Uraraka stood within the girl's locker room at U.A., completely naked as the water from the shower poured over her. A small groan of delight was kept in her throat as she just stood there savoring this treat. Due to the fact that she was living in a very, very cheap student apartment while studying to be a hero, her bathroom wasn't the best. The room itself was extremely cramped while barely holding the toilet and sink. When she wanted to wash herself in the morning, she had to sit on that toilet and use a rag. Not exactly the most efficient way to clean yourself. Still, it wasn't so bad. Instead of going to the local public bathhouse like the rest of the tenants, she could save money by just coming to U.A. At the very least, both places would provide her with water that was reliably hot.
And not brown.
While all this felt great for her, Uraraka couldn't help but feel a slight uneasiness within herself. The reason? Tokage. As the brown haired, gravity nullifying girl began to soap up her arms starting from the shoulders, she peaked a glance over at the girl who had so openly hit on her. As she looked at her, she had to wonder if any of the other girls had a problem showering with a girl who had loudly proclaimed herself as bisexual. Weren't they worried that she would use this as a chance to ogle them, to check out their naked bodies? That she might pull a Mineta, 'accidently' slipping or something to put herself and another girl in a sexually compromising position?
It seemed like the answer was no. Tokage had entered the shower, towel on her shoulder before hanging it up, and just chatting with Kendo before they both turned on the water. There were no wolf whistles as she looked at all the other girls showering, no smacking them on the ass, no wildly rude comments. She was just taking a shower and being respectful. Maybe the problem with Uraraka feeling this way was due to her being in contact with too many perverts.
Said girl was facing one of the side walls of the open shower, making it so Uraraka got a good look of her naked backside. With just a glance, Uraraka could see several trails of water running down her back, one even entering the crack of the green haired girl's admittedly shapely ass. The light from the ceiling reflected off the girl's skin, making its appearance almost radiant. She could only imagine what was going on in the front, trails of soap suds running down those breasts that were either a low D-cup or an upper C-cup. They would then trail down that smooth yet muscular stomach that some models out there would kill to have before making its wave to her shaved sex. Something that nearly all of the students had been told to start doing when they were informed about their costume due to their skin tight nature. Then there were the legs-
Suddenly, Uraraka realized that this quick glance was moving into staring territory. Wait, had she been imagining Tokage's front? Turning her head, she also understood what she had started doing: she was checking out another girl! Her heart began to beat a bit faster as her face became slightly flushed. She had never before thought of another girl in either the romantic or sexual sense before. Sure, she could admit when another girl was pretty, but that was different. So why was she suddenly feeling this way? Also she knew she liked guys as she thought Midoriya was cute with those freckles; so much so that, if it weren't for his girlfriend, she might have considered asking him out. Oh wait, she couldn't due to Aizawa. Oh wait again, if she liked guys then why was she suddenly interested in girls? Was it because, for the first time in her life, someone had expressed interest in her and it just so happened to be another girl?
Taking a breath, Uraraka looked down and frowned as another thought entered her mind. Out of all the girls here, why had someone as plain as herself caught the attention of someone as amazing as Tokage. After all, the self disembodying girl was one of only four students to get into the school via recommendation and had a very useful quirk. Her grades had to be in a league of their own, just like Yaoyorozu's. And she was super attractive. Meanwhile, Uraraka was the exact opposite. Her quirk was useless, sure, but in areas like construction to make everything lighter. She had had to work her ass off in the entrance exam and had only managed to get into the hero program with a single point. There was always this feeling surrounding her that, at any moment, she would get kicked out by Aizawa! And as for her looks, well…
A small sigh escaped her, hands going into auto-pilot washing her body, as Uraraka began looking around at the other girls in the shower. As she did, it was like she was finally noticing for the first time just how attractive they all truly were. Mina, who was standing next to her, had that striking appearance that seemed both alien and yet not, along with a well honed body from her years of dancing. The slightly deeper shades of pink on her puffy nipples, the alluring eyes, and not to mention a shapely ass were all features that would make anyone long for her attention. Then there was Kendo. While being more muscular, it did little to distract from her chest and shapely figure. Shiozaki normally had a stern expression, but like the rest of the girls here had that amazing model-like figure along with some additional benefits that would certainly catch a few eyes. Currently she was using her vines to wash her body, slithering around her limbs like various snakes while making sure not to cut herself with her many thorns. The very act itself could be seen as erotic, adding to her beauty. Then there was Yanagi who, despite being completely naked, somehow managed to keep the lower part of her mouth covered with steam. For a few seconds, Uraraka wondered how that was possible before giving up. The ghostly girl was still attractive. All the girls in 1-B were just so hot. Then there were the girls from the other courses. Like the Amazon Slime girl from General Studies: Katayama! Despite having those massively heavy looking breasts, Uraraka could see them jiggling alluringly with each step she took. Heck, even Kawakami had this sexy Lolita-like body.
Then she looked back down at herself, her hands stopping as they washed one of her under boobs. Compared to all of them, she didn't feel all that special. She had a round face that a certain member of her class loved to point out and mock her for it. She wasn't fat by any means, but maybe a little too well rounded? Her breasts were probably too big for her body type, making her look all the weirder. Along with all of her other plain features, it would be hard to stand out in this hero world. So, as she turned her attention back to Tokage, she had to wonder what the girl saw in her.
Just then, Tokage stopped in the middle of her conversation with Kendo. She just suddenly stopped, the toothy smile she had fading into something akin to being curious as she turned to look at Uraraka. Realizing that she had been caught, Uraraka quickly turned her head away while her face heated up in embarrassment.
Deciding she wanted to get out of here quickly before she could further embarrass herself, Uraraka decided to focus on washing her own body. As she did so, she listened to the conversations around her.
"So what do you have planned for tonight, shroom?" asked Komori, her eyes poking out from underneath her bangs to stare at Kawakami.
"Oh, ah, nothing special really. Since I'm free tonight, I'm going to be meeting Shinso at this nice little cat café a few blocks from U.A.," answered the hydra girl. Though, as she said this, the snake heads coming out of her back rolled their eyes.
"Sis, you promised you would meet him there before classes started for the day."
"We had to work triple time just to make sure we got enough done so you could make it."
"At least you won't have to worry about your homework during your date."
"Why couldn't this school have bubble baths? I like bubble baths."
Uraraka and Komori just ignored the randomness of the fourth snake sister's head as they both stared at Kawakami. They weren't the only ones since Kawakami's sisters hadn't kept their voices down. Now Mina was looking at the smaller, blue-haired girl with glee that came whenever she smelt juicy gossip. As for the rest, well, they certainly looked intrigued at the very least. As for Kawakami herself, said girl looked mortified. Like she wanted to dig herself a huge hole and then hide in it till she died.
