AN: Alright everybody, this is the last chapter before the Sports Festival Arc happens. Got a LOT planned for this arc.
AN2: Alright everyone, for the move my wife and I have applied for and gotten approval to from an apartment complex to rent a new place but I wont be able to move in till mid July. I'll still do my best to get these two chapter updates posted as I can but the BIG project I've mentioned will be done after that.
A Fool's Bonds
Chapter 20
-Izuku-
Ducking under the capture scarf striking out at him like a Cobra, Izuku moved to try and strike at his mentor's flank.
Tried being the operative word.
Aizawa was a pro and much faster than Izuku was without using his forms so he soon found his legs swept as he slammed hard onto the training room floor.
"Ow." Izuku groaned, accepting Aizawa's offered hand as he got back onto his feet.
"Relax, you're doing good." The underground pro rolled his eyes good naturedly, "You'll be more than ready for the Sports Festival on Monday."
"Thank you, sir." Izuku grinned widely, feeling a surge of pride from the praise at the man who had been more of a father to him in one year than his blood father had been in ten.
"Which is good because you'll need to be prepared." Aizawa's gaze became hyper intense in an instant, "You, more than nearly anyone else at UA right now, will be the focus of those watching the Sports Festival."
"M-me?!" Izuku gaped, not sure why Aizawa would state something like that, "Shouldn't the third years be the focus?!"
"I know you're not this dumb kid." Aizawa deadpanned, "Yes, typically, the third years would be the focus for anyone watching the Sports Festival. But first, your class survived a genuine villain attack, so the first-year sports festival will receive more focus than it ever has before. Secondly, you yourself have been drawing public attention to yourself."
"Public attention?" Izuku blinked, trying to figure out what his Emperor confidant meant.
"…Sweet mercy how can you be so smart yet so oblivious?" Aizawa slapped a hand to his face, looking exhausted "First, the incident at the Yaoyorozu gala event. You not only defended your classmate from being sexually harassed, you did it while protecting her from the son of a diplomat and nephew of a foreign number one. That ambassador has been forced to resign and even Norway's number one made a statement about what happened. The face that your confrontation ended up online only adds to that."
"It got online?!" Izuku gaped, having not realized it was on Youtube.
"Second," Aizawa pressed on, ignoring Izuku's shock "when you and Ashido went to that arcade. You once again got online for your performance in that VR thing, but you exposed a would-be Yakuza wannabe. With you reporting it to Nezu, he exposed just how many people he'd been threatening, extorting, and Blackmailing. Nezu gave you, and Miss Ashido, partial credit for the arrests that followed. This means you already have a 'success rate' as a potential Pro that will be taken into consideration when you go for your provisional license."
"It's on my record?!" Izuku was gaping, why had nobody told him about this?!
"And third," Aizawa began to wrap up, "you and Kirishima have been cleaning up that beach. It's drawn attention online, much like your other outings did, getting people rooting for you and Kirishima."
"Why did nobody tell me?" Izuku groaned, burying his red face in his hands.
"Izuku, you're trending. I shouldn't have to tell you." Aizawa deadpanned as Izuku made a pitiful groan, "Alright, that's enough moping. Come on squirt, coffee time." Aizawa pulled Izuku up to his feet, "Hit the showers and meet me out front. I know Margaret would never let me hear the end of it if I didn't bring you to see them before the Sports Festival."
"Yes sir." Izuku grumbled, still embarrassed about how much attention he's apparently getting online. As he got into the locker room to get cleaned up and changed, he glanced at his phone and debated on seeing for himself what sort of things were being said. What was the worst that he could find?
-Aizawa-
Smirking to himself, Shota sat at his favorite booth while his apprentice tried to shrink himself out of existence.
"Do I want to know?" Margaret asked amused as the blond walked over with, to his surprise, Jiro who was dressed in Velvet Room clothes.
"Midoriya apparently didn't realize he was trending online." Shota felt no guilt in throwing the kid under the teasing bus that was Margaret "He then jinxed himself by wondering 'what was the worst that could happen' before he looked at what people were saying about him."
"Come on Boss, you should know better." Jiro rolled her eyes, showing no sympathy for the pitiful Midoriya even as Margaret laughed and Igor snickered from behind the counter.
"So many thirsty comments." Izuku groaned, "Whyyyyyy?"
"I'm sure Momo would be happy to give you a full run down on why people are thirsty over you." Jiro smirked as Izuku turned redder, somehow, "But for now can I take your orders?"
"Coffee, black as my soul." Aizawa deadpanned.
"That means Milk." Margaret and Izuku stage whispered at the same time as Jiro remarked "Milk it is.", writing it down on her notepad.
