"Die!" An explosion shook the area, Katsuki grinned before he yelled at his senior. "Another one, Polyester!"
"It's Ms. Cotton to you." Mawata said as she created another cotton puppet for Katsuki.
Within Ground Beta, class 1A was having their daily training activities with their seniors, Tora and Mawata. It has been a few days since their grand exercise, it gave the students a lot of determination as Shouta made them began their training with their seniors. During their training session, Ochaco was having her turn as she found herself fighting against Mawata who was assisting her in practicing her martial arts.
"Nice job, Ochaco!" Mawata said as she dodged Ochaco's strikes until she did a backflip in order to avoid the brunette's punch. "Thank you, senpai! But man, you're flexible."
"It's mostly thanks to Mr. Aizawa and Best Jeanist. They helped me a lot, especially during the internship." Mawata stated before she started shuddering. "A little too well, to be honest."
"You intern with Best Jeanist?!" Katsuki shouted as he put on a pair of green gauntlets, getting a smile from the pink-haired woman as she ruffled his hair.
"Yep! Let me tell you now. Being out there is much different than the little playdates you guys are doing." She said in a serious tone that surprised the students of class 1A. Tora noticed Mawata's hands starting to shake as she continued. "It's not a game. If you're not careful, you're dead. So, go Plus Ultra and show the villains our school motto!"
What followed after was a moment of complete silence.
Everyone was a bit taken, some even nervous by what Mawata stated before they heard a powerful explosion that knocked down several trees and cotton dolls which caught everyone's attention. Katsuki emerged from the smoke with a sneer on his face, smoke coming from his hands as he walked towards the senior.
"So what?" He said as he unleashed several sparks from his palms. "You think I care about some D-lister villains! I'll show them not to mess with me! I'll kill them! No one will get in my way of being the number one hero! Now, I want a rematch!"
"Now that's the spirit! Someone's eager to prove himself!" Mawata said with a huge smile on her face, Katsuki quickly lunged at her which she dodged easily. As the two continued to spar, everyone watched as the explosive blonde tried to attack her.
They all watched as Tora trained with Eijirou, the Hardening quirk user using his defense to block the tigress' attacks.
"C'mon, senpai! Let it at me! Don't hold back!" The redhead smirked as he hardened his body and blocked a powerful blow from Tora that sent him across the field and into a wall. The silver-haired woman was a bit worried for her junior until Eijirou popped out of the debris with a huge grin on his.
"That was awesome! C'mon, another!" He said with a grin as he readied himself again.
"Oh boy! I don't want to hurt you that much." Tora stated that as she transformed her hand into her full tigress form. If it hurts, tell me."
"Kinda threw that out the window when you launched him like a rocket in the first match, Tora." Mawata shouted as she wrapped Katsuki's arms with cotton to stop his explosions.
"Mawata!" The white tigress shouted.
"Does Class 1B go through this exercise and train with their seniors as well?" Denki asked as he tried to cover his hands in electricity but failing.
"No. Since most of the students in the second and third year are doing internships and missions right now, there are a select few here at school and they are busy." Tora explained as she blocked several kicks from Tsuyu and a punch from Sato during their sparring match. "Mr. Aizawa got to us first so we couldn't refuse."
"Yep! It's unfortunate but that's how Mr. Kan has always does his classes." Mawata shrugged, Toru trying to sneak up on her before she was suddenly wrapped up in cotton threads. "Don't count class 1B out though because their quirks develop much more at this time than 1A so be careful."
Hearing this, Katsuki could not hold back his anger when his mind went to a certain green-haired young man which made his eye twitch out of frustration. 'Quirk?'
He then scoffed as he unleashed a powerful explosion against Mawata's cotton dome.
'There's no way that he would have a quirk.'
Gritting his teeth, Katsuki suddenly remembered his last confrontation with the verdette, a vein appearing on his head as he recalled himself being pushed off by an unknown force from Izuku. As the memory flowed through his mind, the blonde got angrier as he unleashed a stronger explosion that managed to burn most of the cotton doll.
'I can't accept it. I can't accept that all of this time...he was playing me for an idiot all this time. Looking down on me...like that time.' He thought as he relentlessly unleashed multiple explosions onto the cotton doll, not stopping until the doll was only smoke and cinders.
While they were training, Hitoshi was training by his lonesome, practicing his skills with his binding cloth as he remembered his embarrassing loss against his senior, Tora.
'I was taken out so easily.' Hitoshi thought as he tried to wrap his binding cloth around three practice dummies but he was having difficulty lifting them. He tried to adjust his scarf but it came to naught as it did nothing.
"You're not going to get anywhere if you try it like that." The purple-haired teen turned to see Mawata who had her hands on her hips. Hitoshi raised a brow before she took out a needle from her bracelet along with a ball of yarn, much to her junior's surprise.
"Watch me." She then went past him, several needles coming from her sleeve and creating a scarf similar to his out of cotton before she readied herself. "Steady."
Taking a deep breath, Mawata threw her scarf in a way that made it wrap around the three dummies, much to Hitoshi's shock.
"Unless you have telekinesis, I wouldn't lift them in the air. If you want to restrain them, do this." She pulled a section of her scarf that caused all of the items to collide into each other. Hitoshi saw what she did as she tried again, getting the same result as he intently watched her movements.
"Binding techniques with that scarf is very hard to do, especially with how it's positioned." Mawata said which confused Hitoshi before she explained further. "It's around your neck. There's so much that you can do with the scarf when it's positioned like that. If your foe is stronger than you, they can straight up choke you with it. Not sure why Mr. Aizawa doesn't try to put it on somewhere else that is not his neck but oh well."
Mawata sighed before she made her scarf disappear into threads and returned it into a ball of yarn. "I mean it does add to the cool factor so probably that's it. Now, your turn. Try again."
Hitoshi was silent as he eyed the three dummies, taking a deep breath before he attempted to grab the three dolls but failed when he could only catch two. Gritting his teeth, he tried again but this time, he got the three of them but unable to get a firm grip on them.
