Summary: Izuku thinks about Katsuki
Notes: Sorry again for the inconsistent updates, but my new job is going really well!
Chapter TextIzuku frowned in frustration as he turned off his computer and gathered his things in preparation to go to their core classes. He'd spent most of the afternoon watching class 1A through the cameras as they did some sort of indoor combat exercise that All Might had put together and it was...frustrating. Don't get him wrong, it was amazing to see all of the students' amazing quirks in action! It was just so frustrating to see them acting so far beneath their potential! Like that kid with the electricity quirk who fried his brain within seconds of the exercise starting or the kid with the hot and cold quirk who didn't even use his heated side until the exercise was already over! They could do so much more! They could save so many people, if they could just think a little more creatively.
And then there was Katsuki. He had everything. He had an amazing quirk, good battle sense, and even some of the techniques Izuku had suggested before Katsuki had started bullying him. He really did have the potential to be an amazing hero, maybe even the best, if he wasn't so violent.
He hardly noticed Mei start rambling to him as soon as he sat down in the desk outside his workroom to wait for the teacher to arrive until she slammed her hands down and leaned down until she was nose to nose with him, "Ok, what's up?"
Izuku leaned back slightly and stuttered, "W-what?"
Mei rolled her eyes and leaned forward even more so that Izuku was forced to lean all the way back in his seat until his head was touching the wall behind him, "You're dragging your feet. Didn't you get to watch the hero course fight today? I wasn't even expecting to be able to get a word in edgewise, but here you are giving one word answers!"
"...oh." Izuku shrugged. "It's just Ka...I was observing my bully's class today."
Instantly, Mei looked murderous, "I can't believe they let that asshole in after what he did to you! And didn't he try to attack Extra-Credit-Kun during the exam? I should go straight to Nedzu and tell him that he needs to expel that jerk immediately…"
Izuku interrupted her with a sigh, "You can't do that, Mei. First of all, my teachers purposely never reported the bullying so there wouldn't be red flags when he applied to UA. Second of all, he didn't attack Shinso. Even if he had actually hurt him, it would have just been as collateral damage, or in retribution for yelling at him. Last of all, he probably shouldn't be expelled."
"And why not?!" Mei's yell caught the attention of the rest of the class, "He's a bully, Izu-kun! He made you miserable for years, he shouldn't be a hero!"
"Wait, what are we talking about?" Kohaku interrupted, pulling off the scarf she used to cover her hair while inventing, "What's this about a bully being a hero?"
"Nothing!" Izuku said quickly.
Mei shot him a glare before turning to the rest of the class, the traitor, "Izu-kun's old bully somehow got into the hero course. He was part of the class Izuku observed today."
"What?!" Hanzou bared his teeth, his normal wide smile becoming sharp and intimidating, "What's his name, I just want to talk."
"Everybody stop!" Izuku said sternly. "Nobody is going to do anything. Nobody's going to try to fight him and nobody's going to Nedzu. Understood?"
Mei didn't drop her glare, "But…"
"No." Izuku held her gaze.
"So what'd he do today that put you in such a funk?" Kohaku asked. "Like, I was expecting to have to tell you to shut up at least three times."
"See?!" Mei gestured broadly to her. "I'm not the only one who noticed!"
Izuku shot her a look, "It's nothing."
"Yeah, no, dude." Hanzou said with a small smile. "We're not buying that."
Izuku looked around the room, hoping for someone to be on his side, but even Shiguro shrugged, "If it was really nothing, you, um, you probably wouldn't be so insistent?"
Izuku sighed. He should have expected that his classmates would be at least as curious as he was, especially after meeting Mei. This was what he got for joining the support course, "It was just annoying. There was an odd number of students, something about a student leaving because of Eraserhead's hazing yesterday, so he was put by himself against two other students, one with a speed quirk and the other with gravity negation."
"Heh," Kohaku chuckled, "Shouldn't that be a good thing? I bet he got his ass handed to him, didn't he?"
Izuku shook his head, "He put them both in the infirmary. Like, I know that violence is an inherent part of the hero industry. You can't defeat villains without hurting them! But none of the other students were injured badly enough to have to get medical attention. One of the signs of an amazing hero is actually how much they're able to avoid harm." He shook his head. "I'm probably just being nitpicky because of our history."
"Probably." Hanzou agreed. "But that still doesn't mean he should be in the hero course if he bullied you, dude. What's to stop him from going totally crazy and hurting someone who's not a villain?"
Shiguro nodded in agreement, "I wouldn't want any of my old bullies to be heroes, either."
"Yeah!" Mei crossed her arms in front of her chest. "So I'm going to Nedzu and telling him to kick this guy out! That rat loves you enough to give you a whole room, I'm sure he'd be happy to expel him for you."
Izuku wasn't so sure, but surprisingly, he realized that it might not be outside of the realm of possibility. It was so surreal to have adults who actually cared, and if that was all there was to it, then Izuku might actually be tempted to go to Nedzu himself, seeing as he most likely wouldn't get punished for snitching, but the situation was a little more complicated than that, "It's not that I want Katsuki to be a hero so much that I don't want him to be a villain. Does that make sense?"
