Izuku thought he knew what shame felt like. He was a teenager after all and everyone knows that you don't make the best decisions when transitioning into adulthood. He'd always been told that 'actions have consequences' and he'd always believed that to be the truth. The USJ Incident made that abundantly clear.
What Izuku was unprepared for however, was realizing that failure and success went hand in hand. In order to rise, you must first fall. In order to succeed, you must first fail.
And fail, he most certainly did.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" He quietly raged at himself, scratching viciously at the sides of his head to alleviate his frustration. "How could I have been so fucking stupid?!" Tears of anger swelled in his eyes but he refused to allow them to fall. In doing so, he'd only succumb to that fleeting rage and sadness that nestled within his chest.
Where had it all gone wrong?! He'd been so confident! In himself and his teammates... They were guaranteed to pass! All they had to do was bide their time!
And yet he had failed his team!
He wanted to scream! To shout and rage! Combust in flames and lay waste to the resting room he had been granted! Oh, it was so tempting...
So very tempting to just start flinging plasma from his finger tips...
But he was better than that. Izuku wasn't a child but he certainly felt like one now. A sniveling, angry child that knew nothing.
His hands trembled, temperature nearly skyrocketing as flames wafted off his hands, ready to incinerate the room he'd been granted to rest in.
His brief anger and rage plummeted as the door to his room slowly opened, followed by several familiar voices.
"Hey Midoriya... You alright in here?" Jiro asked softly, head peeking into the room. "We wanted to check in you... You kinda ran off after the second round ended..." She winced at the hot waves of air in the room, knowing that Izuku had been seconds away from exploding.
Izuku glanced at his teammate and felt his anger ebb away into shame. With that ever increasing feeling of uselessness, his flames died down to nothing.
"J-Jiro-san..." He spoke quietly, refusing to make eye contact. "I'm alright."
The door scrapped along the floors, followed by Tsu's voice. "You don't have to lie to us, Midoriya-chan. You know we don't blame you right?"
A quiet sigh left Izuku's lips as his teammates entered the room. "H-How could you not?!" His voice, though quiet, was laced with frustration. "We lost because of me!"
To Izuku's surprise it was Mei that spoke in his defense. "It happens. Ya win some, ya lose some. Ya can't win every time, ya know? What matters is ya tried and failed. What would hurt more? Trying and failing? Or not trying at all?"
Jiro turned to the pink haired girl, eyebrows furrowed. "That's surprisingly mature of you..."
Mei just smiled. "I fail a lot when making my babies! It's all a part of the process! It just makes the end goal feel all the more better when you finally get it right!"
Izuku took the words at face value, shaking his head. "All I had to do was secure my points... Instead, I let my emotions get the better of me. That's twice so far! What happens when I..." He stopped himself short, not bothering to finish the sentence.
Tsu croaked quietly, taking a seat next to Izuku as she spoke. "We've talked about this already, Midoriya-chan. We're here to learn. Mistakes are going to happen." An adorable 'ribbit' left her lips as she poked his left cheek. "We failed, Midoriya-chan. Not you. Why do you have to shoulder all the blame?"
Izuku let the frog-like girl do as she pleased. "Because it was ultimately my fault... I could have just banked the points!"
"I think you're being too hard on yourself." Jiro said with a sigh, hopping up onto the adjacent table to sit down. "I mean, were you even aware of what Shinso's quirk could do?"
Izuku's eyes fell to the floor as he sighed. "No..."
"You can't win a battle you didn't prepare for." Tsu said with a croak. "How were you supposed to know he had a mind-control quirk?"
On habit, Izuku muttered quietly, explaining the boy's quirk. "It isn't mine control technically... I was still cognitive and aware of my surroundings, I just couldn't control my body and its actions. It's more like... brainwashing. The activation was likely when I responded to his question and that's also an exploitable weakness of his quirk. I wonder how advanced it is... Can it make you do anything...? Or is it just simple commands that don't require high brain activity? What a lethal quirk if you're unprepared..."
He was silent for a few moments before hearing Jiro's quiet snickers. His head snapped up, eyeing the girl with a betrayed expression.