"Calm down, alright." Mawata said encouragingly as she patted his back. "You need to practice getting that move down. Maybe you might need a change to your posture or fighting style. The scarf thing is cool but there's a reason only Mr. Aizawa is able to do a lot with it since it's his weapon and not yours."
Hearing that made Hitoshi a bit irritated but he understood that he needed practice. Lifting his scarf, he thought about how he could improve as he looked around at his classmates getting considerable progress with their training which made him a bit jealous. Looking at Tora, he could not help feeling angry at himself for how he lost against her, clenching his fists tightly which did not go unnoticed by Mawata.
"I know frustrating it can be to lose like that against Tora but it's ok." She said as she put her hands in her pockets. "We are both here to teach you the ropes. Plus, you were smart with the whole 'use your enemy as your horse' strategy."
"Thanks but I couldn't even get the chance to use my quirk to take control of her." Hitoshi then tried again, failing before he tried again. "Your quirk at least have a use and doesn't need a condition to be used. I need to find a very good situation to use mine...and because of me being unable to find that opportunity, I lost to her. In fact, we lost to her. That was embarrassing. Plus now, literally everyone is able to find a way to better themselves while I feel...stuck."
"Really now?" Mawata said before she turned to the rest of class 1A to see them training with their quirks, some of them able to incorporate them with their fighting styles.
'It could be the same for them as well.' She thought before she saw Inasa creating an orb of air before dispersing it into mini tornadoes. 'Well...some of them.'
"I can understand how you feel." The pink-haired woman said which surprised Hitoshi. "I was failing this course horribly a year ago. The way I was going, Mr. Aizawa would probably expel me himself soon before the first year ended. Everyone surpassed me and by the time I could even realize, it was almost 9 months in. Honestly, at that time, I was contemplating quitting myself."
Hitoshi stayed quiet as she rolled up her sleeve and took out a rusted needle.
"But then I came across this needle. It's my lucky needle that my grandmother gave to me as a gift. Sewing clears my mind so I was happy." She said with a smile before it turned into a frown.
"Yeah...I was failing this course but I was good at sewing. So I decided to take another course just as a backup plan because I pretty gave up on the hero course at the time." Mawata floated a needle from her hand using a string of cotton, a melancholic smile on her face. "I thought I was going to fail the hero course. Well, I thought..."
"What happened?" Hitoshi wondered, getting a proud expression from the woman as she looked to the sky.
"Well, I accidentally brought a ball of cotton thread to the final exam. You should have seen me; I was a nervous wreck." She let out a small laugh as she played with the needle. "During the exam, I pretty much gave up but some way, somehow. I don't know if it was desperation or panic, I used my sewing skills I learnt and with them, I was able to pass. I was surprised. Mr. Aizawa even praised me for passing...in his own grumpy way."
"Hmm." Hitoshi hummed before she continued.
"Seeing that...I could do something, it made me happy. I could help people. I can save people with my quirk. After that, I trained hard again. It did not come easy but I had a second wind. And then boom! Here I am!"
She then used the needle to sew a purple headband that she put onto Hitoshi's head. Hitoshi checked the headband to see the words 'Good luck!' sewn onto it.
"You can do it too!" She then got up as he created a ball of cotton in her hands and handed it to him.
"Life is all about trial and error. You gotta try and try again until you get what you want. That includes your quirk. Learn it from me. You're gonna find yourself in some tough times but the first steps are never easy. I hope to see you in the second year, junior." Mawata said before leaving him to his thoughts.
'Trial and error, huh?' Hitoshi thought as he looked at the piece of cotton. After a while, he then took a deep breath and regained her focus. He then lashed at the three practice dummies, trying his best to perfect his technique as his mind wandered elsewhere.
"We are gonna prove these hero course students wrong."
He remembered the words that he and Izuku shared when they were within the Remedial Course. Pushing away all the noise around him, he continued to train himself as much as he could for the rest of the class period, remembering the lengths that Izuku would train in order to reach his goal.
'I need to be better.' The words echoed through his mind as he continued to use his technique.
After a while, he was able to get a handle of the technique, able to hold three practice dummies with his scarf and then slam them into each other which made him let out a victorious chuckle. 'Alright! Now if I-'
"Go home. It's after hours."
Hitoshi heard a voice behind him to see Shouta.
"Wait! What? I was-"
"Class is finished." Shouta gestured around, Hitoshi seeing that everyone is gone, much to his shock. "Huh?"
"You were so laser focused on your training that you ignored everyone around you. They even tried shaking you but despite that, you still continued." Shouta walked in front of him and picked up the fallen equipment on the floor. "It's alright to train but to be this laser focused. That's strange for you. Is there a reason?"
"Yeah. I'm going to be honest. After that fight against my senior, Yukimura..." Hitoshi stated as he took a deep breath and let out a huge sigh. "...I can't help but realize that I haven't made any progress since I came to the Hero Course...I lost against Bakugo very easily and now this."
"Well, that is to be expected. They are more skilled and experienced than you. The purpose of the exercise is not for you to pass but to see how you gauge compared to them. I wanted you all to see the level that you are at and where you are able to grow to if you take this seriously."
"The level we can grow to, huh?" Hitoshi looked to the ground. After a moment of silence, the teacher sighed before he walked in front of him.
"Shinso. What lead you into this course?" Hearing Shouta's words, Hitoshi raised a brow as he turned to his teacher whose eyes let out a slight red glow.
As Shouta's hair raised into the air along with his scarf, Hitoshi noticed a pair of yellow goggles within the scarf. "What took you into this course? How were you able to get a seat in class 1A?"
Hearing the question again, Hitoshi who cleared his voice. "Your training did-"
"That's not what I was talking about. Think carefully. Your quirk is not a combat type quirk so how did you get into this course?"
"You trained me to use the capturing weapon so."
