Chapter Thirty-Seven: Who He Is

The 1-A students had arrived at their destination, but were confused to find that they were located within an empty lot on the mountaintop and the 1-B students were nowhere to be found. The lush trees swayed with the wind and the sun beamed down on the students as creatures within the forest littered the area with ambience. The sight was beautiful, and it captivated all that were lucky enough to be a spectator.

As Kyoka and Izuku made their way off the bus to join the rest of the class, they too were blindsighted to the view before them. Gazing upon the forest and rock that laid before them, they too were reminded of the beauty of the world that they lived in, and their lives began to seem so much simpler. Izuku, after having his talk with Bakugou, was feeling a bit better about the situation from earlier and remembered what his revelation had come down to. It was purely up to them both if they really wanted things to work. The road ahead was dangerous and they were well aware, even Izuku could tell after everything that he had been faced with in the past week or so. Things would change, they needed to change. And the both of them had to change with it if they ever wanted a chance at a life together.

Izuku watched Kyoka as she joined up with the rest of their classmates and smiled. They were already taking a step in the right direction simply by being here, and ironically thanks to Aizawa they now had an idea of what to focus on. Their strength together was important, but their solo journey's to greatness were just as valuable, if not, more. The greenette walked up beside his girlfriend and carefully took her hands in his. She glanced over at him, locking eyes with him as his face reflected an expression of warmth. They would be okay was the message he hoped to convey, and Kyoka could tell. Yet she couldn't fully believe him, something was amiss in her heart.

She could believe in him, she had complete faith in Izuku, but she was afraid of the faith, or lack thereof, that she had in herself. Izuku was destined for greatness, that much she knew, but when it came to herself she had no idea what life had in store for her. She began to feel insignificant, someone of no renown who wouldn't amount to much in the career path she had chosen. Not only that, but she began to feel like even if Izuku had faith in her, when put in a situation where she was in danger, hell, if Izuku was in danger… She might have cracked. It was a frightening thought.

Aizawa carefully eyed the two, noticing the distance growing between them. He felt no regret, this was a painful reality and they needed to grasp it while they still could. He knew that he might not have been right by checking them when he did, but if he learned anything from his time as a hero course student, and as a pro hero… They needed this lesson early before something happened and changed their lives for the worse.

Izuku frowned, feeling that Kyoka wasn't gripping his hand back. He began to let go, but was halted when she suddenly grasped his hand right back. She didn't want to let go, deep down inside herself she knew that wasn't what she wanted. She was afraid, but knew it was no easier on her green haired partner. He was probably just as worried about it, but even if they were afraid… Why should that stop them?

Kyoka turned back to Izuku, giving his hand a squeeze as they locked eyes for the first time since their encounter with their homeroom teacher. The purplette couldn't help but silently curse the man in her mind for making things so awkward for them. Aizawa caught their hands locked together through the crowd, sitting as far behind as they liked, he could still see them. It seemed they found a different kind of resolve, but he wondered how long that could last… It was ignorant to believe they could make it work so easily, but maybe they figured that out already and are taking the risk anyway.

He sighed. He started a head count silently, making sure all of the 1-A students were present and accounted for before their additional supervisors were to arrive.

"Heyyy! Eraser, it's been awhile, huh?" A voice called from behind the gruff man. He glanced behind him to see the approaching members of the Wild Pussy Cats, a hero team that had been around for quite some time. Joining them was a small boy with a horned cap that covered his deep scowl. Izuku spotted the youngling as well, growing curious at whether he was one of the pro heroes' children or not.

"Kyo, look. It's the-" Izuku started, the inner nerd within him beginning to seep out as he pulled his notebook out of his pocket and began to flip through in search for his notes on the heroes present. Kyoka slapped it out of his hand playfully, causing the greenette to turn to her with feigned annoyance. "Oi."

Kyoka only snickered playfully in response, ruffling the boy's hair as he knelt down to pick it up with a huff. He couldn't help but smile, however. She was beginning to act like herself again and it helped put him at ease. As he rose back up to his feet he lightly slapped his notebook overtop of her head, earning a smile in response as she took a step closer to him, nearly pressing against his arm. She could find comfort in these little moments they had together, a reminder that they could often be a bit too deep in their own heads. All they needed to do was talk, and they'd find the time to figure things out properly.

The new arrival of two members of The Wild Pussycats had captured everyone's attention, they watched in a mix of discomfort and awe as the two heroes participated in some kind of practiced routine greeting. After they had finished Aizawa took it upon himself to give them a formal introduction as many students excluding Izuku Midoriya seemed to be mighty confused, or simply didn't care for them.

"These are the professional heroes The Pussycats. They're one of the four hero teams that founded the union of affairs office." He introduced, now seeming to gather some attention from his students. "They have about 12 years of heroics under their belt, show them your respect."

