14/07/2024

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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 36 - Not One Way

Koi Sasume looked at her charges critically. They'd done Shiketsu proud by the very fact they were all still here. A couple of the Hero schools had left when their students had failed. Inwardly, she'd shaken her head. Surely they knew that UA wasn't just reaching out for no reason? They were looking for something specific. She still wasn't sure what, but with the new classes, she knew they hadn't found it yet. She should have just marched up to Nezu and demanded answers. The rat was contrary enough to have given them but he'd also have given her a look that told her she failed.

"You've done well," Koi told her students. It was odd to only have three but in this kind of environment it meant she could give them all personalised attention. "You won't be in the same classes any more but I want you to continue to support each other."

That was mostly for Taiki and Aimi. They were together. Inasa, being a first year, was in with the other first years. UA had mixed the classes up, breaking up their lauded Class 1A and distributing their students through the new classes. It might have been easier to keep their classes as they were but Nezu had insisted that mixing them would make everyone feel more integrated. And that, he said, was one of the points of the exercise.

"You still can't tell us why we are here?" Aimi asked.

"We are building inter-school relationships," Koi told her.

Aimi snorted. They were aware of the official reason but they didn't believe it any more than she did.

"I'm still not sure," Koi admitted. "But I imagine we are getting closer to finding out," she added.

Everyone had noticed the missing students by now, so everyone knew there was some reason they were no longer here. Without an official reason from Nezu, speculation was running rampant and ranged from the silly to the utterly insane. Knowing Nezu, it was possible one of those insane reasons was the truth but she suspected it would be something more pragmatic.

Taiki gave her a look but Koi was more interested in Inasa's expression. The teen seemed to be holding something back. She raised one eyebrow at him.

Inasa sighed. "I think it has something to do with Izuku," he announced.

That was a big call. The other two stared at him. Koi was tempted to just dismiss the sentiment but there could be something in the statement. "This is not the first time UA has-"

Inasa shook his head, interrupted her statement. "It's not the same," he said. "Most people don't remember Warui Yatsu, let alone realise he was a graduate from UA," he explained. He was gesturing to Taiki and Aimi as he spoke and Koi realised they didn't know who Warui Yatsu was, let alone any other pertinent details. Inasa really had prepared for enrolling into UA.

"And in a few years, people will not remember Izuku was even a student at UA," Koi replied. Izuku had barely made it through the first half of the year.

"I think they are hoping that," Inasa agreed. "But I think that Nezu knows he can't rely on that. Usually I'd agree, but with the other villain's actions and them targeting UA, I'd say that public memory is going to be longer. Plus there is what Izuku can do," Inasa added.

Koi grimaced. Izuku's unfortunately highly public ability to take quirks was going to be a problem. For more than just UA but, while Nezu would be aware of the wider consequences, he was probably trying to salvage UA's reputation first. "Go on," she instructed Inasa.

The black eyed teen nodded. "I don't know what this is about," he said, waving towards UA. "And while I'm positive it is, at least partially, to build interschool relationships and beyond that, hero relationships between those of us who are going to work together in the future, I'm also positive that this has something to do with Izuku. With his quirk, he can't be treated as a traditional villain," Inasa said.

"Why hasn't someone just taken him out?" Taiki asked.

"You mean snipered him?" Aimi put in for clarification.

Taiki shrugged. "You could probably fight him in a full body suit. He has to touch you to take your quirk right? But sure, why hasn't anyone snipered him? Snipe could do it," he added, naming one of UA's teachers.

The question was brutally practical and the situation may come to that but Koi knew at least part of the answer. "If someone snipered him, as you so inelegantly put it, then the chance to retrieve any quirks will be lost," she reminded him.

Taiki's expression became slightly chagrined but he then shook his head. "There's also a chance they'll go back to their owners," he said but his tone made it clear he did not believe that would be the case. "But even if they don't, isn't having five people quirkless better than having more later? The longer he's out there, then the more people he'll steal quirks from."

There was a certain elegant logic in Taiki's statement.

"You know Izuku is only sixteen, right?" Inasa asked.

"Yeah, so?" Taiki questioned.

"You don't think there might be a chance of redeeming him?" the taller teen asked.

"He's already killed a woman in cold blood. He's a villain," Taiki replied firmly. "He always was. He's just stopped hiding it."

Koi didn't need to be watching to see the flash of disappointment pass over Inasa's features. "No one is born a villain," she said gently to Taiki. "Though in Izuku's case, I am afraid he has been highly influenced by his father."

"You knew him, didn't you?" Aimi asked unnecessarily.

Inasa sighed. "I did. We used to meet up for quirk use days," he told the group. "We had fun but Izuku didn't exactly tell me that 'oh, my real quirk is something that can take yours and my dad is one of the most wanted villains in the world'," he told them before Taiki could say something unfortunate.