"He's a bully, Izu-kun!" Mei protested. "He's already a villain in my book!"
Izuku looked around and saw his classmates looking confused and still angry on his behalf, but didn't see any of the understanding he'd been expecting. He sighed, "He has the potential to be a decent hero, and his violent tendencies will be directed toward villains, but if he get expelled, or worse, black-listed, what'll he do? At least as a hero, his violent tendencies will be directed toward villains and people who deserve it, rather than any civilian who looks at him wrong."
"Still doesn't mean he deserves to be a hero." Mei grumbled.
Izuku shrugged, "Maybe not, but it isn't even a big deal! It's not like I'm going to see him a lot. We're in different departments and I'm going to start arriving early so I won't even see him on my way to school! The only interaction I'll even have with him will be my analysis project that he won't even read anyway! So just drop it."
His classmates didn't necessarily seem happy with his explanation, but at least they saw the logic in it. Izuku supposed that was about as good as he could hope for. Everyone here was extremely intelligent, they wouldn't have gotten in otherwise, but nerds often weren't treated the best. Add to that Hanzou's mutation quirk, Shiguro's shyness, and Mei being...well, Mei and there was a good chance that every single one of his classmates had been bullied at some point in their lives. Of course they wouldn't be happy about letting a bully off the hook.
"There's gotta be a way to get some sort of revenge, at least, right?" Hanzou said after a long minute. "I mean, we can't just let that dude get off scot free!"
Mei's eyes lit up, so Izuku interrupted, "That's really not necessary, guys!"
"No," Kohaku grinned, "but it'll be fun!"
Mei grinned in return, "Oooh! I like you! Come on, Izu-kun! Revenge! We're the support course! We'll have access to all his babies!"
Izuku rolled his eyes, "As fun as that would be, he's still a hero student, and it's our responsibility as support students to support him, not sabotage him. Not to mention that faulty support gear could potentially endanger not only him, but also his classmates and eventually civilians, so revenge is out of the question."
Kohaku thought for a long moment, "What about just being a little petty?"
Izuku looked at her curiously, which she took as permission to continue, "I mean, obviously we wouldn't do anything to put him in danger or anything, that would be stupid, but you know how annoying a tiny little rock can be when it's in your shoe?"
Mei's eyes lit up again, "You're suggesting we do a bunch of tiny things to annoy him?"
Kohaku nodded, grinning, "It's how I got rid of my bullies back in elementary school, before everyone learned not to mess with me. The big thing is plausible deniability. Don't do anything that you couldn't talk your way out of if the teachers ask. But we'll know, which will be really satisfying if he gets a shirt that's say...half a size too small and the slightly wrong shade."
Izuku thought about that for a minute. He had to admit that it might be fun, provided that no actual harm was being done, since he didn't want to become a bully in return or put Katsuki in any danger, and if he could stop at any time, "I suppose it wouldn't be too bad to get a little payback."
"Yes!" Mei pumped her fist and hugged him, causing him to turn bright red as the rest of the class laughed at him. "Oh, we're gonna have so much fun! I'm gonna make so many little nuisance babies!"
Someone clearing their throat behind them made the class freeze and they turned around to see Midnight standing in the doorway, looking like she'd just arrived, "You're not being naughty, are you?"
Izuku and Mei shared a panicked glance before he sat up straight and gave a bright smile, "No, Ma'am! Or at least, I wasn't, I'm already in my seat! Everyone else, however…"
The class rushed to find their seats as Midnight laughed at their reactions. Izuku smiled and took out a new notebook, simply labeling it nuisance. He'd known this year was going to be fun.
Chapter 16: PotentialSummary: Staff room gossip.
Chapter TextMajima walked into the staff room after school and made a beeline for the couch, face planting onto it with a groan, "Eraser, never let me give you a hard time about your problem children again."
Aizawa snorted, but didn't even look up from the paper he was grading, "Serves you right."
"You have problem children this year?" Yamada grinned as he looked up from his own paperwork. "That must be fun! What are they like?"
Majima lifted his head off the couch just enough to look him in the eye, "You'll know soon enough. They've decided to use one of your students as an extra credit project."
Nedzu hid his smile behind his teacup, knowing full well exactly which students Majima was talking about. Of course, he hadn't had a chance to peek at the cameras for class 1-F just yet, he still had a school to run after all, but Midoriya and his friend Hatsume had so much chaotic potential that there was little chance that Majima was talking about anyone else. The only question now was which student had they chosen as their victim.
"I'm the homeroom teacher for 1-C." Yamada said slowly. "What would a couple of support course students want with a gen-ed kid?"
Majima sighed in exhaustion and sat up, "They've decided that one of your kids is getting into the hero course, and that they're helping him do it."
"...Can they even do that?" Snipe asked.
"There's nothing in the rules against it!" Nedzu said cheerfully. "It might have taken a few loopholes if they were teachers, but since they're all students, then they're simply helping their friend, correct?"
"Of course you know exactly who I'm talking about." Majima muttered. "You do know this is your fault, right? If it was just Hatsume, I could handle it, I've had plenty of students like her in the past, but whenever she's combined with your protege…"
"Wait, you have a protege?!" Yamada yelled, making Aizawa finally look up from his papers to cancel his quirk, not that Yamada noticed or even cared. "You never take personal students! What even is this kid?!"