"Well, you're not wrong. The training I gave you is what helped you to even the odds at the Remedial exam however..." He said with his hands in his pockets. "...you are in this course because of your effort and hard work."
Hitoshi's eyes widened when Shouta said that.
"Right now, you're learning the basics but you will need to think about what type of hero that you want to be in the future. Training is good but you need to hit the books and see what else you can do. Especially with your quirk and how it functions. As a hero, you need to prepare for the odds to be against you. If you are unable to do so, you're not cut out to be a hero."
As the words of his teacher echoed through his mind, Hitoshi nodded before he turned around to the exit as well.
"Remember, Shinso. I'm not one to waste my time on training hopeless cases." Shouta stated. "That is the same with you."
"Huh?" Hitoshi was about to ask before he heard a voice from the entrance.
"Toshi! You ready, man?" He turned to see Izuku and his friends waiting for him.
"Go have fun. Bounce off ideas off your friends. Learn to cherish friends like them and moments like this. When you're here, you train but there is a time and place for everything." Shouta said as he made a check of the equipment in the gym. "...you may never know how much time that you will have with them..."
"What?" Hitoshi turned to his teacher before he saw nothing, realizing that his teacher left the room which made him raise an eyebrow. 'What did he mean by that?'
"C'mon, Eyeshadow! I have a baby that I want to test on you!" Mei ran towards him before dragging him towards the Support workshop, Izuku following them.
After they reached the testing site of the Support workshop, she gave him a black detachable mask-like device with two grey sections at the sides that had red switches. Hitoshi then moved the switches which made the plates of the mask move around, much to his and Izuku's surprise.
"It's your mask. It's a special mask used that alters your voice and helps you to mimic someone else's voice and emit it to your surroundings." Mei explained with a huge smile, Hitoshi giving her a deadpanned look until she finished her explanation.
"So, it's like a voice changer? Just say that then." Hitoshi deduced as he put the mask on, turning the switch on the side which made him speak in a high-pitched voice. "Wow! This is pretty cool."
"Right, as expected of my baby!" Mei said with a toothy grin before she adjusted the switches. "Great! Now try Izu's voice!"
"My voice?!" The green-haired exclaimed before Hitoshi spoke.
"Testing, testing. Whoa!" Hitoshi talked, the mask making him sound like Izuku which surprised the verdette. "That's awesome! This paired with your quirk could catch some villains off guard."
"Yep! I will do my best! I will go beyond! Plus Ultra!" Hitoshi said, mimicking Izuku's poses. "I-I'll do my best...just like All Might!"
"I do not sound like that." Izuku deadpanned as Hitoshi mimicked his pose and mocked him, much to his embarrassment. Hitoshi laughed at Izuku's expression as he continued to speak in his voice.
"Yeah! It's a success!" Mei said, happily clapped her hands before she went to her table. "I even gave it a megaphone effect!"
"It's an amazing support gear! Was this what you were working on?" She heard Izuku said as she let out a proud smirk and put her nose into the air.
"Yep, Izu! Had to show you both the genius of Mei Hatsume!" She said with her hands on her hips. There was a moment of silence, the pink-haired girl turning to the two young men to see Izuku smiling and pointing to Hitoshi.
"Fooled you." Hitoshi said before he furrowed his eyebrows. "It's weird though. My quirk is not working."
"Huh?" Izuku and Mei said in confusion before they shared a glance. "Not working?"
"Yeah. I don't know why. Lemme try without the mask." Hitoshi said before he took off the device. "Talk to me."
"Sure!" Izuku said before his body froze, Mei looking at the verdette before she checked the device.
"I wonder why it does not work with your quirk." Mei scratched her head before she went back to her table. "Maybe it needs some tweaks...or it could be broken? It shouldn't be exploding though."
What she said made a sweat went down his cheek as a worried expression went on his face. "That's...terrifying. I'm glad that I haven't gotten my face blown off."
"Don't worry. I made sure it doesn't explode..." Mei waved him off as she was tinkering with the mask. "...probably."
"Probably?!" The purple-haired teenager's eyes widened.
"Don't worry about it!" The pink-haired mechanic said as she looked at the device. "I might need to talk to Teach about this."
Letting out an annoyed sigh, Hitoshi turned to Izuku who was still under the effects of his quirk which surprised him before he stopped his quirk. "Sorry about that, man. I got sidetracked."
"Do you know how long I have been trying to yell at you to get me out of your quirk?" Izuku shouted before he rubbed his head, getting a laugh from Hitoshi. "I said sorry."
"Yeah, yeah." Izuku said as he put on his gauntlets and did target practice. "I'm going to clear my mind."
"Hey, Eyeshadow! Can you try this mask again?" Mei asked as she put the mask onto his face, the two trying to use his quirk through the device again which resulted with no success. After hours of testing the gadgets with no changes, Mei and Hitoshi gave up before they decided to go home. As the trio made their way home, Izuku looked up to realize that the people on the street were giving him weird glances before he noticed the steam coming from his arms.
"Did he just get burned?"
"Mommy, is he using his quirk?"
"No sweetie! He's just blushing through his hands."
"Should we be concerned?"
Izuku let out a groan as he tried to lift his arms but experienced difficulty when he felt an aching pain from them.
"Dude, are you sure that you're ok? Your arms were bleeding." Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at the verdette who gave him a shaky thumbs-up. Mei, on the other hand, was not worried as she patted Hitoshi on the shoulder. "It's alright, Eyeshadow. Izu's arms stopped bleeding for a while now. His wounds immediately closed up."
The boys looked at her before Izuku said. "They...closed up?"
"Yeah! I thought you knew." The pink-haired girl said nonchalantly which made her receive surprised expressions from her friends. Izuku looked at his hands, trying to process what he heard before he tried to get out his phone and took a recording. "What...happened?"
"Well, your arms were pulsating but after you stopped using your quirk, your pores stopped glowing and boom! They stopped bleeding." Mei explained nonchalantly as she ate a chocolate bar. Izuku looked at his arms, seeing his veins dimly glowing. "That's odd. Should that happen?"
