Battlers & Amy Kirio!
It had been a few weeks since Izuku had discussed his ambitions with Ameri, and ever since then, his life had been going pretty normally... well, as normal as it could get in the Netherworld. However, that changed when Izuku arrived at school and saw a very bizarre sight in front of him.
"Something is clearly wrong here," Izuku said as he entered the deserted Freshmen's tower that should have been bursting with first-year students, "where is everyone?"
'You think there is some sort of event going on that you are not aware of?' Nana asked.
'If that were the case, Grandpa or Opera would have told me about it,' Izuku replied and took out his phone from his pocket, dialing the number of the most reliable demon in his contact list.
After a few rings, the receiver picked up the call, "Izuku, it's too early for you to have gotten into trouble," came the exasperated voice on the other end.
"Don't worry, Ameri," Izuku chuckled, "I'm not in trouble or anything. I just wanted to ask you why the first-year tower is uncharacteristically empty today?"
"Oh that's because today is Rookie Hunt," Ameri said.
"And what is a Rookie Hunt exactly?" he asked.
"Well I could explain what that is but where is fun in that," Ameri said and Izuku could actually imagine her smirking face, "besides you told me that you will accept the Netherworld with all its challenges... well consider this as one of them," and with those words, she ended the call.
"Well, that wasn't helpful at all," Izuku sighed as he ignored Nana cracking in his mind.
Suddenly, the building started shaking as he heard deafening cheers and roars coming from the door that connected their tower with the upperclassmen towers.
"What the-" before he could complete his sentence the door to the connectors suddenly flew open with a loud bang and a flood of students rushed into the first year's tower while chanting "1st years!" "Where are the 1st years!?" "Gotta get the best years!?"
And before he knew it, a large bull-like demon was above him, ready to grab him. Luckily, Izuku's Danger Sense kicked in, and he dodged the senior, causing him to slam his face to the ground which then attracted everyone's attention to him.
"Hey, look! It's the honor student!" "He's the one who fought Azazel to a draw!" "He's already ranked GIMMEL (3rd)!" "Get him!" "Grab him!" "He's ours for the taking!" they said and started running towards him.
"Nope, I'm out," Izuku said as he released a huge amount of smoke into the main hall, using his Smokescreen to obstruct everyone's vision. "Hey, what's up with this smoke?" "I can't see anything!" "Hey, stop hitting me, you assholes!"
Meanwhile, taking advantage of the commotion, Izuku ran towards his classroom with all his might.
:-:-:-:-:-:
"What the hell was that!?" Izuku yelled while panting as soon as he entered the Misfit's classroom.
"Hey look, Midoriya is here," Shax said with a huge grin on his face, "so how was the Rookie Hunt?"
"It would have been much better if I knew what the hell is going on here," Izuku muttered as he took a water bottle that Clara offered him.
"See! I told you we should have warned him beforehand," Eiko glared at Alice.
"Yeah, we should have informed him but..." Alice nodded but then a smirk appeared on his face, "but where is fun in that."
Remembering Ameri's words from earlier, Izuku rolled his eyes. 'Of course, all these demons share the same brain cells when it comes to making someone's life miserable,' he thought to himself.
"Hey! That's super mean!" Eiko replied, "you knew how acts when it comes to stuff like this," Eiko said.
"Yeah, he is quite ignorant when it comes to stuff about the rules and traditions of Babyls," Alice nodded in agreement.
"Oye! You tow," Izuku said in an irritated voice, "stop badmouthing me when I am standing right next to you."
Meanwhile, the rest of the class watched their interactions with amused smiles on their faces.
"Anyway, can someone please tell me what is going on here? Why were our seniors trying to kidnap me earlier?" Izuku asked.
"That is because of this," Eiko handed him a flyer that said 'Gym Batltler: Join us, Freshmen!', "Battler?"
"It is a group activity where students with common skills and interests meet each other," Alice explained. "Depending on how you perform, these can be quite helpful for one's growth in both physical and mental capacity."
"By the way, there are also various competitions between battlers, and if you do well enough, you can also go up in the ranks," Eiko explained. This caught Izuku's attention as it reminded him of the conversation he had with Ameri a few weeks back.
"It also helps you in building connections with upperclassmen," Sabnock jumped into the conversation, "you have to keep these things in mind when you are aiming to become the Demon King."