"I'm sorry!" She giggled again, covering her grinning face. "It's just so funny seeing you geek out over a new quirk. You're such a quirk nerd, Midoriya."
"Yes... Laugh at my pain." He muttered quietly, face scrunching up like a petulant child.
"Well, atleast his team also didn't pass." Tsu croaked with a smile. "It really did become an all Class 1-A finals, after all."
Mei released a pitiful groan at the reminder. "I would have loved to advertise my babies for all the world to see! I'd have had so many investors! Can you imagine it?! All those business men lining up and offering me jobs?! Ohhhh! The babies I could have been making...!"
Each of the Class 1-A students looked at the girl oddly, slightly amused at her unique personality.
"So, what actually happened Midoriya? Did you burn the headband on purpose or...?" Jiro asked curiously, having no idea what had actually happened due to her being the 'Base'.
Izuku released an annoyed sigh as he wrung his fingers together. "Shinso's quirk may have prevented my body from reacting but that doesn't mean it prevents my mind from working. My fire works the way it does because I'm an Esper."
The three girls made curious faces at his explanation.
"What's an 'Esper'?" Jiro questioned with a tilt of the head.
Izuku didn't immediately respond which slightly surprised his two classmates while Mei just continued to stare, curious at what his answer was going to be.
"An Esper is, by definition, someone with Extra Sensory Perception abilities." He explained lightly.
"So... you're like, a Psychic?" Tsu croaked quietly.
"But your quirk revolves around fire, doesn't it? How would that work?" Jiro asked with a raised eyebrow. "Unless that's not what your quirk actually is..."
Izuku debated on explaining his actual quirk before thinking better of it. "It is... kind of. All that you really need to know is that it functions similarly to those who have Psychic-based quirks. Fun fact actually, I have more in common with someone who can use telekinesis than someone like Todoroki."
"What?!" Jiro asked, baffled. "You both use fire! How are you more similar to someone moving things with... their mind..." She paused for a moment before her mouth opened quietly. "Ohhhh... That makes so much sense actually!"
"Hold on, back up!" Mei questioned, confused by the students by-play due to not being in-the-know with Izuku. "You control fire, yeah? With your mind?"
Izuku nodded his head quietly.
"I assume you also create this fire...? Like, with your mind?"
Again, Izuku nodded quietly.
Mei made a face as she asked her next question. "So, technically speaking, you can create other things then...?"
Izuku looked reluctant to answer that question which made Mei, and by proxy, Tsu and Jiro more curious.
The green haired teen just sighed, shaking his head. "When I first discovered my quirk, the only thing I could create at the time, was fire. My mother has a quirk that allows her to pull small objects towards her, similar to someone who can use Telekinesis. My... father has a quirk that allows him to breathe fire."
The girls didn't bother commenting about how he said the word 'father', understanding and realizing that the boy did not have a good relationship with the man.
"So, all that being said, it was originally theorized by my doctor that I could create and control fire by using my mind in a similar manner that my mother does with her own quirk. My quirk is registered as Psycho Helio-Kinesis but it isn't entirely correct." He explained lightly.
"Helio-Kinesis is the ability to generate and manipulate plasma or solar energy. It's also said that those same individuals can manipulate all aspects revolving around the sun, like simulating immense heat, manipulating luminosity, and even controlling raw nuclear energy..." Mei explained with a raised eyebrow. "You can manipulate plasma, can't you?"
Izuku sighed as he answered. "L-Let me preface my answer with the fact that I am not a scientist nor am I educated in any field whatsoever. All I have to go on are the random Google searches I've made the last few years to pinpoint what exactly my quirk does... Which, obviously, is not a lot to go off on. However, to answer your question, I can manipulate plasma but it is a far cry from the real thing." He leaned back against the table, staring up at the ceiling as he continued.
"I've researched all I could about plasma, solar energy, matter, etc... Eventually it all just sorta... stops making sense. Like I said, I'm not educated in the degree of science that it would take to fully understand and explain how my quirk functions. I've bounced between solar manipulation, plasma manipulation, pyrokinesis... At the end of the day, I can do a lot of things with my mind pertaining to heat and energy."
