Well, it's time to get back to the reactions!
So, a fun little side-effect of doing all of this, is that it's allowing me to go back and properly edit the old chapters.. for which I can update at a later date when I need to. :)
So if you see anything from the "story" part of the fic slightly altered, it's because of that and I'll get to posting the re-edits eventually.
Anyway, time for Chapter 6~
Italics - Original Story
Regular Text - Reactions
Italics and Bold - Memories
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders. If anyone reposts this or any of my stories on Youtube or any other media streaming platform) without my consent, I will be taking the appropriate actions as is my right.
Chapter 6
CP4 - "Gunbreaking the Norm"
"Dude, what the hell?!"
Izuku chuckled nervously as he was rubbing the back of his head. It had taken a bit of time, though primarily due to the stuttering of the inheritor of One for All, to give a basic understanding of his quirk to his classmates. To say the look of pure shock on their faces wasn't unwarranted, as Izuku would recall that he, too, had a similar experience when All Might had described the power to him a year prior.
"So… let me get this straight," Iida had begun to speak, though he had removed his glasses at this point and rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to come to terms without illogical the quirk in question was. Granted, he wasn't the only one as Momo, the other more logically inclined individual within their class, was stunned and trying to figure out the non-existent reasoning behind One for All as well.
The less said about those who weren't 'academically' inclined, the better.
"Your actual quirk is a stockpiling one that can be passed down from person to person, and when it does get passed to the next inheritor, it grows substantially in power?" Tenya explained, his mind still reeling from the fact that such an oddity existed.
"P-Pretty much, yeah…" Izuku nodded, fidgeting a little, "I-it also sort of 'absorbs' the quirk of the person that has it so that the current wielder can use it once enough of the stockpile of One for All is built up over time, which we just figured out recently."
"Hold on! You mean like what happened during the class battles with 1-B we had a few weeks ago?" Sato had spoken up, his thick eyebrows raised up with realization. Izuku nodded once again, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yes, it was the quirk of the fifth wielder of One for All. His name was Daigoro Banjo, and it's called 'Black Whip', I have a more detailed explanation of what it does back at the dorms, but simply that it's emotionally powered tethers of energy that are used to capture people."
"Wait," Kyoka had spoken up now, jolting her head as he frowned at Izuku, "You said this Banjo guy was the 'fifth' wielder… how many were there?"
Izuku gently rubbed the side of his neck now, biting his lower lip, "W-Well… including myself, there have been nine users of One for All."
"NINE?!" The outburst from his classmates had nearly toppled the teenager to the ground from shock, many of them muttering to one another, with a few being more animated about the number of people that had been part of this passing on of a quirk. However, leave it to one particular person to realize something was up.
"Midoriya, kero," Tsuyu had moved close to Izuku, who had turned his gaze towards his froggy friend, "Thank you for telling us, I know this must have been hard for you."
"O-Oh, thank you, Asu- Tsu… sorry, Tsu… but yes, honestly, it was more hard trying to keep it a secret from you all." Izuku admitted, looking down to the ground before another ribbit from Tsu brought his gaze up once more.
The frog-like girl had her finger on her chin as she tilted her head a little while she spoke, "I'll bet, kero, you never do like hiding things, at least from what I've gathered since we started at UA."
Izuku chuckled nervously and nodded, while some of the others also agreed with Tsuyu's assessment, but the woman kept talking, "And from what I've gathered, this isn't simply just passing the quirk along a bloodline or something, right?"
"Y-yeah… pretty much." Izuku was beginning to look a little more nervous, realizing where Tsuyu was going with this.
"So, then why does it keep being passed along then, kero?"
"Hey, yeah… why does it need to keep being passed down?" Kaminari asked, with the others slowly beginning to realize the same thing. Izuku bit his lower lip, worrying how classmates would take the news that all of the villain attacks since the USJ have mostly been due to the ongoing two-hundred-plus-year-old fight between One for All and the villain they would know by the nickname given to the man, "The Kamino Ward Villain".
Just as Izuku had found his resolve to tell them about All for One and his ties to the quirk he now held, a loud whistle coming from the entrance of the theater caught everyone's attention, with Grim standing at the doors.
"Alright, you lot, question time is over for now; let's get this show on the road!"
The students looked at one another before looking towards Izuku, who simply sighed heavily, "I-I'll explain during the next break, and to be fair… it's a long story…"
As everyone was beginning to head back, Izuku was stopped when he felt a slight tug on the back of his shirt; turning around to see a blushing Ochako, who looked a little worried for some reason that made Izuku's 'inner hero' to come forth, "Is there something wrong, Uraraka?"
"Um… do you mind if we talked privately for a second…?" asked the brunette, who seemed to be a little more sheepish than average. But Izuku, clearly worried for his friend, simply nodded, and off the pair went to the far side of the eating area to talk away from prying ears and eyes.
"So, before we begin, just as a heads up, the next few showings are going to have some time skips, only because… let's be honest, like me, you all just want to get to the meat and potatoes of the story." Grim crossed his arms over his chest like it was a matter of fact, "Doesn't mean some things won't be explained, but there were some cuts I had to make for time… as well as enjoyment."
While everyone would agree with the logic behind such a thing, one student in particular was the most curious about what was being skipped, "Um, what exactly is not being shown?" Izuku asked, curious as to how much time would be missed, considering in his own personal history, this would have been the time he cleaned the beach.
"The training and cleaning up of the beach." Grim shrugged, making Izuku blink in surprise, "It would have been a montage anyway, so not much to really describe."
"Awww!" Kirishima called out, the only vocal one to be disappointed not to see the training montage.
"Now, let's get this thing started!" Grim said with his arms raised up in excitement, watching the eagerness coming from the class before him, despite a blonde teenager sitting far from the main group, which Grim didn't really pay mind to, considering it was Bakugo, and at the moment, the pomeranian was smart as to not be anywhere near his peers.
