"You need to focus!" Kacchan yelled.
Izuku clenched his eyes tighter as he tried to feel for One for All. It was more complicated than he could imagine. Izuku sat cross-legged on the floor of their training room. It was an open-spaced private area that was once used for physical therapy. It was also the only time the boys had time to themselves since the detective wanted to keep Izuku's quirk a secret. No one else could use this room but them. Even so, with all the volunteer work the boys did, they only had about an hour or two a day to use the space.
Izuku had struggled to activate the quirk since day one. So after a few days with no results, Kacchan had been fed up. He had never been the patient type, as he grabbed Izuku by his shirt collar and thrown him to the matted ground. He had panted and huffed, towering over Izuku as if he was holding himself back from throttling him. Then, he had turned away from Izuku and told him to sit there and look for it, which Izuku took as meditation. Izuku had done this for the last three days, and he was still no closer than before. It was like trying to find the metaphorical needle in the haystack; only it was All Might's quirk somehow hiding out inside him.
Kacchan smacked Izuku's head with the rolled-up magazine he carried.
"You're getting distracted again!" He yelled.
Izuku rubbed the back of his head, glad when he didn't feel a bump. That had been the fifth smack today and the thirtieth smack this week. Izuku appreciated that Kacchan was helping him, but he was a rough teacher.
"I'm sorry Kacchan, but I don't even know what I'm doing!" He said.
Kacchan growled as he threw himself down beside Izuku. It had been three weeks since they had reached the safety area. Izuku's arm was healing at a snail's pace, much to the annoyance of both boys. It made his training slow and his works outs limited. But Kacchan had appointed himself as Izuku's instructor, so he was nothing if not persistent in helping Izuku master his new quirk.
Kacchan stared at him, brows scrunched and low as his finger tapped in irritation over his knee. "Grrr..I don't know how to explain it. My quirk is like a piece of me. Like another limb, when I want to use it I don't think, I do."
"But that's because its your quirk Kacchan, I never had a quirk I don't know what that feels like." Izuku said.
Izuku laid back. He couldn't move his broken arm, courtesy of Kacchan, who strapped it to his side. Kacchan had had a fit after Izuku use it one too many times while helping around the hospital.
"When you used it….against that villain…what were you thinking about?" Kacchan asked.
The space between them grew thick with tension. It was the first time Kacchan had brought up that day, and Izuku avoided thinking about it, not wanting to make either of them uncomfortable.
"I…I don't.…I just didn't want you to die." Izuku said.
Izuku still had nightmares of that day. What if he had been too late? What if One for All never worked, and he had been unable to save Kacchan that day. Those questions had plagued him every night. And when it was awful, when he dreamt of All Might's death, somehow, it always morphed into Kacchan's execution. Izuku would wake a silent scream locked in his throat, reaching out to nothing. He never slept after that, too paranoid that he would lose Kacchan too. So Izuku would face Kacchan's sleeping form reassured with every rise of his chest. He was here. Alive. Izuku didn't have to do this without him.
Kacchan sighed as if he wasn't surprised by Izuku's response.
"And what did you feel in that moment, when One for All activated inside you?" He asked.
Izuku moved his hand to hang over his face. All that training with All Might had left his skin calloused and rough, and somewhere under this textured skin was a power lying in wait for him. Izuku closed his eyes, trying to remember the moment. One for All awakened.
There was the fear and the panic.
And then the utter silence as instinct took over.
The calm before the storm.
Then in an instant, the power rushed through Izuku like liquid rage. It forced its way through, building a force into his fist at full strength as he swung down at the villain's head.
Izuku tried to imagine that feeling again. To picture Kacchan in those moments struggling to breathe, as the villain grinned down at him. The same dark rage started from his chest and migrated into his fist like before.
"That's what I'm talking about." Kacchan said.
Izuku opened his eyes, meeting Kacchan's smirk as he now stood over him. Izuku inspected his arm; the glowing lines began around his shoulder, crisscrossed down his arm and over his knuckles.
"Now remember that feeling, that's your quirk at full strength." Kacchan said.
Izuku nodded; the power slashed and curled under his skin. Did everyone feel like this? Like their quirk was alive? Tempting them to use it? But this was also that same power that would recoil and destroy the very body it now inhabited.
Izuku sat up as he held it in his fist. He stretched his arm out towards the space of the room as Kacchan moved back to stay out of the way. Izuku didn't want to break his arm again, but if he focused it on a more pinpoint location in his body, would it be easier to control?
Izuku had thought of this theory a week back with the help of one of the volunteers he worked with. The volunteer was a boy his age, who towered over everyone, his speech at max volume at all times. So with such a larger-than-life personality, Izuku wasn't surprised when he learned the boy had a powerful wind quirk to match. This giant could destroy a whole wall with a powerful blast of wind. But Izuku's idea began to form when he used that same quirk to create a slight breeze to cool down the soup of a small kid.
Izuku focused the power into his index finger, the appendage quaking under strain. Izuku aimed for the far wall as he released his quirk with a flick of his finger.
