22.05.2023
It is I, the Absolute Madman and I'm back with your weekly dose of the daemon within! No comments from you - third week in a row! Let's go for a record! - so let's jump straight into it!:
Once Izuku returned to the dorms and had a chance to study his list of offers in solitude, it became painfully obvious that none of them came even close to matching Monk'ai's offer. As such Izuku made sure to notify Aizawa of his choice the very next day, earning himself praise for 'crossing himself off the list early' whatever that was supposed to mean. This was not the important part of Izuku handing in his final decision, far from it actually.
That's because Izuku wasn't the only one to hand in his list as Iida also seemed to have made up his mind quite quickly and had already decided on who he wanted to do his internship with. Now, Izuku wasn't usually the nosy type, often preferring to give people the privacy that everyone deserved, but there were a few exceptions to that rule and Iida just so happened to be one of those exceptions.
Iida put down his application first and, after getting the thumbs up from Aizawa, left to go back to his seat. Izuku used this to his advantage and sneaked a peek at Iida's application when Aizawa was checking his. Apparently Iida decided to intern with a hero named Manual. Now, Izuku didn't know anything about Manual, but given his overall low knowledge on the subject of heroes that was no surprise. Still, something about Iida's choice caused Izuku's gut to tie itself in a knot in that all too familiar fashion indicating that something was wrong.
The feeling didn't go away as Izuku went about his day and so he eventually had no choice but to act on it. First he asked Kirishima to find something about Manual, seeing as he himself had only the most basic skills needed to browse the internet, someone much more experienced would be able to find everything he needed in a flash.
Kirishima did not disappoint and in a matter of minutes Izuku was already caught up to speed on who Manual was. There wasn't anything significant on his record, a couple of apprehended villains, a lot of extinguished fires - not all of them villain-related - and some small jobs around his local community. The most peculiar thing about him was the area he usually operated in - Hosu City. Now at first, Izuku didn't think much of this, as he already knew that the Team Idaten operated in Tokyo as a whole so it mostly made sense for his speedster classmate to try and familiarize himself with an area that he'll most likely end up patrolling in the future. Izuku probably would be none the wiser until after the fact, but Kirishima's off-hand comment made the bigger picture much clearer.
"Hey, isn't Hosu City where Iida's brother got attacked by the Hero Killer?" The redhead mumbled out loud and it was as if God himself suddenly enlightened Izuku, with pieces of the puzzle fitting together right before his eyes.
"So essentially, Iida chose to intern exactly where Hero Killer was last seen?" Izuku realized with a deep frown.
"Wait, you don't think that he wants to chase him on his own or something? You know, like getting revenge for his brother and stuff." Kirishima asked and as much as Izuku wanted to dismiss this, all evidence they had on their hands pointed towards this being the case.
"Well, deciding to seek out a villain infamous for killing or severely injuring pros all over the country is basically a death sentence for someone who only just started their path of heroism and Iida is normally smart enough to know that." Izuku began, sparking hope within Kirishima's heart only to squash it moments later.
"Then he isn't-"
"But, we can't forget that there must be a lot going on inside Iida's mind and heart. From the few times I overheard him talking about his family it seems that his older brother was his sole role model, so there's no way of knowing how Ingenium's retirement affected him. I want to believe that Iida won't do anything stupid, but I'll tell Aizawa about this just to be safe." Izuku concluded and sighed heavily, the knot in his gut loosening up but not going away completely. "Also, don't tell anyone about this. The last thing we want right now is making a big deal out of this. Let's just leave this to the teachers and pray for the best."
"You got it man." Kirishima assured his friend.
Izuku would likely consider himself an optimist, though he also believed that there was no shame in preparing for the worst whilst hoping for the best. This time however, he felt as though preparing for the worst might not be enough.
Just as planned, Izuku approached Aizawa the very next day, intent on sharing his discoveries in case they were overlooked by the faculty, though he seriously doubted that to be the case. As it turned out his doubt was wholly justified as the teachers were not only aware that Iida could choose to intern in Hosu City, but they also kind of wanted that to happen. This confused Izuku greatly, so Aizawa took it upon himself to explain it to his student in greater detail.
