Merry Christmass. Begun the Christmass vacation has. My gift to you here is.
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Comments:
Techgabe: You get one day before Christmass Eve (that's when we mainly celebrate and open gifts here) so you have time to read before you are expected to celebrate with family rather than read in peace.
Miqila: Nah, but Izuku has his guard at its lovest around that lot both in and out of helmet.
Psy-Kick: perhaps fine tune his definition.
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Proofread by 3DPhantom
Chapter 63: The Old Man
The screech of a train was the first thing Izuku heard as he stepped out of the car at the station. It had been a while since he had traveled in one with having nice cars, and more importantly a teleporting nomu. Rest of the group joined him next to the car. Eijiro was practically radiating excitement with Shoto sticking close to that clean, plentiful, and renewable energy source. Tenya however stood to the side of the group seeming more interested in the ground. Hitoshi walked behind Tenya with a large thermos on his hand and sneaked past him to block him from slipping away.
They would be in the same train whether Tenya wanted to or not. Tenya, Hitoshi, Eijiro and Shoto were going to have their internship close enough to each other to get the same train at least part of the way. Izuku was unlucky enough to not be in that group. Tokoyami ended up further away, but there weren't many better opportunities that existed for him in the hero world and with Hawks he was likely going to move around a lot and quickly anyway.
Izuku had orchestrated it all to keep Tenya safe, but now he was starting to fear having all of them in the area where Stain still lurked. At least none of them worked with Native or other heroes Izuku had identified the most likely to be rotten. He walked with them as far as he could but could not come into the train.
"Have a good internship," he said and glanced at Tenya with begging in his eyes, "don't do anything stupid, including what you think I would do."
Tenya looked away but at least he wasn't leaving alone. Izuku exchanged looks with Hitoshi as he passed. Eijiro gave him a comforting smile.
"We'll keep our eyes open for him," he assured.
Izuku had not exaggerated when he told All Might about the power of that smile. Shoto followed Eijiro.
"Hey," Izuku said. "If anyone tried to talk good about Endeavour, berate you or try to convince you to go back remember that they are wrong. They don't know what they are talking about. You do. Ignore them, freeze them if you have to. I'll throw a lawyer at them if they raise an issue."
Shoto nodded. Eijjiro turned from the train door.
"Hey Shoto, the train is leaving."
Izuku stood on the platform until the end of the train passed him and then some. There was something dark in the image of the train moving to the distance out of his reach. Finally the train turned behind a bend and disappeared. Izuku headed to another platform.
Less than an hour later he was walking down a street looking for the address. He had already checked the place online from a streetview map, so he knew he was not looking for any fancy hero agency, or agency at all. As he stopped in front of the rundown four-story apartment building, he was still disappointed. It seemed even worse than the images from a few years back. With a worn-out outer surface and some broken windows the building looked outright abandoned.
Alarm bells were ringing in Izuku's head. Could All Might and this Gran Torino have plotted this whole thing to lure him into an abandoned building out of sight to deal with him.
If they did they would be unpleasantly surprised but Izuku's life as Izuku would be over. That would give him time to keep an eye on Stain around the clock, but...
He knocked and waited. There was no response. He knocked again and noticed that the door was open. With apology he pushed the door partially open.
"Hello. I am Izuku Midoriya from UA high school I'm looking for…"
Still no response. His eyes descended towards the door. There was a small old man in white and yellow hero costume laying on his face with something red staining the floor around him.
Image of Long Arm laying on the ground flashed in Izuku's mind. The sight in front of him was nearly a one to one replication of that moment. Izuku drew a sharp breath but none of it felt like it reached his lungs. Had Stain come here, or was this a part of a plot against Izuku.
Should he back away or get in to try to help?
The old man's head perked up. Past Izuku would have jumped back and screamed at the sudden movement. Current Izuku tensed and dropped the suitcase with his costume as his arms twitched upwards ready to fight.
"I am alive," the old man announced. Izuku's shock quickly turned into annoyance as the old man slowly got back to his feet. Was this some kind of joke at him. Even the fact those words reminded him of Eijiro somehow annoyed Izuku. At least Eijiro had had a robot larger than this building dropped on him before saying those words.
The elder, shorter than even Izuku as he leaned on his walking stick, stood in front of Izuku stupid expression on his face. Izuku still could not decide if this was a trap or if he had picked an internship with a senile man, or perhaps that was All Might's plot. Make Izuku waste his internship time babysitting a demented guy. Well, if that was the case it might give him more room to do what was truly important. He gave the old man a tired look.