The three girls were silent for a bit, impressed at just how complex Izuku's quirk seemed to be.
"Man... No wonder you get intense headaches." Jiro mumbled as she tried to wrap her head around the boy's quirk. "Is that why you only use fire? Because it's the one you're the most familiar with? Ya know, assuming you can do the other things that Hatsume mentioned."
Izuku shrugged his shoulders as he answered. "Fire is the easiest. I've used it for so long now that I've practically mastered it. I'm actually surprised it took this long for someone to point out... I've created quite a bit of explosions with my quirk and no one said anything. Pure fire isn't capable of causing explosions because there isn't anything to stimulate the flames to expand rapidly. Adding more fire to fire won't really do anything because they're made of the same genetic make-up. An explosion, by definition, is any kind of matter that's been rapidly expanded, usually due to high temperature and the release of high-pressure gases. More fire just means... well, more fire."
Tsu made a croaking sound as she responded. "I originally thought you were just causing the flames to combust and then... science caused the explosions. But that makes a lot more sense."
"All this science talk is rotting my brain." Jiro mumbled as she laid down on the table. "You also didn't answer my question. We got sidetracked."
Izuku mumbled an apology before answering. "I panicked and conjured my flames on instinct, causing them to burn the headband. That's the jist of it, really... A-Again, I'm sorry we failed."
"It's alright, dude." Jiro said with a shake of her head. "Honestly, we aren't blaming you."
"It was a perfectly normal reaction. I'd go so far as to say that it was a good thing it happened. Had Shinso caught me with the points then we'd still be here but they'd be in the finals." Tsu croaked with a shrug. "There's always next year."
"Babies will be made regardless." Mei said seriously, before adopting a thinking pose. "Now that I have a better grasp of your quirk, I could possibly create a baby specifically tailored for you, Izuku!"
Izuku glanced at the girl before sighing quietly, too bummed out at waving her idea away. "Y-Yeah...? Unless you can make me something that eases my migraines, I'm not sure how you can increase the usability of my quirk..."
"Leave that to me!" She exclaimed with a giddy giggle, pulling out a large piece of blueprint paper from... somewhere. She smacked it unto the table before rapidly scribbling designs and numbers and words that only she understood.
"She's almost as bad as you are, Midoriya." Jiro teased with a grin, glancing at the blueprint paper with a raised eyebrow. The hastily drawn picture of the 'baby' resembled some kind of Sci-fi futuristic helmet thing. She kind of pitied Izuku now. Hopefully the thing wouldn't potentially fry his brain.
"S-Shaddup." He mumbled childishly.
"Cheer up, Midoriya-chan." Tsu croaked cutely. "It'll work out. I'm sure you'll still receive plenty of intern requests. The media rarely lets us forget after all." She none-too-subtly alluded to the USJ Incident.
Izuku only groaned louder at the reminder. "It's gonna be so much worse!" He covered his face as he groaned once more. "I-I can just see the memes now! I won't be able to live this down! 'Beacon of Hope? More like Beacon of Nope!'... I want to die."
His two classmates giggled at his expense while Mei continued her work, obsessively at that.
There was a brief lull of silence before a quiet knock emanated from the door. Following that knock was a muffled voice, one belonging to Momo.
"Can we come in?"
Izuku furrowed his eyebrows at the 'we' comment but didn't think further on it. "Y-Yea..." He muttered loud enough for the group outside to hear. The knob twisted and Izuku nearly blanches at seeing all of his classmates from Class 1-A lingering at the door.
Even Bakugo was there! Well, kind of. He looked pissed off but when didn't he look angry? He had probably been dragged against his will, all things considered.
Mineta looked uncomfortable, all things considered and Izuku couldn't really blame him. He very nearly maimed the poor kid. He didn't hate the little perv but he also didn't like the way he looked at and talked to the girls of the classroom. They needed to talk to one another at some point.
"W-Wow... Why are you all here...?" Izuku questioned.
"To check up on you." Momo stated in an obvious manner.