The brunette of the pair slowly made her way towards the railing of the field that they resided. It is then that many of the students realized that they had been instructed to exit the buses without their belongings, maybe they had already arrived at their destination? It did seem a bit barren.

"This place is entirely under our control." She started, turning back to the students as she raised an arm and pointed outward in what appeared to be the base of a nearby mountain. "And where you all will be staying is all the way out there."

"That's way too far!" Kirishima spoke up in concern, the red haired boy beginning to connect the dots. Many of the other 1-A students followed soon after, Izuku especially began to eye the three pro's present. They definitely seemed to be hiding something, and Izuku believed he was beginning to piece it together.

"Hey, Kyo… Stick by me. Something feels off." He instructed quietly, his eyes becoming sharp as he locked eyes with Aizawa. The man seemed to realize that Izuku had caught on and sighed, there goes the element of surprise.

Kyoka nodded softly, confused at first, but as she watched the blonde haired pro before them swiftly lean down and plant her gloved hands onto the ground she realized just what was happening. Of course they had to keep the students on their toes. It was a part of the job, wasn't it? Many of the students began to panic, protest, or all of the above, yet they were too late to stop them. A huge mudslide had been formed by the use of Pixie Bob's quirk, and all students present were swiftly pushed off the side of the mountain doomed to fall and hit the ground unless they were able to catch themselves.

As they began to fall to the ground, Izuku grabbed Kyoka in his arms and activated One For All, using a quick kick to cancel out their downward momentum and allowing Izuku to land in one of the trees. "You gonna be okay if I..?"

Kyoka nodded, placing her feet down onto the branch as Izuku leapt off to help as many of his fellow classmates as he could. Some were able to save themselves, but some like Mineta or Hagakure were completely defenseless against this kind of thing. Kyoka quickly made her way down to ground level with the others, eventually everyone had gathered together and Izuku finally made his way back down in tandem with Bakugou surprisingly.

"Is everyone okay? No one's injured?" The greenette inquired, his duty as class president shining through to ensure all of his fellow hero course students safety. After doing a quick headcount they were able to ensure that everyone was safe and accounted for, all excluding a certain grape haired boy who had been seen running off to use the bathroom. Unfortunately, he seemed to come running right back to the group in shame with wet pants as the ground shook with the approach of what appeared to be giant mud golems.

"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me…" Kyoka mumbled under her breath, all the students braced themselves for a fight but four of them seemed to be quicker on the draw and smashed their way straight through the first of many. Izuku, Bakugou, Iida, and Todoroki all moved in unison and crushed the golem with ease.

"What the hell was that!?" Bakugou shouted in annoyance, glaring at the remains of the odd beast.

"A test. I believe they want us to make our way to the campsite ourselves." Todoroki replied, his response getting agreement from everyone present.

"What should we do, Deku?" Uraraka chimed in, looking to the greenette for instruction. In fact, most of the class had been looking to him for some kind of plan and it caused him to freeze. Were they really asking him for guidance right now?

"U-Uh… Well…" He started, stammering as he struggled to piece together a plan. The pressure caused his thoughts to trip over themselves and now he was beginning to panic, but before he could start to spiral the growl of more golems had caught everyone's attention. They were suddenly surrounded and would have to fight their way out. Izuku scanned the area and pulled himself together; it wasn't time to panic, he needed to focus. "For now, we fight."

"And after that?" Momo questioned, already beginning to make tools for those without offensive capabilities. Everyone once more had looked to the greenette for his words, but he paid them no mind. He simply took a deep breath and felt the rush that came with the now 10% of One For All that his body had acclimated to. His eyes were purely focused on the enemy, and he had faith that all of his classmates could keep up just fine. He had much on his mind, but he cast it aside for this moment where he could really let go and do what came naturally.

Kyoka watched as the greenette snapped right back into "hero mode". It was almost like a second personality for him, something that he could turn on or off whenever he saw fit. It was amazing to see that in, but she realized that it wasn't even like a lightswitch, this act of his where he acted without thought was just a part of who he was. It was a key portion of what made him. Izuku then smiled, bringing Kyoka out of her thoughts, and causing the purplette to unconsciously admire his confidence and capability. He had changed somewhere along their journey together, and she got a good look at what that change was.

Izuku stepped towards the golem directly opposing him with a smirk, "After that? We work it out."

To say that class 1-A struggled would be an understatement. Many of them had found themselves being nearly crushed by rubble, stumbling when trying to walk in any capacity, or being caught off guard by the many golems and other creatures that had made it their goal to hit them with everything. Even the top students in the class struggled to keep up, no matter how many opponents they beat there always seemed to be 10 more that would take their place. These instructors of theirs were brutal and unforgiving.