'So it's like a school club,' Izuku thought to himself, 'come to think about it I don't think we had clubs at U.A.'
'I don't think you interacted with any of your seniors either,' Nana added.
'Now that you mention it, we really never had any kind of joint training or event where we interacted with our seniors, did we?' Izuku thought, 'I mean, even that one training session with the Big Three was supposed to prepare us for work studies or something.'
"Izuku, you with us?" Eiko asked as she waved her hand in front of him.
"Oh yeah sorry, I was just thinking about something," Izuku said as he carefully put down the books that Clara was stacking on his head, "but yeah, I am interested in joining one of the battlers."
"Great, let's go battler hunting together after the lunch break," Eiko said.
"I will come as well," Clara added.
"Sure sounds great," Izuku smiled, "but that doesn't explain the whole kidnapping thing."
"It's not that hard to understand," Alice shook his head, "to raise its chance of getting a promotion, battler needs to have competent new members which means a freshman with GIMMEL (3rd rank) rank is too good for them to let go."
"Oh ok," Izuku said, as he restrained his urge to groan and retort that, 'kidnapping a student and forcing them to join your club isn't going to yield results,' but then he remembered that these were demons and they tended to add unnecessary violence to even the simplest concepts.
And as their conversation came to an end, Kelageo entered the classroom, and their homeroom began.
:-:-:-:-:-:
*Later that day*
(1st-year corridor)
It was hell... literally and metaphorically. The entire first-year tower was shrouded in chaos while the upperclassmen were running around trying to snatch any and all first-year students they could get. Honestly, ever since he came to the Netherworld, Izuku had never seen such a barbaric display from any demons around him.
But you must be wondering how Izuku can calmly think about all of this when he and his fellow friends were the literal targets of these barbaric upperclassmen. Well, that's because they were surrounded by Alice's majestic fire while walking through the school.
"Thanks, Azz, you really are a life savior," Eiko said as she pulled Clara back who was trying to roast marshmallows on Alice's fire.
"Yeah, who knows how many fights I would have gotten myself into while trying to fend off all these people," Izuku said while rubbing the back of his neck. He knew that he can easily escape if he was on his own but since Clara and Eiko were tagging along with him, he was sure that things would have escalated if anyone had tried to be forceful with them. That's why asking Alice to tag along was the best solution that came to his mind.
'You could have used the Black Whip to fend them off you know," Nana said.
'True, but aside from Sabnock, no one knows about the Black Whip, and I would like to keep it that way as long as I can, so I have a hidden card in my pocket,' Izuku replied.
"Well I don't mind since Izuku now owes me a favor," Alice said and Izuku rolled his eyes, "besides, the battler that controls the student body should be arriving any moment now."
Then as if right on cue, the door to the tower slammed open and Ameri and her gang entered the tower.
"Step aside!" "Clear the Road!" "We are the Student Council!" the members of the student council announced as they walked inside.
And well, soon enough she made a short work of out-of-line students without even breaking a sweat.
"As expected of the student council president, she works in a completely different style," Alice said.
Meanwhile, Eiko looked at Ameri with stars in her eyes. She admired Ameri, and who wouldn't? Ameri Azazel was one of the few demons who managed to reach VAV (6th rank) and became the president of a battler in their first year. She was strong, beautiful, and most importantly, exuded an air of confidence. In short, Ameri was an inspiration to many students of Babyls, especially to girls, and one of Eiko's idols.
That's why Eiko was surprised when she saw Ameri walking towards their group, stopping right in front of them.
"I assume you had a lovely time this morning," Ameri asked, which confused both Izuku's friends and the members of the student council until Izuku replied.
"Well, it was a little overwhelming at the start, but I managed to escape with my life and limbs intact," Izuku smirked at her, "but it would have been much better if someone had decided to be helpful and told me what to expect."
"Stop crying, I was just testing how good are you at taking a spontaneous decision," Ameri shrugged but then she realized that both of their groups were looking at them. So she cleared her throat and continued the conversation, "so... these are your classmates I presume."
"Oh yeah, let me introduce you to my friends," Izuku said. "This is Alice," he said.
Alice responded with a very formal greeting, "Asmodeus Alice, it's an honor to meet you."
Then he pointed to a green-haired girl who was playing with the fire surrounding them, "That is Clara," he said.