To say Momo Yaoyorozu had simple dreams would be an understatement. Sure, many young people her age would dream about becoming a pro hero and just leave it at that, but when it came to the young heiress?
Nothing was that simple.
The heiress in the audience blinked when she realized it would be a chapter mainly focused on her, at least for the start of this particular showing. Her cheeks turned a little rosy as she could feel the eyes of both Toru and Mina on her and giggling gently. Perhaps Mina was correct that she would be the romantic focus of the story? And even if that was the case, clearly, this wouldn't affect her relationship with their Midoriya…
Could it?
Her quirk was something of pure wonder, being able to create any inorganic object she wished using the lipids of her body. However, to make such devices, she needed to know the exact chemical makeup of the materials. When it came to particular creations that required multiple materials to make, she needed to understand how they fit together to work correctly once finished.
It also didn't help that she had to eat very fat-enriched meals and still keep herself healthy with the amount of food she ate.
"Now that it was mentioned-OW!" Kaminari had begun to ponder to himself, along with Sero and Mineta beside him, only to get a jack to the temple. Turning towards the culprit, who was looking menacingly towards the electrically charged quirk user, "Hey Jiro! What the heck?
"You were going to say something stupid, 'Charge Dolt'!"
"I totally wasn't!" The boy argued, frowning now at the punk rocker woman, "All I was going to say was that Yaomomo could easily just make herself the latest gaming rig, or heck, something better!"
"I would never!" Momo exclaimed, turning to Kaminari with a look of horror on her face, "It could ruin the computing economy."
"I doubt one computer would do that." Sero chuckled and shrugged, shaking his head. Beside him, however, Mineta had decided to open his mouth.
"At least we know where all the food is- GrRK!"
Only to be knocked out by a falling metal pan landing on the shorter student's head, knocking him out. The small group was looking about, shocked to see the oddity, before Kaminari looked towards Grim, who politely waved to the boy, making him wince and frightened for his own safety after realizing just who had knocked out his friend.
Yet, Momo was dedicated to her desire to become a pro hero. She had studied strenuously and memorized hundreds of chemical formulas and blueprints for various devices and worked them out. She also learned mixed martial arts with weapon mastery included in the lessons. Momo had done everything she could to earn her place at UA, the best university to train future generations of heroes.
Nine months after the tour at UA, she wasn't sure of herself or her abilities. And that was all because of one Izuku Midoriya.
"What?" Izuku suddenly said, catching the attention of his friends around him, "Why would she not be sure of herself? All the work she put into her training and studies should be something she is proud of! Let's not forget the plans and ideas she comes up with on the field in our heroics classes; I know how good and unpredictable they are because I got caught up in a few of them myself!"
"Midoriya, I think we get it." Todoroki had said and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder to try and calm him down.
"What? It's all true, though; she, like everyone else in our class, has amazing quirks, and the work they all put into them to get into UA is so awesome! I barely squeaked in after using One for All only once in the entrance exam, and it blew up both my legs and one arm!" The green-haired boy commented, the look on his face determined to make his point, "No one should try and compare themselves to me because it's always going to be the same; I'm no were near as great as everyone else is because I'm barely keeping up with everyone."
Todoroki simply stared at his friend, both unflinching for a few moments before the fire and ice user sighed heavily, "You have no idea, do you?"
"Huh?"
"I'll explain it to you later," Todoroki said, moving back into his seat, ignoring the curious look now on Izuku's face, "We should continue watching."
As Izuku had turned around, clearly not going to get the explanation, he had failed to notice Momo holding her cheeks as they had turned red from his initial outburst, with Mina snickering beside her before she got poked at by one of Kyoka's ear jacks.
She had never met a young man like him before. At one point, a literal knight in shining armor saving her from a boulder that would have crushed her and Setsuna and exuded an aura of confidence and determination of a pro hero, and then all of a sudden, he was a very shy and timid teenager that acted like he was some sort of nuisance to everyone around him.
The boy was an enigma. What was genuinely boggling her was the fact he had only gotten his quirk not even a day before meeting him, and he already HAD that much control? If someone had told her this without hearing it directly from his own mouth, she would say it was right out of a bad comedy.
"Dunno if it would be a bad comedy… but something like kids show logic, I guess," Sato said as both Koda and Tokoyami gently nodded their heads in agreement.
But she did admire his spirit and drive to be a hero. Having spoken with him a few times face to face when their schedules would have allowed, plus all the text conversations she had when they couldn't meet up, she had gained some insight into the boy. He was brilliant, incredibly so when it came to quirk analysis, as he had given her some ideas regarding her own that she would never have thought of. Plus, his excitement when it came to quirks and heroes, in general, was always a delight, and he had enjoyed the conversations they would have from what she could tell, matching her own most of the time.
When she had explained her quirk to him, she watched as his emerald eyes shone brightly. That particular analysis had lasted for almost an entire day, both teenagers discussing and losing track of time. What shocked Momo most during the exchange was how he would always look at her face, more specifically her eyes, only diverting away when she made something with her quirk via her hand or arm. Not once did she see his gaze stray over her body as so many people had done so before, nor did he ask for anything and make sure that she would never need to make anything for him. She was genuinely astonished at this at first because she would have to defend herself from the lewd gazes of men and those who would exploit her quirk for their benefit through most of her life.
The heiress huffed as she was reminded of how she had experienced something similar when it came to the former, at the very least as she was entering high school. What was true, however, was that she often was on guard when it came to those who would try and exploit her quirk for their own benefit, learning at a young age that people would use her for their own ends and only 'like' her for that reason only. Thankfully, her classmates made sure Momo didn't overuse her abilities; though there was the odd request here or there, it was more for a general use of the class than something personal, like creating some quick items to make party hats for when they wished to have a surprise birthday.
What caught her attention was the little tidbit of how the Midoriya in this 'alternative world' was very considerate when it came to her quirk, as well as averting his eyes when she was creating and keeping his gaze only on her eyes when they were talking. Blinking in the realization that 'their' Midoriya often did the same thing.
