Izuku finally got a response from Toshinori, though that wasn't what he was expecting, the response was still nice to receive. Now he had six days to put together all of the questions he had for One For All on a list for his mentor. Though he had a list now was not the time and place, his school had gotten the results of his exams and now his teacher was announcing that he, Katsuki, and a girl that he hadn't had the pleasure of knowing had passed the entrance exams of the high school. Unlike the pigtailed brunette that stood beside him and Katsuki, both boys had made it to the hero course while she was in its general course, which shocked the class in front of the three. Some thought it had to be a mistake while others did not believe it, but Izuku and the other two pretty much ignored the sea of faces as their teacher announced their acceptance with pride, basically patting himself on the back.
After that was done their day returned to the usual norm, aside from Izuku's daydreams of the future. He was finally going to U.A. and was in line to become what he always dreamed of. Before he knew it the day had gone by without much fanfare, putting his supplies away he moved to exit the classroom to face an unseasonably cold February day. In his haste he almost ran into someone, dodging them last second, a feminine voice entered his ears as a maroon-headed girl got his attention. "Uhh… Midoriya-san, do you have a minute?"
Izuku looked at her as if she grew a second head, a beautiful girl that he had not seen before was talking to him, a rarity that had been flipped on its head recently. "Me?" He questioned looking around him.
"Yes, you..." The girl answered with a blank face. She then took out a phone from the school bag hanging from her shoulder showing the screen to him. On it was an image of Shoko giving the camera the V symbol with him covered in sweat with a water bottle looking at something off-screen, and both of them in their workout gear. "This is you right?" She said pointing at him in the picture.
"Yea-"
"Good, Todoroki-san was worried, you got your phone right?" She said returning her phone to her bag.
"Yeah... Who ar-"
Before he could complete his sentence he was dragged behind her with a strong grip. "The name's Yasuda. I'm a second-year student, and will also be going to U.A. in the next school year as a recommendation student for the support course. I owe Todoroki-san a big favor, as of that favor..." Yasuda turned to Izuku who looked confused at what was going on. She then sighed. "You haven't met my sister yet.." She got a shake of the head. "Right my sister, my half-sister is Kazue Mori, Dr. Riko Mori's, my stepmother's daughter."
The image of the middle-aged blonde doctor entered Izuku's headspace, the Quirk specialist that was Shoko's doctor. "Oh, my mom said something about her having a daughter. Sorry, I have not had the pleasure."
"No problem, she is not the reason that I came to you today." Yasuda spoke with them when they arrived at the school's library. Quick to enter she saw a free table across the room. "As I was saying I owe Todoroki a favor."
"And that favor has something to do with me?" Izuku responded following behind her as they made their way to the table that Yasuda had spotted.
"In a way that is true, I left a blank check and she cashed in." Yasuda answered, not willing to go any further than that, them sitting opposite each other at the table. "Anyway, do you have your phone?"
This girl threw Izuku off, not only was she insanely beautiful, but she did not allow him to think up a response, in the most generous meaning of the term she was abrasive. Her long maroon hair cascaded off her shoulders as she dug into her school bag, with sparks of life that she had for her items showing in her golden eyes that had not been there for him. Taking out a small set of tools she turned to him and waited for Izuku to present her with what she wanted. "Oh, Right." He took out his phone with a shattered screen, much to the girl's surprise. "Sorry, I had dropped it yesterday, I was going to look into getting it replaced."
She looked the phone over and at Izuku with a hint of skepticism showing in her eyes. "Are you sure you dropped it?" Yasuda sighed again when Izuku shrunk into his chair. "Midoriya-san, can I say something?"
Izuku looked at Yasuda nervously. "What is it?"
"I am Quirkless..." Izuku's eyes went wide, he had no idea that there was another Quirkless at this school, he never looked into the fact that he might not be the only one. "So I understand... At least in part, I have dealt with my fair share over my thirteen years. I get it. So I will ask you again... Did you drop it?"
Izuku could tell by just looking at her that she wasn't lying about this and in fact that she for some reason had led a different life than him, but in her eyes, there was nothing there, they were the same but he had hope where she had given up, and his mouth open with a mutual understanding that went over his head. "No..." And she nodded at that one word.
Digging into her bag she pulled out a brand new cell phone still in its package. "You have done well to put up with the garbage of the world, I am happy that you were a late bloomer. I assume that being a hero is your dream, Midoriya-san?" Izuku nodded as the girl motioned for his cell phone. "I hope we can live out our dreams at U.A." She spoke as Izuku handed her the phone.
Izuku, now realizing, found her words to be at odds with her introduction, she implied several times that she would be attending the same school as him despite being a second year. Izuku watched as she worked, with the impression that she had to be incredibly intelligent to be able to not only skip a year but to be accepted to U.A. as well. He watched as Yasuda extracted the SIM card from his phone and inserted it into the new one. "You have said that you are going to U.A., at the start of the next year, but..."