Clara waved and greeted her with a cheerful "Ho! Makka-chan."
Then, he stepped aside and pushed a fizzy yellow-haired girl in front of him, "And this is Eiko."
"Hello," Eiko greeted her with a nervous smile and a wave of her hands.
"By the way, Ameri, Eiko here is your big fan, you know," Izuku said. As soon as he spoke, Eiko turned around and gave him a death glare, warning him not to say a single word anymore. But unfortunately for her, Izuku completely ignored her and continued, "After our battle, she kept telling me how lucky I am that you went easy on me. She also told me about all of your achievements that she was aware of."
Eiko stomped on Izuku's foot and quickly turned around, her face flushed with embarrassment. "I'm sorry," she began but stopped when she heard Ameri giggling.
"I'm glad to have such a beautiful admirer," Ameri said, causing Eiko's blush to intensify. "But let me assure you that I was not going easy on Izuku. On the contrary, we were both holding back since neither of us wanted to seriously harm the other person."
"Oh... okay," Eiko said, feeling embarrassed and wishing that Izuku hadn't put her on the spot like this. She avoided looking at Ameri, instead focusing her gaze on the ground.
"By the way, I am here to tell you that the Student Council is also a battler division, and we are, in fact, recruiting members," she said, handing him a flyer.
"Thanks for the offer. I will surely look into it," Izuku replied as he glanced over the flyer.
"And if you are going to the classroom tower, I suggest waiting a little while until this recruiting phase is over," Ameri said. "Well, then I will take my leave for now. See you later." With that, Ameri and co went in different directions.
"Well guys," Izuku turned toward his friends, "let's go to the cafeteria, we can wait out recruiting phase there."
"Not a bad idea, but first," Alice said, pointing to Eiko, who was glaring at Izuku with a pout on her face.
"Oh... hey, sorry for earlier," Izuku apologized, but Eiko just huffed and turned around, showing her back to him. Izuku sighed and said, "How about I buy drinks for all of us?"
"Sure, I'll take an iced tea," Alice said.
"Fruit punch," Clara cheered.
"I don't want a drink. Can I get ice cream instead?" Eiko said, turning around a little.
"Sure, it's my treat," Izuku said with a smile.
"Fine, I'll forgive you for now," Eiko sighed. "But don't forget that one day, I'm going to get my revenge on you." She started walking toward the cafeteria along with Alice and Clara.
"I'll be on my guard, I guess," Izuku chuckled and followed them.
:-:-:-:-:-:
(Classroom Tower)
"Wow! This is much more civil than whatever was going on before," Izuku exclaimed as he and his companions walked through the classroom tower. Unlike earlier, the upperclassmen here were politely approaching the first-year students, either pitching their battlers or handing out flyers.
When some of them approached him, Izuku listened to their pitches and asked questions about their battlers. This made them quite happy since someone was actually showing interest in their work.
"You don't have to entertain each and every one of them, you know that right?" Alice asked after Izuku finished one more conversation with another senior.
"I know, but I think it's kind of rude to not give even a few minutes of my time to them when they have worked so hard on this," Izuku replied, "besides, knowing what other battlers are offering is really not a bad thing to know."
"Sure, whatever you say," Alice rolled his eyes. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't understand how Izuku's mind worked.
That's when another senior approached them.
"Hey, you're Izuku Midoriya, right?" the senior asked.
"Yeah, that's me," Izuku replied. "How can I help you?"
"No, no! It's just that I wanted to thank you," the senior said.
"Thank me?" Izuku asked, clearly not understanding why this unknown senior would want to thank him.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Bathon Baraki, President of The Broadcasting Battler," he said. "Let me tell you, Midoriya, your exploits have given us a lot of content in the last 2 months, which is why I was thanking you."
"Okay," Izuku said and thought to himself, 'I really don't know if I should take it as a compliment or not.'
"By the way, we also have some open spots in our battler, so if any of you are interested, check it out as well."
"I am interested," Eiko raised her hand, "I would like to try out for it."
"In that case why don't you come with me," Baraki offered, "I was going back to our designated classroom anyway."
"Well..." she thought for a moment and turned towards Izuku, "I want to go and see the Broadcasting Battler but I also don't want to dump you guys."
"Don't worry about us," Izuku replied with a reassuring smile, "we will catch up later."
"Thanks!" Eiko smiled and left with Baraki.