"I-It's not like that!" she protested, waving her arms in front of her as she spoke. "Shinso just wanted a little help designing his hero costume. So if he does well in the Sports Festival he can submit it right away! And it's not a date!"
As the other girls in the shower looked ready to pounce on her for more details, the other snake heads decided to add more fuel to the fire.
"Oh please sis, don't act like you haven't been hoping this would happen."
"You have been practicing making boxed lunches to give to Shinso."
"Not the store bought kind, but something you made all by yourself."
"Oh, what's this?"
Suddenly, the fourth and most absent minded snake head began to extend its long neck towards the ceiling. It went into one of the corners before opening its mouth to bite down on something. A moment later, it retracted itself back to Kawakami who held out her hands as an object was dropped onto it. Said object was small, so much so that it could easily fit within the center of Kawakami's hand and roll around. It wasn't all that long either with a rectangular shape. Its black body was surrounded by some sort of plastic or something similar with…a lens on one of its sides?
"Is that what I think it is?" asked Shiozaki, her vines wrapping around her body before her hands could cover themselves. The other girls began mirroring the vine haired girl to the best of their ability long before Kendo, Tokage, and Kawakami all gave fearful nods. It was a camera. Someone had been recording them!
A short while later, all of the students in the training class were moving down the hallway of U.A. after doing a thorough search of the locker room. Both of them. Yes, it seems whoever put those cameras in the girls locker room had also done the same to the guys. It hadn't just been in the shower, but whatever sick freak had done this had also placed them everywhere. Over the lockers to view the students changing. Some hidden within the lockers. There were even some placed to record students as they went to the bathroom! Now dressed in their school uniforms, the students moved with fierce expressions while Kendo held a plastic bag containing the numerous little devices they had been able to collect.
All but one as Kawakami held one of the devices in her hand, a finger covering the lens as she examined it.
"From the looks of it, this looks like one of the short range spy cameras that U.A. offers third year hero students," she said while her 'sisters' looked around it as well.
"You sure about that?" demanded Tetsutetsu. Kawakami flinched a little at his tone, but after a moment nodded.
"Yes," she said. "It was part of one of my assignments in the Business Course. We were assigned various equipment used by hero students that the school normally provides and stores. We were then assigned to track how often the equipment was used along with giving damage reports along with a cost estimate to anything that was broken or lost. These look like one of the devices that we were monitoring. Besides, I can't find any serial numbers or other markings on these things other than the special code used by the school to track dishonest students who try to smuggle them out and sell them. Also, they are too well made to be something that was built in someone's garage. And, ah, Power Loader keeps a very detailed inventory of all his supplies. Especially now since he has this one first year student who keeps breaking into the Support Lab to work on additional projects. He would have been able to cross reference whatever she built with what he is missing to see that something didn't add up. That and the fact that once she makes something she moves on to the next invention. Oh, also, most of the stuff she's been making has a good chance of exploding right in your face so I don't think this is her work."
The blue-haired hydra girl then noticed that no one else was talking. Glancing around, she noticed that all of the other students were staring at her. At first, Kawakami wanted to use her 'sister' to hide her face. Perhaps even uses a non-lethal mist attack in order to make a getaway. But before she could, she saw their expression shift to something positive.
"Your experiences within the Business Course have proven to be most helpful," said Yanagi while Kodai hummed in agreement.
"Oh, it's nothing," replied Kawakami as she lowered her head.
Shinso, however, shook his head. "It isn't nothing. We at least have a starting point. Better than stumbling around blind throughout the school. That would have given whoever did this time to get away. Heh, makes me wish I had signed up for the business course instead of General Studies." At that, Kawakami's 'sisters' began to shudder before moving to get into the tired teen's face.
"Trust us, you wouldn't last."
"The work is far too hard and taxing for someone who looks half dead already."
"Not to mention the ethical issues of having someone with a brainwashing quirk learning make deals and contracts."
"Does your hair taste like grape juice?"
Before anyone could even blink, the fourth head lunged at Shinso's hair before chomping into it. Kawakami cried out in a panic, begging her sister to stop while the other heads bit into the attacking neck. Yet the fourth sister remained where she was, mouth closed around Shinso's hair while her jaw seemed to move in a chewing motion. After a while all the students could see large amounts of drool leaking out. Eventually, albeit longer than one would have thought, the sister decided that the hair did not taste like grape juice before releasing it.
Sometime after the group found themselves in front of the doors leading into the third year's studio. The doors themselves reminded the gravity girl of the sort of thing you would find in one of those sci-fi movies, appearing thick enough to withstand an explosion and opening by sliding into the wall. There was even a keypad and card reader on the wall next to it. Though, oddly, there was also a sign hanging on the side of the wall, the picture depicting a person with pink dreadlocks and steampunk goggles with a red slash going right through it. After only a moment of standing in front of the door, Uraraka watched as Kendo and Tokage took the lead with Kawakami right behind them and the rest of the group behind her.
Once they were inside, Uraraka blinked at what she saw as it was not what she had expected. She had assumed that there would be piles of various machines, those standing metal coils with electricity running down them, metal claws coming out of the ceiling, and a fire extinguisher on wheels to put out the numerous fires. Instead what she found were a series of desks, all facing a plasma screen that filled up half the wall. Each table had a three monitor computer with a keyboard embedded into the surface and below that were a series of different sized drawers. Lining the side wall where they entered as well as the back were a series of larger machines that looked completely alien to Uraraka. But what really drew her attention was what was along the wall directly across from them. It looked like there was a wall made of thick glass or something similar, the only way you could even tell it was there were the number of air holes that had been cut out as well as a specially made door. On the opposite side of the wall were numerous cabinets of all shapes and sizes, each one containing a different type of lock.
Finally, sitting in front of the door at his own desk, was a student. His school jacket had been taken off and hung on the back of his chair fully exposing his white button up shirt and red tie as he kept his bespectacled gaze focused on the scenes in front of him. From what Uraraka could see the upperclassman looked fairly average save that he lacked hair in the normal tradition. Instead his locks had been replaced with feathers that seemed to naturally slick back, moving down the back of his head until they reached his neck.
As the group made their way inside, their senior looked up from whatever he had been working on. At first, his expression was neutral and uninterested, so much so that he almost went right back to his work. Yet a moment after he had lowered his head it shot right back up to look at the large number of people which he then scanned.
"Ah…can I help you?" he asked, sounding clearly uncertain. "Wait. None of you are third years. If you want to make costume requests or check out equipment to test, you'll need to speak to your own support class."
Uraraka watched as Tokage paced a hand on the desk, leaning forward a bit while bending down so that she was not just closer to him but also at his eye level. "Yeah, hi. We're not looking for either of those. We need to speak with whoever is in charge of all the third year gadgets. Think you can help us with that?"