"Yeah!" Mina piped up, sashaying past Momo to make her way into the room. "Ya didn't seem all that happy so we came to give you hugs and kisses~!" She then proceeded to make obnoxious kissing noises, fit with pouty lips and over the top 'smooches'.
"Tch. Speak for yourself." Bakugo grumbled, not bothering to enter the room like the rest of his classmates. "I wanted to know why the fuck you decided to dodge our fight in the finals!"
Izuku's tired expression quickly morphed to anger as he slowly sat up on the table. "You're so lucky I burnt that headband! If we actually faced off against one another, you'd be crying to Aunty Mitsuki!"
"Your mom's weeping right now, ya shitter!" Bakugo snapped back, growling in annoyance.
"Say that shit to my face!" Izuku challenged back angrily, nearly jumping off the table before being restrained, quite easily, by Momo.
"Both of you, shut up!" Momo demanded, glaring at Bakugo as she physically willed Izuku back down into the table. "You're not going to solve anything by fighting here."
Bakugo scoffed in annoyance before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking away. "Maybe next time you won't be such a damn disappointment. All that tough talk just to get eliminated before the finals..."
Izuku's flames nearly roared to life but Todoroki's ice cooled that before it could even happen. It left Izuku feeling even more frustrated.
"W-Why are you always cooling me down?!" Izuku questioned his friend with great annoyance.
Shoto quietly shrugged his shoulders, removing his hand from Izuku. "You always stoop to his level. It's unnecessary. You're a better person than he is."
Izuku merely grumbled, turning away with a quiet sigh. "A-Am I, though?"
"Some of us believe so." Momo answered curtly, releasing her hold on Izuku and causing him to frown at her tone. "You have inspired everyone to grow stronger, to try harder, and to be better. Your speech at the start of the event even swayed a lot of the other classes to give it their all."
Izuku glanced at the taller girl before shifting his gaze to his classmates and seeing their encouraging smiles and nods. He was quiet for a moment before bowing his head with a tired sigh.
"G-Good luck, all of you." He turned his head towards Shoji and Ojiro's team before bowing his head once more. "Because of me, your teams held no points... I'm sorry for wasting your sacrifice."
Aoyama offered an uneasy smile while bowing back to Izuku. "Quite alright mon-ami~! I'll have a chance to twinkle another time!"
Sero shrugged his shoulders as he replied. "All good, dude."
The giant masked teen merely shrugged his shoulders. "It's alright, Midoriya-san. There is always next year after all."
The tailed teen merely waved Izuku's apology away. "Koda-san and I agreed to just block 1-B the entire time. We didn't mind being in the back seat for this event."
The shy and normally silent Koda merely nodded his head, supporting Ojiro's words.
"Still..." Izuku insisted. "I've let you guys down."
It looked as if many around wanted to voice their disagreements but were prevented from doing so due to Momo's next words.
"Is it ok with all of you if Izuku and I continue this conversation in private?" She pivoted on her heel, glancing at her classmates who obliged with the girl's request.
One by one the students of 1-A and Mei, offered Izuku their goodbyes, and in turn, he offered them his support in the finals. Once every student had passed the threshold of the door and Momo was confident they had left, she turned to Izuku, an indescribable look in her eye.
"Did you mean..." She paused for a moment, seemingly to gather her thoughts. "Did you mean what you said? That night when, you know... Did you mean it?"
Izuku furrowed his brows, taking a seat on top of one of the tables. "Y-You'll need to be a bit more specific, Momo... A lot happened that night and I said alot of things. We both did."
The girl looked uncomfortable for a moment, grasping unto her left arm with her right and avoiding Izuku's gaze. "A-About... being my hero? Did you... did you really mean it? That you believe in me? Despite everything... everything... Did you really mean it?"
"Of course I did, Momo." Izuku immediately insisted, wanting to dissuade the girl's worries and insecurities. "I'll always be there for you when you need me."
A dash of pink painted the girl's cheeks at his words.
"...it again..." Momo mumbled in embarrassment.
Izuku leaned closer towards the girl, unable to hear what she had said. "I couldn't hear you, Momo. Can you repeat that?"