"What about you Izuku?" Alice asked, "have you decided which battler you are going to join?"
"Not really," Izuku replied, shaking his head. "It's not that any of them are bad, but I'm also not-" As he was speaking, he suddenly felt a pressure on his middle finger and noticed that the ring of gluttony had started glowing for some apparent reason.
"What the-" Izuku began, but before he could finish his sentence, the ring started dragging him at full speed. "Crap! Is it going on a rampage again!?" he thought in frustration. Despite activating Float, he couldn't stop himself from getting dragged by the stupid ring.
As he was being dragged by the ring, Izuku noticed a student walking in front of him with a huge, stuffed bag on their back.
"Excuse me! Out of the way! Out of the way!" Izuku yelled. Unfortunately, the student didn't hear him. Before either of them could understand what had happened, Izuku crashed into the student, and now he was on top of them with his hand on their neck.
Now that he could clearly see the turquoise-haired boy, Izuku noticed how pale he looked and how his eyes were on the verge of tears.
'Shit!' Izuku cursed himself and removed his hand from the boy's neck. He was about to apologize, but before he could, the boy who was pinned under him apologized with a stuttering voice. "S-sorry."
Izuku quickly got up and helped the boy to stand up as well. "No, no! I'm sorry for crashing into you like that," he said as he helped the boy to collect his scattered belongings.
"That surprised me, you know! I thought I was going to die," the boy said. "Also, don't worry about me. I have quite a weak body. That's why I often puke blood-" Suddenly, he let out a bloody cough.
'Is he really alright?' Izuku thought to himself. 'He doesn't look like it to me.'
'He reminds me of Toshi,' Nana said. 'And not in a good way.'
'Yeah... I can see the resemblance as well,' Izuku said, as the image of Thin Might crossed his mind.
"That! That's the ring of Gluttony!" Suddenly, the boy pointed at the ring in Izuku's hand. "Which means it reacted to my necklace," he said, pointing at the choker on his neck. The choker had a purple, square-shaped object attached to it. "Because they are made of the same metal."
"Same?" Izuku raised his brow. "What do you mean?"
Before the boy in front of him could answer, two other people showed up there.
"What the hell is this mess!?" one of them said. "You clean this up immediately."
"Hey, wait! That's a senior!" the other boy with him tried to warn him.
"Huh? Oops, wait a minute," the boy panicked for a second before he noticed the badge on their senior's neck. "He is only a BET (2nd rank). I was worried about nothing," the boy said and kicked something on the ground, launching it directly at the senior's face.
The senior closed his eyes and braced himself for the impact, but it never came. He slowly opened his eyes and realized that Izuku had caught the thing right before it could hit him.
"That's enough," Izuku said as he released a little bit of One for All's power to create a green spark around him. "leave right now or I will report you to the student council for assaulting a student."
"What did you say, you little punk?" one of the boys growled, but again, the boy standing next to him stopped him.
"Are you an idiot? That's an honor student. He fought President Ameri to a draw. We don't have a chance against him."
The first boy looked between his friend and Izuku before finally clicking his tongue and walking away with a sour mood.
Then, Izuku turned around and helped his turquoise-haired senior pick up the scattered stuff.
"I'm sorry that happened to you," Izuku frowned. "They shouldn't be so disrespectful towards a senior."
"It's alright," the senior said. "I'm only a BET (2nd rank), and my magic power is quite low as well. It's the quite normal treatment for someone like me."
"No, it's not," Izuku immediately denied. "Regardless of a person's rank or power, everyone deserves basic kindness and respect."
Then Izuku's eyes landed on a wooden board lying next to him. He picked that board up and it had, 'Magical Tools Research Battler' written on it.
"Is this yours?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah, I am president of that Battler," he said, "do you want to check it out? Not that I am forcing you or anything."
"Sure, why not," Izuku shrugged, "I was looking for Battler to join anyway."
"Great!" the senior said and started walking, but then he stopped and looked back at Izuku with an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Amy Kirio. I'm a third-year student. Nice to meet you."
:-:-:-:-:-:
'So, this is the Magical Tools Research Battler,' Izuku thought as he entered a distant classroom. 'Somehow-'
"Sorry about the mess," Kirio said, noticing the expression on Izuku's face. "Since we only have two people in this battler, we don't get much time to clean this place. But since you're here, why don't you look around a bit?"