"A hellspawn, probably." Aizawa said. "He has to be if he caught the rat's attention."
Nedzu simply smiled and let his faculty form their own opinions. Many of them already knew about Midoriya and some had even met him, but the few who hadn't were all listening to the conversation with a mixture of curiosity and fear. All Might in particular looked vaguely terrified after the...chat that Nedzu had had with him the other day. Not that the scolding had been undeserved, of course, but it meant that he was probably a bit more primed to be scared of Midoriya's potential and of Nedzu's interest in him.
Nedzu was honestly more disappointed that All Might had forgotten about Midoriya after accidentally showing him his weakness than he was about the whole telling him not to be a hero thing. Nedzu was still a bit upset, since heroism had apparently been Midoriya's lifelong dream, but the fact was that he was quirkless. As sad and terrible as it was, Nedzu couldn't pretend that Midoriya wouldn't be at a distinct natural disadvantage not just in combat, but in the flashy popularity contest that defined the industry. It probably didn't matter which hero he had asked, they probably would have given the same answer, so at least All Might had tried to be polite about it.
Forgetting about the boy, however, was a much more serious offense. If Midoriya had secretly been a villain or had taken All Might's advice badly, it could have been disastrous for all of Japan. Even if All Might had been 100% certain that Midoriya would never use his weakness against him, the boy's knowledge of it would make him an appetizing target for the many villains that had a vendetta against the number one hero. By not communicating the encounter to anyone, not even Tsukauchi, All Might had put not only himself, but also an innocent civilian in danger, which was idiotic no matter what ranking he held. Nedzu would have to keep an eye on him while he was at UA to make sure he didn't endanger a student like that again.
Which brought Nedzu to his next concern, which was the heroics exercise he had observed that afternoon. It had been...decent...but All Might obviously hadn't known when it was appropriate to stop a match to prevent undue harm. Teaching students combat was tricky, since they obviously didn't yet know how much force was appropriate for certain situations. Some tended to use too little, so afraid of causing harm that they limited their own effectiveness, while others like young Bakugo tended to go overboard and use too much. It was a hard line to balance, especially for someone like All Might who was perfectly capable of punching away all of his problems, but it was one of the most important things that their students would learn over the course of their three years there, which meant that it was something that All Might would need to improve on sooner rather than later. Thankfully, the other teachers would be able to pick up the slack.
Speaking of the other teachers…
"Honestly, as much as I hate to admit a man is right…" Kayama drawled, "I think Aizawa might be right about this one. It's the green haired one, right, Nedzu? Midoriya?"
Nedzu nodded and gestured for her to continue as the rest of the teachers leaned forward slightly in anticipation and curiosity.
"When I showed up to teach today, the kid was leading his classmates in a revenge plot against the hero students." Kayama licked her lips and smiled. "It was delicious."
Nedzu didn't know whether to be proud, concerned, excited or angry, so he settled on gathering more information before making that decision, "Do you know which student?"
Kayama shrugged, "Not quite sure. I do know he's a first year and apparently bullied the poor boy. I love their idea of revenge, though! The mischievous little imps are going to do a bunch of subtle things to make the kid miserable, so just look for which of the first years encounters more than his fair share of daily frustrations and you'll have your target."
There were easier ways to find the child, if one just hacked into the right records. If all went well, as it undoubtedly would, Nedzu would have this boy's name by the end of the night, "And he was a bully, you said?"
"Uh, Nedzu, sir?" All Might said hesitantly. "Please tell me that you're going to stop this rather than joining in…"
All Might visibly gulped at the sharp smile Nedzu gave him, "Now, All Might, one of the goals of a teacher is to help one's students accomplish their goals! What kind of a teacher would I be if I didn't give Midoriya any assistance.
"B-but…"
"Don't bother." Aizawa said. "That kind of pettiness is right up Nedzu's alley, so at least he's only going to be taking it out on one brat rather than the whole of humanity. The only thing he'll have to worry about is the conspiracy theorists trying to accuse the kid of being his secret love child or something."
"So!" Yamada grinned. "I get to meet the little listener? Which of my students has he adopted?"
"I think Midoriya said his name is Shinso." Powerloader sighed. "He has a brainwashing quirk."
"Ah! Good choice, I approve!" Nedzu chirped. He remembered Shinso from the exams, of course. It was a shame that he didn't get enough points, but despite his and Aizawa's best efforts, the school board had shot down every single one of the alternate exam ideas they had proposed, leaving Shinso in general education until he was able to prove himself during the sports festival.
"Brainwashing?" Aizawa asked.
"It's an intriguing quirk, I can see why Midoriya was drawn to it!" Nedzu chirped. "Young Shinso can control anyone provided that they answer one of his questions."
"And of course, it's useless against robots." Aizawa muttered and dragged a hand down his face. "Please tell your protege not to only focus on the kid's quirk. With a drawback like that, he'll have to be able to fight without it."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." Nedzu dismissed. "I do believe that Midoriya would be the last person to limit a person based entirely on their quirk."
"Oh?" Kayama asked. "And why is that?"
