Chapter 21
Izuku had listened to the Irumu staff coordinator go on about their facility's capabilities for almost an hour all while taking notes on various details of its square footage and free weight opportunities. So far, it seemed to be outfitted with what he deemed to be an acceptable and potential training facility. He had checked out a few of the more popular gyms, but most of them lacked a weight room or were too expensive for something so lacking in diversity. Others had strange rules that involved logging in your exercise times or not allowing outside equipment to be brought into the facility. After all that research, Irumu seemed to be more and more of a prospective training space; the place even had a pool. Combat capabilities would still be limited, not being as expansive as private training areas like the more well-funded hero agencies by top heroes, but it would do for now while his team was small and money was tight.
Even with him now having a more fleshed out checklist of questions to ask, his tour had gone on longer than he had intended. It had been around five since he had started. What time was it now? He glanced up at the digital clock they had mounted to the wall that flashed 18:21pm. Crap! He was going to be late!
He looked at the pamphlet in his hand that the event coordinator had given him, indicating all of the provided activities and a small map with different room numbers. He had studied it earlier, but now that he was in a rush, he felt so turned around that he couldn't figure out which way was up. Poking his head in through the open doorway, he questioned on whether or not he had the right place. The room was a lot more plain and drab than he had imagined, expecting a training room to be especially outfitted with wooden floors and equipment mounted on various parts of the room instead of a carpeted room with a large pillar and very little furniture. There were people there, but only a slight handful of them and they had obviously brought their own gear, gathering on opposite sides of the room.
"Excuse me, is this the right place for the Ludosport Lightsaber Academy?" Izuku asked, gaining the attention of almost everyone in the room. People of all different shapes and sizes stared at him, but the person that had stood out to him the most was the last to notice him and was by far most shocked to see him there. Alyssa got up from where she had been sitting cross-legged on the floor, her face lit up the instant she realized he was here and for a second the rest of the world seemed to fall away.
"Oh my god, you came... You're actually here!" Alyssa beamed, her long ponytail braid swinging in the air as she scrambled over to him like she was about to hug him. She didn't, thankfully, instead choosing to shyly tuck a loose strand of baby hair behind her ear. "Hi."
"H-Hi," he stammered nervously, a bit unnerved by how bright her smile was and how it made his heart jump inside of his chest while trying to take everything in stride. "Am I late?"
"No, you just made it under the wire. I just... I can't believe that you actually came."
"Well you talked about your class so much that I was curious, and since I was going to be in the neighborhood and tour the place anyways, I figured I'd stop by and check it out. I'm sorry that I took so long to get here. I would have texted you and let you know that I was coming, but I wasn't sure how long the tour was going to last."
"Seriously, don't worry about it. I just can't believe you actually showed up. I mean, I've been trying to get my own sister to come for months, a fellow Star Wars fan, and she still hasn't showed up. Not once, even when we still lived in the states."
"You seemed so excited for me to come, and well, this class, it's... it seemed really important to you." Her expression softened considerably. She really did truly have an amazing smile, like it almost lit up the room to the point that he almost felt almost blinded by it. Her round cheeks were accented by her dimples and had a pair of thin lips that carried a row of straight teeth that foreigners always seemed to have made her smile appear more refined like those celebrities he always saw on the covers of fashion magazines.
"This really means a lot to me, Izuku, you have no idea how much. Thank you."
"Y-You're welcome," Izuku managed, not sure exactly what it was that he had done to make her so happy, but glad that he had. The warm bubble that seemed to surround them popped a few seconds later as the real world encroached around them.
"Who's your friend, Alyssa?" asked a woman with thin wisps of blonde hair.
"Oh right. Guys, this is Izuku. I told him about our class," Alyssa introduced. Izuku could feel dozens of eyes on him now, feeling put on the spot before he gave them a slight bow of respect.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Izuku Midoriya. Thank you for having me."
"You don't have to be so formal, Izuku," Alyssa said with an amiable smile.
"Yeah. We're all nerds here," spoke up another girl who was short by most standards and smelled of bay leaves.
"You look really familiar..." said another, this one belonging to stout man that had a long bubble ponytail at the base of his neck made out of stone. "Did I see you at Komiket last year?"
"Uhh no. I haven't-" Izuku began, already retreating into his shell out of habit while everyone began swarming him at once. They must not get a lot of new people...