The buxom teen mumbled unintelligibly for a moment before whispering quietly. "C-Can you say it again...?"
Izuku's lips parted in slight surprise at the girl's shy demeanor before a soft smile formed on his face. "No matter what happens between now and the future... I'll always be here for you, Momo. I promise."
"D-Don't make a promise you can't keep, Izuku." Momo stated fiercely, cheeks still burning.
The green haired teen nearly chuckled at the girl's words but thought better. "T-Then I guess we'll have to never leave each other's side, 'ey?"
Momo knew what Izuku was saying but a part of her interpreted it as something even deeper. More personal.
"Do you... even know what you're implying, Izuku?" She questioned with blazing cheeks, unable to even meet Izuku's gaze.
"Not really, no." He chuckled a bit, scratching at his cheek. "But I'll do whatever it takes to have you be by my side. Even if I'm broken and beaten down, clinging to what little life I have, I'll keep getting back up... Just for you."
At this point, Momo's imagination had gone into a frenzy. Indecent and decidedly unladylike thoughts circulated around her head.
With crimson stained cheeks, Momo placed her hands upon her face while shaking her head from side to side.
Izuku couldn't have possibly known what he was doing to the girl. He possessed little experience with social interactions with girls his age and couldn't be blamed for how sincere and serious his words may or may not potentially be.
For Momo, who had been in an emotionally volatile state for the past two years, to have someone boldly state that they'd never leave her side, continue to fight for her sake regardless of the consequences to themselves, all while continuing to insert themselves into her life to be a shoulder to cry on...
Well, it was no surprise that she'd fall for them.
Hard.
It certainly didn't help when Izuku spoke once more, cementing the idea to Momo once and for all.
"I've never been g-good with my words." The boy started softly. "I've usually always let my actions speak for themselves..." Izuku glanced up towards the girl, slightly surprised to see that she had closed the distance between them, standing but a foot in front of him, gazing intently into his eyes.
The half-lidded gaze in Momo's eyes caused a bit of anxiety to flood into Izuku's veins. But this particular anxiety wasn't completely unwelcomed. It was almost like there was butterflies in his stomach.
Izuku swallowed the saliva in his mouth, bulling forward despite the intense gaze in Momo's eyes. "I truly did mean what I said to you, Momo. I want to help you."
A moment of silence passed between the teens before the girl responded.
"And if I can't help myself? What then, Izuku?" She questioned with a tilted head, leaning closer to the boy.
Izuku shook his head at her words. "I already told you. I won't leave your side. E-Even if you try to push me away."
Momo's voice was quiet, nearly a whisper as she stepped closer towards Izuku's seated position. "And what if I'm too weak...? What if I fail? What then, Izuku?"
A blush crept up Izuku's face due to the close proximity but he pushed forward, knowing that Momo needed to hear these words.
"Everyone fails, Momo..." Izuku mumbled, eyes straying away from the girl. Despite knowing and understanding that concept, he himself still struggled with accepting it. "B-But not everyone has someone by their side, encouraging them to continue forward. Pushing them to continue bettering themselves..." With a small smile, he gazed into the girl's eyes while continuing. "You're not weak, Momo. Far from it, actually. I don't know a single person who can physically go toe to toe with you when you get serious. You're strong, Momo. I... I just want you to see that. I-If you could see yourself from my point of view then I'm positive you'd understand how I feel about you."
Izuku was unprepared for Momo to lean even closer, foreheads gently tapping against one another, charcoal eyes gazing into emerald.
"And how do you feel about me...?" She whispered.
Izuku's lips parted multiple times, words failing to come to him. Those butterflies in his stomach were now in a frenzy. He could feel Momo's breath upon his lips and as his thoughts began to spiral towards indecency, Momo spoke once more.
"I think I know how I feel about you..." She said in a coy demeanor, lips quirking into a small smirk as Izuku's face began to flush crimson.
Time seemed to almost freeze between the two teens as they stared into one another's eyes. Warm breath tickling one another's lips, racing hearts and feelings of nervousness and excitement bubbling forth, seemingly ready to burst forward.