"Huh…"
Izuku did none of this, stating that such a great quirk shouldn't be used on someone like him. That had sent her some red flags, but Momo would never pressure as to why he would say something like that. She had considered him a friend, and likewise, she hoped he did as well with her, but their relationship was still reasonably fresh, and she didn't want to push it.
A few of the students could only tilt their heads in confusion as to why Midoriya would have said that to Yaoyorozu and agreed that those were some definite 'red flags', some of them turned their glares toward Bakugo, who huffed and looked away to ignore the looks coming from his now former classmates. Momo, herself, who had also been glaring at the explosive teenager, then looked back towards Midoriya, who seemed to be writing down something, possibly because of the notes they had been able to see on screen, that perhaps he would need for himself?
But the heiress also couldn't fault the way her counterpart acted when it came to the often skittish young man, never wishing to be 'pushy' when it came to her small group of friends, both old and new.
What indeed was the mystery regarding Izuku was his quirk, a new type of transformation/emitter that hadn't acted like any quirk in the past. A name needed to be given, and despite all the brainstorming they did, the name they came up with was "Manifest." She had thought that to create such items would require energy or a fuel source of some sort, but he suffered from no drawbacks, not even exhaustion. They appeared with no natural way of existing or being created initially; they were just there. Momo had kept trying to figure out how his quirk was doing this independently. Still, everything about 'Manifest' was odd and could not be adequately explained.
Especially after what had happened six months prior.
"I have to admit, Midoriya, it does seem odd that those weapons and armor would just appear out of thin air. It seems a little strange if you ask me." Sero had said as he leaned back into his chair with the green-haired boy rubbing his chin deep in thought.
"I can see why it is strange… could it be something that Hydaelyn is providing him?" Izuku had begun to think aloud before eventually going into one of his mutter storms, though he was much quieter than usual.
However, it was Ojiro who spoke up while Midoriya continued to mutter, "I find it odd that the recommendation tests were held so far from the regular entrance exam."
"Was it like that for you, Yaomomo? Todoroki?" Mina had moved herself a little higher to look at them as best as she could from her seat, though it was Todoroki who spoke first.
"To be honest, when we did the recommendation exams, it was about a few weeks prior to the regular exams." The dual-quirked boy said with his usual stoic tone of voice, "But Ojiro brings up a good point; why were they held so much further in advance?"
"Well… I may have goofed on that." Grim raised his hand up to get everyone's attention, even knocking Izuku out of his mutterings to look towards the robed weaver as the person rubbed the back of his head, "I figured that with UA being a University, there would be more time needed to process recommendation students, considering where money and scholarships are involved, similar to how it is where I am from."
"Look, let's just ignore the little bit of time discrepancy and get back to the show, ok?"
Many of the people around him were giving him a suspicious look before they all returned to look back towards the screen, with the teachers noting how Grim released a breath of air in relief afterward.
Izuku yawned, stretching in his chair as Momo looked up from the book in front of her with a sly smirk on her lips, "Oh? Am I boring you, Izuku?"
Izuku snapped his attention to her and chuckled gently, rubbing the back of his head, "N-no! Far from it Yao- um M-momo…" he took a deep breath in and exhaled as he calmed down, "J-Just Mr. Yagi and Nezu have been running me ragged with the weight training and homework."
Placing the book she was reading down, Momo raised her eyebrow at him, "You mean the beach that was being used as an illegal dumpsite, and you are single-handedly cleaning it?"
"Manly!" Kirishima cried out, his fist raised into the air before looking towards Izuku, "Midori-bro, did you do the same thing?"
"H-Huh? O-Oh… um…" Izuku gently blushed, looking else for a moment as he tapped his two index fingers together, "I-I did…"
"Dude! Which one?" Kaminari had now sprung up, followed by Sero, who was beaming his usual angular smile.
"D-Dagobah…"
The room grew silent as everyone looked towards the still embarrassed boy, while some of the students weren't from the area. Since they had been living in the dorms at UA, they had heard the whispers and rumors of how, over ten months prior to the start of the new school year, someone had cleaned the entire beach that was often polluted and covered in metallic debris, though no one could identify the person or people that had done the deed.
Turns out that the 'culprit' was in their class the entire time.
Izuku's eyes went wide as he started to blush brightly, trying to form words as Momo simply smirked at him, answering the question that was struggling to come out from his lips, "And how did I find out?… Well, aside from rumors of a green-haired teenager with a skeletal blonde man that would show up at times cleaning the beach, Setsuna did happen to see you pull a fridge across the beach a week ago."
"S-she saw that?" Izuku stuttered and turned his head away to hide his blush, remembering how troublesome that particular appliance was as it was one of those industrial-sized fridges you would see in a restaurant. It had taken him most of the day to shove it across the sands of the beach to the truck and trailer that Toshinori had left there for him to load up.
The groan that came from Izuku and even All Might caught everyone's attention, though a few were a little perplexed as well. Aizawa was the one to ask first as to why the pair had made such a disturbance, "What's wrong now?"
"Nothing really, but it was one of those situations where even I was astonished to find such a thing on that beach." Toshinori replied, "The worst part was trying to get it up onto the truck bed itself, given I had to call in a larger vehicle to do so."
"Dragging it to the truck wasn't a picnic either." Izuku grumbled, rolling his right shoulder a bit at the phantom pain of the memory lingering in his head.
"And yet you did it without me being there to assist you when I told you I was on the way." Toshinori called out, making the boy wince and blush a little, further shocking his classmates, "I am happy you didn't hurt yourself, my boy."
"Deku!" Ochako's voice called out to the still-blushing boy as Izuku turned his gaze to his friend, "You shouldn't have done something so reckless! Especially alone! You should have waited."
"B-But-"
"No 'buts' mister!" The brunette frowned at him, pointing at him with her finger pressed against his chest, "Anytime you need to lift something heavy, you call on any of us to help, especially me!"
Izuku stared owlishly at her, though his blush remained on his cheeks, "Y-you?"