"I am a second-year?..." She then turned on the new phone. "I guess there's no avoiding it. Carer come out." She said to her bag as a robot a small dog-sized nine-tailed fox picked out of her school bag, looking around as if searching for something. "It's alright, Carer. It is just the three of us here, it's safe to come out." The metallic canine yipped at its owner before climbing out from her bag, tentatively making its way to Izuku. "Huh..." Yasuda let out a grunt as she watched the fox. "That's weird."
"What is?" Izuku questioned watching the robot cock its head at him before getting comfortable on the table the teens were sitting at, and lying its body in front of him facing Yasuda.
"She is usually wary of strangers, you, my sister, and Todoroki-san are the only ones she seems to like right away, I programmed her to behave like a dog and all so this is strange how quickly she would warm to you without you doing anything." She said, putting the phone down, and looking at the creature as if examining it.
"Wait did you say program?" Izuku asked, mystified.
"Ah... Right, I keep forgetting that we are strangers. Yes, I programmed her AI, it was the project that I had to complete as part of my recommendation to U.A., that, and some other stuff that I wasn't able to complete in time." She said as the eyes of the robot closed, not realizing how mad what she just said was.
'Leave it to the daughter of a support specialist to create something so ridiculous.' He thought as it dawned on him how ill-equipped that he would be if he had gone with his plan b. 'So much for that, I wouldn't be able to compete with that.' He continued. "How old are you?"
"I'm thirteen, I don't see what my age would have to do with anything." Yasuda said, drawing her attention away from the fox to Izuku. "Is there a problem with my age?" She asked as she returned her gaze to the phone. "Carer, can you transfer his files to the new phone, please?"
Izuku watched as the fox got up, gave the girl a yip, and pranced over to the two phones. "No, I did not mean anything by it, I just... I just find you to be impressive. That's all." Izuku as he saw the girl's hand pause at a collar at the fox's neck.
For her part a small blush formed while she returned to what she was doing, that being pressing a button on the collar and releasing two cables with two different male ends. She plugged both phones into each cable, and Izuku's phone blurred to life as a string of code appeared on his screen. "It isn't all that impressive, I bet you could write something at Carer's level." The fox let out a growl. "I'm not saying that you are not Carer, I am just saying that I am not." This time the robot whined. "I know." she said, bringing a hand up to pet the cool metal on the fox's head.
"No I am serious Yasuda-san, this is no small feat, I wish I could do something like that." Izuku said, excitedly.
"I could teach you." Yasuda said, while her blush grew.
"Oh really, cool." Izuku's hands claimed the one that was on the fox's head, leaning in. "I have always been interested but never had a teacher, will you seriously teach me?"
"Y-y-yeah." She looked away, her fox cocking its head at the action.
Izuku looked at his hands, the excitement leaving, and at her face with a matching blush. "So-sorry." He was quick to let go.
"No it's fine, I get that you got excited, I was when I first started to learn too." She spoke as Carer watched the two of them. The small robot looked at Izuku's cracked phone as the screen went dark, looking up at Yasuda with a yip. "Are you done?" The teen questioned, getting another yip in return. She unplugged the phones, pressing the buttons at the fox's collar, the cords retracting. "Do you share your passcodes with anyone?" She asked Izuku, getting a confused look back. "Your passwords... Did you share your passwords with anyone?" She reworded the question.
"Uhh... No, I am usually a private person." Izuku answered with no clue of what was happening right now.
"I get that." Yasuda retorted, handing the new cell phone to Izuku. "This is the latest model from my father's company aimed towards heroes. Carer copied over all of your files and contacts so you don't have to worry about reinstalling anything. You don't even have to worry about security and it breaking since it's meant for heroes, it's tough all around and has resistance to the usual you know. And with that ends my debt with Todoroki-san." She said as Izuku took the phone.
Izuku was at a loss for words, he did not know what to say about all of this. For some reason this girl had given him a new cell phone out of nowhere and a pretty expensive one at that, and he had Shoko to thank for it. Although he appreciated the gesture he could not take it, it felt wrong too. "I can't take this." Izuku said, trying to give the phone back.
The girl waved him off pushing his outstretched hand back towards him. "No, seriously Midoriya-san keep it." She said, offering him a gentle smile. "I procured it for you, and it was customized to suit your needs, so you gotta keep it."
"But..."
"Carer." She called the fox. "Show him your app." She said as the robot yipped at her. The phone blurred to life as a paw print displayed on the lock screen. "You said you want to learn to write code at the level of Carer, right?" She asked Izuku, his confusion returning. "Well using that phone you can study her code while I make improvements. With how Carer is I can't do this on my own, so you can consider it as me asking for help... Carer may be as impressive as you say but she is far from perfect."
[Ayaka-sama... Is... Correct...]
Izuku nearly dropped his phone when a computerized voice entered his ears coming from the phone. 'Ayaka... That must be her given name.' He thought as he looked at the robot fox staring back at him sitting on the table and then at the girl. "I don't think that I am qualified for this." He replied.
"You don't have to be, at least not yet." Ayaka continued the argument. "The fact that you are not freaking out right now means that you are a lot better for the job than most people. Think of it this way, you are beta testing for Kumiho Industries, and you are learning from one of its engineers. You have a lot to gain from this, you know."