"Then that would be me," the teen said, once more looking over all the students. Like he was trying his best to place them. "I keep track and record the check outs of all equipment used by hero students for after hour training. Well, that and making sure that pink haired menace doesn't sneak in here and take our equipment. Again. That name's Kai Saotome."
"Good," replied Setsuna as she moved into a sitting position on the desk while keeping her eyes locked onto Saotome's. At the same time, her hand detached from her arm to take the small camera from Kawakami. Once she held it in her hand, her limb rejoined the rest of her body before dramatically placing the device between the pair of them. "I heard that these devices were used by the third years. Can you please tell me who checked them out?"
When Saotome looked down at it, Uraraka noticed their senior seemed taken aback. Though, this only lasted a moment for he licked his lips before picking up the spy camera, twirling it around in his hands. Was he honestly surprised to see that they had one? Or was it something else?
"Yeah, this is one of ours," said Saotome. "Last time they were used was during an advanced heroics lesson at the start of the year. Funny, I could have sworn that they were all brought back. Must have been a mistake on my part. I'll have to make a note of this. What training area did you find this in?"
"In the girl's locker room," replied Kendo as she then placed the bag containing the rest of the cameras on the desk, allowing them to spill out. "Along with these found in both locker rooms."
Saotome paled so much that his skin almost matched the color of his shirt. He seemed beyond nervous. He was terrified. His hands reached down, trembling as he picked up one of the devices at random to examine. Then, slowly, he looked up at the students who held stony as they awaited an answer.
"This can't be happening," he whispered, almost to himself.
"Oh, it happened," said Tokage as she leaned forward a bit, opening her mouth to reveal her razor sharp teeth. At the same time, all of Kawakami's extra heads let out snake-like hisses while Shiozaki's vines began to extend themselves in a show of force. Tetsutetsu cracked his neck so loudly that everyone winced while Awase did the same with his knuckles. "Now, who did you give all these to?"
Saotome shook his head before quickly turning to the door behind him. Body shaking, he pulled out a card from his pocket and held it up before the door opened. Uraraka, as well as the rest of the students, watched him like a hawk as he went straight to one of the cabinets. From there, as Saotome pulled out a large key ring, the gravity girl noticed something off. There had to be more than fifty nearly identical and unlabeled keys on that ring. Yet, not only did he find the key he was looking for but he was right on his first try. Yet, the school year was still somewhat fresh and if he was being honest about when those cameras were last used, it seemed odd that he would know that right off the bat.
Still, she watched as the teen opened the cabinet and looked inside only to fall to his knees. Seeing this, several of the students made their way around the desk and towards the fallen senior. It didn't take long to find out what had caused this as the cabinet was completely empty.
"No, this isn't possible," stammered Saotome, now appearing close to crying. "I…Power Loader entrusted this job to me. Oh god, oh my god. What's he going to do when he finds out that I lost all of the cameras! I'm going to be expelled!"
"Please, calm down," said Ibara as she moved beside him, a hand gently resting on his back. "Hope is not lost. If you approach Power Loader honestly, confess to your failure, and produce the person responsible then I'm sure that your teacher shall not be so severe. You might lose this position, but it would be better than being expelled during your final year."
"Y-Yeah," stammered Saotome before gulping dryly.
"Do you have any idea who might have done it?" asked Shinso.
"I don't know. I swear, all the hero students brought back their equipment. It can't be Mirio because his quirk won't allow him-," just then, Saotome's head shot up. "Wait, there was someone else who might have done it. I caught him in the room one time after I had stepped out to see if Lunch Rush was still around to make something for dinner. The little freak was standing by the entrance with a bit of drool coming out of his mouth."
"Little freak?" echoed Ashido in confusion. Then, her eyes widened before placing a hand on her head. "Was he really short with purple balls for hair?"
Saotome began to nod furiously. "T-That's him. I thought it strange for a first year student to be here."
"When I find the pervert he is going to wish Aizawa had expelled him on day one," growled Ashido, a small amount of acid escaping her palms as she spoke. When the liquid touched the floor, everyone could hear a loud hiss while the contaminated surface began to bubble before dissolving. "Thankfully, he won't have the chance to hide from us. He's either still in detention or just getting out of it. I say we find him and drag his sorry diapered ass to Nezu!"
As most of the rest of the students let out various noises of agreement, Uraraka kept her gaze on Saotome. She watched him, the fear he had just moments ago lessening. It was not completely gone, but the color of his skin was returning to normal and the shaking had stopped. Also, he looked like he was holding back a sigh or something. Like he had started to but stopped just before exhaling. Was this part of his quirk or was it due to something else. The gravity girl then noticed something else. That she wasn't the only one keeping an eye on the older Support Student. Tokage was giving him a calculated look.
Finally, Saotome spoke. "As much as I'd love to join you all, there are some things I'll need to do. I want to do a complete inventory of everything here to see what else is missing. Then I need to write up a formal report and hand it to Power Loader." He then gave a nervous laugh, scratching the back of his head. "Besides, I'd probably be more in the way if I did join you."
"Hey, it just means we get to pound the freak a bit more," growled Ashido before she turned and headed out the door with everyone else following her. Though not before Uraraka gave one last look at Saotome, the older teen moving back to his desk and quickly sitting down.
As the group made their way into the hallway, a gnawing feeling grew within Uraraka's stomach as she thought about their encounter with the senior. And the more she thought about it, the more she analyzed it, the more that feeling grew. It grew quickly, so much so that by the time they turned down the first hallway the gravity girl could no longer take it.
"Guys, wait!" she called. She had thought she would have to say it again, louder in order to get their attention. However, she had almost failed to notice that most of them had already begun to slow down as they turned. Maybe over half of them. What's more, when Ashido turned to look at her, the pink skinned alien girl's smile was back in full force. In fact, she looked ready to burst from laughter!
"Hey, why are we stopping? We need to find Mineta before he can leave!" stated Tetsutetsu who was bouncing on his heels.
"Didn't any of that seem strange to you?" asked Uraraka in a nervous tone. While the steel quirk user scowled at her, Tokage placed her hands on her hips while giving Uraraka an approving look.
"So you noticed it too," she said in a matter of fact tone. She then turned to Ashido. "I'm guessing you picked up on it as well. Nice acting by the way."
Ashido let out a laugh, smiling brightly before taking a playful and over the top bow. "Thank you, thank you. I'd like to thank everyone here who helped make all of my annoyance to the purple pervert possible."
"Hey, can someone please tell me why we're not hunting down that purple freak?" demanded one of the General Studies students.
"Because this is an obvious misdirect," replied Shinso, glancing over at Tokage and Uraraka as he said this. "At least, that's what I was thinking. Good to know I wasn't the only one."