"Of course!" Ochako beamed a big smile, then brought her arm up to flex and show off her muscle that was continuing to grow as they worked hard to be heroes, "I have been working out and lifting weights! So I'd be more than happy to help!"
Izuku blinked once again before chuckling, gently nodding his head and rubbing the back of his head, "O-Of course, I'd love the help."
As the two friends turned back to look at the screen, a few eyes were watching the pair, some with relief that Ochako had been calling him by his nickname once again, but also at how cute the both of them were being.
However, one heiress couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of pain in her chest when she witnessed Ochako and Izuku interacting like that.
Momo nodded as her smirk grew to a soft smile, "Yes, she did, and frankly, Izuku, I am shocked you were able to even lift such a thing onto a trailer by yourself! You should be careful to not hurt yourself."
"I-I'll try to be careful, but you know what they say… 'no pain, no gain,' right?" he chuckled nervously as Momo gave him a stern glare.
"While it is true that some pain is to come while working out, you should not be actively trying to harm yourself, Izuku! Think how I- everyone that cares about you would feel and how sad they would be if you got hurt due to being dumb like that!" Momo spoke with the same tone of voice that matched her frown as Izkuku hung his head, muttering a 'Yes, Momo.', The heiress sighed gently and was thankful that he had not caught her slip of the tongue.
"Geezus, how could he lift that entire thing by himself? Just how strong is this Midoriya?" Sato spoke up and crossed his arms over his chest, and while he had been the one to voice the question, everyone would agree that such a feat by a single person would be quite the monumental task, 'thankfully', Grim was there to give them a better idea.
"At this point in time… I'd say if Izuku wasn't holding back, he would be as powerful as All Might at forty percent? Give or take."
When silence was the only reply that Grim got, the robed figure chuckled gently, "And with every new job he gets, the more power he accumulates. In fact, and not trying to spoil anything, but the Sports festival will show just how powerful an 'unleashed' Midoriya would be against someone like All Might."
Everyone was now staring shocked at Grim, their mouths agape as it clearly was never shown, at least outside of the Kamino Ward fight, what someone with equal footing would be like against the former number one. Even Toshinori was taken aback by the information before all eyes soon looked over to still-stunned Midoriya. Many of his friends were now interested to see how not only the Midoriya on screen would grow stronger, but their classmate as well.
Some didn't know if they should be excited or terrified.
"While it is true that some pain is to come while working out, you should not be actively trying to harm yourself, Izuku! Think how I- everyone that cares about you would feel and how sad they would be if you got hurt due to being dumb like that!" Momo spoke with the same tone of voice that matched her frown as Izkuku hung his head, muttering a 'Yes, Momo.', The heiress sighed gently and was thankful that he had not caught her slip of the tongue.
Thankfully, people were still awestruck with Midoriya's current revelation and thoughts, so only Momo had noticed the verbal slip of her counterpart, and honestly, she was glad for it. Considering when it involved a particular pink-skinned menace.
Slowly pushing her chair back and standing up, Momo smiled down at Izuku as he looked up to her, "Well, as much as I would love to stay, I must be off to keep an appointment with my mother."
Reaching for her bag, Izuku started to pack his own things up, "I-I can walk with you if you'd like, Momo." He stuttered as Momo placed a hand on his book before he could close it; she smiled sweetly at him.
"As much as I would love the company, you need to keep studying, plus I will be fine." she gave him a sly smirk then, "Unlike someone I know, I usually don't rush towards danger to watch a hero and villain fight." Momo mused as Izuku's face once again turned crimson with embarrassment, "Now, I know you have the next few days booked, but we are still going to meet up and hang out with Setsuna on Sunday, yes?"
"Oh? What's this?" Mina had finally broken out of her stupor and smiled brightly at the heiress, who was pouting slightly with her cheeks puffed a little and frowning at the classroom 'love guru', "Inviting Midori to your house for some 'study time', huh?"
"Really, Mina?" Momo sighed heavily with a flat look, though the dusting of red on her cheeks had given her away to the provoking that Mina was doing, "Tokage is going to be there too, and I'm sure it's not a normal occurrence."
"Oh, it is," Grim spoke up, making everyone look at him again, "Izuku would visit your other self's home quite often, so much, in fact, that he's friendly with your folks and the staff."
And as if the robed weaver was just wishing for more chaos, he casually leaned back and looked up at the screen, "and normally by himself as well, so it would just be the two of them."
The utter joy on Mina's face, along with the gentle gasp escaping her lips, only made Momo blush more and more, trying to refute what the strange man was trying to imply, but words were failing her.
Up at the front and clearly hearing all of this, the boy in question was as red as a tomato, much to the inner annoyance of the brunette sitting beside him.
Izuku nodded and reopened his book, "Y-yea, two pm at the station… Are you sure you want to hold the study session at your house, Momo? I don't want to be a bother-"
"None of that." Momo sternly spoke, interrupting him before he continued that line of thought, "Setsuna and I agreed to help you study for the entrance exam for saving us and given how difficult it should be, and not to doubt your intelligence in any way, but having some help with studying is not being a "bother" to either of us and will benefit you in the end." Her smile returned after that, and she headed out of the library with Izuku watching her.
"She's right. I need to focus, especially if Nezu will probably test me harder on the written exam." He said to himself in a low mutter as he started to get back to work. As he turned a page, his head throbbed for a moment and caused him to pause. The familiar warmth flowed throughout his body as the motherly voice of Hydaelyn filled his brain once again with a single phrase.
"Hear… Feel… Think..."
The voice of the goddess quickly caught everyone's attention once more, some of the students looking up at the various symbols around the screen and seeing that nothing was lighting up. Even the teachers were a little shocked at this as Nezu looked over to Grim, "I take it the symbol and name won't be revealed until it's on-screen?"
"Correct, don't want to spoil anything." Grim snickered as the principal chuckled as well, "Plus, we got something more important to reveal."