"So, you have a healing factor or something?" Hitoshi raised a brow to which Izuku could not answer, completely in shock at the revelation.
"I'm not sure. I don't...think so. It's like his quirk opened his pores and after he's done, they close." Mei explained as she went for her second chocolate bar, again surprising the two men who looked at each other, Izuku rubbing his head. "Bizarre. Is that because I'm overusing my muscles? I might need to check with...Recovery Girl. She's not gonna like this."
"At least your quirk is developing..." Hitoshi made a thumbs up, his sentence did not go unnoticed by his green-haired friend. "I'm trying to find a way to get mine to work under circumstances where I'm fighting an opponent head on. Especially since it has a very terrible weakness."
"That's not true." Izuku interjected with a serious expression. "Your quirk is super awesome! Just like that guy in that comic I lent you. Maybe you need a break, you could use it-"
"I got it, Zuku. I'm just thinking of something." The purple-haired young man said before Izuku put his hand on his shoulder. "You should read that comic I gave you. You could find some awesome moves. The girl, Madame Puppeteer, is so cool when she used her quirk!"
After they parted ways and Hitoshi reached home, silence welcomed him as he took off his shoes and made his way through his house. Passing the kitchen, he noticed a pink sticky note on the fridge that he picked off and read.
"Welcome back, son!
Sorry but I will be coming home late. There's extra food in the fridge if you want any. Remember to take out the trash and stock the fridge with groceries please. There's money in the cupboard for that.
Love, Dad."
Hitoshi let out a sigh before he did as he was told, cleaning the house and then getting the groceries. After he finished his chores, he then decided to make dinner, putting some of the food on the stove for his father before he began to enjoy his food while checking his phone for any hypnosis applications until he got a notification from Izuku about the latest hero activities which made him let out a chuckle.
"This guy and his hero obsession? Well, at least it's useful." Hitoshi said before he noticed it was about the quirkless kidnappings. "All Might is joining the search? Welp, there goes that villain's goals. It's all over for them. Hmm."
He then saw that his teacher, Shouta, being a part of the surveillance team. After finishing his dinner and washing his dishes, Hitoshi went into his room to look up on articles of his teacher until he found something.
"Activities of the Underground heroes?" He mumbled as he read a blog, seeing several pictures of Eraser during his hero job. "What are those moves? 'The Masked Blur' is his nickname. One person in the blog said that his moves are similar to that of a ninja. Hmm, in that case...I could go to..."
He went to another website that featured ninja techniques before he compared them to his teacher's moves. "His moves are advanced. And they said that they cannot see him although he is showing in the pictures. Is there a technique to make you invisible to the human eye? And they said he's an 'Underground Hero'?"
Continuing to browse the internet, Hitoshi decided to research for the term 'Underground heroes', his eyes widened in surprise when he found out the definition. "Heroes that work in the darkness or on stealth missions. The difference between them and the Pro Heroes is that all Underground heroes are obligated to keep their identity a secret from the public, including their quirks. So, you're telling me that Zuku really deduced Mr. Aizawa's quirk by his lonesome? That's...terrifying."
'Hold on. Are there different types of heroes?' He thought as he researched on this before he noticed that there are heroes who specialize in rescue missions alone and the same for crowd control. 'Thirteen, Water Hose and Backdraft are some of the heroes who specialized in rescue and crowd control. Well, used to for the Water Hose duo."
Hitoshi looked into other 'types' of heroes as he watched how they did their work, how they used their quirks and their business while reading the books that he was given for his hero course. As he researched, he took notes while watching the heroes in action, his interest lying in the fighting style of Eraser Head and another Pro Hero who was dressed in a samurai outfit. "Yoroi Musha? This old samurai looking dude is good at utilizing weapons. Wait, his quirk is called Auto Equip. I might learn something from him if I continue watching his videos."
After a while of taking notes of the heroes, Hitoshi's eyes widened in shock when he came to a realization.
'Oh God! I'm becoming Zuku! That's not good. It should not be contagious! There has to be at least two people to even out his nerdiness.' He held his head in his hands before letting out a huge groan. 'This should be his thing.'
Taking a break, Hitoshi then looked to his ceiling as he thought about what he has discovered. "So, our teacher fights like a ninja, and there are apparently multiple fields of work for a hero. Because of him being an Underground Hero, Eraser Head ambushes his enemies and making swift takedowns of villains in the night. That's actually pretty cool."
As the purple-haired young man rested on his bed, he accidentally knocked over his bag which made a bunch of his books fall out, one of them being the comic that Izuku lent him. Picking up the comic book, Hitoshi looked at the cover that has a picture of a raven-haired woman dressed in a black lab coat and a blue dress.
"Oh, this book. Madame Puppeteer? Forgot to read it. I couldn't get the chance to read this but now I can." Hitoshi thought aloud before he began to read the book. After a few hours, the purple-haired young man found himself being invested into the story until he heard a ring from his phone which made him groan. 'Seriously, I was getting to the good part. Zuku's right about the book being interesting. I think I got an idea on what I want to do.'
Picking up his phone, Hitoshi saw an invitation from Denki to play a game with Izuku and the others.
"Hmm, I see. Can't say no to Call of Duty." He said as he got himself ready to play the game.
For several hours, he was playing with his friends, the purple-haired young man noticing that Mei is especially good at the shooting game. He then noticed that Izuku was getting better at the game to as he scored three headshots on the other team, much to their team's elation. After a few rounds, Hitoshi let out a sigh as he spoke through his headset.
"Why is Mei so good at FPS games?" He complained as he wandered the ma.
"Did you really ask that about the girl whose literal quirk is to pinpoint and see things from afar?" Izuku stated before he was able to score a shot. "She's literally made for shooting games."
"Yeah! She's a walking cheat code, bro." Denki said before he heard a voice in the background. "YO, BOLT BOY! GET YOUR DAMN DINNER!"