"Are you Gran Torino? What happened here?" Izuku demanded to know.
"Oh this. I had a nice big plate of sausages covered with ketchup when I suddenly slipped and fell down."
"Oh I see. Well if you make yourself more food I'll go outside to do some real training for this internship."
Izuku turned around reaching down for the suitcase but there was a swish and it was gone. There was a click. Izuku spun around to find the old man going through his stuff. His legs were no longer as shaky as before and he was crouching down with no issue ringing Izuku's alarm bells again.
"Hey!" Izuku shouted.
"It is a fine costume. I hear you have some decent fighting skills even besides quirks. How about you throw a punch at me."
That had been Izuku's first instinct, but now he got suspicious. The stare the old man gave from side of his eyes did not help his suspicion. Izuku's eyes glanced around looking for anyone else in the room or cameras that could frame him for an assault.
"I'm not sure that is a good…"
He never moved enough to move Gran Torino out of his sight.
Until the old man moved himself. Without all of father's air canon training Izuku would not even have initially noticed anything but the elder disappearing. Now he could at least follow Gran Torino's movement jumping between walls and the floor to hit the wall above the door with enough force to crack it and hang from it over Izuku, who had dodged from his final approach and was now facing the man above him.
"It's time you show me what you can do you newbie. I watched the UA sports festival on television. The way you used your power and attacked the hero profession reminded me of some bad memories. Your fighting skills were impressive, but I suspect it is not All Might who is training you well. He might be the symbol of peace and number one hero, but that man is a total novice when it comes to teaching. I can only imagine what blunder he is in the classroom.
Izuku found himself liking the man more already even if he was still suspicious.
"I'm not going to argue with you on that," he muttered then spoke more clearly and demanding. "It does not explain why you offered this internship to me. Of course we both already know it is because of my quirk."
"It is not just any quirk. It is ca…"
"All For One." Izuku took some joy in how the old man's face twisted at the words. Must have been more of those bad memories. Gran Torino dropped from the ceiling landing softly with a puff of dust.
"I hear you have experience with it, the quirk and the man."
Gran Torino frowned.
"I see All Might has been more open with you than he let me understand."
"No," Izuku corrected. "I learned about that before ever going to UA, and the only teacher that even tried being open about All For One was someone more competent, a bit more at least."
"Well, at least he hasn't become as much of a loudmouth as I thought."
"I also know about his true physical condition," Izuku said unable to resist the opportunity. He smirked, a mix of devious and happy smirk. "He won't be able to be a hero much longer. Can't wait the day people see what a walking blood couching sack of bones he really is."
Gran Torino stared at him for a few seconds then literally facepalmed. He muttered something inappropriate under his breath. Izuku enjoyed every second but did not forget the situation he was in. Shirokuro had made mistakes giving Stain initiative in their first encounters. Izuku did not intend to make the same mistake in this verbal fight.
"I am not interested in your opinions of my quirk," he said to set the proper tone. "The only question is. What are you plotting? Are you too going to spy on my life, or do you expect me to prove my worth more than others just because of how I was born."
Gran Torino stared at him for a moment.
"Me too spy? Who…?"
"All Might," Izuku responded with the venom in his voice by now permanently associated with the name, "and his police friend."
Gran Torino let out a long sigh shaking his head.
"Is that man trying to turn you into a new All For One? He's even worse of a blunder than I thought. Good thing I got to you when I did."
Was he starting to sound like Aizawa? Izuku mentally slapped himself to remind himself to remain vigilant.
"Are you thinking that how people, like him, treat me would make me a villain and you want to try to push me in the 'correct' direction?" Izuku asked with a tired voice even if happy that he was still ahead on this conversation. Gran Torino hummed.
"Sounds like I am not the first. That should be good, though considering what I heard at the festival there is still work to be done."
"Why?" Izuku asked his stare suddenly harsher. "Because I don't blindly praise everything that is done or people on top with how things are?"
"Most villains do what they do for personal benefit, some because they enjoy power and violence. The most dangerous ones become villains because they seek control or change in something in the wrong ways. The line between seeking to fix things you think are broken and forcing your will on others is not always clear."
"My will is that people are not judged based on how they were born," Izuku said simultaneously more annoyed and on guard. "That all rights are not given for some based on the same and restricted from others for no reason."
Gran Torino looked at him for a long silent moment.
"I was afraid of this."