"Once we were informed about Ingenium's run-in with the Hero Killer and the exact extent of his injuries we extended an offer to his younger brother. One psychological evaluation session with Hound Dog. Not therapy though, just an evaluation that wouldn't be taken into account for anything. We simply offered him a chance to share his thoughts, frustrations and fears in a controlled environment with no strings attached." Aizawa explained, though it was clear that this was only the tip of the iceberg.
"Did he take the offer?" Izuku asked, though he already had an idea about how it could've went.
"What do you think?" Aizawa responded and his tone alone indicated that Izuku was right - Iida did not take the offer. "He said something along the lines of having to digest the news and being back to normal in no time - an obvious like of course, one that was exposed by his behavior in the past couple of days. Since he refused to see Hound Dog for the psych evaluation we tried some less direct means of gauging his mental state - the list of his offers being one of those means."
"How so?" Izuku wondered, grateful for their teachers looking out for his classmate, but a bit confused by their ways.
"Well, the lists you received didn't contain all of the offers that were extended to you. All the internship offers have to first go through the faculty before they can be offered to you personally. We do it mostly to save you the trouble of having to go through all of them on your own. Plus we can filter out the shady or unreliable pros, of which we already have an extensive list." Aizawa explained and seemed happy that Izuku's curiosity was slowly being satiated.
"I see. So since you have the final say in what offers we get to choose from, this means that you could've easily cut out all the offers that were extended to Iida from the Tokyo area. But even though you could've done that, you decided to leave them in. Was it something akin to a test?" Izuku connected the dots, causing a smirk to appear on Aizawa's lips.
"You caught on quickly. We took some liberties when it came to Iida's offers, but we also made sure that he had a couple of choices from Tokyo. If he fell for it - which he unfortunately did - it could mean two things. Either he wanted to familiarize himself with the area that he'll be responsible for in the future, like you thought at first or he wanted to try his hand at tracking the Hero Killer and getting revenge for his brother. Unfortunately, this is as far as we can go with our plans. Now everything depends on what Iida's true motives are." Aizawa stated and just as Izuku was about to question whether taking such a risk was a good idea, the tired man shared one last piece of information. "I know that you must be worried about Iida, but you can't act as his or anyone else's babysitter till the end of days. They must be allowed to make mistakes so that they can learn from them. And if that doesn't calm you down then I'll tell you this - Hero Killer's recent activity around Tokyo caused the HPSC to respond and request an unusually large amount of pros to patrol his last known AO - Hosu City included - so even if Iida truly is out for blood, then it's unlikely he'll get to the Hero Killer before the pros and sidekicks."
This finally managed to put Izuku's mind at ease. He thanked the man for his time and reassuring words and then let him return to his duties. Although the knot in his stomach - though much looser than before - was still there and ominously indicating that things won't quite go the way they expected them to go.
Not much happened after that as most teachers gave them small quantities of homework at most so that they could focus on their upcoming internships. Needless to say, the lessened workload was enough of a cause for celebration in and of itself, the incoming internships were but a cherry on top in that combination. The mix of various boons made for an excellent excitement cocktail and its effects could be, more or less, observed in every student, sans the stoic/asocial ones.
Izuku too got swept up in the euphoria and eventually the whole issue regarding Iida and his potentially suicidal tendencies were pushed to the back of his mind as he enjoyed listening to Kirishima rambling about how manly interning with Fourth Kind will surely be.
The week ended before they noticed and after hanging out for a couple of hours on Sunday, they all had to wake up early on Monday to catch their respective trains.
Both class A and class B met on the platform that morning, sparking some tensions due to the arrogant blondes having an impromptu dick measuring contest that was thankfully cut short when Kendo straight up karate chopped her troublemaker of a classmate in the neck, rendering him unconscious and sparing the group from having to witness that shitshow.