"I'll be there in a sec! Jeez!" Denki yelled before he got killed. "Damn it!"
"No scoped! Haha!" Mei laughed.
"Jiro crashing at your place again?" Hitoshi said, getting a sigh from the blonde before they all heard the door flying open. "Mmhmm. I might have to call it a night soon. Got to visit my folks in the morning."
"Gotcha! After I play this game. Yeah, one game wouldn't hurt." Hitoshi said as they all played their last game.
After the game was finished, they all voiced their farewells before getting off the game. As Hitoshi took off his headset, he heard his door open, seeing a tall man dressed in a navy-blue suit, his purple-hair that was tied in a ponytail and his eyes looking like Hitoshi.
"What's up, Dad? Dinner is on the stove." Hitoshi said, the man nodding before he asked a question. "You ok though, Hitoshi? How is college?"
"It's alright. You good though, Dad?"
"I'm ok. Just haven't been around lately to talk so you know...wanted to check up on you." The man said in a nervous tone. "Sorry if I annoyed you."
"It's no problem, Dad. I'm alright." Hitoshi said before he spoke again. "Also, Dad. We're cool. Alright? It's not like before."
"O-oh." The man said, scratching his hair before he let out a small smile. "Thanks, Hitoshi. Same to you. Don't blame yourself for what happened."
"Gotcha! Good night, Dad!"
"Good night, Hitoshi!" His father said before he shut his door. "And don't give up on being a hero. I believe in you."
The next day, he woke up early to do some exercise in his room before he went downstairs for breakfast, looking around to see that there is no sign of his father. Sitting down and eating his breakfast, he looked at the note on the table that said his father left for work.
"Don't overwork yourself, Dad." He thought aloud, clenching his fists. "You're not to blame for what Mom did."
Hitoshi decided to go to college early, taking the time to go to the gym and training himself as he thought about ways to better himself in class.
'I can't just let them be the only ones to improve themselves and Izuku has already helped me enough.' He thought as he went on the treadmill, his eyes glued on the multiple videos of hero work on his phone.
His focus was on the weapon tutorial videos that he found on the net, checking which one would be a fit for him. While he was watching, he got a message from Izuku answering the question he asked him.
'Hmm. So, he can instantly equip any weapon that he makes contact with, even if it is an enemy's weapon. That's terrifying.' Hitoshi thought before he had an idea. 'Maybe...'
After he finished exercising, Hitoshi picked up his scarf and went to the training grounds of Ground Beta as he adjusted his gloves and looked around the place. He then put the phone on one of the benches as he prepared himself. Looking around the place and taking a huge deep breath, he grabbed his binding cloth with a focused expression on his face.
"Time to train." Hitoshi spoke up. "Just you wait, seniors."
Hitoshi went through trial and error through the moves and techniques that he watched on the videos, the young man failing at executing some of the moves. However, this did not deter him as he continued training and experimenting on his moves for the entire morning, his jealousy fueling his drive to be better.
This continued for a week straight, the purple-haired teen taking any time that he had to improve himself. Hitoshi understood his quirk's flaws and strengths which made him come to the realization that he cannot fight like his teacher. His teacher, Eraser Head, can erase people's quirks which makes things advantageous for him. Hitoshi cannot do that. He can only brainwash people which requires for someone to respond to him in order for it to be activated.
'Well, I need to find an easy way around using this quirk.' Hitoshi thought before his eyes widened in realization, a huge villainous smirk appearing on his face. 'I think I got an idea.'
It was another day in the class of 1A, the students being trained by their seniors, Mawata and Tora within the P.E. grounds.
"Alright, let's get started. Show me your moves!" Mawata said with her hands on her hips, creating several cotton dolls for everyone to practice on. She then turned to Denki who closed his eyes and meditated, his body brimming with electricity as he outstretched his hands and clenched his fists.
"Nice. Keep your focus." She cheered the blonde on. "You can do this. Just like I told you, the best way to meditate is to think about food."
"Did you really tell him that?" Tora said to which the pink-haired woman gave her a thumbs up, getting a sigh from the white-haired tigress. "I can't..."
Completely focused, the lightning surrounding Denki's body channeled through his arms and into his fists. Gritting his teeth, he tried to control the amount of electricity in his hands which started to have a strain on his body. 'C'mon, Denki. Keep calm. Focus. Hamburger.'
"Ready..." Denki grinned, breathing heavily before rushing towards the cotton. He then started pummeling the doll, the power of the strike surprising him knocking back the doll which made him grin.
"...perfect. Another one...please." Denki asked, Mawata obliging by creating another doll that he practiced on.
As the Electrification-user continued with his training, Aoyama, Inasa and Shoto trained against Tora, trying to hit her with their quirks but they were rewarded with failure when she dodged their attacks.
"Try to attack where I'm going to be instead of where I am." Tora stated to the elemental users before she landed a powerful strike onto Eijirou which send him back into a wall, the redhead grinning as he approached her. "I'm getting the hang of it! Again, senior!"
'This is such a weird training regime but anything to make them better.' Tora sighed, dodging a wave of ice from Shoto before she turned to her teacher who was sitting by the stadium. 'Our teacher is as ruthless as ever. It's almost two weeks and he has not let us be easy on the first years. I hope they don't hate me.'
Her ears twitched, the girl noticing Tenya trying to use his speed to maneuver around the field. Transforming her legs and arms, she vanished before cutting him off at every turn, making it impossible for him to outrun her.
"You've got to think and react faster, Iida. It's good to be fast but you got to be able to control your speed as well." Tora quietly said, getting a nod from Tenya who crouched on the ground. Before he could say anything, her ears twitched before she used her tail to smack the air which caused Toru to be visible again. "You need to be quieter than that, Hagakure. Your footsteps are too loud. Now-"
She then turned to Tenya whose mufflers began to let out blue flames.
"Recipro Burst!" Tenya yelled before he vanished immediately. Before Tenya could reach his finish point, Tora immediately came in front of him which made him smile.