"What?" Izuku barked. "Are you going to pretend I'm wrong?"
Gran Torino walked past Izuku back deeper inside the room.
"Maybe, maybe not."
He turned back to Izuku.
"But it is not so much your words that have me concerned, but the tone they were said in, the look in your eyes, the stance of being prepared to fight when simply stating your views. I do not know much of how you have been guided so far but I doubt it is any good and you are one that could easily be pushed on the wrong path, and not just because of your quirk."
"And who determines the right path? Those who got pushed to the top by how things work now?"
Gran Torino thought about that for a moment.
"You go to UA, so wouldn't you be one of those."
"I only went to UA because of certain people going there, and got immediately spied on by the principal and All Might. Then I got nearly murdered by the least heroic person I've ever known that everyone thought would become a hero because how he was born, including UA." Izuku's eyes got darker.
"And that was after he tried to attack and threatened some others."
He struggled to maintain his calm and not release any killing intent. Still managed to give Gran Torino pause, leaving him to Stare at Izuku until the old man gathered himself.
"I see. there is a lot of work to do," he said suddenly clearly struggling to find the next words. "How about that punch? I am supposed to train you for the hero work after all, and the sports festival left me curious. Put on your suit and we'll do some work."
Izuku accepted the excuse to end this discussion and changed into his costume. Gran Torino waited quietly until Izuku pulled on the last glove.
"Now, pu…" the old man said, but Izuku was already upon him his fist striking out too fast for an average person to even follow. It only met empty air as the elder whisked away and started bouncing between walls, floor and ceiling at extreme speeds. Witnessing him and his quirk in action had Izuku almost licking his lips. There was none of the imbalance and trouble he had with his own jets.
Was that because of the man's experience and training or was his quirk just better? Izuku activated Calm Mind just a little bit enough to block distractions and better track the speedy elder.
Izuku jumped to the side to dodge a sudden attack from the elder who flew right past. At least father's training was perfect for preparing Izuku for this. Gran Torino spun around. There was tiny shakiness for a fraction of a second as he was caught by surprise not hitting Izuku.
To his credit he moved with experience turning back to a new attack without hesitation. Unfortunately for him Izuku's training had also emphasized attacking and especially counterattacking without hesitation or mercy. His fist was already encased in the near solid flames of the Dragon Fist technique and launched at the little old man like he was trying to crack open Eijiro, lacking the natural holding back he exhibited with his other friends.
Gran Torino whizzed out of the way just in time before testing how tough the old bones were. Izuku turned after him, but the elder suddenly changed direction and was now coming in from the other side. Izuku was still mid turn to respond when Gran Torino's feet hit him. The impact pushed him backward but not with nearly the entire mass and momentum of the old man. It hurt but wasn't enough to knock Izuku down properly as air flowed through the elder's body and started pushing him away.
This time he was too slow. Izuku caught his cape and yanked. Instead of flying away Gran Torino slid on the floor. Izuku's fist swung around still encased in Dragon Fist. By the time he started thinking what he was doing it was already too late to stop.
Air whizzed and Gran Torino slid out of the way just in time. Izuku's fist hit hard enough to crack the floor tile and leave behind a fist sized scorch mark.
That was less of a problem than the fact he had refused to let go of Gran Torino. His balance was great, but the punch combined with the yank from the elder's quirk were enough to pull Izuku off his feet. His face approached the floor as Gran Torino disappeared from his sight. Izuku twisted his body enough to hit the floor on his side and fall on his back. Gran Torino's hand filled his vision and slammed on his face where the back of his head had just been.
Izuku stopped on his back on the floor with a thud and had his head pressed down by Gran Torino. The elder was already breathing audibly harder, must have been his age, though it sounded like he was recovering quickly.
"Well, I must admit I wasn't expecting you to fight this well. You might be inexperienced, but the potential is there. Some more training and you might beat me."
"Might?" Izuku said and his eyes moved downwards. The fires were still lit on his hand but the thick cover of Dragon Fist technique had stretched again into a blade, though it was still short and thick, more like a knife or dagger than a sword. That dagger was pointed right at Gran Torino's side and further in the heart. Izuku wouldn't even need to move his arm, just stretch the Dragon Blade to its normal length and his opponent would be dead. Gran Torino straightened out getting further from the fire and releasing Izuku's face.
"Clearly your skills are not based on All Might's teachings."