"Oh, and what is that?" Toshinori asked, curious as to what the robed figure was talking about. Though the darkness hid the man's face, the smirk could be heard as Grim spoke.
"More friends for your successor."
Momo knew she should have called for her family's chauffeur.
Usually, she would have, but today, she wanted to use the public transportation system. There would be times during her hero work when she would need to traverse the streets, which meant getting familiar with traveling on foot, by train, and the like.
But now, she was in a bit of trouble.
Now, that caught everyone's attention, especially Momo, as she looked absolutely worried for her counterpart. Admittedly, she, too, had done something similar a few times, where she took public transportation to make sure she understood their nuances and such. However, Momo always went with her friends in 1-A as well as one of the teachers, considering all of the villain attacks that had been taking place since the USJ.
But this Momo had decided to go alone, and now she was going to pay for her negligence, or at least that's what she thought.
Momo had heard screams coming down an alleyway and had bolted towards them, and when she arrived, she came across an odd scene. Standing in front of her was a large mutant man with the head of a shark with clawed hands. He was staring down two teenage girls, approximately her age though one had bright pink skin and two small yellow horns poking out from her fluffy pink hair (which looked similar to a certain green-haired boy she knew) who was holding a petite-looking girl with jacks that dangled from her ears, she looked a little beaten up with some bloodied claw marks across her face, and the side of her upper body was torn with a similar pattern to the injury on her face.
The audible gasps escaped past a few of the students' lips, seeing the slightly older versions of both Mina and Kyoka, though seeing the state of the punk rocker had made a few of them call her name out in worry. Kyoka herself was clutching the armrests of the seat she was in, gritting her teeth at the fact she had been hurt. That is, until she felt the soft hands, one both of her own, looking from side to side to see both Mina's and Toru's hands grasping hers, "It's going to be ok!" the pink-skinned woman said, "Clearly Yaomomo will do something amazing and save us!"
"Plus, Midori's voice thingy went off, so maybe it's reacting to you two in trouble!" Toru spoke next, bouncing in her seat.
"Y-yeah, maybe…" Kyoka huffed gently but smiled back at the pair, "Let's just see how this goes…"
The sharkman cackled loudly, smiling with hundreds of sharp pearly rows of teeth down at the two, not noticing the third person that had joined them from afar, "That's what you get from getting in my way, you flat-chested bitch! All I wanted was some 'fun' from your pink friend, but now you've only gotten me angry… and hungry."
"He… he isn't insinuating what I think he's going to do to them… is he?" Tenya spoke up, visibly stunned that someone would actually make a threat like that. The girls, however, didn't focus on that aspect of what the sharkman had wanted, making them all visibly shake in terror as to what he had planned for the on-screen Mina, though the one in the audience was the most terrified.
It was true that her 'exotic' appearance did garner some not-so-kind cat calls in the past; Mina would often get them to take a hike, while some of the more persistent ones, like Mineta, would get grabby when she didn't want to be grabbed… well, it's a good thing she can make her acid more volatile if need be.
Both girls seemed to freeze at what the man before them was insinuating and quickly rushed towards the pair, separating the two with one hand, grabbing the pink girl by her wrist and the injured one by her head. The punk rocker struggled, the jacks on her ears trying to poke and prod the man's skin but couldn't pierce through it. He laughed darkly as both girls screamed, "I'll start with you first, flatty, then I'll enjoy the main course."
Thankfully, the only thing the man's mouth was able to chomp down on was not the punk girl's torso but several bean bags that were launched with painful impacts into the shark's maw, as well as one that struck the eye. The beast of a man roared loudly in agony as he dropped both girls, and they turned their heads towards the person who saved them. Seeing the ponytailed heiress wielding a shotgun to their left, they both scrambled behind her and clung to her softly.
While initially there were shouts of worry for the pair on screen as it looked like no one was going to save them, thankfully, those all changed into cheers of joy and excitement to see the gun-toting heiress, with several shouts of 'Badass!' and 'Manly!', causing Momo to blush more, though she was pretty happy that she was there to save her friends.
Momo huffed as she reloaded the shotgun and turned to the two, "Let's leave and get the police or wave down a hero-"
"I don't think so, bitch!" Shouted the recovered sharkman as he hurled himself and swung his left hand around to knock all three girls against the alley wall and send Momo's shotgun back down the alleyway. All three groaned as the considerable shadow of the man encompassed all three, "Now I'm famished, and it looks like I'm having three dumb bitches for dinner!" He cackled loudly once again as now all the girls huddled together, one hand reaching out and flexing its sharp claws to pick one of them to eat.
That had washed away any sort of praise Momo had in herself as she watched on, the cries around her fading in her hearing as she was desperately trying to find a way for her other self to escape and save not only herself but the on-screen Mina and Kyoka. Even her friends sitting by her were looking worried now, considering that their counterparts were now just huddled together about to be eaten. The heiress brought her hands together, her eyes closed and praying, hoping against hope that someone or anyone would hear their plight and save them.
Momo watched as the hand grew closer to them, her mind wracking itself to think of anything to create to save them, but she was scared and unable to concentrate. She pulled the two girls beside her closer as she clenched her eyes tightly. With her vision blacked out, the bright light and familiar voice shouting "LIGHTNING SHOT" saved Momo from being blinded by the attack as she heard the pained groan of the shark villain. Opening her eyes, she turned her head towards the alleyway entrance opposite them with the other two girls.
All four people looked at the silhouetted figure before them, wearing a long coat of some kind with heavy combat boots and tactical-looking pants that became more visible as the figure walked towards them. A tight-forming shirt pressed against the man's muscular body. It was lined with various belts of bullet cartridge pouches that also lined parts of the deep grayish-green coat.
Within one of the fingerless gloved hands was a peculiar sort of weapon. It was shaped like a sword with a definite sharp edge to it; however, it seemed to be smoking like it had just fired a bullet, which further caused some confusion to the onlookers as the hilt of the "sword" was stylized like a revolver!