"Yeah," said Ashido with a nod as she turned to look at the others. "Look, I've been in the same room with Mineta far more often than anyone should ever be subjected to. So I have a pretty good idea on what he's all about. I can honestly see him pulling a stunt like this…but only with the girl's lockers. The fact that we found so many in the guy's locker room tells me that this isn't him. Also, he probably doesn't even know we can rent these spy cameras. I don't know what you guys have been doing in your heroic classes, but so far we've been only using our own support equipment. Heck, Aizawa hasn't even told us we could rent out or borrow equipment from the Support Studio."
"Well, he could have heard about them from an upperclassman talking about his lesson," pointed out another student from General Studies. "I mean, the guy is short so if he stayed quiet long enough he could easily eavesdrop an entire conversation without anyone being aware."
"Well, that is possible," said Kawakami with a nod. "But, I'm a bit more focused on how he would have gotten his hands on so many cameras. Mineta's quirk isn't exactly suited for theft. It's more for mobility and capture. From what we just saw, in order to get into the storage area you would need a special key card, then in order to get into the cabinets there are individual keys. The key card is something that he might, and I stress the word, might have left on his desk if he did go out for food like he suggested. Thought it would have been smarter to leave it in the desk or just keep it on his person. But even then, we all saw that he keeps the key ring on him even when he's alone. In order for Mineta to get in, Saotome would have needed to leave both the card and the key ring behind." That's when the other heads chimed in one after the other.
"The guy never questioned why a first year student was there, standing on his desk?"
"Bozo never checked to see if anything had been tampered with?"
"Heck, shouldn't he be doing an inventory of all that junk regularly? Especially after the break in?"
"Well, he does have feathers for hair so maybe he has a bird brain."
"I, ah, also think something is wrong with that story," said Uraraka. As the eyes of everyone turned to her, she took a deep breath before speaking her thoughts. "Lets say, for the sake of argument, that Mineta did somehow get his hands on both the key card and the key ring. Well, we all saw that there are a lot of cabinets back there. And a lot of keys. He would have had to go through the keys one by one until he found the right one, looked inside, and then moved onto the next. It just seems too, er, convenient, that Mineta came in right after Saotome left to get food, found all the keys he needed, got the right key each time, found the cameras, and got them out without anyone noticing all before Saotome came back. Also, given the size of the room and the number of keys he had, didn't anyone think it was odd that Saotome knew exactly where the cameras were?"
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," muttered Tokage with a shake of her head. "Dude was way too familiar with where they were located given that he claims he only brought them out once. So either he has a good memory or…" Setsuna let her words hang as the few students who had doubted them put the pieces together.
From there, the group split up. Uraraka, Ashido, Tokage, Shinso, Kendo, and Kawakami would remain behind to watch the third year support class to see if Saotome made any moves. Meanwhile, the rest of the group would spread out around the campus to create a sort of net with a few even standing guard by the U.A. gate. There would even be a few looking for Mineta, just on the chance that he was involved. After all, there was a chance that Saotome and Mineta had teamed up but now that they were caught he was throwing the purple haired pervert under the bus.
About five minutes after they had left, the group watching the support class saw Saotome leaving in a hurry. In fact, the older teen looked like he had been holding himself back for a while now and now that he was unable to do so any longer moving with reckless abandonment down the halls. He wasn't even looking behind him to see if he was being watched, just running as fast as he could. But what was strange was he wasn't moving towards any of the entrances or towards the where the first years were located. Instead, he moved upwards within the building as if there was some sort of helicopter waiting for him.
At the same time, Uraraka and the others moved as silently as possible as they followed their upperclassman. Even though he wasn't looking behind them, they did their best to stay a good distance behind him. Just far enough so that they wouldn't be noticed but not far enough to where they would lose him. Eventually Saotome stopped in front of a fancy wooden door belonging to one of the business courses and, without bothering to ever look to see if there was anyone watching him, flung it open before darting inside. As the sound of doors being slammed shut echoed through the hallway, the first year students quickly closed the distance while making sure that they made as little sound as possible. Now they were curious. A business course student did all this? Why? Was he as perverted as Mineta? And why now, in their third year when they had everything to lose.
Almost as one, the group leaned closer to the door. Thankfully they didn't need to press their ears against it as they could hear the shouting going on inside.
"Come on, hurry up!" shouted Saotome, panic clear in his voice. "Either delete it all or else-"
"The fuck I'm going to let all this go to waste," came another male's voice. It wasn't the annoying tone like Mineta's, but it did carry with it hints of Ida's authoritative tone only deeper. "Not after all the footage we were able to gather. This stuff is gold. Do you have any idea how much this will be worth?"
"Not if we get caught!" yelled Saotome, still in a panic. His voice seemed to move, most likely he was pacing within the classroom. "Oh god, I'm so screwed right now. I can't believe I let you talk me into this! I'm going to lose everything! Everything!"
"Not like you had much to begin with," snapped the other teen. "That's why you agreed to help me. "Big rewards require big risks! Now, we can still salvage this situation. Just make sure you throw that first year under the bus and keep me out of all this. Do that, and I'll keep my end of the deal. Just let me finish moving these files to my thumb drive-" Whoever was speaking got no further as Kendo had had enough, opening the door with enlarged hands that quickly balled into fists. Both older teens froze as their juniors rushed in, Saotome looking like he was midstep while the other, a white haired boy with a comb over haircut, looked like he had just placed a thumb drive into his front jacket pocket. Before the new teen was a laptop with several other brightly colored thumb drives all in a neat little row.
"So," drawled Shinso, the first to speak. "Is this part of your inventory?"
"Oh my god I," began Saotome, but froze as he became trapped in Shinso's quirk. Now as he stood, there was an almost vacant expression on his face.
"How about you sit down and stay there till the teachers come," ordered Shinso to the now brainwashed teen. As Saotome was helpless but to do as he was ordered, the other teen grabbed something from beside him. A moment later, it was revealed to be a leather briefcase which he then flung at the heroes in training. More than likely he had been hoping that they would dodge it for he was already on the move, ready to barrel on past them. But, he never accounted for the skills of Kawakami's sisters as one of the heads reached out to bite down hard on the briefcase before tossing it aside. At the same time, Uraraka was on the move. Using the skills she had been learning over the last couple of days from both Midoriya and Kendo, Uraraka closed the distance between her and the fleeing teen before slamming her palm right onto his open chest. Due to her quirk activating as well as the force she used on the attack, the business senior was nearly sent flying up towards the ceiling if she hadn't managed to grab one of his flailing arms. Twisting her body, Uraraka then slammed the mastermind of the camera scheme down onto the ground with so much force that they all could hear a loud crack that made them all wince. However, the teen didn't seem too hurt as he was well enough to start screaming about how much legal trouble they were all in. Tokage ignored him as she dislocated her hands which then moved behind the business teen, one holding him down by the next while the other grabbed a wrist which pulled it behind his back. And while this was going on, Kendo called for the teachers.