"Stop repeating that name. I spend more time helping to fix what his teaching and example do to others than learning from him," Izuku said dispersing the fire. "Some of Ei's punches are still over exaggerated 'smashes' that leave him open and the man isn't even his primary idol. I mean most people couldn't hurt him open or not, but he shouldn't rely on that, and I don't want others taking bad example from him."
Rest of Gran Torino's weight left Izuku.
"Some attacks Shoto threw in our training looked a lot like Eijiro's," Izuku kept muttering about the matter he just realized, before noticing the man's weight was gone and he was holding out his hand to help Izuku up. Suddenly Izuku remembered who he was dealing with. His stare hardened. His body bent and tensed, and he flipped back on his feet without the man's help looking down at him.
"Did you get what you wanted?"
"No, the world is not that simple, and neither are you," the man walked to the door. "Right now I need to go get more food since mine fell on the floor. You should consider what I said about the line. There is a western phrase 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' especially if those intentions were born out of anger. Anger only leads to hatred and that usually ends with suffering."
He stepped outside leaving Izuku to frown alone, a line?
He had already crossed over any line Gran Torino would consider, going so far past he couldn't even see the line anymore, but he was doing it for the right things. He wouldn't be allowed to change enough things or help everyone who needed it from inside the line.
Izuku followed from the window Gran Torino walking away until he was confident the man had actually left, then started walking around the apartment. Was this really the apartment of a pro hero that had even taught All Might at UA? It was spacious sure and even looked better than the outside, but that was not a high bar. It was worn out even not counting the damage from their fight, mainly Gran Torino crashing on and bouncing from surfaces and furniture. Izuku's eyes moved to the heavy cracking on the wall above the door where the elder had hit the wall and hung on the wall from the damage his landing had caused.
Izuku made a mental note to not underestimate the old man's toughness considering he had caused that damage without breaking anything and Izuku wasn't yet completely certain of who would come out on top in a real battle between them. At least not who would come on top the first time. Izuku could have multiple tries that the elder would not.
He focused his attention on looking for any signs of other people or cameras watching him or any evidence that the apartment was faked. He tried to look like he was just getting familiar with the space hiding his investigation behind restlessness that would not have been out of place for a student on the first day of an internship with a pro even if the place was no hero agency, not even a home office.
If he was genuinely seeking to become a hero, he would be beating himself up right now for not getting to literally any other place.
Eventually Izuku gave up on his search not finding people or spy equipment and ended up standing by window monitoring the outside half of the time and looking at his phone the other half. Hitoshi had changed the group chat's name to "Izusquad"…
…again.
Izuku quickly renamed it to "No coffee for Toshi" and started reading the most recent messages.
There weren't many new ones since he checked them already walking from the station. Tenya had been quiet the whole day, but everyone else had at least confirmed they had reached their internship places.
Eijiro had been eager to meet the hero Mr Brave. He practically picked him based on the name alone and the pro specialized in close combat with weapons made of his hair. Izuku had wondered if he could stand blade to blade against Stain, but now…
It was only a small comment about how Eijiro thought the hero was weaker than he thought, but from the always excited redhead with a history of lacking confidence in himself, that comment was significant. It made Izuku feel sorry for having talked Eijiro into changing his internship place and wondered what kind of pro hero could seem weak to a first-year student, or perhaps the issue was the student.
Yes, that had to be it, at least the idea felt better.
Tokoyami was busy running and trying to fly after Hawks. The hero had taken him with him on patrol and flown off right away. Tokoyami and Dark Shadow would need more flight training to keep up with the winged hero.
Hitoshi sent a sad face and coffee cup emojis.
Their antics eased Izuku's feeling a bit and he put the phone away. He was here to learn and train, so he might as well. He took the backpack with his stuff and hung the hero costume suitcase on it on his back, then found a good doorframe. It took a small jump to get a good hold of the top of the frame and he started doing pull ups. Focusing on exercise was the third most efficient way to calm his mind and heart right after Calm Mind and… "Izusquad".
The apartment did not give him many options, so he went through a set of bodyweight, or backpack-weight, exercises then went through it again. Gran Torino returned at some point, but he didn't interrupt Izuku and Izuku didn't have any urge to talk with him. He only stopped to check his chat messages and news titles in case there was anything on Stain, nothing new.
"Something weighing on your mind?" Gran Torino asked, placing two plates on the table. Izuku first intended to not respond, but the man kept looking and waiting and Izuku's stomach grumbled.
"Several," he said turning towards the table.
"Anything you want to talk about?" Gran Torino asked. Did he really try to pull off a trusted mentor act with Izuku?