There was a moment of tense silence before All Might, to Nedzu's surprise, answered, "Because he's quirkless."
"That explains it." Aizawa said after a moment. "If he caught your attention, he obviously doesn't let it limit him. Good. Now let's see if the other problem child sees it the same way."
Chapter 17: AbductionSummary: Shinso meets half of the chaos duo!
Notes: Look at this beautiful little drawing Ro made of Izuku!
Chapter TextIzukul leaned back in his seat after finishing up the list of theories he'd been working on. He'd spent the morning reviewing the videos he had of the hero students and making rough lists of potential ideas for improvement that he could clean up once he'd seen their quirks in action more, but for now, there wasn't much else he could do on that project, which meant that it was time for Extra-Credit-Kun.
Oh god, Mei really was starting to rub off on him, wasn't she?
Izuku shook his head with a chuckle as he grabbed the notebook he'd dedicated to their extra credit project and opened Shinso's file, only to realize that he was at a dead end there as well. At least with the hero students, he had some combat videos to analyze, but all Izuku had for Shinso was his student file and the video of his entrance exam, which obviously didn't show the full potential of his quirk because he couldn't use it on robots. If Izuku wanted his analysis to be of any use to Shinso at all, he needed more information.
The easiest way to get that information would be to simply ask and hope that Shinso wouldn't be too creeped out to answer him. Well, even if he was creeped out, he'd probably still answer if Izuku explained that it was to help him do better in the sports festival. Anyway, it didn't really even matter because he was probably in class right now...but it wouldn't hurt to check, right?
Before he could second guess himself, Izuku opened up the class schedule for class 1-C. Even if Shinso was in class, which he should be, it would still be helpful to know his schedule so he and Mei could track him down later.
Speaking of Mei, she chose that moment to burst through the door to Izuku's workroom without knocking. She didn't even wait for him to look up before she had draped herself over his shoulders, groaning dramatically, "Izu-kun, help! I can't make Shinso's babies!"
Izuku snorted, "Most girls have to actually meet a guy before creating his children."
Mei grabbed his shoulder and spun his chair around so he was facing her and could see the manic grin that had just spread across her face, "That's a brilliant idea!"
Izuku smiled and shook his head fondly, "Let me guess, you need more info on his quirk and fighting style before you can really get started?"
"Yep!" Mei picked an empty spot on Izuku's desk and sat down, "You too?"
Izuku nodded and turned back to his screen, "I was just looking up his schedule to see when the best time to meet him would be."
"Well, make it ASAP!" Mei said impatiently. "I want to start making babies!"
"You can't just rush these things, Mei-chan, it isn't polite." Izuku told her patiently. "We can't just take him out of class...or maybe we can."
Mei jumped off the desk and leaned over her shoulder, "Wait, what is it?!"
"He has a study period right now." Izuku pointed to the screen. "If we got Powerloader's permission, we could probably pull him out of class for a few minutes, since he wouldn't actually be missing any lessons."
"Let's do it!" Mei hugged him tightly before pulling him to his feet and pushing him toward the door. "What are you waiting for?! I have babies to make!"
Their classmates glanced up at Mei's declaration as the door opened, but they spared the two less than a second before shaking their heads and going back to work on their own projects. Izuku still thought it was a little weird how quickly the class had seemed to just accept their antics, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He had Mei and that was enough for him right now. He'd probably just manage to work himself into an anxiety attack if he tried to second-guess every interaction he'd had with his classmates looking for ways that they actually hated him, and honestly, he was too busy with his analysis projects to have any time for that right now.
It didn't take them long at all to reach Powerloader's desk, especially not with Mei still pushing him in her excitement. Powerloader simply sighed and looked at them as they approached, "Should I be concerned about what you two are cooking up?"
"No!" Izuku said at the same time that Mei shouted, "Yes!"
Unfortunately, Mei's voice was just a little louder.
"We just want to ask Shinso some questions about his quirk." Izuku said quickly. "I looked and he has a study period right now, so we were hoping we could borrow him and bring him here. We'd use my workroom so we wouldn't bother the other students. Please?"
Izuku had learned his puppy dog eyes from his mom, and honestly, he wasn't even aware that he was doing them until he caught Mei mimicking his expression out of the corner of his eye. Powerloader simply looked at them tiredly for a long moment before caving, "Midoriya, you go and get him. I'm not sure I trust Mei not to blow something up between here and there."
"Come on, it's not like there are that many explosive things between here and the general education department!" Mei exclaimed. "Just the wiring...and probably the fire extinguishers if you count foam as an explosion...Oh! And the security system! Izu-kun, do you know if there are any bombs in the security system?"
"Yeah, it's probably for the best if I just go…" Izuku said, ignoring the way Mei pouted at him as he turned back to Powerloader. "Could I have a note explaining the situation in case Shinso's teacher asks why I need him?"
"Present Mic should already be expecting you." Powerloader said tiredly. "I mentioned your little project to the other teachers and warned him that it was only a matter of time before you dropped by."
"Oh." Izuku didn't know if it was good or bad that the entire faculty knew about their plans to help Shinso. Honestly, he'd never had teachers care about what he wanted to do before, so this was all new territory. "That's good then."