Thankfully, it didn't take them long as Kan showed up a few minutes later with Nezu perched on his red shoulder and Aizawa next to him. The three of them surveyed the situation, the business course student still screaming that they had no right and that he would take them all to court for this unlawful assault on his person. However, before any of the teachers could ask what happened, Uraraka noticed that Nezu was staring at something on the desk with narrowed eyes. Following his line of sight, the brown haired girl noticed something there that they had overlooked. A device that, according to the principal, was a receiver used by the support course and teachers. From there, Nezu moved over to the laptop with the business course student screaming his head off about a breach of privacy. This went ignored as Nezu hopped off Vlad's shoulder before heading to the laptop. What he saw, Uraraka had no idea. All she knew was that the principal looked beyond angry as his tiny eyes darted from the screen to the thumb drives.
"Check him to see if he has anymore," hissed Nezu. "Also contact Midnight, Hound Dog, and Power Loader! We will need to do a complete sweep of the school grounds. That includes the teacher's locker rooms."
The weight of the statement was not lost on any of the students, realizing just how far these two had gone. So, rather than asking questions, Tokage and Uraraka helped bring the mastermind of all of this back onto his feet by means of having the Lizard-Tail Splitter girl's hands holding said teen up by the wrists while his gravity was still removed. From there, the white haired teen continued to thrash around, demanding that he be released as Vlad Kind padded him down while Aizawa kept a watchful on the boy from a distance. By the time they were done, they only found one of the portable storage devices on him. A lone plastic one that was broken into several pieces, no doubt due to how Uraraka handled him. However, that was not what was most pressing at the moment. For, as the white haired teen finally began to quiet down, the teachers looked down on the device with horror as someone had written a label onto it. A single word that sent chills down their spines.
Blackmail.
[hr]
"W-What?" was all Izuku could say as he stared at the man across from him, a cold sweat appearing on the teen's brow while still processing what he had heard. Besides him, he heard the clang of silverware. Slightly shifting his attention the teen saw Pony looking as pale as he himself felt with her eyes looking on in horror. Quickly, Izuku looked back at Blackhound hoping that he would break out into a smile and tell them it was a joke. After all, they couldn't be serious. Sure, the way they painted the picture of what would happen when All Might retired was grim, but to go back to Project Quirk Rebirth? Were they out of their minds? Out of twenty children, only one survived. Him!
After a moment or two of silence, Izuku managed to find his voice once more.
"Y-You can't!" he stated, nearly rising from his seat as he spoke. "I mean, does President Burk even know what happened back then?"
"Oh yes, he does," said Blackhound with a strange amount of calmness. "He even called me to the Oval Office to speak with me directly on the matter. He is also-"
"Then why didn't you convince him it wasn't worth it?!" shouted Pony as she stood, knocking over her glass as she did. Thankfully, there was only ice which rolled across the table. But Blackhound wasn't paying that any mind as he began gesturing with his hands for Pony to calm down. Something that she ignored, placing a hand over her heart. "How could you? Do people's lives really mean so little to you? This is monstrous! This is insane!"
"Miss Tsunotori," began Blackhoud, raising his voice above that of Pony's while his face showed a rare spark of anger. Izuku was about to shout back, when he noticed that Carol was also glaring at them. Her face practically screamed 'how dare you talk about my father like that'. Glancing over at Pony, the teen saw that his girlfriend also noticed this. Slowly, the two of them sank back into their seats. As for Blackhound, one of his scarred hands reached up to rub his forehead before a deep sigh escaped him. Bit by bit, the tension in the room began to lessen though not completely vanishing altogether.
"Pony. Izuku," Blackhound said at last, his face calmer and now more relaxed. "I apologize. I should have asked that you remain calm until I finished explaining everything. Yes, that might have been better given the history the two of you share with the project. And now I've gone and ruined what was supposed to be a lovely dinner between friends."
"I…Mr. Blackhound," began Izuku, his mouth going slightly dry. He then took a deep breath before speaking. "Sorry. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear everything."
"Thank you," replied Blackhound with a nod, placing his scarred hands on top of each other. "Yes, when I spoke to President Burk he was already familiar with what happened at the project. Not really surprising as it had been part of a government contract. I'm sure before I ever stepped into that office he had been debriefed on the whole situation by a number of advisors. Though when I did get there, he gave me the impression that this was the last thing he wanted to attach his name to. Whether it was because he found the deaths gruesome or fearing what would happen to his poll numbers should the deaths become far too large to cover up. Maybe even both. Still, he was willing to speak with me as he was with many other companies.
"Now, even though the project was officially shut down, that didn't mean that we just threw everything away. No, that would have meant that those who didn't make it died for nothing. Since that day, I have spent millions of my company's budget each year trying to figure out how you, Izuku, were the only survivor. And, last year, we were able to confirm with 98% certainty that it was because you were originally quirkless."
Izuku blinked at that.
"I don't understand," he muttered. "How does being quirkless make it so I would survive?"
Blackhound didn't answer right away. Instead he held up his glass of wine, gazing up at the red liquid.
"Did you know that the inspiration for this project came from a Japanese boogieman?" he asked, his tone sounding far off. "I remember hearing whispers about the man in the shady apartment I grew up in. Most of the drug dealers, pimps, and worse would talk about him. About a man from the dawn of quirks who had the power to steal another person's quirk, collecting them for himself but also able to bestow them onto others. More than once, I heard them wondering if the man would pay for a good quirk. This mostly came from the pimps, no doubt fooling themselves into thinking they could make more money from the girls who were 'past their prime' as they put it." As Blackhound said this last part, a look of utter disgust and revulsion swept over his face before drinking half the contents of his glass, as if what he had said had left a foul taste in his mouth, one he hoped he could wash away.
"I bring this up because, while the idea was based on these stories, quirks are not like a piece of computer hardware," said Blackhound, letting down his glass as he spoke. His demeanor was once more closer to that of a businessman, one that was explaining a product of potential investors. "Everyone's bodies are built around their quirk so that they can handle it. For example, if a person has a fire quirk then their skin needs to be able to withstand that heat to keep it from burning up. At least to some degree. So, if we were to give a quirk to a person who didn't have this built-in resistance there would be serious drawbacks to using said quirk. This was something that my team understood from the beginning and worked to address. Our solution was to come up with something akin to a retro-virus, rewriting the target's DNA in such a way that would not only genetically transplant the revived quirk into the target but also altering their body so that they could handle it just as well as the original. What's more, we added in several drugs that could accelerate the process. We also choose the time when our subject would get this process with the greatest of care. At a time when their bodies were still growing and would have a greater chance to adapt to these sudden changes. The problem is that all of the children that day already had quirks. Rather than having their new changes to the body blend in with the original, they instead began to clash in unexpected ways that we could not have foreseen. Everyone but you, Izuku. You, who were the lone blank slate, were able to accept the changes without any issue."