Green eyes could now be seen as the light from their side of the alley forced the silhouette to reveal the person who attacked the villain. Momo began to smile brightly to see Izuku once again, though he was sporting an almost smug-looking smirk on his lips. She noted how much shorter his fluffy hair was, "This place used to be such a nice neighborhood; shame how much it has changed…" Izuku spoke as he held the weird weapon up and got himself into a fighting stance; the blade pointed at the shark man, "and not at all for the better…"
The symbol, which looked like a very stylized 'Z', above the viewing screen lit up once the boy had revealed himself entirely and his new job, the words 'Gunbreaker' illuminated underneath it as while it was exciting to the crowd for the job, a few were quite confused, especially one sword -enthusiast.
"How? How does that weapon work?!" Tokoyami exclaimed as Dark Shadow appeared behind the boy and gripped his shoulders to try to calm him down, "How can that thing be both a sword and a firearm?!"
"Is it a gun anyway?" Kaminari asked, squinting at the screen, "I mean, I see where the bullet goes in, but there's no way for them to shoot out from."
"It's because the cartridges it uses are filled with 'aether' or magic, really." Grim called out to the group, who looked back at him once more, "Of course, it will be explained thoroughly coming up, especially when we get to UA, but for now, just try and wrap your heads around that fact and keep watching the fireworks."
As the students grumbled at the rather vague answer, Mineta spoke up as he was rubbing his chin, though everyone seemed to ignore him, "Hey… why is Midoriya being all sassy like that?"
The villain roared loudly, barreling towards the young man who took an incredible leap at the mutant shark. As the two closed the gap, Izuku narrowly dodged a right-handed slash of claws, though he got struck along his chest. Simultaneously, the green-haired boy swung the blade against his opponent, striking the ribcage and pulling the trigger on the weapon, causing an explosion that sent the mutant hurtling to the street and into the guard post to the road.
Izuku landed, sliding across the cement, and shifted his body into another battle-ready stance should the villain still be up. He waited for a few moments as he eyed the downed foe until sighing in relief that they weren't getting back up. He was then startled when he felt his ear being pulled back, which made him drop the gunblade, which clattered loudly with a metallic twang sound on the cement ground, "OW!"
"IZUKU MIDORIYA! What on earth are you doing?! And how did you create all this?" Momo screamed at him as he flinched, turning his head to her and giving her a nervous chuckle.
Izuku tilted his head, watching what was transpiring on screen between himself and their future vice-president, a little frown on his brow as he casually asked aloud, "Why is Yaoyorozu pulling my ear?" Thinking about it now, perhaps he had done something to upset the woman on screen? Izuku began to mutter up a storm to himself at all the possible reasons this could be, but before he could fully descend to the eventual negative conclusion he was at fault, he felt the gentle hand of Ochako on his shoulder, who was merely smiling gently at him.
"She was just worried about you, Deku, considering you went charging in as you normally do, which, at this point, Yaomomo isn't used to such acts like we all are."
The green-haired boy blushed, fidgeting a little and trying to stammer out a response. All the while, said heiress was watching the interaction with the pair of friends, and she had sighed gently, wishing she could have at least apologized to Midoriya for the way her other self was acting. But, then again, Ochako had been correct, as at this point, she must have suspected that while the rest of class knew how Midoriya would just jump in to help those in need or anyone really and merely accepted it as 'just a thing Midoriya does', the Momo on screen wasn't used to that.
As she continued to watch the two best friends mingle about and she felt the unknown pain from before return once again.
Momo's eyes went from furious to worried as she saw the clawed marks along his chest and the blood starting to ooze a little, "Izuku, You're injured!"
He looked down and raised an eyebrow. He had felt the burning sensation now, but he chose to ignore it. As he lifted his head and saw the girl who looked far worse off than he did, Izuku gently pushed past Momo, picking up his blade and attaching it to his back as he knelt down beside the woman with audio jacks attached to her ears. Momo soon joined him as she started to create some bandage gauze from her arms.
"Yeah, that tracks…" Everyone, including the teachers and the robed figure, said it at once, which startled Izuku.
"W-what do you mean 'that tracks'?."
"Deku…" Ochako said with a slight groan to her voice, "When you hurt yourself during the entrance exams, with two busted legs and an arm, the first thing you literally did was check up on me despite you being worse off."
"I-I mean, yes, but I-"
"Then there was the USJ, Kero, where you were hurt horribly and then tried to protect All Might, Kero." Tsuyu spoke up, with Kirishima nodding his head in agreement.
"But he-"
"Then there was the Sports Festival and Hosu." Todoroki spoke up next, his nonplussed face giving no emotion as usual with his monotone voice.
"And the training camp as well." Shoji spoke with one of his tentacle mouths right after, "You were racing around the forest with two broken arms and were still making sure everyone else was all right."
"And let's not forget Kamino Ward, where you just barely got out of the hospital and went to save Bakugo." Tenya sighed gently, which made Izuku stammer more and more before Grim spoke and made things even worse.
"Don't forget the fight with Gentle Criminal just before the cultural festival, where you immediately came back from bouncing around like a pinball for a good while to make sure it wasn't canceled and also performed without any rest."
Everyone slowly looked back to Grim, their eyes wide in shock as Izuku groaned and placed his face in his hands. Grim was quiet for a moment, confused by the looks he was getting before it dawned on him, "Oh right… Izuku never told you guys about that… um… whoops?"
The punk-looking girl grunted as she was lifted up against the alleyway wall by the pink girl and the guy who saved them. She hissed as he looked over her wounds and glared her eyes at him as if to tell him not to get any funny ideas. He gave her a smile to reassure her, "You're bleeding, but the wounds don't look too deep... I'll fix you up real quick."
"With that… that weird-ass gun… sword thing on your back?" huffed the injured girl with her friend sighing at her punk friend's usual off-putting demeanor; Izuku, however, chuckled lightly and shook his head.
