"Tch, dammit, Gokiburi! Get over here and fight for the pork! You're jacked as hell so you're the logical choice!"
"I seriously can't believe you're arguing over something so stupid when there's so-many real problems in the world…" Genki sighed as he ran a 'Momo Brand' hairbrush through his unruly mane of snow-white hair. "Can't we just let 1-B have pork, and then both classes get half-portions of each to eat or trade with so everyone's happy?"
"Screw that! 1-A's making pork!" Bakugou roared.
"You know, I shudder to imagine the frightful headway you'd make if you put this sort of energy into your job."
"Grrrrrrrr!" Bakugou growled before he remembered something. "By the way, Copy & Paste, isn't it time for yourrrr supplementary lessons~?"
"Tch!" the blond clicked his tongue. "Class B! For the pork!"
"FOR THE PORK!" half the gathered teens roared out while the other only half-heartedly agreed.
Must've been from families that used beef. That or they didn't care at-all…
*MHA*
The battle to follow was a complete bloodbath.
Shoda's chubby, baby-like hand was utterly dwarfed by Sato's solid, muscular one. And the contrast was heightened only further when the [Sugar Rush] user put on the game face that Kabutomushi beat into him over internships, making him look like his art style had changed from Slice of Life to Battle Shounen.
Shoda didn't stand a chance.
Next match was Honenuki vs Shoji. When Iida gave the go, both arms shook violently, Class B giving a rousing cheer to recoup the epic stomp that 1-A had gotten in their first matchup. However, it was all for naught as the balance quickly shifted, and Shoji's bulky arm brought Honenuki's crashing down onto the table.
The match to follow was Shishida vs Gokiburi, and if Class B had any hope of winning the pork, they'd have to win every match that followed. Unfortunately, similar to Shoda's match where he was banking on beating Sato to the draw only to realize how completely screwed he was when Sato's PISD (Post-Internship Stress Disorder) gave him a sugar-free power boost like a freight train flattening a mini-van, the moment Iida called the match to start Genki's new arm exploded with powerful muscle before he brought Shishida's hand to the table in an instant, actually putting a crack in the veneer before his beastly opponent could put up a fight.
"Hey, where're you going?" Bakugou demanded as Genki got up and left leaving his opponent to nurse his hand.
"To make an apology."
*MHA*
While Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were having a rematch…
"Excuse me, Hagakure-san, are you in there?" Genki asked knocking on the girls' door.
"H-Hai!" she squeaked, feet padding across the tatami mats before she slid the door open. "G-G-Genki-san, um, did you need something?"
"Could you step out into the hall for a second? There's something I need to say to you."
"O-Oh, sure. Just a minute," the Invisible Girl replied, whereas in the room behind her, some of the girls pressed their ears to the wall.
"Hagakure."
"H-Hai?"
The next moment Genki got on his knees, Toru letting out a squeak as he pressed his forehead to the floor in the classic Dogeza posture.
"I'm sorry I wound up seeing… well… all of you today. Please forgive me."
"I-I-It's no problem! I had no way of knowing you'd actually be able to see me!" she said waving her hands about in front of her. "Um, if you don't mind me asking… Do you think I'm cute?"
"Very," Genki returned, raising his head. "Also, could you settle something for me?"
"What is it?" she asked tilting your head.
"Do you cut your own hair, or can your barber see into the non-visible spectrum too?"
" . . . I ship it."
"Mina, could you not," Kyoka deadpanned.
"K-KYOKA! ARE YOU WIRE-TAPPING AGAIN?!" Genki cried out.
"No, I'm using a glass like a normal person!" the punk rock girl cried pushing the door open causing Mina to spill out into the hall alongside a couple girls from 1-B.
"That's hardly any better…!" Genki groaned rubbing the bridge of his nose, only to find that it too had changed shape.
"Hey, what's going on over there?" Itsuka asked pointing to the boys' room where all of them were excitedly howling at one another, even though the fate of the pork was a foregone conclusion.
"Something about pork or something. I don't really care," Genki sighed. "What about you? What're you all talking about?"
"NOTHING!" the girls cried out, slapping a hand over Mei's mouth before she could answer with brutal honesty before dragging one another back into the room and slamming the door in his face.
" . . . Well alright then," Genki shrugged, aware of what 'nothing' usually meant when girls were having a sleepover.
Thankfully, just like the Hero Industry, the Idol Industry was far less de-humanizing in recent years.
*MHA*
Later that evening, once the students had all gone to sleep…
"Aizawa."
"Khan."
"That guy you brought in, Oguro, are you sure he can be trusted?"
"More than anyone else at Yuuei."
"What makes you say that?"
"He can't fight on the front lines anymore, but he has a personal stake in seeing the League of Villains fall."
"What do you mean 'anymore'…?"
"Do you remember what happened to the High-Speed Hero: O'Clock?"
"Yeah, he mysteriously fell off the map one… Wait… You don't mean-"
"His Quirk Factor was 'damaged'."