At some point, Izuku found himself placing a hand on his chest. For so long, he had wondered what had made him so fortunate to survive that day. Had he just been the lucky one? That by some miracle he had been spared? A one in hundred chance of survival? But now, hearing that it was the thing that he had lacked that saved his life gave him conflicting emotions that he didn't properly know how to describe. There was closure and relief, but also… Izuku shook his head at this before turning his attention back to Blackhound.
"Are you sure about that?" he asked. "I mean, I get it. Me being the only quirkless person there is probably the most notable factor. But it couldn't be that simple, could it?"
Blackhound chuckled a little at that. "Izuku, my dear boy, we've been studying what went wrong for years in order to come to this conclusion. Yes, the fact that you were the only quirkless child there did not go unnoticed. So much so that it was the first thing that my team brought up when I asked how it was that you were able to succeed! However, we wanted to be very, very careful with this. We wished to rule out every single possibility. We took the remaining genetic samples of the children we lost, taken prior to their untimely demise, and repeated the process on a much smaller scale. The results were different, though no less deadly. We also tried slowing the process down, giving the samples more time to adjust." At that, Blackhoud paused to take a breath. "If those had been real people, they would have lasted longer. As well as suffered far longer than anyone should."
Blackhound then gestured towards Izuku. "At the same time, we were experimenting on your original quirkless samples as well as using the new ones we gathered during your visits to our headquarters. With those original samples, we wanted to see if it was the quirk or the body modifications that you received that saved your life. Let's just say that, no matter what quirk you would have been given, you would still be here enjoying this wonderful steak dinner. As for the samples we received later on, those did not do well at all. It seems like nobody shall ever have more than one quirk."
"Does that mean you're giving up trying?" asked Pony, very curious.
"Well, there are a few people still working for me that wish to keep trying," replied Blackhound, frowning slightly, though both teens could tell it wasn't directed at Pony. "The most ethically sound idea that has appeared on my desk suggests that we forgo the additional body modification. That just giving a person a quirk is simply enough. However, I firmly disagree with this approach as having a quirk that would damage the user would defeat the overall purpose. After that, I have one scientist that believes that we need to alter the human body more in order so that they will be able to handle the changes. Sadly for him, I do not wish for the human race to become eldritch horrors. Another believes that we simply didn't start young enough. That the process should begin while the infants are in the womb. There we can control the very development of their bodies as well as the quirks they get. I firmly told him no."
"So Quirk Rebirth is going to focus solely on those without a quirk?" asked Izuku as he leaned forwards in his seat. This would mean that nobody would ever have to go through what Izuku did. That even a child born quirkless could grow up like any other person in this super powered society and dream about being a hero. Sure, they might get teased or bullied for not having a natural quirk, but things like that would always exist.
Blackhound's eyes relaxed while a smile appeared on his face. "That is correct," he said warmly. "To be honest, I'm happy that Quirk Rebirth is being used for its original purpose instead of allowing rich, entitled people to give their children multiple quirks. It's why I approved your father's request to have you placed in the program. I'm glad it worked out. Now, no child will ever have to go through the same thing you or I did."
At that, Izuku felt a bit of unease in his gut as his eyes darted towards the crooked hands and nose of the man before him before briefly glancing over at Carol. Two people who he knew were quirkless. For Blackhound, he had been born in a time when it wasn't so uncommon for someone to give birth to a child without a quirk. Though they were still growing up in the minority. What had made it harder was that he grew up in a very poor neighborhood while living in a country that had one of the most lax quirk laws in the world due in part to an interpretation of the Second Amendment. Because of that, Blackhound had been the victim of bullies and thugs to the point where he had been taken by an ambulance more times than he could count. Each scar and broken bone were reminders of the nightmare that he had lived through before clawing his way out of hell. As for Carol, even though her mother had a quirk, she had inherited her father's condition. Something that the former Mrs. Blackhound never forgave him for before walking out of their lives. Still, the man had pressed forward, ensuring that his daughter never went through anything as harmful as what he went through.
"I think you had it worse than I ever did," mumbled Izuku.
"No, but you were on the track," said Blackhound, his voice filled with empathy and understanding. "Your father told me, shortly after you finished the process, about what happened at the playground. How you looked in the video call he had with you afterwards. Those kids were your friends, once upon a time. Am I right?"
"I…thought they were," said Izuku slowly, averting his eyes. "Though, I can barely remember their names or what they look like, I still remember some bits of it. The pain. The taste of blood in my mouth. The laughter as my ears rang." Then, the green-haired boy's eyes widened as he looked back Blackhound, his arms outstretched and waving around wildly. "Not that what I went through was worse than anything you did."
"But that's where it starts," replied Blackhound with a sigh. "One of my first scars happened when I made a blood pack with my best friend. We were maybe three and used an old rusty can lid to cut our palms. First time I was ever rushed to the hospital too!" The man paused as he gave a light, humorless chuckle. "But that bond didn't last long. He got a quirk that allowed him to stretch his arms and wrap them around stuff. We all thought it was pretty cool. Then, he seemed to change. Started with pulling parks and some other little things. Simple thing that most children get into when they first get their quirks." The man then paused as he looked down at the table, his eyes half lidded as he did. "I wish things had stayed like that. He began to use his quick to steal from the local stores. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised by this, given the type of place we were growing up and the fact that his parents were not the best. From there, all it took was me simply saying that it wasn't a good idea to keep stealing for him to become the reason for my second trip to the hospital ever." As he said this last part, a hand reached upwards so that he could lightly touch his neck with his fingers. At the same time, Carol placed a hand on her father's shoulder.
After a moment or two of silence, Blackhound took a deep breath before looking at Izuku again and continuing. "Like you, that feeling has stuck with me ever since. The feeling of his arm wrapping around his neck. The look in his eyes as my vision began to fade. The fear that at any moment, that would be my last breath. At the very least, I remember that there were a few kids around willing to stand up to him. Izuku, that was one thing you didn't have. But, if all goes according to plan, we can close the door on this issue."
Izuku nodded before a frown appeared on his face, a hand going to his chin as he began to think aloud. A sight that brought an amused smile on Blackhound's face. "While I'm glad that this is happening, I just have to wonder if there will be enough quirkless for this to be effective enough. At least, to the point that the US wants. Given the limited amount of people in the US around the same age I was when I got my quirk makes me wonder if that will really make a difference. That along with the slowly decreasing number of people being born quirkless, it stands to reason that there may come a time when the number of quirkless people becomes less than one percent. Also, will people be able to afford this?"
"Those were some of the things me and President Burk discussed," said Blackhound. "Starting with the money issue, the President is working on a system that would allow parents to get their children a quirk free of charge. In addition, the government will provide funding to allow those children to attend some of the top hero schools in the country. However, the condition is that said child must agree to serve as a hero for a minimum of ten years."