"Inasa has already spoken to the authorities," Koi told her other students before they got any ideas.

Taiki shook his head. "Maybe he wasn't born a villain," he allowed, "but I don't think he can be redeemed," he concluded.

Koi was interested in the way Inasa nodded sadly at that. The tall teen was realistic but he was also oddly idealistic at times.

"All of this can't just be about Izuku though," Aimi observed, going back to their original conversation.

At that Koi sighed. The teens might be in training to be heroes but they didn't have the experience to be able to spot trouble that would only become bigger the longer it was left. Izuku was one of those things. If they just left him then… He might not do much for a few years, but he'd be using those years to learn how to become a better villain, so that when he did strike, the impact would be so much larger. And with his quirk, there was a real chance he'd perform multiple strikes before he was taken out. She figured, realistically, the only reason the HPSC hadn't yet issued a Lethal Force Authorisation was that publicly… No, publicly Izuku had done enough for that, so it had to be his age. The HPSC would be willing to issue it, but the Government was most likely reluctant since no matter what Izuku had done so far, he was only 16. That set a bad precedent.

"It won't solely be about Izuku, or maintaining UA's reputation," Koi told her students, "but I think you might be surprised how much the former features once we know more," she added.

Inasa and Aimi nodded but Taiki didn't look convinced. None of them were really sure but… they would learn. They all would.

-ted-

Before and after classes each day, Hitoshi reported to Aizawa. The underground hero had taken him on as an apprentice and the time was used to assess and discuss his training. Aizawa had made it very clear, from the moment he'd made the offer, that he would not be taking Hitoshi out on missions, like the Hero Student's did during work study, until he passed the underground hero's tests. And Aizawa had made it clear that passing his tests would take at least a year.

Hitoshi had figured out that he wasn't going on patrol partially because Aizawa didn't want to be watching out for an inexperienced student while he worked, and because he had a lot to learn. There was also the little fact that he didn't have a provisional licence so anything he did would be recorded against Aizawa's licence. Hitoshi knew he wouldn't want that for himself!

His quirk was useful but it was not, strictly speaking, a combat quirk, so along with getting fit, Hitoshi was also learning self defence. There was a bright point there. Aizawa hadn't admitted it, but Hitoshi knew he was pleasantly surprised at his level of fitness. Hitoshi hadn't told the hero, but the reason he was fit was the workouts Izuku had given him. They weren't Izuku's work out but they were enough to keep him in shape. The underground hero had appreciated that. He hadn't said it, but he had adjusted the original timeline to take account of the fact that Hitoshi was fit.

Most mornings were spent exercising to maintain his fitness. Aizawa had insisted on more running and had added in additional strength and weight exercises. The hero had pointed out that if he got into trouble, running away was the best, and most realistic choice, so that he had to be able to run well. Hitoshi wouldn't say he enjoyed it, but he at least understood why he was doing it.

What was more interesting was the self defence lessons he had each afternoon. He knew he had to be fit, and he didn't argue the need to maintain his fitness, but self defence was also useful. He wasn't getting personalised lessons yet, but was instead enrolled in a group session. Aizawa tested him on his knowledge every now and then and had assured him that once he cleared the basics, he would start providing one to one lessons.

Those were going to be fun but Hitoshi already appreciated what he was learning. If he'd known some of it when he was younger…

It was probably better for him that he hadn't. He'd gotten into enough trouble anyway when those who tripped him claimed he'd done the tripping or used his quirk or something like that. The self defence lessons were vicious! They were not really about how to fight, but were more about how to break the hold of someone who'd grabbed you, in any number of ways, then how to put them down and make sure they stayed down, while you then ran, screaming for the brightest and most public space you could find, hopefully attracting the attention of a hero or a police officer who could then arrest your assailant. Though if some of the women did what their instructor suggested, Hitoshi privately thought that was probably punishment enough. He'd never thought of using shoes like that and who knew knees were that fragile?

Today though, after he'd done his morning fitness training, Aizawa had told him to come to the newly formed Class 1X's training session. The underground hero had smirked in that understated way he did and told him that he'd be getting some practical training today. Class 1A's homeroom teacher had then refused to elaborate any further and had sent him to his own homeroom.

Now Hitoshi was standing in a side room, wearing his UA sports uniform, and his hero support gear while several teachers argued. From what he could tell, Class 1X was going to be the first to try a new exercise. They had been broken into four groups of five. Two groups would take to the training ground against each other each time but making it interesting was that each group would have randomly selected roles for each member. So in this training, there would only be one hero and one villain, in opposing groups obviously. Each group would have a support hero or villain, one target civilian (or hostage for the villain team), one random civilian (or hostage) and someone who could act as either another support hero (or villain) or a hindrance to the group.