"I mean, he's a pro-hero so you might know him as Deku," Alyssa explained, unintentionally letting the cat out of the bag. All eyes were on him now as recognition lit up nearly everyone's face.
"Now that I think about it... hey, aren't you that one guy, Deco something?"
"Deku," Izuku corrected with a nervous smile.
"That's where I know you from! Oh man, no wonder you looked so familiar. Alyssa, you-" said a rotund boy- girl? It was hard to tell by their androgynous face and rubenesque stature -as they clenched onto Alyssa's shoulders with quivering hands, "-are friends with Deku and you didn't tell us!?"
"I... didn't think it was that big of a deal," Alyssa uttered, at a sudden loss of words as she shrugged off her classmate. "Pro-heroes are people too."
"You say that now, but you'd totally freak out if Ground Zero or Hawks walked through the door," smirked the short girl again as Alyssa's face changed many different shades of red before she let out an indignant huff.
"Oh like you wouldn't totally lose your shit if Hawks or, god-forbid, Overhaul walked through the door-" Izuku felt his emotions go from amused to somewhat disturbed at the implications of that last name mentioned before his racing thoughts were interrupted by a loud, resounding voice from across the room. A rail thin man with a dark pompadour and long legs clapped his hands together, causing everyone in the room to stop what they were doing and face towards him.
"Alright, everyone!" he boomed, his voice holding high authority and a slight accent of formality, while the other people Izuku assumed to be the other instructors lined up casually alongside him. This must have been the headmaster Alyssa had been talking about, or at least one of the lead instructors. He was a lot younger than he had been expecting. With such quaff hair and tell-tale narrow eyes hidden behind thick glasses, Izuku could have sworn he had seen him before, but just couldn't place him at the moment. "I know you're excited about our guest, but that shouldn't detract from our class, so let's get started." Izuku watched as everyone with some reluctance began spacing themselves out evenly so that each person had their own space. "Time to do Sally-Ups." There was a collective sigh among the group before everyone began getting into a push-up position. "I want to see solid planks for the first minute."
"Not again," he heard one voice complain.
"Could have been worse. We could have been doing Thunder-Squats," Alyssa grumbled with little reassurance under her breath.
"What are Sally-Ups?" Izuku asked, somehow missing the memo on what was so terrible about an innocuous name like 'Sally-Up.'
"Sally-Ups are an exercise you do to the music. You get into a push-up position and change back and forth from resting on your arms and hands every time the song says 'Sally up.' It's the carjacking song. Haven't you ever watched Gone in 60 Seconds?" Alyssa explained, tilting her head to the side at his blank expression before shaking her head, "Nevermind. Just do as we do." Upbeat English lyrics echoed through the room as the group moved down onto their forearms and back up into pushup position with every 'bring Sally up, bring Sally down.' Izuku didn't know what he had been expecting, but the image of a sword martial arts class, he expected there to be more martial arts than an exercise class. He just automatically assumed he would start with combat, but apparently that wasn't the case. It was actually harder than it looked, a lot of the exercise requiring him to be absolutely still while only one part of him moved, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. After the song concluded, most of the group collapsed and let out sighs of relief before going into the rest of the standard warm-up stretches most people would have done in gym class.
"Form Is go into the back corner with the beginners, Form IIs up front," announced the thin-man from before. "Form IIIs and IVs left back corner. Form Vs in the other corner. Form VIs out with me in the hall." Everyone began dispersing into their separate groups and grabbing their equipment. Alyssa slipped on a teal colored mouth guard along with a pair of thick black gloves that were padded for extreme sports like hockey or lacrosse and placed a plastic visor over her glasses that you would have seen people wear when working in shop class.
"Do I need anything? This all seems a bit..." Izuku trailed off, feeling grossly under-prepared. He felt like he needed more equipment or protection. Didn't he just see Alyssa put on a mouth guard? Surely they had something more than just gloves and a visor. Kendo had full-on helmets to protect their faces and armor to protect their body. Just how extreme was this class?
"Don't worry. We don't do full contact like the adherent level students do on Sundays, and new students don't get to spar unless they get clearance from the headmaster," Alyssa reassured him, somehow reading his thoughts. "I just do all of this because I can be accident prone and don't want to take any chances. You can grab some goggles and a pair of bike gloves from the equipment box on the other side of the room. The instructors bring extras for new students or if people forget theirs."