"But that," began Pony, growing pale. "That seems too cruel. I mean, I always wanted to be a hero just like my mother. Just like every other kid. But, then we grew up. I have a friend back home that is now learning to be a quirk dancer and another one that wants to become a physiologist. What happens to people like that who discover a different interest or want to pursue something else? And what about people who become afraid? You know my mom didn't come back unharmed from every patrol. There were times when we thought she…she might not make it! What happens to those children when they realize this fact and that they are living in the country with the highest rate of villain attacks as well as hero death in the world. And what happens when they die or get injured so badly that they are unable to continue being a hero?"
As Pony spoke about her mother, Izuku's hand instinctively reached out to take Pony's. He recalled the times when he had gotten the bad news, either by text or email that something had happened to her mother. Only once did the Midoriya family hear from the news first that the pro hero Unicorn was in critical condition. Each time the family received this news, the topic of dropping everything to travel back to the U.S. was discussed in order to help out. Like how Inko was worried that the family might not be taking care of themselves due to worry, wanting to go over to cook their meals while making sure they got enough rest. Hisashi wanted to be there as well, wanting to offer up his own skills to make sure all their appliances and equipment was taken care of with his own touch. Though that idea was usually shot down by Izuku and his mother as they both knew the man was more likely to cause anything he tried to fix to explode. As for Izuku, he just wanted to be that shoulder for Pony to cry on. Thankfully, for one reason or another, the travel was not needed.
"Those are all very real concerns," said Blackhound with a nod. "One that both myself and the President are in the process of addressing. Currently, Burk is working with Congress to add an escape clause allowing the person in question to terminate this promise. However, there will need to be a penalty of some kind and since we will be unable to remove the quirk, it's more than likely that there shall be a fine. No doubt covering the costs for the process as well as a few other things like any heroic schooling with some added interest. The same will happen if they are removed from the school for any reason or if they gain a criminal record. As for being injured or killed, that is sadly something that Burk has to speak with the Department of Heroism. He is hopeful that they will waive the fees as long as it happened while they were on duty. If not, then a committee will be formed to decide how much they are to pay back with interest. Or have the debt transferred to the next of kin should they pass."
At that, Pony frowned but didn't say anything. No doubt she was conflicted by what she was hearing. The whole thing seemed to be taking advantage of people in a desperate situation. Such massive fines would no doubt put additional pressure onto these children so that they would be more likely to stay with the program. Then, they would feel forced to fight for something that they might no longer wish to do. Or to do it out of obligation. But with that said, nothing in this world is free. And perhaps there would be a payment system put into place to make things easier on the families? Or maybe Izuku was being a bit too optimistic.
"As for the number of quirkless, we will be trying to attract quirkless people from around the world," continued Blackhoud before a scowl appeared on his face. "We are still recovering from President Timmble's 'American Heroes First' Act. Forbidding non-native born citizens from entering hero schools, fining companies who hired immigrant support personnel, cutting the amount of pay foreign heroes receive from their work by 90%, and adding in additional fines? I will never understand what that buffoon and the Purist Party were thinking!" A low growl then escaped Blackhound's throat as his features darkened. "Well, they got what they wanted. Almost the very next day, foreign heroes who had set up shop in the US closed their agencies before moving out of the country while many support companies had to let go of their employees. And what was the result?! Entire communities losing the only heroes in their area with the insurance in those areas going up while also disrupting the local economy. Crime rates in those areas shot up, some becoming compared to a war zone! And when things got so bad that governors were calling for military assistance to deal with the problem, what did Timmble do? Pretend there wasn't a problem even as entire cities were burning so much that they could be seen from orbit! He even forbade All Might from setting foot in the country!"
"Daddy! Deep breaths. Deep breaths," said Carol quickly as she noticed her father's face turning red from anger. An anger that was shared, though not quite as intense, by both Izuku and Pony. All of this had ended back when the two were one, but that did not mean that they had not been taught about the events in school. Specifically, America's Purist Party. In simplest turns, they were an extremist political party that had gained power due to their stance on immigration. Namely, there shouldn't be any and that their country belonged only to natural born citizens. One of the targets of their ire were foreign heroes who had set up agencies in their country, claiming that they were diluting American heroes and bringing with them more crime. Thankfully, both their behavior and policies proved to be so toxic that most of them were removed from the House and Senate after two years with President Timmble not receiving a second term. However, the party was still alive and still held some firm believers even to this day. It was because of this that many heroes around the world were nervous about setting up shop in America out of fear that the Purist Party would regain power.
Thankfully, Blackhound managed to regain his composure though some of the anger he held was still there in his face. "It is our hope that we can use Quirk Rebirth to attract potential new heroes. President Burk is proposing that we give full citizenship to any family whose quirkless child signs up as an additional incentive."
Saying this seemed to calm the man down some more as Blackhound began to relax a bit in his seat. "You are correct when you bring up the slowly decreasing population of the quirkless. While there is nothing we can do about that, we have been hard at work expanding the age range of people who can receive the procedure. Currently, we've done over a thousand simulations and we believe that it can work along with additional drugs as well as a few additional treatments. All that is left is to start live tests on quirkless people ages four to twenty."
"Which will include me," added Carol with a grin.
"Wait, really?" said Pony with a gasp.
Carol nodded her head as she picked up a spoon which she then pointed it at her father. "Believe me, it took forever to convince daddy about letting me do this. But I managed to win him over by saying that if he didn't feel confident enough to let his daughter in on this procedure then he might as well not try it at all."
"So you know what quirk are you getting?" asked Izuku, leaning forward as he was more than a little curious.
A wide grin appeared on Carol's face as she pulled out her phone. "Yep. This time around we were given a list of quirks we could choose from. For me, it was a no brainer. The quirk is called Lycanthrope." Just then, the woman seemed to have found what she was looking for on her phone. As Carol held the device proudly in front of her, both Izuku and Pony leaned forward to see what it was. On the screen were two images side by side. The right side showed a man dressed only in his boxers with long chestnut brown hair that had dog ears sticking out of his head and a matching tail on his rear that went down to his ankles. The left side showed what looked like a brown wolf man, his finger now sporting claws and a muzzle instead of a normal human mouth.
"This was a no-brainer for me," explained Carol as she pulled the phone back. "I mean, my name is Blackhound so I might as well have a dog themed quirk. Plus it's pretty cool. I can shift between being normal me plus cute doggy ears and a full on wolf woman whose strength increases based on the phase of the moon. Not too shabby."
"So does this mean you're also going to try your hands in heroics?" asked Pony. To that, Carol shook her head.