Homeroom teachers from both classes were present on the platform as well, making sure that their students boarded the right trains and were actually on time. As the amount of students on the platforms dwindled with continuous departures, smaller circles began to form amongst the remaining hero trainees. Izuku of course decided to stick close to Kirishima and Ashido only to be later joined by Shiozaki who was left alone once Kendo boarded her train.
It was about time for Izuku to board his train when an unexpected guest made his sudden appearance. The daemon actually sensed him before Izuku had a chance to spot him in the crowd.
"Your biggest fan is heading this way. 5 o'clock. It's actually weird that I can sense him…" The daemon reported and Izuku immediately turned around to face the direction it pointed him towards.
He had to squint really hard, but he was eventually able to catch a glimpse of those enchanting purple eyes that he was weirded out by on a regular basis. Izuku waited for the man to get to him - at least he hoped the man was heading for him or else he'd end up looking quite silly.
Fortunately Martin was actually looking for him and the cause for that was quickly revealed - he came in a hurry with a gift.
"Man, I was almost sure that I missed you!" Martin exclaimed as he came to a halt in front of Izuku and his friends, not a bead of sweat on his forehead and his breathing perfectly even. "I remembered that you guys are starting your internships today, but didn't know that you left so early!" He explained with a grin.
"Well, you've caught us at the last moment. Is there something you need?" Izuku asked, perplexed by this sudden encounter.
"I was thinking about some stuff and figured that lugging around that sword case of yours might be quite the hassle, so I made a little something something to help you with that." Martin stated before pulling out a set of… rings? "Those babies were made with some of my experimental anti-grav tech. It's still a fairly new concept and I have a lot of kinks to iron out, but these babies are absolutely safe." He explained as he played with the rings.
"And how do they work?" Izuku questioned further, now quite intrigued by the invention.
"So basically you slap those two bad boys on the opposite ends of the case and then wear this bracelet which acts like an anchor for the anti-grav rings to attach to." Martin explained as he pulled out the bracelet from his pocket and offered the items to Izuku.
The greenhead followed the instructions closely and installed the silvery rings on the case before wearing the bracelet and activating the whole thing. First the bracelet lit up with a soft blue-ish glow and then the rings on his case lit up with an identical glow. Moments later the case rose off the ground and then turned completely vertical before moving closer to Izuku, but stopping at a reasonable distance where he wouldn't bump into it just by trying to turn around.
"Wow, this is awesome." Izuku said as he marveled at the invention.
"Oh I know, trust me." Martin responded with a smug smirk. "Anyways that's all I got for you today so have a great day and I'll catch y'all next time. Later!" And with those few words he departed, vanishing in the crowd as abruptly as he appeared.
"What a strange man…" Izuku thought to himself before shrugging it off and joining his friends aboard the train.
Kirishima of course wouldn't be himself if he didn't comment on the levitating case and quite a long while was spent discussing solely that one topic. Izuku had to agree that those hovering gizmos were great as now he only had to carry around the case containing his hero suit and his luggage. Now he actually had enough arms to carry all of that around effortlessly!
"If you're interested, I also know a guy that deals in arms. Mostly detached ones." The daemon snorted, but its words were completely ignored as Izuku focused on chatting with his friends.
As expected, Izuku's levitating case garnered quite the amount of attention from people in the train, but he paid no mind to the curious looks thrown his way left, right and center, focusing instead on chatting with his friends like usual.
There were five of them overall. Izuku himself with his usual posse of Kirishima and Ashido, joined by Shiozaki who just so happened to be traveling in the same direction and the problematic man of the hour - Iida. Izuku was also almost sure that he saw Todoroki board the same train as them, but he was either wrong or Todoroki simply chose to enter a different train car than them, which sounded exactly like something he'd do to be honest.
Izuku enjoyed hearing Kirishima ramble about this and that, listing off all the great things about Fourth Kind and already imagining himself side by side with one of his favorite heroes. Thankfully Shiozaki took well to the over energetic duo and all of them were able to get along just fine. Izuku stole a glance in Iida's direction from time to time, noting that unwavering grim expression, a borderline scowl that resembled Bakugo's go-to look all too well.