'As expected of Ms. Yukimura.' He said before he created a mirage of himself which surprised Tora. Her expression then changed into a smile before she began to transform. "Gotta say, that's fast-"
Before Tenya could turn, his eyes widened when he saw multiple mirages of Tora around him before he heard her voice behind him and a hand on his head. "But you've gotta be faster."
Seeing his students doing their best while training with their seniors, Shouta took notes of their growth as he watched them training. Feeling drowsy, the man had to take a pouch from his sleeping bag and drink it quickly before massaging his temples. 'I need a break. This whole search for the 'Quirkless kidnapper' is taking a toll on my conscience.'
Watching Katsuki spar against Mawata who smiled at the blonde's growth, Shouta then observed the rest of the students. 'I'm glad they're able to grow without being taught by me for a while. Gotta thank Nezu for the slight break. And those gremlins as well.'
Being bound to the ground, Katsuki thrashed angrily before he saw Mawata crouched in front of him with a frown on her face. "You have good battle sense, Bakugo. Not bad but you can't go guns blazing in a mission like that. Even if you know you can beat the villains."
"Shut it, Polyester!" Katsuki said before he received a chop to the head from the pink-haired woman. "Call me Cotton if you're going to be disrespectful."
"I'm going to be the best so-"
"There's a limit to what you can do, Bakugo." Mawata said with a somber look on her face before she turned around. "It's all fun and games until you realize that you're not playing pretend anymore."
"Senior!" Mawata heard someone calling for her, turning to see Hitoshi who did a battle stance. "Can you fight me please? I want to see how I fair."
Noticing his confident expression, Mawata smiled before she walked towards him, her hands on her hips as she faced against Hitoshi.
"Ok then. C'mon!" She said, gesturing him to her. "Five minutes."
Everyone watched as the two entered the field as the senior waited for her junior. Hitoshi dashed towards her at full speed, wrapping the binding cloth around his arms as he did so. Seeing this, Mawata prepared herself as Hitoshi was about to swing his fist at her which the woman ready to block.
"He's being predictable." Some of the students said in a worried tone as they watched the fight.
'Perfect.' Hitoshi thought before he swung his arm, sending his binding cloth past Mawata until it latches onto a piece of metal behind her. Hitoshi did not waste time when he pulled the metal object towards Mawata. The pink-haired senior turned around to see the metal object behind her, unaware of Hitoshi dashing at her with a kick.
'Hmm. That almost looks like one of my moves.' Shouta thought in surprise. 'He took my words in consideration...good.'
Mawata created a cotton shield to block the metal object before blocking a kick from Hitoshi, the two then traded blows with each other. During the brawl, Hitoshi began to swing the metal ends of his scarf to attack her which she had to dodge, much to her surprise when she saw them make a crack on the ground. 'He changed his fighting style, using the strength of the metal as an attack booster.'
"You're doing good. Nice form." Mawata said as she used the cotton balls from her earrings to protect her hands as she had to block the metal sections on Hitoshi's binding cloth. Everyone watched as Hitoshi went on the offensive against Mawata until the girl rushed forward with a palm strike that he dodged, quickly wrapping the binding against her.
"Not so fast-"
"Freeze!" Hitoshi commanded which froze Mawata in her tracks as he flung her away.
'Damn it. I can't move.' Mawata said as she was frozen in the air. 'C'mon, move!'
Everyone watched in surprise as their pink-haired senior was sent across the field, Shoji noticing a needle coming out of her sleeve before it prickled her on the arm, knocking her out of Hitoshi's brainwashing.
"Wow!" Mawata said, breathing heavily before she created a cotton platform from the ground. "Not gonna lie, your quirk is awesome! I mean... having almost full control of someone...and you can even command them."
"It needs a certain condition to activate." Hitoshi said as he prepared himself, spinning the metal endings of his scarf. As both combatants awaited for the other to move, Katsuki lost interest in the match when he heard the explanation of his purple-haired classmate's quirk and techniques, his hands clenched as a certain sentence echoed through his mind.
"Hard work beats talent when talent fails to train hard."
Remembering the phrase, the blonde's palms began to let out sparks when he recalled how he did against his senior. However, despite that, he has to watch as one-no, two people managing to do a better job against the seniors than him.
'Why? My quirk...it should be powerful, right? Were they looking down on me this whole time? But...but...who would lose a battle on purpose? Is it to further ridicule me? Were they holding back to disrespect me?' The blonde thought as his hands shook.
Katsuki cannot accept this, trying not to act out in rage before he frantically took out his stress ball and unleashed explosions onto it.
'I hate this so damn much.' He thought as he went back to do his training, unleashing powerful explosions against the cotton doll to calm his anger. 'Why are they getting better but I'm not?'
Everyone else was in complete surprise at Hitoshi's development, some of them pausing their training to watch.
"Shinso's pretty good now! He held his own against Ms. Fuwa!" Mina said, still in surprise at the result of the previous match.
"What kind of training did he do? Considering he is a friend of Midoriya, it must have been grueling." Momo wondered as she watched his fighting style.
"Your time is up, Mawata." Tora said as she walked towards the field, surprising Mawata.
"What do you mean? Plus, it hasn't been 5 minutes. It should be like 2 minutes." Mawata pouted before she turned to her juniors. "Right?"
"5 minutes have actually passed." Mina said They nodded which made the woman shrug her shoulders before she walked off the field. "Seriously?! Ok, fine. Let's take a break."
"It's fine." Hitoshi said before he put on the headband Mawata gave him, getting a smile from the pink-haired woman. "I want to test my skills against Ms. Yukimura."
Mawata rubbed her head as she dealt with training the rest of the students. As Hitoshi and Tora faced each other, the younger combatant readying himself as he watched Tora's movements.
"Don't hold back." Tora said before she started growling.