The force shot through the room, slamming into the wall with a bang as it shook the room. Izuku hissed as the pain registered through his finger.
"Idiot!" Kacchan yelled.
Izuku inspected the damage. It didn't feel broken when he bent the digit a few times, but it throbbed, the skin a bruised violet-purple.
"Now how can I stop the backlash when I use it?" Izuku asked.
"It's no different than anything else you do with your body, you control it." Kacchan said.
Izuku glanced up at his friend as he let his hand fall back down. "What does that even mean?"
Kacchan pouted, his face thoughtful as he tried to explain it. Izuku could guess how difficult it must be to try to explain something he had never had to think about before.
"Here, stand up." Kacchan said.
Kacchan offered his hand out to Izuku, who paused, staring up at the blonde in confusion. The pause was enough time for Kacchan's lip to curl in irritation, so Izuku grasped his hand. He ignored the twinge of pain as he let Kaccchan bring him up to a standing position.
"Now what?" Izuku asked.
Kacchan didn't respond, and he didn't let go of Izuku's hand as he raised it between them. His angry red gaze brushed over the injured finger confirming for himself if it was terrible or not.
Izuku's ears grew hot under Kacchan's gaze, his heart fumbling in his chest as he stared at their clasped hands. Kacchan's palms were smooth to the touch. Izuku guessed it had to do with Kacchan's sweat composition, a crucial component to his quirk. Izuku wondered if the softness only applied to Kacchan's palms or if the rest of his skin was as velvety.
And why did the thought make Izuku's heart stutter?
" ..at…are…. …Kacchan!" Izuku asked.
"Looks like a sprain, but otherwise better than how your arm turned out." Kacchan said.
Kacchan released Izuku's hand once satisfied, but he made sure Izuku kept his palm open and at chest level. Izuku watched curiously as Kacchan took a step back from him.
"Right now you don't know how to control your quirks strength right? But a quirk is no different than the rest of your limbs." He said.
"When you want to go all out you don't use your fist, you have to use your whole body to put strength behind it right?" Kacchan said. Kacchan wound up his fist, jabbing it at the center of Izuku's palm. The impact made his arm shoot back behind him with a thunk. His finger was now pulsing with irritation.
"Ow! Kacchan!" Izuku cried as he held his now aching arm. He ignored the satisfied smirk that Kacchan wore on his face.
"See, at full force it wasn't my fist that made it hurt, but my shoulder and chest muscles. But you don't think about that when you do it." Kacchan made another fist out in front of him. "You don't think of everything that goes behind throwing a punch. You just punch and trust that your body will do what you need it to do." He said.
Izuku shook his fingers out, listening to what Kacchan tried to explain. In theory, it made sense. Izuku didn't have to think about breathing, or walking, or processing food. It was all automatic; Izuku tried to absorb what Kacchan was saying, but how did that apply to a quirk?
"This quirk isn't in your finger or your arm, it's in your whole body." Kacchan said. "Now raise your hand back up."
Izuku glared at the blonde suspicious of what he would do, but he still raised his hand back up. Kacchan raised his fist, pausing for the added effect. His smile stretched manic across his face, and Izuku tensed up, ready for another painful blow.
Kacchan jabbed forward, and Izuku flinched eyes closing, but there was no pain. Instead, it was the velvety touch of Kacchan's knuckles as they pushed into Izuku's palm. Izuku opened his eyes, and Kacchan was staring back at him.
"And when you want to be gentle you use all those same muscles, but with less force. You don't think about it, you just tell your body what you want to do and it does all the work for you. When you accept that this quirk is now a part of you and take it as your own, it will listen." Kacchan said.
Izuku's jaw fell loose, his lips parting in shock. It sounded more straightforward than it was, but somewhere in Kacchan's words, there was a nugget of truth. It was true; One for All felt more like a foreign thing invading his body, not as something that was a part of him. He hadn't accepted this new quirk as his own yet. To Izuku, this was All Might's quirk. Still, he wasn't sure how he would implement what Kacchan had told him, but it felt like he was finally getting somewhere.
Kacchan's fist lay heavy in Izuku's grasp as they stood in silence, the blonde letting him process. Izuku curled his fingers around his friend's knuckles, curious at the feel. Izuku would say it was a pleasant sensation, like a tingle as Kacchan's smoothness pressed against Izuku's roughness.
"You're probably right." Izuku whispered.
"Of course, I'm right." Kacchan huffed.
When Kacchan pulled away, Izuku felt disappointed, but he couldn't say why. The boys decided to take a break, so they migrated over to sit at the only table they kept in the back corner of the room.
"Have you run into Chieko yet?" Izuku asked.
Not one fucking peep." Kacchan said.
Izuku fiddled with the cap of his water bottle. There had been no word from Chieko since the day they had arrived. And after the second week passed with no news, they went to Detective Tsukauchi for answers. The man had been elusive, stating she had been out on the field to help with the heroes. Something about a few small-time villains causing trouble too close to the hospital. The boys hadn't heard of such a thing, but Izuku didn't question it. Detective Tsukauchi promised to find out where she was staying, and Izuku was sure he was just too busy to get back to them.