She was right in some regards, he had some interest in the support industry and this was a perfect way to get a foot inside the door, not to mention if he did a good job he would have effectively gotten a support company on his side during his hero journey, and Shoko trusted her, he had no good reason to decline so he won't. "You win, I will take it."
"Really?" Ayaka questioned excitedly.
"Yeah, so what do you want me to do? With the app that is." Izuku retorted.
"Nothing, for now, I haven't finished Carer's hardware so I want to concentrate on that." Ayaka answered. "I will for sure have that done before we enter U.A., we can start our lessons then. So just enjoy your new phone for now, and like I said your settings, contacts, and files are saved to that phone so you don't have to worry about any of that." She continued.
"What about the app?" He questioned as the paw print disappeared from his screen.
"It works on proximity, so you will have to be pretty close to Carer's main body for her to have access to it, and even then she is going to need permission." Ayaka answered, getting Izuku to look at his phone wide-eyed.
"That sounds super cool, I can't wait." Izuku responded.
(...)
Several days later Izuku found himself in a staring contest with a heavily armored man. He thought to himself that he might have the worst luck in the world as the man proved to be not alone as he and Shoko were surrounded by similarly armored men, each having military equipment and armed to the teeth, with heavy assault rifles pointed at the pair. Izuku had gotten up this morning with the expectation that he was going to be hanging out with Ochako and Shoko, but he and the pair of girls fighting off a bunch of armed military-looking people in a Lawson's parking lot was not in the forecast.
"What do we do now?" Shoko whispered to Izuku as she looked at the entrance of the convenience store, at the crowd filing out, and at Ochako pushing through the crowd with a worried expression, in the hopes that she could help the two out.
"Sorry, I got you….. into this." He said his eyes not leaving the black suited-up man, who had a scared blonde teenage girl in his arms with a gun to her head, her brown eyes with gold flakes looking back at him basically begging for his help, while he had the tendrils of his second quirk actively surrounding him and Shoko, ready to spring to action at a moment's notice.
The figure seemingly holding the blonde girl hostage finally spoke to Izuku for the first time since this confrontation started. "Listen, kid, we just want this girl, we will leave like nothing ever happened if you let us. I get that you are trying to be a hero but... This is not the time, and we are just doing our jobs here. She is a very dangerous criminal and we are part of the JSDF. So there is no need for any of this."
"Please help... Please help me." The girl in the self-proclaimed soldier's arms spoke softly, clearly terrified. "These people are bad men... Please."
Izuku got a manic grin at the plea, he wasn't buying the man's story to begin with and this made his gut feeling valid. "You can see why we don't believe your story right? Do you have anything that proves that you are JSDF?" He asked, fully aware that if this girl was someone dangerous that it required the JSDF they would have some local police with them, not to mention that they had nothing marking them as such.
The man nodded to another person to the left side of Izuku with a gun trained on the boy. "Get him what he needs so we can finish up here."
The other person nodded, he lowered his gun as the other seven surrounding the teens did not let their guard down. "Yes, sir." The man said detaching from the standoff, however, he did not make it far. As he was walking away two bolts of lightning struck both him and the man holding the blonde girl hostage, dropping them both.
Everyone, even the spectators, was confused about what was happening. It took a moment but after a few moments of processing what happened absolute terror reigned as the civilian population of the confrontation scattered in every direction in fear, leaving the six remaining armed men with their guns trained on the three teens in the middle of them. "Don't fucking move." The one in front of Shoko commanded as the others moved to cover the gaps that were created in their formation. "Answer me this, did either of you do this?" He asked the pair, not sure of what was happening.
"No, but I know who did." The feminine voice of a woman that Izuku knew well entered his ears. He did not have time to wonder where this person was as a trail of explosions followed. With grace, this person landed in front of Izuku clad in a black three-piece suit and tie. Izuku was genuinely confused at the sight of his childhood friend's mother's appearance in this situation of all things. "Izu..." She extended a hand palm outwards, and a build-up of explosions in her red-gloved right hand went off with a wink directed at him. "You and your friend need to duck." Not having to be told twice and being fully aware of what her Quirk was he quickly turned to Shoko forcing her to the ground with him. Not a moment later the woman let the explosions in her hand reach a crescendo before letting a large one leave her hand, blowing the three individuals in front of the three of them to the ground, at the same time a bolt of lightning jumped between the remaining armed man behind the girl who was being held hostage, the four teens looking at the woman in awe. She extended a hand for Izuku who took it being helped to his feet before helping Shoko to hers. "I know that you and Katsuki are not the best of friends at the moment, but you should visit me more often. He's a big softy. You shouldn't take what he says seriously. And if that dumbass is, I will put him in his place for you." She spoke as if she did not just take out eight armed men.
"A-aunt Mitsuki? W-what are you doing here?" Izuku questioned, not sure of what was happening.
Mitsuki closed the distance as Izuku's tendrils retracted, and flicked the boy on the forehead. "Don't call me that, Izu... It makes me sound old." She said as her mock offended expression was replaced with a smile. "I am here for you Izu, someone wants to finally meet you."