Tora's claws got bigger as she faced against Hitoshi who continued to spin his binding cloth. The white-haired woman immediately vanished, Hitoshi lengthening the cloth he is spinning before he swung them wildly around him.
"What is he doing? He's just swinging his scarf wildly." Mina asked with a raised brow, Kyoka wondering as well before Momo and Tenya realized what Hitoshi was thinking.
"He's not just swinging wildly. It's almost like he's creating his own shield." Inasa stated with his arms crossed before he closed his eyes. "He's trying to find out where Ms. Yukimura is."
'He managed to find a more effectively use his weapon due to it being different from mine. Using the metal platings on it like some sort of nun-chucks.' Shouta made a small grin as he made notes. 'It's a good start but it's clear that he has more to learn.'
Meanwhile, during the battle, Hitoshi kept an eye of his surroundings before he noticed his scarf being touched, seeing Tora behind him with a claw swipe.
'Brain Freeze!' He thought, the tigress frozen in her tracks before he swung his scarf but it was blocked by Tora, much to his surprise.
"What? How?" Hitoshi's eyes widened in shock.
"She broke out of it! But it's almost impossible to get out of Shinso's control." Ochaco commented, Denki and Kyoka surprised when they watched their friend dodge a strike from the woman.
Hitoshi could not get the chance to go on the offensive, using his scarf to block and dodge his opponent's slashes until he latched them onto her legs before he pulled himself under her and tried to attack her with a drop kick but it missed. Despite being shocked, Hitoshi kept his composure and retreated in order to look around the area, barely noticing a foot to his right.
"Oh shi-" He could not continue when he received the kick that he was barely able to block it, the strike sending him back.
Not missing a beat, he quickly threw his staff endings to latch onto different parts of the gym, using it to stop himself before he launched himself towards the tigress to land a kick. Blocking the kick, Tora tried to grab him but he moved out of the way and flipped over her, much to her surprise. 'He's nimble.'
Before she could turn around, his binding cloth wrapped around her body and tightening, making her unable to move before Hitoshi landed on the ground. She was about to smack him with her tail before her body froze, much to her confusion. "What the? I thought he could only use the quirk once."
"That's what you thought. Jump!" Hitoshi commanded, the tigress jumped into the air which made the purple-haired young man be able to throw her away.
'I need to ensure that she is out of the ring.' Hitoshi did not waste time as he dashed at full speed towards the woman. Noticing that Tora was about to hit the ground quickly, he panicked as he went to throw his scarf around her but it failed when it hit the tigress in the face, knocking her out of her trance.
"Uh oh!" Hitoshi said before Tora slammed her claws on the ground to stop herself.
"You almost got me there. Too bad!" She then swung her tail within an instant, the strike sending him out of the battlefield, Mawata creating a cotton wall to cushion his fall.
Falling from the cotton wall, Hitoshi gritted his teeth and clenched his fists out of frustration as his body started shaking.
"Darn it!" Hitoshi slammed his fists onto the ground. "I almost got her there."
"Remember that feeling." Hitoshi heard the words before looking up to see Shouta. "Use it as fuel to go beyond your limits."
The man then went beside Hitoshi with his hands in his pockets.
"You have done well and managed to find a way to utilize your quirk and gears. You have even gotten better at using your non-combat quirk in combat in an interesting way. You performed adequately."
Hitoshi was surprised by what his teacher said, his eyes looked at Shouta whose expression was unreadable. The man then went to the front of the class with his phone in his hands.
"You all have changed. I was expecting changes in the few weeks you had your seniors with you but this was not what I had expected. You have all surprised me and trust me, that is not something to be expected. Make sure to keep that attitude because once this is over, I won't have to hold back in training how I want to. Above all, good work." Shouta stated before he heard a beep, noticing everyone giving him knowing smirks which made him a bit annoyed. "Now get back to training."
"Yes, sir!" The students answered as Tora and Mawata were eagerly ready to train them until they felt hands on their shoulders.
"Tora, Fuwa! I'm going to confiscate your phones!" Shouta said.
"What?!" The two seniors said before they both saw the intense aura of their ex-teacher coming towards them the hugging each other and shaking in fear.
"NOOOOOO!"
It has been a few days since Hitoshi's confrontation against his seniors, the teen now training himself as testing his fighting style against Izuku within the Gym Gamma. While the two were having a sparring match, Denki was speaking with Power Loader about any gear he needed for his quirk which made the teacher intrigued as he guided him to a training room.
"I never thought that they have a beat'em up dome." Denki said as he went into an encased room that is separated from the rest of the gym.
"Yeah. One of my students created this little dome." Power Loader pressed a button to boot up the machines which Denki remembered was from the Entrance exams. "Just don't hurt the bots too bad! They're still recovering from the 'Lemillion fiasco'."
"Lemillion fiasco?" Denki asked, Power Loader waved him off as he picked up a clipboard. "It's nothing. Just remembered something that gave me a migraine. Get ready!"
"Yeah! Don't overdo it, lightning boy!" Kyoka shouted to Denki, hiding a small smile on her face while lifting dumbbells. "Fry your brain!"
"It's break a leg-whoa!" Denki could not get to continue his sentence when a robot attacked him, the blonde dodging their attacks until lightning emitted from his body.
Clenching his fists, Denki had a focused look on his face as electricity surrounded his hands. During the training session, he evaded the battle bots' attacks before he landed powerful blows that electrified the machines, deactivating them. As he continued his assault, Denki kept his focus on distributing the electricity through his fists until the lightning around his body began to weaken.
'I'm slowly getting the hang of this.' Denki thought as he put his hands on two battle bots which short-circuited them before he had to dodge a barrage of rubber bullets.
'Hmm. He's getting better at it. Zuku was right about the thunder punch thing! Or could it be lightning strike? I'll make him ask Toshi for a name.' Kyoka thought when she saw him jump over a robot before electrifying it with a single touch.