"Nope," she said simply as she closed her eyes while raising both hands in the air briefly. "At least, not on the front line like you guys want to. The work daddy's company is doing is just as important as taking down the bad guys. Besides, do you have any idea who much work I would have to do in order to qualify to become a hero in the US? I would have to first get my body into shape before I could step foot in one of our hero schools. A high school level hero school! Honestly, there is another reason I'm picking this quirk. Out of everything on that list, it's not even close to being the most impressive or powerful. I just want a quirk so that I can be normal, you know."
"None of the people we are using for these tests will be forced into heroics if they don't want to," added Mr. Blackhound. "Right now we are just looking to confirm if we can give quirks to them as well as seeing if there will be any negative side effects. But should they want to, my company will do everything in its power to make it so."
"Ok," said Izuku slowly as he processed all of this. "But, I still don't understand why you're telling me all this. Well, besides the fact that I was involved in the process the first time."
"Ah yes," replied Blackhound. The man then took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before speaking. "Izuku my boy, have you ever wondered why you were allowed to leave the states? You know, after that tragic day?"
Izuku frowned as he looked down at his plate. To be honest, he had wondered that more than once. These thoughts mainly occurred when he was traveling to and from the States for his checkups. After all, this was a one of a kind process so it would have made more sense just to keep him close. And with the reach someone like Mr. Blackhound had, he could have easily gotten the family their American status. Heck, he could have forged new identities for the entire family as well as getting them a new house with the money he found between his couch cushions. And a nice house at that! Or, as darker thoughts suggested, he could have had his parents forcibly sign him over to the man's custody and then lock him up in a small testing room for the rest of his life. Both those thoughts normally only lasted until he left the plane, either spotting his blond haired friend again or seeing the signs that they were back in Japan.
"I have," said Izuku eventually.
"I thought as much," said Blackhound with a light nod of his head. "Well, some high ranking people within my company had certain beliefs on how we should be handling your future that I personally didn't agree with. We had no idea if the procedure was permanent or not, so the desire to have plenty of samples was very strong. But, as you well know, that didn't happen. Partly because I held no desire to rip you from your home. Not after so many other children had lost their lives far from their own homes and families. The other part was that I was hoping we could salvage Project Quirk Rebirth. If we ever got this to work, it would naturally come out sooner or later. When that happened, I was as certain back then as I am now that we would be asked a simple question: Can someone who has undergone this procedure live a normal life? And you, Izuku Midoriya, are the living proof of that. So all that is left is for the whole world to hear. Which is why I would like you to make this announcement during the Sports Festival."
Izuku's thoughts grinded to a halt as he stared at the face of Blackhound, the man smiling at him while clasping his hands together in a very pleasant manner. However, this did little to reassure Izuku as he felt his world spinning all around him. Had he heard right? The secret of Bone of my Sword was one that Izuku Midoriya had guarded dearly, with only a few people aware of how he had gotten it…as well as one who had suspected something was wrong with it. However, Izuku had not thought of that person for so long that the name and face of the individual had long since been forgotten. The reason he had kept this secret was not just because the company had told him to, which he completely understood why, but also because he was afraid. Afraid of how the world would react, thinking that he was a liar and a faker that had snuck his way into the world of heroes.
"That's…a lot to take in," the teen finally said honestly. As he spoke, Izuku began to imagine what that scene would be like. Would he be giving the opening speech at the Sport Festival, casually mentioning that he got his quirk via a science experiment? Or would he only mention it if he placed? Already he could see various negative outcomes. The metal being taken away, people calling him a cheater since his quirk wasn't natural. More and more angry shouts began to fill his head, calling him a freak as well as other such things that made his skin grow cold.
Izuku, a person willing to take on a zero-pointer without a second thought was terrified of a crowd and what they would think of him. Maybe it was because the largest crowd he had ever spoken to was a class and not a stadium full of pro heroes and regular people that would be allowed to shout at him. And throw things at him. And it would be viewed all over the world. And he wouldn't be focusing on defeating a villain to distract him from these facts. Oh, and he doubted he could fight the crowd without getting into trouble making him effectively helpless.
"Yes, I am aware," replied the man with a nod. "Now, I can see that you're freaking out a little and I understand. I know I'm asking a lot."
"I just…I don't," was all the bone using teen could say, feeling sweat forming all over his body. His hands began to tremble for a moment but stopped when he felt Pony's on top of his own. With heavy breaths he looked up, seeing that she was looking back at him with an expression that seemed to say 'I'm here with you right now. Don't worry.' Seeing that did help calm the young man down as he turned to look at the CEO across from him. Said man's smile was gone, replaced with a look of concern with his phone in hand.
"Izuku, are you ok to continue?" he asked. "If not, we can end this conversation right now and I can arrange to have you taken back to your dorm."
"N-no, I'm fine," stammered Izuku. "L-like I said, it's a-a lot to take in. I mean, I kind of get it, the Sport Festival is the most watched event in the world. Not to mention some of the biggest heroes and heads of support companies will be there in person."
"Yes,' said Blackhound as he set his phone down. "Now, I'm not asking you to make this announcement before the crowd as part of the opening speeches or anything like that. Knowing you, you've no doubt watched the events that happen at the end of each day of the Sports Festival. Specifically the live interviews that are given to the top three participants." Blakhound paused, watching Izuku who gave a slow nod as he did begin to calm down. The interviews he was talking about were more like press conferences held in a large room with almost a hundred reporters from all over the world. Each day of the festival, the top placing students of that year would be asked question after question, getting their first real taste of what it meant to be a pro in this situation. Sitting with them would be their homeroom teacher and any family that happened to make it there that day as well as any friends in attendance as well. While it was still intimidating, it was leagues better than doing it before a crowd.
"Of course, you won't be alone," continued Blackhound. "If you decide to go along with this, I am planning on being there for the Sports Festival along with Carol so that we can help the press better understand by answering any questions that you yourself are unable to answer.
"Naturally, after this, reporters from all over the world will do some digging. That is part of their job after all. They will look into every record of you that is on file, checking to see if there is anything they can use. They will talk about everyone you have ever met: classmates, teachers, doctors, the bus driver, the people who work at your favorite restaurant. They will look into anyone they can, searching for proof that something is wrong. To find something to drum up negative press for the sake of ratings. And what will they find? Your life my boy! The best proof that anyone can give that not only is this procedure safe, but that you can live a healthy, normal life without anyone being any wiser! I do not doubt there will be conspiracy theorists out there who will claim that I have pulled all the strings, but as long as the major news networks only report the truth it should die down with time. And that truth will be heard all over the world. That parents will no longer have to live in fear that, as minor as it is nowadays, that their children will be born quirkless."
Blackhound then stood up, reaching out a hand towards Izuku. "Izuku, I know you have your own reasons for doing well in the Sports Festival. But, should you succeed and make it to one of the pedestals, would you loudly declare to the world that you are here to mark the end of the age of quirklessness?"