"I don't think anything will get all those injuries healed up that fast, outside of Recovery Girl, I guess, lovely…" Kyoka sighed heavily, twirling a jack around her finger as she looked grumpy. Even if she was stitched up, the period she would need to recover before the entrance exams would take a while, and Kyoka doubted she could even properly heal with the scars it would leave behind.
"No, sadly, I doubt 'Aurora' will heal this up quickly," he spoke with a certainty that even Momo raised an eyebrow at, and with a flash of light that nearly blinded the three women with how close they were, now a literal knight with long green hair out of the back of the helmet was kneeling before the pair. Izuku quickly removed his helmet and let the longer curly hair drop against his back.
"Excusez-moi? But why does Monsieur Midoriya's hair change between switching?" Aoyama spoke up and looked at Grim before bringing up a piece of cheese from a plate of food he had brought from the snack area before the showing.
"For flair and aesthetics, really…" Grim shrugged, leaning into his chair, "Gotta look good for the part, right?"
"Bien sûr! Comme c'est idiot de ma part!" The French student proclaimed before going back to his snack. However, most of the students didn't really understand what the two were talking about.
After placing his helmet on the ground beside them, he held his hands up towards the more serious wound on the punk girl, and after muttering a few more words, the gauntleted hands began to shine brightly before expelling out, "CLEMENCY!".
The punk girl gasped as she felt a rush of energy pass through her. It felt like a mist swept across her body that felt cool yet relaxing. As quick as it came, so too did it fade as the teenager placed his helmet back on and, with another bright shine of light, reverted to what looked like regular street clothes. He smiled at the girl he had just healed, ignoring the flabbergasted looks of all three women, and stammered as he spoke, "Y-you may still feel some aching for a little while, which is normal, but that should have fixed up the most serious injuries."
Though everyone around Izuku was now looking utterly shocked at the literal miracle performed before them, though the green-haired boy was rapidly writing down everything he could from what he witnessed. Now, given that healing quirks were such a rarity, let alone a power that was very potent like that of Recovery Girl's own, to see that the Midoriya on the screen could perform such acts was a little surprising, given they hadn't witnessed him doing such things yet in the story, and even the 'Gunbreaker' as it was named could heal as well? What kind of lunatic powers had Midoriya inherited?
"T-thanks…" the punk girl said as she stared at him in utter shock before checking her wounds to see that he was right! The injuries were closed and had barely left even a scar on her. Her deep purple eyes looked to the smiling boy, "M-My name is Kyoka Jiro, and this is Mina Ashido… a friend of mine." she spoke with a little gruff tone to her voice, while Mina was smiling brightly.
"That was SO COOL! How did you leap like that? That was such a cool explosion, too!" The pink-haired girl beamed and reached over Kyoka to grab his shoulders and shake them, excited by such an incredible display of power. This, however, caused Izuku to stutter and blush as he tried to answer her. Kyoka was snickering at her friend's outward personality to make the rather seemingly heroic boy fluster that bad.
"Geez, can't you give people some space?" Kyoka said with a gentle blush as she looked at Mina, who was cackling at the antics of her counterpart on screen, along with Toru, who was giggling not as loudly as her friend.
"But it's so much fun to see Midori get all flustered like that!" Mina replied through her cackles.
"But why fluster him at all?" Kyoka asked, with a raised eyebrow but a more hushed voice, hopefully, to actually get an answer out of the pink-skinned girl, "It's not like you're actually teasing him, is it?"
"W-what?" Mina looked aghast at the accusation, "I would never tease Midori like that! I'm not a bully."
"Then why do you like to fluster him?" Kyoka hissed out, staring hard at the normally spunky woman who was looking away and trying not to fail and say anything because of the 'glare' of the punk rocker.
All that came to a stop as a loud clearing of a throat broke them out of their revelry as they turned towards an irate-looking Momo, her arms crossed under her ample chest and glaring at the green-haired boy who gulped.
"So," she started getting into his personal space, and her onyx eyes looked directly into his emeralds. Izuku leaned away so as not to have her so close, "When could you change into something other than your knight outfit, and since when can you heal people?"
As police sirens' sounds could be heard getting closer to them, Izuku knew he was in big trouble this time.
Though he didn't know which would be worse; the police or his irate-looking friend.
"It's obviously Yaomomo." Everyone had thought to themselves, given the look she was giving the currently fluttered boy on screen, but everyone in class 1-A knew that Momo never got angry at people; she would simply tell them how 'disappointed' she was in them.
And disappointing the heiress was one way to know how screwed you were.
Laying in her bed, Momo sighed as she finished her reminiscing about the day when Izuku 'manifested' what he had called a "Gunbreaker" kit or some nonsense like that. As to how he had healed Kyoka, all he could say was that he could feel a "power within" him to perform such an act and couldn't really explain it, which was more confusing than before.
Thankfully, neither she nor Izuku faced charges of vigilantism thanks to the timely arrival of All Might. Momo was commended for stepping in to help the other two girls with minimal force used with her beanbag shotgun, though she had to surrender it to police custody as evidence.
Izuku was also praised for stepping in when he did. However, the boy was also given one final warning not to commit another act of vigilantism, as this was technically his second time being caught doing so. The amount of force he used would have customarily landed him in jail with a record.
"I mean, he was going to EAT them." Kaminari pointed out, rubbing his cheek, "At least he threatened he would."
"It doesn't matter, Kaminari." Aizawa spoke up then, being the ever quiet person he was as the 'show' continued on, though many would assume he was merely sleeping when he got that quiet, "Excessive force is still going over the line, doesn't matter what the criminal or villain's intent is."
"Except when it is necessary," Grim spoke up, idly looking at his fingernails and avoiding the glare from the hobo-looking teacher, "Because sometimes, a villain is just too powerful to be taken in and has to be put down… isn't that right, All Might?"
The silence in the room was heavy as All Might was going to argue against the implication, though he fumbled his words and train of thought halted considering who he thought had died at his hands six years ago, only to come back more powerful than ever.
