Chapter15: Encounter
"Brother of mine, calm down"
"I'm calm"
"You're shaking in your god forsaken seat"
True to the imp's words, the white haired cyborg was practically vibrating in place. The nerves of his first day getting to him.
The two Topologics sit in the back of the bus, both boys wearing their uniforms, Mineta's modified to cover up the gunblar pack.
It would've been much faster to traverse how they normally would, Mineta holding on to Midoriya as he jumped across the city, but the doctor forbade it.
"We'll be fine Izuku, just relax"
Midoriya tries to listen to his "brother", but his attempts to calm down are futile as the bus comes to a stop about two blocks from the cyborg's fated destination.
The smaller of the two wastes no time getting off the bus, while the other moves like his joints were locked.
His rigid movement continues as he gets off the bus, and remains even further up until he's right at the front gate of the giant school.
The two wait a moment, mostly for Izuku to calm down. Some of the other students make snide remarks, others just look concerned at the shaking cyborg.
It takes 5 minutes, but eventually the cyborg clams down, his breath becoming slow.
As soon as Mineta sees this, he asks, "Better?"
And after another slow breath, Midoriya answers. "Yeah, we got this".
And the two cyborgs, who have been through so much together, finally take their first step into U.A…
And the taller one immediately trips over himself.
Only to freeze mid air, and slowly rise up. The imp and albino both look behind them to see a familiar face. A brown haired girl standing right behind Midoriya, she presses the tips of her fingers together, and the albino cyborg regains his hold on the ground.
Mineta is first to speak up, "hey, it's the girl you made puke by touching you."
Two sets of eyes view each other once more, and once more Mineta feels strangely annoyed.
"That was close huh, are you alright?" The girl asks with a smile.
Whatever nerves Midoriya gained in his five minutes of breathing left his body as he became a trembling mess, the next words coming out of his mouth as a quick mess.
"Heheyupperfectlyfine"
"What?" Ochako asks while tilting her head.
Mineta decides he may take preemptive action to stop the awkward situation that's about to take place, and changes the subject.
"So you're in the general studies course too?"
Ochako looks down to imp and responds "me? Oh no, I'm in the hero course"
That snaps Midoriya into full awareness as he looks at the girl excitedly, "really!?"
Ochako is taken back by the sudden change in demeanor, but she doesn't lose her smile. "Yep, but really…it was mostly for the money."
"Respect" Mineta remarks with zero hesitation
"I can't judge," Midoriya adds.
Their conversation can't continue as a loud voice booms over the school's speakers.
"HEY EVERYBODY!! GET YOURE BUTT'S TO CLASS!!"
At first the booming voice causes the same reaction between all the students, a jolt of surprise.
But the next reaction between the first years and the older students is a stark difference.
The first years all wonder what the hell was that, while others, like Midoriya, all geek out as they realize who they just heard was the hero present mic.
The older students however
"Ahggh dammit! I thought he wasn't on announcement duty today!"
"Does anybody have any ear plugs!"
"Nope, we all thought he was scheduled for next week"
"The first day with the bullshit!"
As the groaning second and third years slump inside the building, annoyance In their hearts, Midoriya and Mineta say quick goodbyes and run into the building, they need to go somewhere before class begins.
…
Mineta expected a great many things when he envisioned the great principal of U.A
A small white rodent was not one of them.
At first, Mineta assumes he's a heteromorph, but he hasn't heard of heteromorphs of smaller animals being stunted in growth like this.
If he had actually read the pamphlet about the school and not skimmed it, he'd have known the principal was a rare case. An animal with a quirk that made him smarter than most humans.
"I'm sure the doctor emphasized the importance of this, but I wouldn't rest easy if I didn't bring you here to say it myself." the mouse man explains with his hands clasped together.
"Don't. Tell a single soul. About the Cyberse metal."
The words come out stern, as stern as the principal's high voice can sound anyway.
Mineta cocks an eyebrow, "We've already been told that, repeatedly"
"I'm telling you again, I put a great risk in bringing you here. Only a few officials and 1 teacher knows of your systems, so it's imperative that you two keep your mouths shut. Many people will go through great lengths to get you two, do not bring trouble to the school".
The words make Midoriya feel anxious, and Mineta feel annoyed.
"Other than that, learn well, make friends, and do try to pay attention in your general studies. You never know when it might come in handy for hero work."
With that, the two are sent out, Mineta being very coarse about the interaction as he walks behind Midoriya.
"Don't bring trouble? Like we'd do it on purpose? Even if someone came for us, we're not amateurs, we could handle it".
Midoriya has to quickly correct his brother, not looking his way as he speaks with absolute certainty, "Minoru, he wasn't talking down to us, stop"
Even if Midoriya says so, Mineta can't help but feel annoyed.
With any luck, the excitement of class will take his mind off this.
…
Boring, so unfathomably boring.
After two years of constant jobs and life risking shenanigans, the imp thought he would be sick of it. Unfortunately, those two years of action left him accustomed to that lifestyle, and now only one thought went through his mind.
"I need to do something"
He's fidgeting in his seat, rubbing the hem of his pants, he can't take this much longer.
Then he thinks, "Izuku, he's gotta be composed, I just gotta follow his example."