Watching the lightning user, Power Loader made notes as he watched the blonde's performance, his eyes squinting when he saw the young man starting to lose his focus and ingenuity. 'I see. He's strong and he is very versatile in using his quirk but his quirk's main drawback is that limit. It seems to short-circuit his brain.'
The teacher then turned off the simulation, Denki came out of the room and then fell to the ground, groaning dizzily.
"Thank you for participating. I think I have an idea on what you need for your quirk." Power Loader explained as his eyes were glued onto his clipboard. "I will need to run some more tests to make sure that this gear can work with you. Alright?"
Power Loader then noticed the dizzy state that Denki is in before he cleared his throat. "Oh! Uhh...let's continue this another way."
Meanwhile, Izuku and Hitoshi sparred against each other with Izuku batting the metallic objects that Hitoshi threw at him. As Hitoshi threw his binding cloth that latched onto Izuku's bat, the verdette thought quickly and made his bat unleash an electric shock that made Hitoshi have to let go of the weapon.
"So, you're using your scarf as nun-chucks now?" Izuku asked as he swatted away his opponent's scarf. "That's...weird."
"You use a bat as your weapon of choice. You should be the last person criticizing anyone about their weapons." Hitoshi said as he spun around the ends of his scarf before throwing them at Izuku who blocked them with his bat. Smiling, Hitoshi pulled the bat out of Izuku's grasp. "My win. How much is it now?"
"9-2." Izuku said as Hitoshi threw him back his bat which he got with his foot before kicking it to his hand, getting a playful scoff from his purple-haired friend. "Showoff. Let's go again."
As they continued to train, Shouta arrived at school to find the group training, much to his surprise until his eyes landed on Izuku, Hitoshi and Mei speaking with each other.
"What's wrong, Sho?" Present Mic said as he came into the building before he followed Shouta's gaze, seeing Izuku who has a headband as he was given a staff by Mei which made him smile.
"This batch is showing to be quite promising, huh?" The blonde hero said with a smile as he spun the staff in his hand. Looking at Izuku, Shouta simply shrugged before he watched the verdette spin the staff around his body. Nemuri then joined the gang before she looked at the group, her focus being on Izuku who started to use his quirk around his body.
"Hmm. Does Midoriya remind you of him?" Nemuri said with a raised brow as she looked at Izuku's glowing hair that began to move like wildfire. "Physically, he shares a lot of similarities. Attitude wise, they couldn't be much different."
"It's time for work." Shouta said as he began to walk away, leaving Nemuri and Present Mic who looked at each other.
Izuku then dimmed the glow around his body before he put one arm in the air, much to Hitoshi's confusion.
"You're not the only one with new moves. This one's a bit in the works so be careful." The verdette said as green veins appeared on his arm.
Unleashing a burst of wind, Izuku propelled himself towards Hitoshi, the force making him spin as he held his staff in front of him. Seeing the verdette turning himself into a makeshift helicopter blade, Hitoshi moved out of the way before he saw his opponent throwing the staff at him. Swatting it away, he could barely have time to react when a palm was in front of his face.
'Gotcha!" Izuku said, unaware of the smile on Hitoshi's face before his eyes glowed a neon purple.
"Stop!" Hitoshi commanded to Izuku who quickly was about to shoot himself with an Air Bullet but as soon as he heard the command, everything went black.
Using this opportunity, Hitoshi wrapped his scarf around Izuku's body and then landing a chop onto the verdette's head. "It's my win again. That's 10 wins! Finally!"
"You finally won. It has been 84 years." Mei said with a grin which got a glare from Hitoshi. "Nice joke. I'll give it a 6.5."
"Hey! I always have an awesome sense of humor."
"You made a joke last time about bolts and screws. The only reason that you were not embarrassed was because Izuku knew what you were talking about."
While they were bickering, Denki and Kyoka walked towards them, the latter noticing Izuku still in a brainwashed state.
"Shouldn't you be taking Zuku out of his 'zombie mode'?" Kyoka said as she tried to poke the verdette but it did nothing. What she said surprised Hitoshi as he looked at the green-haired teenager. "Huh? I thought I knocked him out with the chop."
Walking towards Izuku, he noticed his friend's unconscious state as he tried waking him up but it did nothing.
"Yo, Zuku! You alright?" Hitoshi said, only to see Izuku still on the ground. He then picked up the verdette from the ground, the purple-haired teen in complete shock when he saw a dazed expression on his face. His shock turn into horror and worry as he started to shake his friend more harshly but nothing happened. "Yo, Zuku? Zuku, wake up!"
"Can't you just command people to wake up and fall asleep?" Denki asked.
"No. I can make them go to sleep but they have to make the effort to do so. As for waking up, they need to be conscious for my commands to work." Hitoshi said in complete worry as he tried to make commands to wake Izuku up but it did nothing. "The reason it's instant on Izuku and Mei is because they're always sleep deprived."
He then tried to shake the teenager which did nothing until he snapped his fingers which jolted Izuku awake, the verdette looking around in a dazed expression. "W...what? What happened?"
"What do you mean 'What happened'? You were brainwashed like usual. You should be used to it by now." Hitoshi said with a brow raised. "Did you pull an all-nighter again?"
"N-no? Didn't you knock me out or something?" Izuku said as he rubbed his head which surprised Hitoshi who raised an eyebrow. "No. I just used my 'Brain Freeze' technique on you."
"Then what happened? Why did I..." Izuku asked before Denki and Kyoka picked him up and escorted him to a seat. "Why don't you take a seat and drink something?"
Seeing what happened in front of him, Hitoshi was completely shocked and terrified as he held his head, the teen wiping sweat from his face as one question ran through his mind.
'What the hell just happened there?'
I'm going to be honest, I love writing Mawata and Tora but sadly, they can't be here for much longer. This arc will need to end. Hope that you guys like Hitoshi's new moves. What happened to Izuku at the end? Is it friendship? The burdens of life? I don't know. Well, I wanted to make Shinso different from Aizawa so there. I hope that you guys enjoyed your holidays and stay safe.
Enigma out!