All it would take was a simple dip of the head. From who? Perhaps it would forever remain a mystery as the two teens were interrupted by Present Mic's voice blasting over the intercom.
"AAAAAAAAAANNNNDDDDD WE'RE BACK FOLKS! ARE YOU ALL AS EXCITED AS I AM TO WATCH THE FINALS OF THE ANNUAL U.A SPORTS FESTIVAL?!" He paused for a moment and it allowed Izuku and Momo to separate as the cheers and shouts resounded from the stadium. "WILL ALL CONTESTANTS MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE STADIUM FOR INTRODUCTIONS? LET'S GET THIS SHOW ROCKIN'!"
With crimson stained cheeks, unable to meet one another's eyes, the two 1-A students remained silent, not knowing how to continue forward upon their intimate moment being interrupted.
"G-Good luck, Momo!" Izuku stuttered, eyes trained on the floor. I-I believe in you!"
"T-Thank you!" The girl squeaked out quietly, dithering in place for a moment as if unsure of what to say or do. "I-I... I'mgonnagobye!" The girl flashed a bright pink before disappearing in a burst of speed, almost invisible to the naked eye.
Izuku sat frozen, confused, nervous, excited and so many more emotions he couldn't hope to grasp and understand.
Had they been moments away from kissing?! He'd never been in a situation like this with a girl before! Sure, Ashido would tease and flirt(?) with him all the time to get a rise out of him but this...
That had been the real deal.
Did... Was he supposed to ask her out now? ...Or something to that effect?
It seemed like Momo had been the one to initiate the interaction so maybe...?
Izuku slapped his burning cheeks, shaking his head back and forth to try to center himself.
His first crush.
Truly, his life could only go up from here.
Standing up to make his way towards the stadium, he stopped upon hearing his phone began to ring. He glanced at the Caller ID, furrowing his eyebrows at the fact his mom was calling before answering her.
"Hey mom, what's up?"
"Think again, kid."
A deep, menacing voice answered Izuku, causing adrenaline to surge through the boy's veins. His pupils dilated, heart beating faster than his near kiss with Momo.
"Who is this?!" He demanded fiercely, clutching his phone tight enough to crack it.
"Saw your little speech today at the Festival..." The man spoke casually, almost in an aloof manner. "Moved me something fierce, I tell ya."
"Where's. My. Mom?" Izuku spoke harshly, slowly.
"Aht aht aht." The man chided calmly, as if he was a parent speaking to their naughty child. "I wasn't finished, little man. You know it's rude to interrupt people when they're talking, don't ya?"
Izuku's body began to shake in rage, crimson flames forming around his body due to his volatile emotional state.
"As I was saying... Your speech really moved me to my core. I mean, a kid like you trying to shoulder the weight of the world? Gotta say, I'm kinda impressed." He paused, seeming to dither for a moment before pressing a button on his mother's phone, changing their talk into a video chat. "Look, kid. I'm gonna make this real simple for you. Switch to video, I'll show you what you wanna see."
Izuku snarled before doing what the unknown man said. Upon switching to video chat, his eyebrows furrowed at the scarred face of a relatively young unknown man.
"Not even bothering to hide your face?" Izuku questioned with a glare, not recognizing this villain at all.
The youngish villain merely smirked at Izuku's words. "Got nothing to hide, kid." The phone's camera began to slowly move, panning across Izuku's apartment before slowly settling upon a bound and gagged Inko. She had tears in her eyes, rope tied around her wrists and ankles as she stared up at the phone. She rocked back and forth on the ground, screams and cries muffled by the duct tape covering her mouth.
Izuku's heart nearly sank at the scene, his anger and rage burning out, replaced with a dread unlike anything he'd ever felt before.
"Mom!" Izuku screamed, panic overriding his functions.
The phone's camera then swung around the apartment, settling back unto the villain's face. "See? She's fine." He paused for a moment, shrugging his shoulders. "Or rather, she will be when we get what we want."
Izuku clutched his phone desperately. "What do you want?!"
"You."