"No comment…" was the only response the former number one said, earning a few shocked gasps from his students, though one of them had put on a charade of looking shocked as well.
Hell, Izuku knew about All Might 'killing' All for One during one of their private discussions, and admittedly, it was something he too would have to come to terms with, should the 'man' ever escape, let alone having to kill Shigaraki.
Izuku just hoped he made the right decision when the time came.
However, it wasn't all bad, as both Momo and Izuku became fast friends with Kyoka and Mina. They would all often join up and hang out, though at first, Izuku was the odd one out, considering he had explained how his mother had grounded him for a solid three weeks with nothing to do but study, exercise, or clean the beach.
Momo couldn't tell if that was a punishment or not, given how determined Izuku was with all three of those subjects.
"Totally a punishment." Both Mina and Kaminari spoke up together, much to the chuckles and giggles of those around them.
She thought back to the last 'girl's night' she had with the three other women and smiled at the antics that came up between the four of them. Introducing Mina to Setsuna should have sent red flags to Momo, considering how often Setsuna liked to tease and flirt, especially with her and Izuku. Adding Mina to that mix was a recipe for a teasing disaster that would usually revolve around Izuku, of all people. The photos that Setsuna took of him working out at the beach did not help matters.
Seeing the photos as mentioned earlier now on the screen, one could see the steam rising from Izuku's ears and body at the sheer embarrassment of it all; thank All Might, no one had done the same when he had cleared Dagobah beach back home. Considering his little cleaning exploits were nothing but rumors.
However, several people in the student body were also blushing at the photos because of how they seemed to be taken at the perfect moments when the older Midoriya was shirtless or wiping his brow with the sweat gleaming off of his skin, defining his muscles and stature. A few notable occurrences of this were obviously most of the women in the audience, particularly a brunette, who had 'covered' her eyes in sheer embarrassment, though her fingers splayed open to see a pony-tailed heiress who was subtly waving some air to cool herself down.
The eyes of Mina Ashido were wide in appreciation, for which Toru could see a bit of drool about to drip out of her friend's mouth before she gently nudged Mina to get out of her stupor.
Amongst the boys, many of them were complimenting Midoriya's prowess and training habits within their minds, though one particular redhead was now pumping himself up to ask his classmate to work out more!
The less said of what a certain pomeranian was thinking about, the better.
However, up in the 'special' seating area, Inko was surprised to see how built her little boy was, and when she turned towards the younger woman sitting with her, she could see how small the girl's pupils were, almost cat-like now as Himiko licked the side of her lip and was clearly enjoying the imagery.
Inko giggled to herself before smirking smugly as she watched her own Izuku get all embarrassed, really hoping they could join the others at some point, as she really wished to introduce Himiko, considering how friendly the blonde girl was, though she seemed to be a little too excited when it came to the blood when Izuku had been hurt on screen.
Perhaps it was because of her quirk? Who knows, and Inko wasn't going to poke her nose into that sort of thing, considering it didn't matter what Himiko's quirk was; the young woman was a delight to be around.
Thankfully, Kyoka seemed to be the more level-headed one of her new pair of friends, and their conversations were so relaxing most of the time. However, she, too, was easy to fluster when Mina and Setsuna tag-teamed her.
"God dammit…" Kyoka huffed at seeing what the two were doing to fluster her other self.
Sighing once again, Momo flipped over in her bed to her side and gazed at the picture sitting on a nightstand. It was a group pic of them all taken during the previous week, where Izuku had finished cleaning the beach. To celebrate, the group had come over to Momo's to have a celebratory dinner.
All five friends clung to one another, with Kyoka and Izuku being the obvious ones to blush and fluster the most, with Setsuna and Mina hanging off them. Momo was stuck in the middle with both blushing teenagers pushed against her. She smiled at the memory and slowly began to close her eyes, silently wishing her three new friends luck on their entrance exams tomorrow.
"Well, that's it for the first showing of today; next time we get into the UA Entrance exams… and oh boy, that's where the real fun begins." Grim said excitedly when he saw the hand of the vice class president rise above the rest, "Yes, Miss Yaoyorozu?"
"I am curious about how Midoriya's powers work," The prim and proper young woman said as she rose up to speak to the 'weaver.', "As in, how does he acquire the new ones? Is there some sort of trigger?"
Grim clapped his hands together; though they couldn't see it, the students could hear the smile radiating from his voice, "An excellent question, and honestly, I'm more than happy to explain… but be warned it will be done again within the story."
Seeing everyone's attention now on him, though the constant up and down of Midoriya's eyes meaning he was writing things down was also a delight to the robed being, "To put it simply, the way for the "blessing" to activate is caused by outside stimuli… be it an object, a particular circumstance, like Izuku awakening the blessing along with the 'Paladin' job during the sludge villain fiasco or it could be a person."
Grim snapped his fingers, and a small golden coin suddenly fell into Momo's hand, with the symbol of the Gunbreaker embedded into the metal, "You, Miss Yaoyorozu, unlocked the Gunbreaker for Midoriya."
"H-How did I do that?" The young woman spoke, blushing a little at being the reason for awakening such a job to the counterpart of her classmate.
"It's quite easy to understand, given your upbringing within 'high society', you tend to give off an 'air' of regal-ness to how you interact with others." Grim began to explain, as he reached out his hand and a miniature, almost holographic version of Izuku as a Gunbreaker appeared to be floating before him, "Originally, Gunbreakers were the personal guard of one Queen Gunnhildr, and yes, I know the name is a little silly, but trust me… not one of the worst offenders." He sighed when he heard some snickering coming from the students.
"Be that as it may, it's also how that Midoriya on screen would see 'his' Yaoyorozu… someone regal and almost like royalty in a way… perhaps… a Queen?" The smug tone was not lost in his words, flustering the young heiress at the implication, and it even made Midoriya pause in his writings and blush hard.
"And…" Grim continued, chuckling low and teasingly, "What is a Queen without her royal knight?"