He walked over to the plastic industrial looking trunk and grabbed a pair of black goggles that snapped over his messy green hair with an elastic black band and chose a pair of gloves that were an electric green. Silver and black plates protected the segments of his fingers and knuckles of his hands like iron scales, giving them an extra layer of protection. Once he had been suited up, Izuku realized that he was still missing something crucial: a lightsaber. Dozens of lightsabers of all different shapes and sizes littered the room, some with cross-guards and others that were more handle than blade, but they appeared to be brought by the owners and not provided.
"Here. You can borrow one of mine." Alyssa went over towards the back wall where her saber bag was perched and unsheathed a lightsaber slightly shorter than her own. "I wasn't really sure if you were ever going to come or not, but I guess I still kept bringing my older saber on the hopes that you did. The instructors don't always have extras to lend to the students, so they often end up using wooden swords which are about five times heavier." She went over to where her bag rested against the wall and handed him to him. It had a bit of weight to it, heavier than the silly plastic sabers he had seen kids running around with. Instead of Alyssa's smooth cylinder, this one had a metal hourglass hilt that had dozens of nicks and scratches that marred the shiny metal surface as well as thin black scuffs on the milky blade itself. His thumb grazed a large black button that stood out in the center of a hilt, unable to keep himself from pressing down and bathing him in a warm green light. He was almost disappointed that there wasn't an energy noise upon lighting it.
"Try setting the tip on the ground for a second. I wanna see something." Izuku did as Alyssa asked, turning off the sword. She appraised him fro a moment and then let out a sigh of relief. "Oh good. I was worried that it wasn't going to fit. Swords have to come up to the user's bellybutton to be comfortable, so I hoped my shorter sword would've sufficed. I'm glad it fits. The lightsaber really suits you." He smiled and stood on the other side of her, placing himself away from the well-built man on her left that had the daunting countenance of a large shark. Alyssa appeared to be unfazed by this, instead greeting him amiably and asking how work was doing.
"Alright, Form Is, I see we have a few new students, so we're going to go over the basics. Everyone get into deep engarde. For you newbies, that means spread your feet with your dominant foot forward and bend your knees down until you're in a crouching position," said the instructor, who Izuku learned was named Yosuke Kurokawa and one of the founders of the Tokyo Ludosport Lightsaber Academy (or TLLA), as he came over towards where Izuku was standing. He rested his calloused hand on the tip of his of sword to alter the direction. "Lower... lower- good. Make sure you're also gripping your sword so that your hands are evenly apart that I could reach out and grab the center of your hilt."
Izuku complied, though it was a strange adjustment for him. He had never really used a weapon before when he fought, relying only on his bare fists in a fight or Blackwhip to carry him through. He was eager to add anything new to his repertoire of skills. "Alright now we're going to go over the three basic attacks: the diagonal, the horizontal, and the up-diagonal cuts. Doing all three in succession is the bread and butter of Form I, something that will carry any of you against any kind of combat the other forms can dish out. First, let's do a diagonal close. With your wrists locked and straight, bring the tip of your sword and make diagonal slash so that your hilt ends down by your left hip." They practiced this and did its opposite, a horizontal open, a few times before Kurokawa went around and had his students strike his sword with the same technique. He waited patiently in front of Izuku until he struck his instructor's sword with a light tap. It sat their awkwardly, not budging an inch. "Make sure to slide off the blade when you attack as you lean forward. Smooth movements, like you're cutting butter."
"Right!" Izuku tried again, this time striking his opponent's sword with a cleaner hit, but his nerves made the sword strike loose and clumsy that it slid all over the place.
"Don't worry if you don't get it right away. Fighting with swords is a tad more complex than punching someone in the face," the shark-man from earlier spoke up, revealing several rows of sharp teeth as he gave what Izuku assumed was a friendly smile.
"Yeah. I'm sure a pro-hero like you will be able to master it in no time," the short girl from earlier said with some encouragement. Somehow that only seemed to add on pressure, causing him to continue to fail as Kurokawa had him go over the strikes a third time. Instead of correcting him, Kurokawa gave him a half smile and then moved onto the next student while Izuku watched the others correctly hit the instructor's sword.
The more that the lesson continued, the more complex everything seemed to be. There was so much to remember. Keep your knees bent. Don't place your weight unevenly on your front knee or you'll become unbalanced. Keep your movements fluid and from your core. Don't bend your elbows when you strike. Keep your arms still and away while guarding your center. Keep the tip of the sword parallel with your shoulder. He found it so fascinating but found it was also a bit overwhelming. The urge to break out his hero notebook itched at the back of his mind, his hands twitching for a pencil or to pantomime the movement of writing at the eagerness of logging new information, but his hands were impeded by clenching onto the hilt of his saber instead.