Izuku furrowed his eyebrows in genuine confusion. "Me...?"
"One of my boss' associates wants to have a little... chat with you. Boss man sent me to make sure you comply." The young man shrugged his shoulders. "Listen kid, I'm just the middle man. I get contracted to do something, I do it, then I get paid. Unfortunately for you, the woman who paid for the contract is very interested in meeting you. Poor kid, I almost feel bad for ya. She's what we in the business call... Unstable."
Izuku forced himself to try to calm down. He couldn't panic and act without thinking. He'd only get himself and his mother killed.
Think. Think. Think.
"W-Who's this woman that wants to meet me?" He asked shakily, trying to mask the dread he felt.
"An assassin with over 309 confirmed kills, both villain and hero alike. Woman's got no qualms with that rifle of hers... A target is just that for her. Once she has you in her sights... It's game over."
"Why me?" Izuku questioned, hoping for any kind of information.
"Fuck all if I know kid. I was told to take your mom hostage until you got here." The man shrugged his shoulders, walking around the apartment as if he owned the place. "And before ya think of alerting the authorities or speakin' to any of those around ya, I wanna warn you. Alert 'em, and your mom dies. It ain't personal, kid. It's just business. Come alone."
The man then hung up the phone and Izuku wasted no time in racing out of the room, flames wafting around his body as he sped through the halls, intent on reaching his home to prevent anything from happening to his mother.
Fear coiled around his heart, squeezing the breath out of him as he flew through the stadium innards. Nothing made sense to him!
Why was he being targeted now, of all times?! Could it be that this female assassin was a part of the group that attacked them during the USJ Incident?
If she was, then Izuku couldn't understand her motive. Why now?! It wasn't logical! She'd have had plenty of time during this month long break to enact any kind of revenge she so desired. He also hadn't recognized the man on the phone either, which led Izuku to believe that this incident and the Villain Group who attacked them during the USJ Incident weren't related.
It was the only logical conclusion he could come up with.
The guy with the hands all over his face with the decaying quirk had, seemingly, been the one calling the shots during the attack. Of course, that'd just be an assumption on Izuku's part and an assumption at this point could mean potential death.
The hand-face guy had been incredibly immature and insane. The way the guy on the phone spoke about this particular woman had Izuku believing that she was a stone cold killer and Izuku highly doubted that a contract hitman, possessing a sort of moral enforcer code, would tolerate the mere presence of an apparently immature psycho. She'd probably put a bullet in his head before playing nice.
Not to mention that insane body count.
Three hundred and nine confirmed kills? Izuku was wracking his brain trying to dredge up any information about a potential villain with a lethal record like that. You didn't get away with an obscene number like that, especially when it came to using guns.
Who was this woman? And better yet...
Why did she want to meet him?
None of anything seemed to make sense to Izuku and he struggled with it all.
Lost in his thoughts, Izuku didn't notice the Number Two Pro Ranked Hero in the hallway, chatting to his son and nor did he register the fact that he was using his quirk without proper regulation and authority. He blitzed past the man and his son, burning a smoldering trail through the stadium before finally blasting out one of the Emergency Exits.
Taking to the sky, Izuku ignored all the potential consequences of using his quirk in public, intent on saving his mother. What he failed to notice, was the Number Two Pro Ranked Hero, Endeavor, chasing after him on foot.
"Did you manage to plant the explosives?" A rather plain-looking, fair skinned man questioned quietly, looking out into the massive stadium, ignoring the screaming cheers from civilians and Heros alike.
A young woman, hair the color of blood, scoffed at his hushed tone. "C'mon. Whaddya take me for? A fuckin' idiot? Yeah, I planted 'em." She crossed her arms across her chest, glaring out into the stadium. "Shit was harder than I thought it was gonna be. Security down there was tight as a bitch... Nearly got caught three times." She clicked her teeth together, side eying her partner. "This shit better be worth it. I don't like gettin' kids involved..."
The man frowned at his partner. "Neither do I... But the pay was huge. I couldn't turn it down. I'll set them off and then we'll be ghost... On a plane to Hawaii like we always wanted."