Powerloader nodded, "Get back quick before Hatsume blows up our lab again."
Mei cackled and ran back toward her desk, "Good luck!"
Hitoshi tapped his pencil idly on his notebook as he reviewed English verb structure for the third time. Not that having a second language wouldn't be useful, but he couldn't help thinking that the hero students were probably training right now and getting more and more of an unfair advantage every minute that Hitoshi spent studying academics. There was only so long until the sports festival and his last chance to get into the hero course, so he didn't want to waste any time.
The silence of the classroom was interrupted by a quiet knocking of the door and a tiny-looking kid with tangled green curls and large eyes poked his head in, "Present Mic, sir? Would it be alright if I borrowed Shinso for a few minutes?"
Hitoshi froze as his entire class swiveled in their seats to look at him curiously, as if he had any idea why a kid he'd never seen before in his life was interrupting his class asking for him by name.
His classmates' curiosity was almost palpable as Mic-sensei looked up from his desk and gave the boy a mischievous smile, "You're one of Powerloader's gremlins, right?"
The kid sputtered for a moment at Mic's wording before apparently giving up on being embarrassed and letting out a sigh as he walked fully into the room, "Yes, sir. He said that he mentioned things to you…"
"Of course!" Mic grinned. "Shinso, go ahead and grab your things. There's no guarantee you'll be back by the end of class." As Hitoshi hurried to comply, Mic turned back to the kid. "Try to return him in one piece, ya dig?"
Hitoshi's eyes widened and he felt himself pale slightly as the kid returned Mic's smile with a small one of his own, "No guarantees. I'm not the one you need to worry about, but also I'm not responsible for anything Mei-chan does when she's excited."
"Oooh!" Mic laughed. "I can see why Nedzu likes you so much!"
The class erupted into whispers and Hitoshi was starting to wonder if he would have a better chance of surviving if he just jumped out the window. Mic-sensei wouldn't actually let this mystery kid, or whoever this Mei-chan person was, hurt him...right?
Hitoshi finished packing his backpack and gulped as the kid smiled at him. Normally, a bright smile like that would put him more at ease, but after hearing the kid basically plot his murder, it just looked vaguely terrifying. Reluctantly, Hitoshi followed his...kidnapper? Was that what the kid was? What was even happening?
His kidnapper didn't say anything as he led Hitoshi down the hallway to a part of the school he didn't recognize, not that that was helpful at all, considering that he'd been at UA for less than a week. He had no idea what was happening anymore and honestly, he was too afraid to ask. All he knew was that this kid might kill him and his teacher wouldn't even care. So much for the teachers at UA being different.
His kidnapper still didn't break the silence and as they got even more lost in the maze that was UA, Shinso eventually got fed up and decided that if he was going to get murdered anyway, it wouldn't hurt to at least ask this kid why he'd kidnapped him. At the worst, he'd just get killed a little sooner, right?
"Um…" Hitoshi's voice sounded too loud and he had to take a step back as the kid pinned him with those wide eyes, giving Hitoshi a strange sense that this kid knew everything about him and was simply dissecting him with his gaze, "I have a few questions."
The kid smiled brightly again, "Of course! I might not be able to give the best answers, but I'll try!"
"Ok…" Hitoshi took a breath, "Who are you? Where are we going? Why did you just kidnap me? Finally, who is Mei-chan and should I be writing my will?"
The kid looked at him in shock for a long moment before he started giggling uncontrollably, "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! I didn't...and I completely forgot to introduce myself, so no wonder you're...and Present Mic called me a gremlin, which probably didn't help anything. This is probably why our classmates are terrified of us, huh?"
"Probably." Shinso said, not because he knew this kid's classmates, but more because he didn't really have any other response to that. "So…?"
"Oh! Right!" The kid jumped slightly and started walking into the labyrinth that was UA again. "My name is Izuku Midoriya and we're heading back to my classroom. Mei-chan is my best friend. She probably won't hurt you, she just gets really excited about her inventions and they don't always work the first time, which isn't that bad, you just need to be a little careful in case they explode unexpectedly. We're support students...obviously, since Mei-chan has inventions to explode. Um...what else…?"
Oddly enough, Midoriya's rambling was actually calming and made him seem less like some mysterious psychopath, so Hitoshi actually found himself feeling a little more at ease as he cocked an eyebrow, "Why you kidnapped me?"
Midoriya furrowed his forehead as his voice dropped to a mutter, "I didn't...why would I...well, I guess I did kind of steal you away unexpectedly, but that wasn't…"
"Midoriya." Hitoshi interrupted the kid's mutter storm and gestured for him to continue. "Why did you kidnap me?"
"Oh, um…" Midoriya chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck, "I don't want to get into too much detail without Mei-chan here, but basically, we're going to get you into the hero course!"
...what?
Summary: Shinso meets the other half of the chaos duo.
Chapter TextHitoshi's mind was still reeling by the time they arrived at a large door that obviously led into a support lab. What did Midoriya mean when he said they were going to help him get into the hero course? Could they even do that? How…?