Izuku nodded and started to explore the place.
"As you probably already know, magical tools are tools that move using magical energy," Kirio explained. "This battler, as its name suggests, researches magical tools from all ages and tries to replicate or create completely new ones."
"Let me show you an example," Kirio said and took out a jade-colored ball from a nearby shelf. "This is a piece of jade that can hold magical energy."
Then he placed the jade ball on a nearby pillow and brought a small demon-shaped paper doll next to it. After that, he started pouring magic into the ball, and suddenly, the paper doll next to the ball came to life and started dancing.
"Amazing," Izuku said with a sense of awe in his eyes.
But it didn't last very long since... "I...have...reached..my...limit," the very next moment Kirio ran out of magic and coughed up a handful of blood before almost passing out.
"Are you okay?" Izuku asked, rushing to Kirio's side to support him.
"I'll be fine," Kirio said, still a little weak. "So, did you like the demonstration?"
"Yeah, it was amazing," Izuku truthfully admitted. Anything related to magic is always going to be amazing for him.
"Then take a look at this," he said, guiding him to a big machine kept at the very back of the room. "Ta-da! This is my prototype: the Magic Enhancement Magical Tool, Gabu-Chan!"
"Gabu?" Izuku tilted his head, clearly not understanding the logic behind that name.
Kirio completely ignored his question and continued his explanation. "As its name suggests, it enhances magic, although handling it is quite difficult."
As Kirio kept ranting about the machine, Izuku's eyes landed on a box with many puzzle-like pieces inside.
"What is this?" Izuku asked because he definitely didn't want to touch something he wasn't supposed to.
"Don't worry you can touch it," Kirio said and turned around and opened the stomach of the machine, "that was supposed to be a heart-shaped battery for this device. But unfortunately, it fell down and broke into pieces. You probably remember that-" he turned around as saw Izuku standing there with a deadpan expression and completed heart in his hand.
On the other hand, Izuku was desperately holding back his urge to retort, 'even a child could have solved that.'
"You solved it..." There was a moment of silence before Kirio cheered, "Wah! It's beautifully and excellently done!" He took the heart-shaped battery from Izuku and placed it inside the machine. "Midoriya, can you get that jade ball from earlier?"
Izuku nodded and brought the jade ball to him. He then placed the orb on top of the machine and the orb started glowing as soon as he started the machine.
"See, I told you Gabu is a great device," Kirio said with a small smile on his face. "Although its magical energy is weak, it can still boost the magical energy for equipment."
"You know, Midoriya, species with weak magical energies who are born in the demon world have to face many difficulties. Even in a place like a school, rank is the most important thing," he turned towards Izuku with a kind expression on his face. "However, I... someday... if possible, want to create magical tools to help weak demons so they can also be treated fairly with strong ones," Kirio finished and moved towards the different part of the room.
Meanwhile, Izuku stood there with a stunned expression on his face. Kirio's speech reminded him of how his previous world worked, where one's quirk decided one's place in society.
If you were born with a strong, flashy-looking quirk, you were automatically a future hero, no matter how nasty your attitude was or how many horrible things you did. Someone would always cover for you.
If you were born with a mutant or a 'villainous' quirk, you were already looked down upon, as if you were a villain even at the age of four. And although some managed to overcome that barrier, it didn't erase all the things they had endured growing up.
And lastly, if you were quirkless... you were at the bottom of the barrel, even worse than trash. You would be lucky to find a job at a local McDonald's.
Here in the demon world, it wasn't much different either. The distinction between the strong and the weak is very clear in this world as well. But considering the violent tendencies of some demons he could only imagine what the weaker demons must have to go through. The only saving grace he could see was the fact that demons could actually change their destiny by climbing the ranks by any means necessary, unlike his old world where one had to win a genetic lottery at birth.
That's why Izuku couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for Kirio's goal. A dream to create magical tools to help weaker demons level the playing field was something Izuku could understand and appreciate.
"Kirio senpai, your goal is really inspiring," Izuku said.
"Thank you for your kind words," Kirio chuckled, "but please don't say this to anyone else. This desire of mine will also affect the high-ranking demons."
Izuku frowned as he understood the hidden meaning behind those words. After all, he himself had come across few such people who will never let the weak gain any kind of power.