Eventually the group had found a clearing, hoping that they had made it in the right direction, but they were well aware at the time. The sun was setting as they arrived, stumbling through the clearing as they had found their teacher and The Wild Pussycats standing there with smiles on their faces.

"Oh, you guys finally made it!" Pixie Bob stated, watching as the students staggered their way out of the trees and shrubbery. They were panting with exhaustion, their eyes hazy and their bodies bruised and battered. They had fought for so long, it was now 5:20 PM. They missed lunch and now were impeding dinner time. Many of them were starved and wanted nothing more than to collapse. A few of them did in fact, and ended up having to be carried by others until they woke back up.

The 1-A students glared at their instructors in unison, all of them feeling nothing but a seething hatred for the ones that had subjected them to what they just experienced. Practice be damned, they were mad. As they approached the building that would be their shelter for the next few days, Mandalay decided to speak up.

"I guess I should have warned you it would take a while. You have your green haired friend over there to thank for that, he caught on a bit too quick and spoiled the surprise." She informed, glancing at the exhausted greenette who simply rolled his eyes. "Regardless, you all did well!"

"I do have to say though, I'm impressed you figured out my earth beasts back there so quickly. You guys are good…" Pixie Bob chimed in, looking over the students before landing on five individuals in particular: Izuku, Bakugou, Iida, and surprisingly Kyoka.. "Especially you five. You all moved quick and snapped right into the zone, and you with the earjacks, your reconnaissance was superb! You were able to call out even the slightest movements from the golems."

Kyoka was surprised at the compliment, she felt a scarred hand pat her on her shoulder, turning to notice Izuku smiling at her weakly. The recognition felt good, she felt pride in her quirk and how far she had come since enrolling. In such a short amount of time, look at her now… She was being recognized with the top dogs. It felt especially good seeing as one of those "top dogs" was her now painfully exhausted boyfriend.

Izuku felt the same, he was proud of himself and his journey. He was often recognized for being quick on his feet, somehow seeming like a prodigy despite how much hard work he actually had to put into it. However, he felt even more pride in the fact that his girlfriend had really helped them all out during the trek through the forest. She looked out for everyone, using her quirk to support all the heavy hitters, and along with some of the others she made it her goal to keep everyone together and safe. No one had suffered serious injuries and perhaps they could all attribute that to Kyoka. He hadn't really seen her be so in tune with her surroundings, but perhaps her time with Present Mic really paid off more than she let on. Even with all the noise in the forest, she could focus without getting overwhelmed by the other sounds.

"I'm so excited to see what'll become of you boys, though!" The blonde pro hero suddenly spoke once more, turning her attention on the four top performing males with a devious look in her eyes. They all suddenly grew seriously uncomfortable at the way she was eyeing them. "Gosh, I should just call dibs right now!"

Mandalay snatched her friend up by the back of her top and yanked her back before she could pounce on any of the horrified heroes-to-be. She sighed, even if she were getting to that age, she needed to control her outbursts. It was seriously gross and heavily concerning. "Sorry, boys. She's at the marrying age, and all…"

"Speaking of marrying age-" Izuku started before he gained a glare from his purple haired girlfriend. He continued regardless as he figured he had nothing to truly be afraid of this time, besides he needed answers on the child that had been sitting there glaring at them since they arrived. "-Who's child is that over there? Is he one of yours?"

Mandalay turned to the young boy, noticing how he glared at the greenette. She sighed and shook her head. "No, this is Kouta. He's my nephew, and he'll be staying with us for the next week."

Izuku nodded in understanding, he smiled at the youngling. He seemed like a troubled kid, kinda reminded him of Bakugou in a way. Kyoka grabbed his wrist, conveying concern of his actions. Something about this kid screamed don't mess with him, but Izuku couldn't help but want to try and get to know him. Surely they shouldn't treat him as a stranger, right? If he's going to be around the least they could do was make him feel less alone.

The greenette walked over to him, crouching down a bit as he stretched out a hand for him to shake. "My name's Izuku Midoriya, I'm a student at UA. It's nice to meet you!"

Everyone around watched in horror as Kouta reeled back his fist and threw it straight into Izuku's crotch, knocking the wind out of the greenette and leaving him curled up in a ball on the ground where he clutched his family jewels and writhed in pain. Kyoka and a few others couldn't help but burst out laughing at Kouta's defiance, but as the purplette laughed she knelt down beside his writhing form and placed a hand onto his shoulder.

"Man, he really nailed you, you okay?" She questioned teasingly, patting his arm as he groaned in response. Kyoka couldn't help but roll her eyes and turn to the kid as an angry expression overtook her features in order to scare Kouta straight. "HEY, BRAT! APOLOGIZE OR I'M GONNA RIP YOU A NEW ONE!"