He was knocked out of his stupor, quite literally, when the door blew off its hinges and threw him and Midoriya against the far wall of the wallway. It didn't hurt as bad as he would have expected, and honestly he was more dazed than hurt, but maybe that had something to do with the whole situation and not the fact that he'd just gotten thrown against a wall and was now sitting on the hallway floor.
"Mei-chan!" Midoriya yelled. "You could have hurt us!"
"Don't worry, Izu-kun, that was just a disorienting blast!" A girl with bright pink hair and coveralls tied around her waist appeared in the doorway, nonchalantly moving a giant pair of goggles from her face to her head as if she hadn't just blown up half the hallway. "They'll cause damage to things, but not to people! Perfect for hostage situations!"
"Oh!" Midoriya scrambled to his feet and grabbed a notebook from his pocket. "How does that affect people like Cemontoss who are, objectively, made from things? There's a kid in 1-A who can turn into rock and another in 1-B who can turn into steel, would they be affected? Would it only damage them when their quirks are activated? Or is the damage caused because the thing is non-living, in which case quirks wouldn't affect it because the person with the quirk is still alive? What about…"
"What the…" A hero that Hitoshi assumed was Powerloader appeared in the doorway, his hands going to his helmet as he took in the scene. "How? Hatsume, I literally looked away for two seconds!"
"Well, technically, an explosion takes only a fraction of a second to begin." Midoriya began. "But the actual chemical reaction can take several seconds to run its course, depending on the chemicals involved, but you wouldn't be able to stop it once it reached the activation energy…"
"Didn't you two promise to not bother the other students if I let you bring Shinso here?" Powerloader asked.
"Oh, it's a support lab!" Hatsume dismissed. "Explosions are normal! We're not bothering…"
"Shut the fuck up and go to your boyfriend's room already!" A female voice called out loudly from inside the classroom. Midoriya turned bright red and sputtered, but Hatsume apparently didn't care about whatever her classmate was implying, because she simply zeroed in on Hitoshi and leaned down until she was only inches away from his face. He instinctively pressed himself as far against the wall as he could, which unfortunately wasn't very far.
She smiled at him manically, "You must be Extra-Credit-Kun! Izu-kun's told me so much about you! We're gonna have so much fun!"
Hitoshi simply blinked at her as he waited for his brain to catch up and maybe, just maybe, make sense of her words, "E-extra-Credit-Kun?"
"Mei-chan!" Midoriya shoved her away from him and shook his head as he helped Hitoshi up. "You can't just call people by nicknames like that the first time you meet them! Shinso has a name!"
"Not important." Hatsume dismissed. "What's important is that I'm going to make his babies!"
Hitoshi choked on nothing and almost fell back onto the floor again as the crazy girl grabbed his hand and pulled him into the lab with Midoriya following close behind. He barely got a glimpse of the other students before he was being yanked into a small dark room lined with computers and the door shut ominously behind him, trapping him with the two crazy students who had just kidnapped him. Was being a hero really worth all this?
Yes. Yes, it was.
Hitoshi took a deep breath and looked at his kidnappers with a well-practiced bored expression, "So...are you gonna explain what's going on now?"
Hatsume turned and slapped Midoriya's chest, "Izu-kun! Why didn't you explain anything to Extra-Credit-Kun?!"
"I was waiting for you!" Midoriya defended. "I thought you wanted…"
"Don't waste time on my account, Izu-kun, we have work to do!" Hatsume turned back to Hitoshi. "You, Extra-Credit-Kun, are our new project!"
Hitoshi didn't think that explained anything except for the nickname he'd apparently acquired, but thankfully Midoriya was a little more willing to fill in the gaps.
"Powerloader has agreed to give us extra credit if we use our skills to help you." Midoriya sighed as he turned on the lights and sat down in front of the line of computers. "I'm an analyst and Mei-chan is obviously an inventor, so we're going to...well, be your support, I guess? I'll help you analyze and train your quirk and she'll make you a support item that you can use in the sports festival next month to give you the best possible chance of transfering into the hero course. Honestly, it's ridiculous that they wouldn't let you in the hero course in the first place, but at least now you can prove everyone wrong, right?"
Hitoshi thought about that for a long moment, "So you're basically going to train me to be a hero so you can get extra credit?"
Midoriya smiled awkwardly, "Yes? I mean, only if that's ok! We don't have to if you don't want us to, I mean, I get that we can kinda be a lot sometimes and…"
"Don't give him a choice, Izu-kun!" Hatsume exclaimed. "We're helping you and that's final! Ok, Extra-Credit-Kun?"
Hitoshi couldn't help snorting, "Well, I'm not exactly in a position to say no, but are you sure you even want to help a kid with a villain's quirk become even more dangerous? What if I go rogue like everyone's always told me?"
His kidnappers obviously hadn't missed any of the bitterness in Hitoshi's voice, because they shared a glance and when Hatsume responded, she sounded angry, "Ok, that's it. You're gonna win this and we're gonna prove those assholes wrong! I am so sick of people being rude to my friends just because of downright stupid prejuduces!"
"F-friends?" Hitoshi's brain went blank. Hatsume couldn't possibly be including him in that, could she? They'd literally just met! But then, she'd already talked about having his babies...whatever the hell that meant.