The two groups would face off against each other in one of UA's city training scapes and the objective for the Hero was to rescue the civilians, while protecting their own civilians, and capture the villain. The objective for the villain was roughly the same. Keep their hostages, and capture the hero's civilians if possible or take out the hero. But if the villain chose to take out the hero and their hostages got away, then that was a fail for them too. There were apparently several safe rooms in the training area that were to be considered secure, and if the villain found them and put their hostages in one of the rooms they could only be released if someone let them out.

It seemed to be an overly complex scenario, especially for training but Hitoshi could see that it kind of mirrored reality. There were seldom simple missions and often things happened on the fly. Which is where he came in. Aizawa wanted him to act as a vigilante for this situation. While the underground hero had rolled his eyes in disgust at the mention of vigilantes, they had discussed them during his training. Aizawa did run into vigilantes, not with monotonous regularity but with sufficient frequency that he had a good idea of who the main players were and what their abilities were. He was dismissive of them all, and where he could, he took them out, just the same as a villain.

Vigilantes, Aizawa had said, while they might proclaim to be doing good, were acting in their own self interest, just as much as a villain was. Good intentions did not, a hero make. Some of the vigilantes Aizawa had encountered admitted they were doing it for some personal reason and while Hitoshi knew his teacher didn't like vigilantes, he knew enough to know that Aizawa could at least respect their honesty, especially when others still proclaimed to be doing it for the public good.

In the training scenario for Class 1X, he was to attempt to help the hero, without being injured, caught or captured, and if possible, without being seen. Or if he was seen, because that seemed most likely, without giving away too many details of who he was and what his abilities - quirk and other - were. Aizawa had grinned when he'd told him that, and then told him he was going to have to repeat this role for the entire class.

That did not mean twenty times, thankfully, but it did mean at least once more, and maybe two times more after that.

If he got to participate. The teachers were currently discussing the merits of his involvement. It seemed as if they were coming around to Aizawa's point of view. He couldn't hear the arguments properly but he hoped the underground hero hadn't used the HPSC card. His apprenticeship had been ordered by them but using that card would just make the other teachers think he was getting special treatment. Which he was through the apprenticeship but he didn't need them being resentful of that fact. It was complicated.

Hitoshi had learned that many things were far more complicated than they appeared at first. He imagined Izuku was learning that as well, but deliberately steered his thoughts away from his friend.

"Oh all right!" one of the teachers finally said, sounding exasperated. Hitoshi thought it was Meiwaku Kawa from Toui Hero School. "But don't complain when he gets skewered by someone's over enthusiastic response," Meiwaku added.

Some of the other teachers chuckled at that but Aizawa nodded. "I'll warn him to expect spears," he said drolly, as if Hitoshi couldn't hear it for himself. "Shall we get the class then?" He asked.

"Yeah, they will be anxious to show off, I'm sure," Meiwaku grumbled.

At that, it appeared Aizawa sympathised with the other man. Hitoshi took a slightly different view of the words as he realised that while the hero students, both UA's and the other High Schools, had been working with their quirks all week, those had been tests and demonstrations. That hadn't been real training. This was the first time they'd get to go all out, against someone, in combat.

He sighed gently. He was going to be an unknown variable in the mix. Great, he really might get skewered. He'd be unknown in the first round but after that, the class would know to expect something… Except in very specific circumstances, UA believed in learning from watching other people's mistakes, so the students not participating would be watching those engaged in the exercise. That worked against him but Aizawa had been clear, nothing was fair when you were a hero.

Though, Hitoshi now understood why Aizawa had told him to wear his sport's uniform, rather than the dark clothing he was currently favouring for his hero costume. The uniform might offer some protection because it was known… and… He might be able to use that to his advantage. Maybe he could claim to be from a class that had been scheduled for here?

The UA students wouldn't believe it, because they knew that by this time of the year students didn't get 'lost' like that but the new students? It might work on them. It only had to work for a little bit. "I'll get into a position," Hitoshi told the teachers as they headed towards where the class was.

He got an absent nod.

"A siren will sound to herald the start," Aizawa told him before he turned away.

Hitoshi nodded, and moved himself, cataloguing what he had on his person. He might not be in his 'costume' but he had most of the support gear he used, so that was something. And… he'd best use the time until that siren to plan.

This was going to be harder than it seemed.

-ted-

Back to UA and an examination of what is going on there. People have noticed the missing students but they have now formalised the inter-school event into actual classes rather than 'whole hero course' activities. It will mean a return to more regular things for the students, and students need regularity. And of course, a bit on how Hitoshi is doing.

Aizawa is taking his responsibility to teach Hitoshi very seriously, but still won't take him on patrol. Not until he's absolutely sure that Hitoshi can face it, because Aizawa knows, the villains are playing for keeps.

Some definitions, just to prove I'm really not that imaginative with names.

迷惑 - Meiwaku - Annoying
川 - Kawa - River
遠い - Tōi - distant

Discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.

-ted-

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