This of course being code for "stolen" in case anyone was listening.
"After that he fell into a rut, then his wife went into a coma, then his daughter ran away. He became a Vigilante not only to look for her, but also to find the guy that damaged his Quirk Factor when everyone else stopped looking. In any other case, it'd be irrational for a Quirkless man to fight Villains, but by the same logic, it's irrational for me to fight Villains that my Quirk won't work on. No-one likes to talk about it because he, Crawler, and Pop*Step were all Vigilantes at the time, but fact of the matter was, the three of them were pivotal in keeping the peace in Naruhata until the Villain Factory was taken seriously and Heroes actually started doing their damn jobs in the area."
"Yeah, but still… I didn't think that he was one to let somebody get away…"
"He" being code for "All for One", whose involvement became undeniable once the autopsies on the various Noumu and Koichi's own testimony about No. 6/Rokuro Nomura came together.
"There's no telling why 'he' let Oguro loose. Maybe Oguro managed to escape even without a Quirk, or maybe he was let loose on purpose for reasons we can't possibly understand. Either way, Quirkless or not, if the League attacks us again, another veteran, Quirkless or otherwise, will be invaluable if the worst happens."
"You don't think it's really one of ours, do you? On one of our students, I mean?"
"When I brought Oguro up to speed, he brought about an interesting point. While it's possible that 'they'-"
Code for "The Yuuei Traitor".
"-are assisting the League voluntarily, or even through coercion, the possibility also exists that 'they' are some form of Sleeper Agent, completely unaware until a 'Trigger Phrase' renders them into a suggestible state. In the pre-Paranormal Age, Russia was real big on the idea of Sleepers, and memory-altering Quirks like Maverick's in the Corporate Age were some of the most-dangerous for that very reason."
And it was only when the Quirk Saturation Threshold exceeded 50% that people really started to take notice of all the signs associated with Mind-Class Quirks. Until that point, the clever ones were almost completely unstoppable.
"But even then, that's just another possibility."
"Hm. Either nothing happens, and 'they' aren't here, or they are here but they were told not to act to throw off the scent. Nezu might be planning around the League's plans, but that just means the League can plan around the plan he's planning around their plans."
"Yeah, but that's circular logic with no end in sight…"
"Moving away from that, I heard one of your students failed the End of Terms Test."
"Only one, and only on the practical portion. It was close, but I had to deduct those five additional points."
"Logical. Failure in school only means extra lessons. Failure in the real world means retiring in a pine box."
"What'd you do to make all of yours pass? I thought you of all people would be extra-stringent on that."
"That might've been more on Genki's end than mine. When he was promoted into the Hero Course, he offered some letters of recommendation for his peers, and Sato, Sero, Ashido, and Kaminari took him up on the offer. Most of them trained with Underground Heroes, but they wound up coming back stronger than anticipated."
"Hm. Monoma wasn't fond of Class B 'falling behind' Class A again…"
"You might want to sit him in front of Hound Dog for counselling, then. Heroes have had breakdowns for lesser reasons than that."
"I'll take that under advisement. So… more of the same tomorrow?"
"No. Oguro intends to put them under greater duress. Like tomato plants."
"Not sure if I completely understand that metaphor, but if he's really who you say he is… I'll let him give it a shot."
*MHA*
AN:
To help with the imagery, as a reminder, Genki's old body looks like a slightly-genderbent Oki Megumi (lit. "Megumi Oki") from Arachnid. Genki's new body on the other hand, basically looks like Suiryu's from One-Punch Man, with eyes like Tommyrod's (one of the strongest "Bug Users" if not the strongest in all of anime) from Toriko, and the white hair is a side-effect of the duress his body went under through Awakening similar to Shigaraki's.
Not that it's unheard of for physical duress to be an impetus for a power-up. In Dragonball Z you have the infamous [Zenkai Boost], in Fairy Tail you have [Second Origin], in Toriko you have entire planets being put under duress by the Blue Nitro with the [Gourmet Eclipse] to make them more-delicious, in My Hero Academia you have [Awakening] etc. etc. But I digress…
Anywho, see you all next time on Young Justice: The Hunter or my Discord page.
P.S.
I don't have the energy for a "Go Beyond! Excelsior!" because I'm still a little salty over the fact that literally NO-ONE ever considered how in-universe, people might've already shipped All Might & David Shield together, and that the (half-joking/half-accepting-if-it's-actually-true) opinion of "a certain controversial addition to the side-cast" would actually be nothing unusual in that world given the context. Especially since they all still see All Might as an "Invincible Hero" who would "never need" something medical done to him apart from what he can already get at Yuuei from Recovery Girl.
Hence why I ham-fisted that little snippet into the girls' rotenburo scene, and don't feel the need to bring up anymore now that I've gotten the last of that out of my system. If certain aspects of my writing are still too high-brow... Whatever.
Anywho, you all have a good evening/day (as-applicable), and I'll see you all next time assuming you haven't already Rage Quit as-of Chapter 46.
Peace.