"It's best not to fight her friendship." Midoriya gave him a small, determined smile. "When Mei-chan gets something in her brain, it's best to just roll with it. So! Let's start with your quirk! It's brainwashing, right? Verbal response based?"
Hitoshi nodded, still reeling, "Yeah. But, uh, I can't control higher brain functions, just basically make the person into a puppet."
Midoriya had whipped out a notebook and was rapidly writing down everything Hitoshi was saying, "How do they snap out of it? Do you have to release your control?"
Hitoshi shrugged, "I can, like if they complete all the orders I gave them, but it's more common for someone else to jostle them, which can break my hold. That's how most of my classmates rescued anyone they thought I'd used my quirk on."
"Hmm," Midoriya ignored Hatsume's annoyed buzzing next to him, "Ask me a question."
"Why?" Hitoshi asked suspiciously
Midoriya grinned, "So you can brainwash me of course! I need to know how it feels to be on the receiving end and it'll help me explore your limits…"
His eyes went blank as Hitoshi took control, glancing over at Hatsume, expecting her to be creeped out at the very least. To his surprise, however, she just looked excited and grabbed Midoriya's notebook from his lax grip, flipping through some of the pages until she'd found what she was looking for, "Ok! Test time! Izu-kun already made a list of orders he wants you to give him, so let's start! Tell him to stand on one foot!"
Hitoshi hesisted, glancing between Hatsume and Izuku. He'd learned the hard way not to give anyone any functional orders without their express permission. "I...um, I should ask him first."
"Well then, just ask him now!" Hatsume said impatiently. "It'll be another experiment to see if he tells the truth under your quirk!"
"It doesn't work like that." Hitoshi griped and turned to Midoriya. "Tell me whether or not you're ok with me giving you orders."
Just as he'd expected, Midoriya simply sat and stared at him blankly. Hitoshi turned back to Hatsume, who looked vaguely disappointed, "See? Verbal responses count as a higher brain function. I'm just gonna wake him up and ask."
Hitoshi released his hold and watched nervously as the light came back into Midoriya's eyes. Sure, he'd said that he wanted Hitoshi to brainwash him, but what if he got angry? It turned out that Hitoshi didn't have anything to be worried about, because the moment Midoriya was in control of himself again, he just shook his head and grinned brightly.
"That was so cool!" Midoriya grabbed his notebook back from Hatsume and scribbled a few things down before handing the notebook to Hitoshi, "Ok, so this time I want you to tell me to do the things on this list, and if I haven't woken up by the end of it, Mei, could you jostle me to wake me up? I want to compare that to Shinso releasing his control voluntarily."
"Sure thing, Izu-kun!" Hatsume grinned and grabbed her phone to start recording the session. "Ready!"
"Do you think you'll wake up before the end?" Hitoshi couldn't help asking. He had to ask a question to establish control anyway, so he may as well as one he was curious about.
"I don't know." Midoriya said. "It'll depend on how your quirk deals with impossible orders."
"Ok?" Hitoshi was pretty sure that they'd already figured that out, since Midoriya had just done nothing rather than answer his question earlier, but apparently, he was no longer the expert on his own quirk.
He quickly took control of Midoriya and started going down the list. Most of the orders were easy things like stand up, sit down, stand on one foot, ect. The most interesting thing that happened was when Hitoshi ordered Midoriya to sit down on a stool. There wasn't a stool in the little room they were in, so to Hitoshi's surprise, Midoriya actually took the initiative to leave the room and go sit in the stool out by Powerloader's desk. Hitoshi almost died of embarrassment as he ran after Midoriya, frantically apologizing to the other support students, but he finally decided that their classmates must be used to their antics because the only response they gave to their classmate coming out practically braindead was a few curious glances and a few giggles to Powerloader's exasperation.
"Shinso, I'm assuming you're currently in control of Midoriya?" Powerloader asked with a sigh.
Hitoshi froze. This was it. This was how he got expelled from UA. He should have known better than to brainwash a UA student, even with their permission, and now he was going to get punished for his stupidity. He should have known this whole situation was too good to be true. He stared at the floor, clamping down on his anger and disappointment, "Yes sir. I'll release him from my quirk right away."
"There's no need for that." Powerloader said. "I'm sure you're in the middle of an experiment, right?"
Hitsoshi hesitantly nodded. Was...was Powerloader just going to accept that?! He wasn't going to expel him for using his quirk on a fellow student?! Apparently not, because Powerloader simply nodded as if this situation were completely normal...or as normal as any situation could be when Midoirya and Hatsume were involved.
"Shinso, please tell Midoriya to get back into his room." Powerloader said. "And make sure he doesn't run into anything dangerous on the way back, there are power tools in here."
Hitoshi nodded frantically, grateful that he had somehow avoided getting expelled, and ordered Midoriya to go back to Hatsume, who was currently rolling on the floor of the little room dying of laughter. With his luck, he could just imagine Midoriya trying to walk all the way back home completely brainwashed if he told him to go to his room.
After that minor blip, everything went smoothly. Everything, that was, until Hitoshi read the last order on Midoriya's list.
"Hatsume?" Hitoshi pointed to the page. "Does he really want me to order him to do this?"