So he looks behind him, and sees that his brother is just as anxious as him.
"So. Damn. Bored."
Midoriya thought of anything the general education could offer, but this was just normal classes.
His jittering caught the attention of his classmates, and before the teacher could notice, a piece of paper flicked both of their heads.
The distraction causes both cyborgs to stop shaking and look to their left and see a purple haired boy with bags under his eyes, pointing to the folded sheet of paper.
Both boys unfold the note that was thrown at them, and inside both are the same words.
"Deep breaths, try any form of multitasking to
Stop the agitation."
Both cyborgs are confused at first, so Midoriya chooses to take his classmates' advice. Taking out a pen and doing anything with it, spinning it through his fingers, taking it apart, putting it back together.
Mineta takes a bit longer to comply, only trying the notes suggestion when he notices Midoriya not shaking anymore.
And so class went on, both boys barely able to pay attention to a man telling them things they already knew. Over the past few months, the doctor drilled robotics into their heads, so the teacher explaining how the doors at U.A function was basic knowledge to them.
When the first period is finally over, the students discuss amongst themselves, since the history of the heroics teacher was running late.
A couple of students asked if the cyborgs were ok, the brothers dismissed them by saying they were nervous.
The conversations being had didn't intrigue either cyborg, until the discussion of the U.A entrance exams came up.
Everyone else in the general studies class failed to get into the hero course, and the boys wanted to know how.
"Robots?" both cyborgs ask in unison.
"Giant robots! Anyone without a combat quirk was screwed!" a male student groans into his hands.
The purple haired boy, who introduced himself as shinso, spoke up next. "Specifically me". He remarks while looking at Midoriya.
"What's you're-" Midoriya's eyes go blank, and his body motionless.
"Brainwashing, you respond to me, I can control your body". He explains with a smile.
The entire class is silent for a good 10 seconds, Mineta specifically taking that time to contemplate stabbing the boy with his tendrils. Eventually, someone points out the obvious.
"That's kind of a villain's quirk, isn't it?"
Shinso lets out a sigh, and Midoriya can move again.
The students crowd around Shinso, most in amazement of the quirk, others being quite wary of the brainwashing.
Mineta is of the latter, the idea of someone controlling his body puts him on edge.
The only person who had a third reaction was Midoriya, who was looking at the ground in deep contemplation.
"Have you ever tried mimicking?"
Everyone turns to the albino cyborg with slight confusion, Midoriya has to look up and clarify.
"Mimicking someone's voice, so you can get villains to respond easier."
The response that comes isn't from Shinso, but from a random girl in the back. "Why was that your first thought?"
"My brother is a quirk nut, he does this on instinct". Mineta has to explain, the entire class is staring at Midoriya, but the cyborg doesn't notice, too engrossed in his own thoughts.
His thoughts are stopped by Shinso speaking up, "I'm pretty sure mimicking is a given talent, not a born one."
Midoriya tilts his head to the side, "Uh, guess you're right… but maybe a support item"
"You are putting way more thought into this than you have" Shinso deadpans
The other students laugh at Shinso's comment, and soon the topic switches to the quirks of other students, Midoriya eventually pulling out a notebook and writing down everything he hears.
Mineta doesn't care too much about the conversations at hand, eventually sitting down and thinking about what he thought was more important.
The girls in his class.
In the boy's eyes all of them were a 6/10 or above, from the moment he walked in class, he felt blessed to be in the U.A.
He is so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he doesn't notice when Midoriya stopped writing.
Without warning, sirens blare, the lights turn red, and Midoriya drops his pen.
"What's happening?"
"An intruder in the school?"
"Is it's villain"?
The students panic, running out classroom doors in a disorderly fashion, all but Shinso who seems to be relatively calm.
Mineta isn't too fazed by the alarms, simply turning to Midoriya and suggesting, "Brother, we should probably-"
He doesn't get to finish when he notices something odd…
The blue parts of Midoriya's eyes are turning red.
The next words that come out of Midoriya's mouth are dull, robotic, lacking any emotion.
"It's close"
…
15 minutes prior.
It was a normal occurrence, a sea of reporters trying their damndest to squeeze any bit of Info out of students and staff.
Even after the gates close, and any stray paparazzi are escorted off the premise, news vans are parked outside to cover the first day at U.A
Everyone's so focused on themselves, that no one is aware of the lanky man in a hoodie, only bits of dull blue hair peeking out the pulled up hood. The only one who notices him is a random camera man, not because of the fact that this stranger clearly isn't with any news station, but because of his extra arms.
Four black appendages with a purple tint sticking out of his back, folding inward so that the clawed hands are grasping each shoulder.
Just as the camera man is about to speak up, the hooded figure turns, and the camera man is met with black Scalia eyes with blue pupils, much like Midoriya and mineta's.
Five fingers press against the camera man's chest, and in the span of 2 seconds, the camera man is reduced to dust.
Everyone is looking at U.A, no one noticed.
No one noticed the death of an innocent man, no one noticed when his killer walked around the crowd and touched the wall by the school's main gate.
With a piercing alarm, the wall crumbles, and the press comes storming into U.A.
That was the hooded figure's plan, to just cause some chaos, then leave, but something stops him.
Like a pulling on the edge of his mind, "it's close"