Then his mind again went back to the conversation he had with Ameri. Right now he didn't have a solid goal to push himself forward but that doesn't mean he couldn't help others with their goals and honestly, Kirio's dream sounds like something her would love to help out with. And that's why he made up his mind and...
"Kirio senpai," Izuku said with determined eyes, "if you don't mind, please allow me to join your battler."
Kirio looked shocked for a second, but then he calmed down and asked, "Are you sure, Midoriya? Someone like you shouldn't waste their time here in this battler."
Izuku shook his head and replied, "As I said earlier, your goal is really inspiring, and that's why I want to help you achieve it."
Kirio looked very moved as he wiped his eyes, "Thank you, Midoriya, and welcome to the Magical Tools Research Battler. I-"
And before he could say anything else, the door of the room slammed open, revealing a tall, curvaceous girl with lime-green eyes and very pale skin. Her hair was white with a lime green ombre at the ends, and her face sported two pink, flower-like crests. Despite her beautiful appearance, the most striking feature was the pink, flower-patterned ribbons wrapped around her waist and limbs.
"Sorry, Kirio Senpai, I couldn't find anyone to join our battler," she whined as soon as she entered the room. "We won't get any funding anymore."
Then she looked up and noticed an unknown boy staring at her with a totally lost expression on his face.
"Who is this?" she asked, knowing that Kirio was a total loner and had no friends in school.
"This is Izuku Midoriya, he is a new member of our battler," Kirio introduced the new member to her. "And Midoriya, she is Ume Daki, she is a second-year student and the only other member of this battler other than me."
And before Izuku could greet her, he was wrapped in ribbons and lifted up into the sky, "Midoriya-kun, I can't tell you how happy I am right now," she said with a pleasant expression on her face, "now we can definitely claim that pending fund from that red-haired idiot."
"Hmm... Kirio senpai, what is she talking about?' Izuku asked, "and can you let me down?"
"Sorry about that,' Daki said with an embarrassed smile, "my ribbons react to my emotions, and right now I was just too happy because of the addition of a new member."
Izuku nodded and looked at Kirio for an explanation for his earlier question.
"You see, Midoriya, two months ago, the student council stopped our funding because we were only operating with two members for at least a year. They told us that we needed to secure at least one member at today's rookie hunt, or we would lose our funding forever," Kirio explained, "and luckily for us, you volunteered to join us on your own."
"Wait! You volunteered!" Daki grinned at him, "now I like you even more!"
That's when Izuku's phone rang, so he excused himself and went to a different corner of the room.
"Hey Eiko, how was your visit to Broadcasting Battler? Are you thinking of joining them?" Izuku asked.
But from the other side of the phone, he received an agitated response. "Forget about that! Just tell me where the hell you are right now?"
"Why? What happened?" Izuku asked.
"What happened? Are you serious? Azz and Clara are searching for you all over the school," Izuku's eyes went wide as he realized that he totally forgot about them in all of this, "and on top of that, they haven't been able to reach you on your phone. The last time they saw you, your ring took you somewhere without a moment's notice. So, after all of that, you tell me what's going on."
"Sorry, I really messed up this time," Izuku grimaced, "can do a favor for me? Just get Clara and Alice and meet me in the cafeteria, can you do that?"
"Fine," Eiko sighed, "and sorry for yelling at you like that. I was just worried when I heard you vanished out of thin air like that."
A faint smile appeared on Izuku's face as he realized that she was just worried about him, "it's ok, I understand," he said, "anyway see you in five," he said and ended the call.
Then he turned towards his new club members, "sorry guys I need to bounce right now but I will see you tomorrow after class."
"Don't worry Midrioiya, you are free to go," Kirio smiled at him, "also don't forget to submit the proper paperwork for joining the battler to your homeroom teacher."
"Thanks, senpai, I won't," he said and ran out of the door.
:-:-:-:-:-:
The next day when Izuku returned there he had Alice and Clara with him. And their reasons... well Clara just simply wanted to stay with Izuku, while Alice couldn't find anything worth his time and decided to join Izuku instead, knowing that troublesome or interesting situations always seemed to follow him around.
And that's how the rookie hunt ended for The Magical Tools Research Battler with them gaining the three new members who were happily conversing with Daki, blissfully unaware of their president's true intentions for the upcoming Battler's Party.
To be continued...