"I'm sure she's fine, the heroes are still doing so much to keep villains from attacking the hospital. She probably has her hands full." Izuku said.
"Why do you do that?" Kacchan asked.
"Do what?" Izuku asked.
Izuku tilted his head to look over at Kacchan, who had leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees. He stared Izuku down, Kacchan always looked angry, but this was more confused anger.
"Why do you make excuses for them? We both know they're lying to us. This doesn't feel right Deku." Kacchan said.
"I'm not making excuses Kacchan, I mean….. they're heroes. There has to be a reason she hasn't seen us." Izuku reasoned.
"Don't be so naive, heroes don't exist anymore. It's survival of the fittest now and they're no different." Kacchan said. He pushed back to stretch out, his legs crossed at the ankle. His foot reached Izuku's flimsy chair, and he tapped it in irritation against the metal leg.
"There's something they're not telling us and for some reason they don't want us to see her." Kacchan shot back.
Izuku flinched; he didn't want to admit that the same thoughts had crossed his mind. It wasn't that he didn't question it, but every time his suspicions ran, the sour taste would coat the back of his throat. The very idea so unappealing to Izuku he would push it away and come up with a reason for it all.
But it was because of these suspicions that Kacchan had started volunteering in the heavy labor team. They would go with different heroes to help with cleaning or repairing the surrounding area depending on the required quirk. Kacchan was a perfect candidate with his explosion quirk's various uses. And this allowed him the most access to the heroes hoping that he would hear something about Chieko's whereabouts or, best case scenario, run into her while working.
Since Izuku couldn't help in that area, he focused more on looking for his mom, who was still missing. Izuku found the kitchen and janitorial jobs to be the best options for him in his search. The kitchen brought new faces every day, and he was able to question if any had seen her with the picture he kept on his now charged phone. When he got a lead, he would wait until his janitorial shift to follow up. They gave him the simple task of moping all the hallways, which Izuku didn't mind because he gave him the broadest scope to look for her.
"How about tomorrow we take the day off and look for her ourselves," Izuku asked.
Kacchan nodded, relieved, and Izuku felt a bit of guilt that Kacchan seemed more worried than he was for their friend. It wasn't that Izuku wasn't concerned for Chieko, but to worry meant he thought something was wrong. But even so, he did wonder where she was, so every day while Izuku searched for his mom, he would also keep an eye out for his friend. It was unlikely she would be in the floors he cleaned, but he still hoped. He and Kacchan both agreed she had to be in the heroes' wing, but only heroes and those authorized could enter that area of the hospital.
"How are we going to get through though? The heroes wing is the only area civilian's aren't allowed in." Kacchan asked.
Izuku grinned, his plan already forming in his head as he went over the different possibilities.
"Well not unless you're part of the cleaning or kitchen crew." Izuku said.
Kacchan flicked his bottle cap at Izuku, making it smack him right between the eyes. Izuku flinched back, his grin falling off his face. He could hear Kacchan chuckle in satisfaction, and Izuku pouted in response.
"You aren't in those teams, and I doubt they'll let you switch for no reason, idiot." Kacchan said.
"No, they wouldn't, but I know someone who is part of their kitchen crew, I'm sure he can help us out." Izuku said.
"Who?" Kacchan asked.
"His name is Inasa Yoarashi, he's pretty nice, I'm sure if we explain the situation he'll help us." Izuku said.
Kacchan hummed, he didn't look sure about bringing someone else into their search, but they didn't have many options, so Izuku knew he'd agree.
"What about your mom?" Kacchan asked.
Izuku slumped back in his chair; the disappointment must have been evident on his face because Kacchan frowned at him.
"There's a few people that think they might have seen her, but otherwise nothing. Officer Ito wasn't kidding when he mentioned how big this place is, she could be anywhere." Izuku said.
"Shit, maybe we can also look for auntie tomorrow. It wouldn't hurt to focus on finding them." Kacchan offered.
Izuku smiled at Kacchan. Even if the blonde didn't show it, Izuku knew how much he worried for Chieko and Izuku's mom. He wanted to find them as much as Izuku did.
Kacchan stood up, finished with his water, and stretched his whole body. His shirt rode up at the act, but Izuku looked away before he could see anything. These new thoughts of Kacchan were confusing Izuku more than he liked to admit.
"Let's go nerd, I want to go to bed early for once." Kacchan said.
Kacchan headed for the door without waiting for Izuku, so he stood up, throwing his empty bottle away in a hurry so Kacchan wouldn't leave him behind. As Izuku exited out into the hallway, he was prepared to run after his friend, but Kaccchan stood outside waiting for him. Izuku smiled; if only the old Izuku could see this new, more considerate Kacchan, he'd have fainted from the shock.
"I have a good feeling about tomorrow. Just wait Kacchan, we'll find Chieko working hard next to the heroes and all this will get cleared up." Izuku said.
Kacchan rolled his eyes at him before stuffing his hands in his pocket and turning to head to their beds.
"Yeah sure, whatever you say Deku." Kacchan said.