"Don't try to punch out with your sword. Punching out gives your opponent an opportunity to use the momentum to strike back," Kurokawa explained after gently reminding Izuku that blocks were supposed to be still and provide no force, but he found himself struggling to follow instructions. At this point, he was more concerned on whether or not he was going to accidentally take out an eye instead of get it right. "Don't wave your sword around like a windshield wiper when transitioning sides for a mid-block. That's how you hit someone in the head and end up hurting yourself."
"Got it," Izuku said before lowering his saber while Kurokawa gave his next student tips. He looked down at his sword and tried miming the movements in practice but still ended up repeating older mistakes. Why couldn't he get this right?
"Psst, Izuku," whispered Alyssa, interrupting his thoughts while the instructor went around to the other Form Is. "Relax your arms a bit and keep your saber pointed down when you transition in the mid-blocks." She quickly demonstrated, giving him tips while shifting her feet and twisting her hips with the different stances with her elbows raised high and away from her head. "That way you only have to worry about how you twist your arms than moving your elbows. Got it?" He nodded mutely, emulating her movements with better success. "It's a lot to remember, I know, so don't worry if you don't get it right the first time. We all suck at the beginning so it's okay to not be completely amazing at something when you first start out."
Throughout the rest of the review over attacks and blocks, he would find Alyssa watching him and then giving him private tips while the others worked on their form with Kurokawa-sensei. For some reason, it was just easier coming from her, like there was less pressure on him if he failed. It was one thing if he was just some random guy on the street and he messed up, but another if a pro-hero who had received combat training had failed something so simple as fighting with a lightsaber, but around her she made him feel like a regular person, like less of a failure.
"Okay, now we're going to spend the next few minutes practicing. First you do a diagonal close and then step forward with a diagonal open, and then step back to block while your opponent moves forward to attack. Your partner will block, block, and then counter. Alyssa, can you come up here to demonstrate?"
"Sure," she shrugged and took her place in front of Kurokawa and got into position. She made it look so easy, able to block Kurokawa with split second movements that he was almost envious.
"Make sure you twist your body through the stances and attacks and move like one motion while keeping wide steps," he explained before lowering his lightsaber and turning it off from the deep amber glow it gave off. "Now pair up and practice the moves." Everyone then began breaking off into pairs, leaving Izuku to have an awkward moment of panic of who to pair up with. There was an uneven number of students, so it was likely that he would end up alone, something he was fairly accustomed to after being picked last for most games when he was a child. A tap on his side from Alyssa's blade solved this issue.
"Hey, you want to pair up?" Alyssa asked him.
"Su-" he began before the short girl from earlier interjected herself into the conversation.
"I call Deku!" she called out, holding her hand up in the air.
"Easy, girl. You're going to scare him off. You can't just call someone," Alyssa said, giving the girl a small frown. "Besides, I already asked him first."
"You're just mad because you didn't think of it first."
"Still, back off, Katsura. He's mine," Alyssa said, taking a protective step in front of Izuku as he felt tinges of pink dust his cheeks at the word 'mine.'
"He's yours, huh?" Katsura teased, causing Alyssa's face to pinch slightly in embarrassment.
"Oh don't make this a thing. It's not like that. It's just simple logic: I invited him here, he's my friend, so I get to spar with him," she said before giving the shark-man on her right a sidelong glance, "You don't mind, right Mak- Wanizame? I know a lot of people can't handle your left-handed sword style." The middle-aged fishman waved his hand in a casual manner.
"No, go ahead. I'd want to practice with Deku over me too."
"Awww don't be like that, Shark Boy. You know you're still my favorite guy to spar with." Alyssa pat Wanizame on the shoulder before she walked a few paces behind Izuku and raised her saber.
"Are you sure this is okay?" Izuku asked, still a bit hot from the earlier comment. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. "I don't want to put anyone out."
"It's fine. Makoto- I mean, Wanizame -can spar against Kurokawa. He usually does when I'm not available. So do you want to go first, or should I?"
"Umm... You should go first. I feel better about my blocks than attacks."