The woman was quiet for a moment, turning her head towards her partner before nodding her head and turning to leave. "I'm not stayin' to see this shit... Wouldn't be able to sleep at night otherwise. We do terrible things to survive but targetin' children...? Only place we get to look forward to is Hell."
After saying her peace, the woman with blood-red hair disappeared down the dark hall.
The woman's partner watched her the entire time before fiddling with a cylindrical device in his hands, a detonator of some kind.
"Yeah... One last gig."
He stared down at the detonator in his hands, ignoring the cheering cries from the stadium.
"ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE YOU TO OUR FIRST TWO FINALISTS!" Present Mic's voice blasted over the arena. "THESE TWO YOUNG WOMAN HAVE FOUGHT TOOTH AND NAIL DURING THE EVENT, NEARLY NECK AND NECK WITH THE PREVIOUS NUMBER 1 CONTESTANT UNTIL HIS UNFORTUNATELY TIMED EXIT IN THE LAST EVENT."
"You show too much favoritism." Aizawa spoke quietly into the microphone.
He was, of course, completely ignored by his partner and close friend.
"ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE YOU TO CLASS 1-A'S VERY OWN POWERHOUSE! SHE'S A SNIPER THAT CAN CREATE ANY AND EVERYTHING BUT ALSO POSSESSES A DEADLY RIGHT HOOK TO MATCH...! YAOYOROZU MOMO!"
The crowd went absolutely ballistic as the young girl showed up in the arena. A confident and hardened visage upon her features.
"No wonder they're paying me so much for this..." The man scoffed quietly, walking out of the halls and leaning on the railing in front of him, staring down towards the arena. "A friggin' Yaoyorozu? Shit..."
"AND OF COURSE! WE CERTAINLY CAN'T FORGET ABOUT THE MEAN, LEAN, PINK FIGHTING MACHINE WITH ACID SO CORROSIVE IT COULD MELT THROUGH EVEN ERASERHEAD'S STONE-COLD HEART...! ASHIDO MINA!"
Just as they had done for Momo, the crowd erupted into a frenzy over Mina, clearly being a fan favorite with her bubbly personality.
The pink skinned girl happily shot out of the contestant tunnel, jumping up and down while basking at all the attention and love she was receiving from the frenzied crowd. She gave dozens of kisses to the crowd as she skipped towards the arena, taking in the moment without a care in the world.
"Dammit..." The man grunted quietly, squeezing the detonator in his hand tightly. "I can't believe I'm going to do this..." He closed his eyes, placing his thumb over the switch and staring up into the sky.
"WITH INTRODUCTIONS OUT OF THE WAY... ARE. YOU. READY?!" Present Mic bellowed out loudly, stirring up the crowd even more. "I CANT HEAR YOU!" He bellowed once more. "I SAID... ARE. YOU. REEEEEEEEEEAAAAADDDDDDDY?!"
If it was even possible, then the crowd somehow got even louder. Thousands upon thousands of feet stomped throughout the stadium, a cacophony of sound assaulting the heavens as the crowd cheered eagerly for the first match to begin.
"THEN LET'S GET THIS SHOW GOING! FINALISTS! ARE YOU READY?!"
Both of the girl's nodded their heads, standing nearly two meters away from one another with determined gazes.
"HAJIME!"
"Forgive me for the sins I have committed, for I know not what I do, father." The man mumbled, turning away from the arena and heading into the tunnels. He pressed down upon the switch.
The world slowed down.
The chanting.
The screaming.
The excited atmosphere.
Nothing moved for all of one second.
And then...
All hell broke loose.
AN: WOWEEE. It's been a year since I updated this story. That's actually crazy. I had the first half of the draft finished for this particular chappy since like, the beginning of January.
I was originally going to write the whole Izuku/Mystery Assassin Woman confrontation and the, now hinted at, Sports Festival attack in one chapter but thought better of it. I'm just gonna make this arc a three partner and move on. Makes my life easier instead of writing a nearly 14k chapter.
That's just too damn much!
Anyway, hope ya liked it. Or not. Whatever. See ya next chappy nerds!