"You do realize I can still make your training sessions worse right?" he gave the two snickering students a look.
"Oh, don't mind him, he's always been a big softy." Margaret hushed him, "These two are in here often enough that I know their regular orders. That good for you boys?"
"Thanks Margaret." He gave up and nodded with a sign, Izuku giving a thumbs up, face still planted on the table.
"Alright kid," Shota decided to change topic before his apprentice actually combusted "anything else happen lately that I should know about?"
"Um…well…" Izuku shifted awkwardly before grimacing, a bad feeling settling in Aizawa's gut "my 'father' is apparently coming back to Japan."
"The one you said fled to Alaska to become a welder, why?" Shota blinked; not sure he was going to like the answer.
"His company apparently got bought out and he was let go. He only had a work Visa and without a job anymore he had to come back." Izuku was more and more uncomfortable, "I guess what you told me earlier does explain some things. Mom and I…haven't really talked since our argument about the hospital incident." And getting an alert about the shouting match happening over phone had been a 'wonderful' thing to wake up to "But my god mom, Bakugo's mom, she told me that he spoke to Mom, and he's also apparently interested in 'reconnecting' now."
"He wants the chance to mooch off of any growing fame you'd have as a Pro." Shota scowled, silently wondering if he could get Nemuri and Hizashi to help him deal with the situation. That or just bribe Margaret into poisoning his coffee.
"I think so, yeah." Izuku nodded reluctantly, "I…I don't really know what to do. I haven't spoken to him in years." The kid was looking more and more nervous.
"Do you want to reconnect with him?" Shota asked, surprising even himself with how gently he put out the question and how much trepidation he himself felt over it.
"Hell no." Izuku's disgusted scowl was a shocking expression to see on his apprentice's face, "I…I'm just scared I'll freeze up or agree to something I shouldn't if I see him again."
"Well, he won't be able to get onto UA grounds." Shota shook his head, subtly texting Nezu to update the 'banned persons' list, "Not with his bad history of how he treated you, a UA student. When outside campus I'd suggest always having at least one or two people with you as a precaution."
"Oh dear, looks like we walked in on something heavy." Margaret noted the tense atmosphere as she and Jiro approached with their drinks and snacks, the coffee shop otherwise empty at the moment.
"Kid's deadbeat dad is trying to show up in his life." Shota scowled, knowing that Jiro would ensure that the rest of his apprentice's friends would be ready to help. And Margaret was possessive so that was another front established. Given Jiro's ear jacks swaying like angry Cobras at the notion, he felt positive that Izuku had nothing to worry about on that front. Honestly it was more likely to end up on Youtube and boost his popularity more given a 'tragic backstory'.
So, the only real question was whether or not to point that out and see how flustered the kid would become.
-Omake-
-Izuku-
Gritting his teeth, Izuku threw a hard punch into the gut of the villain who'd dared to attack to his class and the USJ. Nearby, Aizawa was on his knees, red eyes blazing even as he lacked the strength to help fight, just keep Izuku from being disintegrated.
Diving to avoid a clawed strike when his mentor was inevitably forced to blink, Izuku grabbed a fistful of dirt from the ground, throwing it into Shigaraki's eyes as the man screamed in frustrated pain.
"You little bastard!" Shigaraki snarled, eyes blazing with hatred even as he worked to clear the dirt from them to see clearly, hand reaching blindly for Izuku's face.
Steal screamed through the air as Izuku swung his sword, cutting off three fingers from Shigaraki's right hand and two from his left, the severed digits going flying along with a spray of blood.
Shigaraki's blood curling scream of rage and pain filled the building, drawing everyone's eyes even as the now essentially quirkless villain tried to strangle Izuku with the mangled hands.
Izuku grabbed the wrists, working to pry the bastard off even as his friends, and Shigaraki's warp quirk ally, moved to interfere.
Cerulean flames burst into being.
"I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast acquired a new vow. I shall become the embodiment of destruction, he who burns everything in their way. With the birth of the Hunger Persona, you have obtained the power of malice that shall lead to the end of all who would oppose you."
Gasping in horror at the arcana he had acquired, one he hadn't even heard of before, Izuku watched as the warp gate user dragged Shigaraki off of Izuku, the villain's eyes blazing with hatred. A hatred that equaled the respect and care that formed the bonds he'd created before.
A bond of hatred.
AN: Yeah, I'd originally intended for Shigaraki to have the 'Hunger' but wasn't sure where to fit that one in on the usual Arcana line ups and there was the fact that I couldn't find good matches for the other fake ones such as 'Aeon'. So it got relegated to the realm of Omake. I was thinking of the being 'Angra Mainyu' for this arcana form by the way.