The boy flinched, but his scowl never left. The two of them were locked in a mental battle where all they did was stare one another down, but Kyoka would not let up on a child. Eventually she brought herself to her feet and began to walk over, finally scaring him enough to hide behind his aunt. "I'm not going to fuck around with the likes of you! Corny ass heroes! Go back to playing hookie at UA!"

A vein popped on Kyoka's forehead. "HAAH!? Howzabout I latch you to a tree and leave you there overnight you little-"

"Kyo, stop…" Izuku called as he recomposed himself and rose to his feet. Even though the child had laid his hands on him, he found that Kouta was a lot more responsive than he thought. He must have been fairly troubled. "It's fine, leave him alone."

Kouta stuck his tongue out at the scary lady, earning a glare back in response before she turned around and walked back to the group with Izuku in tow. The students were having quite the day already, and there was a whole week ahead of them. Izuku wondered just what they would go through together during this training camp, and what kind of scenarios they would find themselves in?

He could only wonder.

After eating, all the students were to split up and take some time to relax in the open air bath that was provided by their training site. The men and women were split between a wall, which was already breeding disaster as a specific grape-haired midget was plotting before the rest of the men's very eyes.

"It's only once in a blue moon that God will grace us…" He mumbled to himself, pulling a ball from his hair as he prepared to scale the large wooden wall that separated the boys from the girls. Bakugou seemingly snatched the boy by his ankle and held him upside down before dunking his head into the water effortlessly.

"Anyways." He started, water splashing beside him as the pervert struggled to free himself and get some air. "So, Midoriya. Feeling any better?"

"Uh, Y-Yeah, something like that." Izuku replied, watching the struggling from Mineta slowly become less and growing concerned that Bakugou was seriously just going to let him drown to death. "I-I think he's learned his lesson, Bakugou."

The blonde rolled his eyes and lifted his head above the water, allowing Mineta to gasp for air before suddenly being blasted across the bath with an explosion, neither of the boys even paid the grapist any attention.

"Say, why are you two so chummy all of a sudden?" Sero chimed in, noticing the two boys talking amongst themselves and making his way over to annoyingly interrogate them. "And what's he talking about? Was something wrong?"

"W-Well…" Izuku started, glancing towards Bakugou to help him with an explanation but the blonde averted his gaze. He wasn't going to be the one to fess up anything. "We kinda sorted our issues out a while ago, at least a little bit. A-And he's just talking about something that happened with Kyoka…"

"Oh, now this I gotta hear!" Sero said, a wicked grin growing on his face as he sat down beside the two. "What's going on with you two? Surely there's at least something, right?"

"Yeah, I can't lie and say I'm not a little bit curious. You said before that you weren't dating, but has there been anything new?" Kirishima added, now finding that all the boys in the class were staring straight at Midoriya waiting for an answer. The pressure was on, and he was now cornered.

"U-Uh… I-I don't really know how to answer that…" Izuku mumbled, running a hand through his hand as he nervously racked his brain for some kind of response that wouldn't give away too much. Unfortunately, it was already too late, he had told more than enough.

"So something did happen!" Kaminari chimed in, now joining in with the others and approaching the greenette. He wrapped his arm around the greenette's neck and pulled him in close as the boys of the class gathered around him, intrigued by the situation unfolding. "Now you've got to spill."

Izuku hesitated, he knew this was not something he wanted to share, but now he was being pressured. What could he do? Perhaps the right move was to deny profusely, but the cat was already out of the bag… Could he lie? No, that was definitely off the table. Izuku wasn't built to lie under any circumstance. He'd have to hide as much of the truth as he could, but what could he say to get them off his tail?

"G-Guys please…" He mumbled, a blush forming on his face as he pushed the electro-dolt off of him. He sighed as they all continued to stare at him in wait. They were expecting an answer, and he'd have to provide something.

"W-Well…"

Here is chapter 37, currently I've been putting these together during random intervals whenever I have nothing to do, but I've also been drawing and working on independent projects in my spare time. I won't be sharing them here, but who knows if you'll be able to find it. Putting that aside, time to talk about the chapter and it's contents.

This chapter we've arrived at the forest training camp, my intention was not to speed anything along too far, and just get to where I need them to be before the interesting stuff happens. Izuku and Kyoka both have a certain conversation in mind that they will need to have regarding the future of their relationship and their careers as heroes. There's a lot of danger already being sprung on them, but regardless it wouldn't be right not to give it a shot.

I always wanted to give Kyoka more spotlight independently, and now this is where that will start to happen. She's being split off from Izuku a lot more and becoming more recognized for it. I feel like I wasn't giving her enough of a sense of self earlier on, and I move to change that.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed it.