"Not with you."
His phone pinged. Todoroki messaged that he had caught a criminal. Izuku could almost hear the quiet emotionless voice saying it like he was telling the weather, but that still made him smile as he wrote his congratulations. Even Tenya responded, and before Izuku ever reached the table, so at least he was paying attention, and alive, most importantly alive.
A moment later Izuku raised his eyes from the screen only to meet Gran Torino's quiet stare. While it might not have been the smartest choice, Izuku refused to yield. Eventually the elder tilted his head and lost the staring contest.
"As long as you have someone to talk with. The one whose name you do not like to hear might have mentioned something to that extent."
He sat down and began eating. A moment later Izuku did the same.
After a post meal break, which Izuku cut short with more solo training, Gran Torino decided they should train again, which consisted of him bouncing around the room trying to pound Izuku with kicks and punches. One time while successfully blocking Gran Torino's foot, and doing so without burning the man, Izuku realised he was smirking. Gran Torino was able to give him a clear challenge providing a more advanced and complex version of father's air cannon training or Tenya's more straightforward attacks.
Izuku was enjoying himself, not even noticing the passage of time. He might have continued till the next day, but after not that long of a time Gran Torino started slowing down noticeably. Izuku could block or avoid a larger and larger share of his attacks.
After one such dodge, he spun around to react to the next one but Gran Torino was bent over leaning on his knees moving several centimetres up and down with every heavy breath as he gasped for air, really gasped. Izuku stepped closer but did not feel quite concerned enough to just move into support the man. He too had started breathing harder but was already well on his way to recovering.
Gran Torino staggered to the nearest chair sitting in silence, except for his breathing, for a long time before being able to speak again.
"I am getting too old to do this much longer."
"You lasted much longer than you looked like you could," Izuku said before even realizing, but it was true. Maybe Izuku could at least respect the man's skill and taking care of himself so well even at such an age. Izuku gave the man a moment longer to catch his breath until his own impatience got too much.
"So what now?"
"Now? Now this old man hopes to keep his heart in his chest. Maybe we'll take a walk in the evening and discus a bit about actual hero work. If you still have that much energy you can continue exercising on your own, seems you could do that fine, or you could just take a break.
"I have better times to spend time on breaks," Izuku muttered. "I can manage training on my own, though…"
Izuku thought for a moment then spent another moment convincing himself to do the sensible thing.
"Once you are feeling better," he started, "there is one thing I've been having difficulties with on my own that you might be able to help."
"That jet-quirk you got from USJ," Grant Torino stated. Izuku looked at him for a long moment. The old man scowled.
"Don't look at me like that. You showed it at the Sport Festival long before he whose name shall not be mentioned told me."
"True," Izuku admitted quietly, "it is very difficult to control. I know it can let me fly, but I can only make long jumps effectively and even its original owner needed a wingsuit to keep balance at speed."
"Not surprising considering where they are." Gran Torino said.
"What do you mean?"
Gran Torino pointed at Izuku's shoulders and as Izuku turned his Torso he could see the bumps where the jets were.
"Can you turn them, to direct the thrust?"
"Yes, to some extent," Izuku flexed some muscles that had not existed few months ago. His shoulders twitched and the bumps on his shirt moved."
"That is your problem, and how close to each other they are." Gran Torino raised his foot to show the sole of his boot which was full of holes. "We are naturally built to balance on our feet and I can easily direct which way the air flows by moving my feet. "
He put his foot back down looking at Izuku.
"You on the other are hanging of a trapeze from your shoulders and cannot control it any more than you can shrug and change your centre of gravity. If you want to fly any distance without help like with that shadow quirk you will need to learn to control parts of your body that did not previously exist and do so exceptionally precisely, more like flying a helicopter than a plane. It is not impossible but will take time and training will be dangerous."
"I have already accounted for that. It is part of the reason why we often train at a beach. I might eventually find a quirk to help but can't rely on that."
"No, you should not. I will think about this. There might be some training I can provide. Can you hover yet?"
"Perhaps a few seconds. I think I could keep my balance if I could keep the jets steady, but controlling their power is even more difficult than the direction."
"Then you should start with that. You can use my doorway again."
The old man pointed at the interior door where Izuku had previously done pullups. Izuku just looked puzzled.
"If you hang from the doorframe, you can keep yourself still while finding the right amount of power, brace against it if you are using too much and hang from it if you aren't using enough. That seemed easy enough to you."