"Okay," she shrugged before igniting her saber, coloring her in a crimson light and saying, "Don't worry, I'll be gentle," before giving him a teasing smirk. He responded a nervous whimper, unable to look her directly in the eyes. Was she flirting with him? No! Focus, Izuku! You need to be in the moment right now. Focus on the blade that's coming towards you. Remember your training. At least that was his last thought before forgetting all of it, finding himself being pushed back against her strike as her blade rested there upon contact, but not budging an inch.
"Don't be afraid to move back when your opponent moves forward. We want to avoid the hot glowing sword."
"R-Right! Sorry."
"It's okay. Just try it with the next step." He did as she asked and took a step back with her. "Good. Alright now step into your opponent and then step back," Alyssa instructed, following his feet as she moved back and forth. "If it helps, the movement is kinda like a dance."
Izuku chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not the best when it comes to dancing."
"Don't worry. I'll lead," Alyssa chuckled, a lighthearted smirk stretching across her lips. His face felt hot as she stepped forward to deliver the first blow. Red clashed with green as he retreated back with a high block, then another block, and then he stepped forward with a diagonal cut of his own, Alyssa waiting patiently for his attacks so she could retaliate. Eventually they fell into a rhythm where he would move along with her. Hit. Hit. Block. Hit. Hit. Block. Taking it as more of a challenge, he relaxed somewhat and moved forward. "Good. Now you're getting it," she cheered him on, giving him a boost of confidence as they steadily picked up the pace. "Come on, hero. Show me what you got."
He gave her a defiant smirk and continued through the next few blocks and then did a combination of blocks and attacks. Somehow, it was easier coming from her, feeling a lot less pressured to succeed on the first try. It was actually starting to be a lot of fun now that he wasn't being corrected at every turn.
"Join the dark side, Izuku," she said in imitation of what he assumed to be Darth Vader's voice, giving him a dark smirk, "We have cookies."
"Never, villain! Do your worst!" Izuku declared, unable to resist playing along as they exchanged blows.
"I'll show you the power of the dark side. Hi-YAH!" She feigned to right and struck horizontally with the left, moving around him in circular footsteps, something more than just stepping into each other like they had been doing. She was clearly having too much fun with this, giving him a wicked grin with eyes sparkling with energy as she declared, "You shall never defeat me! Muahahaha!" An up-diagonal cut sliced him gently across the right side of his torso before he had knew what had happened, Alyssa already having her back towards him. She was about to let down her guard when Izuku did a mock stabbing motion, his hands loose on his hilt. Instead of realizing it was a joke, she whipped around and blocked with her sword, sending his smashing into the side of his face and neck.
"Oh shit, are you okay?!" Alyssa exclaimed, horrified at what she had done. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you in the face! You just surprised me is all."
"It's alright. Just a light tap," Izuku said, tenderly holding his jaw with his right hand before dropping it back to his side. She had good reflexes. He wondered if that was part of her Quirk like Warrior Queen or if it was something only exclusive to her. "That was amazing. Can you show me that again?"
She simply stared at him before giving him a relieved smile. "Okay, but I'm really not supposed to do head-shots." They raised their swords and continued the drill until the class moved onto the next exercise. She really did have a wonderful smile.
Author's Note: The song is "Flowers" by Moby, or as it is known in the exercise community as 'Bring Sally Up. It's a well-known workout routine done in US military exercises and general workouts. Fun fact: Japanese society does not deem braces as necessary, so they are often amazed by how nice foreigners look with their straight teeth. It's also why you see a lot of Asians with crooked teeth.
References today are Gone in 60 Seconds, Jaws, The Adventures of Sharkboy & Lavagirl, and obviously Star Wars.
Hero/Villain Profiles
Name: Yosuke Kurokawa
Form: I (Instructor)
Quirk: Flow
He can manipulate the flow of any running water or liquid. It has to be moving though. It has no effect on still water.
Fun Fact: His name means 'to help' and 'black river.'
Name: Makoto Wanizame
Form: I
Quirk: Lie Sense
Though his appearance is that of a shark, his heightened senses allows him to detect lies through scent and other means, making him a very quick and capable lawyer. If the person is wearing strong perfume or aftershave, it becomes a tad more difficult.
Fun Fact: His name means "truth" and "shark."
Name: Katsura 'Kat' Chise
Form: I
Quirk: Bay Leaf
Her Quirk gives her the natural scent of bay leaves.
Name: Chiseko Kurikita
Form: III
Quirk: Compass
Her Quirk gives her the ability to know which direction is north at all times.