"Don't call me Hatsume, Extra-Credit-Kun, Mei-chan is fine!" Hatsume leaned over and read the order. "That one's actually a pretty important experiment, so yeah, he definitely wants you to do it."
"O-ok?" Hitoshi took a deep breath and looked at Midoriya, who was waiting in the middle of the room. "Do a backflip."
Midoriya squatted and jumped backwards, only to hit the ground as his attempt at a backflip completely failed.
"Ow…" Midoriya groaned and rolled over, the impact more than enough to knock him from Hitoshi's control, "Ok, so the person will still try to complete impossible commands, but won't be able to if the task is outside their ability level. Nice to know."
"I am so sorry." Hitoshi ran to help him up. "I shouldn't have given you that order, are you hurt? Do you need me to leave? I'm so sorry, I should stop asking questions, I'm probably making you really uncomfortable…"
Midoriya just laughed with a wince, "No! I put that on there on purpose! It was the only thing I could think of that, while theoretically possible, wasn't a skill that I have. My first thought was that I would just wake up when given the order, or maybe my brain would subsciously know how to complete the task...wait, do you know how to do a backflip?"
"Do I look like I know how to do a backflip?" Hitoshi deadpanned. "And why would that even matter?"
"Because your quirk could be connecting your target's body to your brain instead of theirs." Midoriya explained as he took back his notebook. "Mei, make a note that we should ask Recovery Girl if she has access to some kind of brain scanner. We need to know whose brain lights up when tasks are being done, Shinso's or his target's."
"Will do, Izu-kun!" Hatsumei said happily. "I could probably build one myself if…"
Hitoshi couldn't help but feel like he was intruding as both of them dissolved into muttering and wrote down their observations in their respective notebooks. He was starting to wonder if he should just go back to class when one of Midoriya's more coherent mutterings caught his attention, "...and we know you can modify memories, so…"
"No, I can't." Hitoshi interrupted before he could stop himself and he leaned back slightly when both of his kidnappers stopped their notetaking to stare at him.
Midoriya frowned, "But in the footage you could."
"I don't' know what you think you saw, but," Hitoshi shrugged helplessly, "I mean, I've never actually tried it, I would've gotten in way too much trouble for something like that, but I can't even make someone answer a question, so I'm pretty sure I can't make someone forget something or anything like that."
"Hmm…" Midoriya tapped his cheek with his pencil a few times. "Mei, what color is Shinso's hair?"
Hatsumei grinned, "Purple!"
Midoriya nodded, "Ok, now turn and face the wall. Shinso, put her under your quirk so we can try something."
Wait, were they actually going to try to modify Hatsume's memories? It seemed like that shouldn't be something she should be ok with, but when it came to these two, Shinso didn't really know if any normal rules applied, "Umm, if she wants me to, I can, but she'd have to answer one of my questions."
"Ohh!" Even from the back, Hatsume's excitement was obvious. "Do I get to be the test subject this time?!"
"Are you actually crazy?" Hitoshi asked incredulously.
Hatsume simply laughed, "Probably!"
Hitoshi activated his quirk and shook his head in disbelief. These two had to be insane, "Ok, what now?"
Midoriya thought for a second, "Tell her to remember your hair being green."
Hitoshi still didn't think this was actually going to work, so he went ahead and gave the order, then released his control.
Midoriya smiled at him, then turned to Hatsume, "Ok, Mei-chan, before you turn around, what color is Shinso's hair?"
"Is this a trick question?" Hatsume sounded confused. "It's green, just like yours Izu-kun! I thought you guys were going to mess with my memories or something?"
Hitoshi's jaw dropped and Midoriya's face split into a bright grin, "Turn around!"
Hatsume turned quickly and did a double take as soon as she saw Hitoshi, "Whoa! That's so trippy!"
Hitoshi couldn't even think. He...he hadn't even known he could do that. Until he'd seen her reaction, he'd half-thought they were just being nice or something, but he'd actually changed her memories, "How...how did you know I could do that?"
Izuku smiled, "I watched your entrance exam. That other examinee you got in a fight with? I know him. He wouldn't have let something like that slide unless he actually had forgotten about you like you ordered. All that left was confirming the theory."
Hatsume grinned and leaned close to his face, "I'm gonna have so much fun making your babies!"
Hitoshi walked into class 1-C at the end of the hour shell-shocked and with a smear of soot on his cheek that he hadn't gotten around to wiping off after Hatsume's welcome explosion. The moment that Present Mic saw him, the corners of his mouth started twitching and it was obvious that he was holding back giggles, "So...how was it?"
"I think I just made a deal with the devil." Hitoshi said numbly. "Actually, two devils. Is that worse? It feels like that's worse."
This time, Mic-Sensei didn't even bother to hold back his laughter, "Yeah, the support course is like that. Go ahead and take a seat."
Hitoshi ignored his classmates' whispers as he made his way to his seat and took out his things for the next lesson. Yes, Midoriya and Hatsume were...overwhelming, but in less than an hour, they'd discovered things about his quirk that Hitoshi hadn't even realized after ten years of having it. If anyone at UA could get him into the hero course, it was his kidnappers.
So if those two really were demons, Hitoshi couldn't quite bring himself to regret signing away his soul.