"Of course. Why didn't I think of that?"
"If I had to guess I'd say you rushed straight to practical use before training individual aspects of the quirk. You need to learn how to balance standing on your feet before you can run. Even starting with walking is not enough. When you can produce constant steady thrust, we can talk other things."
"Okay," Izuku said and went to the door wondering if he had made the same mistake with the others' training. They all had a decade of experience with their quirks, so their situations were a bit different, except with Tenya of course, maybe Hitoshi to a lesser extent.
Izuku hopped to hang from the doorframe without the jets then focused, testing his lower limit of how little power he could use while still using the quirk. It was like squeezing some hidden muscles while not allowing them to really move.
One moment the tension got too much, something yanked and air flowed out of his back with a whistle. His head hit the ceiling before he could tense his arms enough to hold himself down. The same repeated twice but each time Izuku was more prepared to stop himself.
"You are too tense," Gran Torino commented from below. He had dragged a chair in front of the door and was eating some sweets. "You hold it in until you can't and push too hard."
"I figured."
"Try pushing with however high power you can and then start easing it down without dropping."
That… helped, and soon there were moments where Izuku could feel his arms relax his entire weight carried by the jets, until he slipped too much in some direction with the power or twitched enough to ruin his balance. Gran Torino gave occasional advice but did not waste time with pretend positive comments whenever he hit his head or almost fell to the ground.
In the end they spent rest of the day practicing with Izuku's jets only and never even stepped outside. As Izuku hovered in the doorway with fingers of one hand barely touching the frame for more than ten seconds he even managed to swipe sweat off his face before having to grasp the frame again as he started to tilt. His stomach grumbled once he stabilized himself.
"Might I convince you to finish for the day or did you plan to continue till morning?"
"I could try," Izuku responded gasping. "I got a quirk for that. Though if my jets keep hurting like this, I probably won't even have the option to sleep."
"Then you should most certainly stop. I am sure you have already heard someone compare quirks to muscles in how to train them, but that also applies in the negative especially for mutant type quirks. Your jets are body parts like any other. Don't damage them."
That wasn't really a concern for Izuku, but he nodded without fighting and dropped down back to the floor for the first time in a while. He rotated his sore arms while realizing how hard he was breathing. Gran Torino glanced back at him.
"I'm impressed you are still going after pushing through that much air. Most people don't realize how tiring a quirk like this can be, like. Even simple thing is like jogging or running."
"Yeah," Izuku said breathing a little easier but still hard. "What kind of training should I do to help with that?"
"Still focused on the job," Gran Torino muttered and pointed his walking stick at Izuku's chest. "If your quirk works like mine the important thing is core strength and balance in your body, also lung capacity. The jets might not get their air directly from your breathing but using them for a prolonged time is like running a marathon.
"Worse, I felt better after a marathon," Izuku said, then glanced down and rubbed his chin. "Now that I think of it breathing and being able to absorb oxygen is critical for almost anything physical I could do."
He started writing on a notebook.
"Regular training should already help with that but there should be more that I can do, and perhaps there are quirks that improve it. It would be handy, but quirk like that would be hard to even notice. People with something like that might not recognize or its potential. I should review the emails again. Just need to identify relevant… mutter mutter mutter."
Gran Torino at least had the decency to no interrupt Izuku's line of thought even if he was muttering. By the time he stopped on his own his jets had stopped hurting, there was a lot less sunlight outside and some warm food was steaming on the table in front of him, quite a lot of it.
"Eat before it gets cold. By my estimate you just spent at least that much."
"Thank you," Izuku said quietly just barely remembering who he was talking with.
"Once you are done do some stretches and after that no more training today or you might hurt yourself," Gran Torino said. Izuku frowned but didn't talk back.
He had to settle with stretching, chatting and listening to the old man talk about hero work for rest of the evening. Thankfully it was not very long as Gran Torino headed to sleep early. Izuku pretended to do the same in the next room, but instead maintained Sleep Deprived remaining perfectly awake as he moved against the wall to listen for any sounds from the other room. After feeling confident Gran Torino had fallen asleep Izuku confirmed it by moving to listen through the ajar door.
He dressed on his, still sweaty, hero costume for an excuse in case he got caught and sneaked out of the door. He soon found a dark alley with nothing but some bags of garbage. He quickly pressed a button on his watch repeatedly and waited until a dark spiral emerged from nothing in front of him.
Izuku was stuck away from Hosu, but Shirokuro could still go wherever he needed to.