And yet, Izuku decided to take Aizawa's advice to heart and chose not to approach Iida during the ride, stepping to the side and watching his classmate make a giant mistake, hopefully it won't be the last one he makes.
Grim thoughts were washed away from Izuku's mind once Iida got off the train in Hosu City and soon enough it was time for Izuku to get going as well as the train was heading straight to Nippori Station in the Yanaka District. As amusing as it may seem, this is the perfect location for a hero that based their brand on a ninja theme.
Izuku got up from his seat when the train was about to pull into the station, intending to say goodbye to his friends and wish them good luck on their internships, but was surprised when Shiozaki also got up from her seat. It seemed as though the universe was out and about to screw/ship someone once again.
"Are you also heading to Yanaka?" Izuku asked curiously.
"That's right. I was sure that Kamui Woods was operating much closer to Musutafu, but I was told to head to Yanaka instead. Maybe he partnered up with someone recently?" Shiozaki explained with a hefty amount of uncertainty in her voice.
"Well, Yanaka isn't as busy as the rest of Tokyo, so he could've simply decided to migrate here, he's an independent hero, right?" Izuku shared his thoughts and as that seemed to be the most logical explanation, they decided to roll with it.
The train pulled into Nippori Station and after saying their goodbyes, Shiozaki and Izuku got off the train before following the crowd of people out of the station and onto the street below. Thankfully only a handful of people were headed in the same direction as the two trainees so it was easy to navigate the paths without bumping into people all the time.
Shiozaki and Izuku fell in step as they entered the extensive Yanaka Graveyard, one of the largest historic cemeteries of Japan right in the middle of Tokyo. They kept walking down a path that they'd already memorized, surprising each other at every corner as their routes seemed to align almost perfectly. Too perfectly if someone were to look at it from the side.
They paid it no mind and conversed with each other in a relaxed manner that always permeated the air around them whenever they hung out at school. It was no surprise to either of them then that the trek to their destinations went by in a flash and all too soon they were forced to part ways.
"It's been nice, but I guess it's time to say goodbye. Wouldn't want to be late on my first day." Both of them thought in perfect sync, not seeing the curveball that the universe was about to throw their way.
"Oh, this is gonna be good. Shame I ain't got no popcorn." The daemon spoke quietly so as not to alarm its host of the incoming plot-twist.
"I'm afraid this is as far as I can go." Izuku started with a smile. "I better check in and go find Monk'ai!" He said and was about to walk away, but Shiozaki's words caused him to stop.
"Funny you'd say that. Kamui Woods told me to meet him here." She revealed and Izuku did a double take to make sure he didn't get the address wrong.
That was not the case however as the building they were standing in front of clearly had Edgeshot Agency written on it. Perplexed, Izuku tried to find a logical explanation, but that bore no fruit.
The two were standing there in confusion for a few more moments before someone called out towards them.
"Oh, you're already here!" The person shouted and both Izuku and Shiozaki whipped their heads towards the entrance to the building.
Standing there, already in their hero costumes were none other than-
"Monk'ai!/Kamui Woods!" The two exclaimed in surprise.
"I fuckin' love this show." The daemon stated, doubling over with laughter.
I love this show too daemon. I love it too.
I was debating whether or not I should have them intern in the same place, but then this idea popped into my head and I thought it'd be hella hilarious to have them intern in the same agency and not realizing it till the very last moment!
I also didn't expect to have to study the layout of Tokyo to find a suitable place for Edgeshot's Agency! Thankfully it didn't take long to google the info I needed so if you want you can check out Yanaka for yourselves! If I'm not mistaken I have at least two Japanese readers somewhere in this crowd so maybe one of you actually lives near Yanaka or something?! That'd be wild! I think.
We'll be starting the internships in the next chapter, but that's all for today so have a great day and I'll catch y'all in the next update!