"So um, those black things were your quirk?"
"Yup, the name of the quirk is black whip. I'm actually the 6th user of the quirk"
"So that means you're ... "
"My predecessor yes"
"Ah, Shimura, it's nice to meet you again" Banjo said with a hearty laugh.
Nana shared the same sentiment as her master/predecessor. Izuku just watched with a look of disbelief. He now had two people only he could see, talking over his head. If someone saw this they'd think he was crazy. He cut into their discussion with a question, one that he had asked Nana when she first appeared.
"So um ... how exactly did black whip awaken? Was it your doing?"
"Not at all kid. That was all on you. You see you were in a moment of desperation ..."
"Much like how you were when you unlocked float" Nana added.
"Yes yes, in that moment you were solely focused on catching your opponents, and boom! Black whip. If you had been desperate for something else, you'd probably have unlocked another quirk other than mine" the man explained.
"Huh ... that makes sense. Though it was very hard to keep under control. If I had lost focus for even a second ... "
"Yeah, and that's hella good on you for that. You kept your mind clear, and managed your emotions perfectly. I'd say it was a successful awakening"
"Yeah, he's a fast learner alright" Nana added with a small smile.
"You might be helpful, but you can be pretty ambiguous in your instructions " Izuku grumbled.
Nana mumbled something incoherent under her breath, probably throwing a jab at the boy. The two specters decided to leave him be for the meantime, as he was heading back to class.
"You never seem to surprise me" Shoto said.
Izuku almost jumped, and hoped that the boy hadn't seen him talking to himself. He didn't.
"I really don't know what happened out there. It just ... came out of me. Maybe it's a quirk evolution or something" he said trying to explain it off.
"That would make the most sense, but I never thought there'd be more to your quirk than just raw power. Now you can fly, and shoot webs out of your hands"
"I'm not Spiderman Todoroki ..." Izuku said with a small chuckle.
"You could be. Like a Spiderman with super strength. A super Spiderman. Yeah, that sounds catchy" Shoto mused.
"I'll think about it. I still haven't decided on a hero name yet"
"Hey you two" Uraraka greeted catching up to them.
"Uraraka, where have you been?" Shoto asked.
"The nurse's office. I went to check up on Iida after I heard you guys were there, but I didn't see you"
"Oh" both boys said in unison.
On the way back to class they bumped into Yuyu, who waved at Izuku.
"Haya-senpai, it's been a while" he greeted.
"Yo Izuku, and you must be Todoroki, and you're Uraraka right? Nice to meet ya" she greeted back with a small smile.
"Are you heading back to the dorms?" Izuku asked.
"Nah, I have some work to do at the teachers faculty. Also, watch out for Nejire today, she's a bit ... well you'll see. Later"
"That doesn't help my thinking at all ... "
Nejire was acting weird, well weirder than usual? Interesting. A small tinge of red grew on his face, which his female classmate was quick to notice. The pit in her stomach grew ever so slightly. She hadn't made much progress with Izuku, though little was better than nothing. The thing was that Izuku was a very hard person to read. You could almost never tell what he was thinking, or what he would say, or how he'd react to something, but Nejire had somehow figured it out, to the point of outright knowing when Izuku did lie. Her senpai was definitely scary in her own way.
They were having a little break over the winter, maybe she'd get her chance then - at least she hoped that would be the case.
xXx
Izuku didn't really have as much trouble controlling black whip as he did float. The training was pretty straightforward with his classmate Sero, and on occasions Nejire. She would act as a moving target, and he would have to capture her with black whip. Unsurprisingly it was very difficult to do so, and he may have gotten blasted on some occasions.
Nejire got a bit carried away and sent an almost full powered blast at Izuku, sending him flying into the wall on the other side of the room. She immediately yelled out and rushed to check up on him.
"Oh my God I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"Yeah ... It's fine. Wouldn't be much of training if you didn't fight back" he said dusting himself down.
There was a small warm feeling he felt down the back of his neck. He touched the spot and made a sound of surprise seeing red liquid on his fingers. He was bleeding. His face contorted into one of anger, though very brief. A wave of bad memories had flooded into his mind, but he quickly snapped back out of his trance like state.
"Ah, blood. I'll go ... get a bandage"
"Wait" Nejire called stopping him.
"What is it?"
"I'm ... really sorry about this ..." she said feeling bad. She didn't mean to make him bleed.
Izuku waved off her apology and left to cover up the wound. Nejire still felt bad about it. He may not have realized it, but he looked very angry at that moment, and she couldn't help but feel the anger was directed at her.
It reminded her of the last time that she got him hurt, and he had the exact same reaction.
"It's fine ... It wasn't your fault"
"It was though ..." she said to herself.
She did have her moments of overexcitement, which on occasions did more harm than good. Her energy levels could be affected by how she felt, and being too excited could make her quirk stronger, problem was she couldn't control how strong it'd be at that point. Now Izuku was hurt again because of her. It didn't sound like something someone should beat themselves over, but it was a big deal for her. She sat down glumly, the memory of what happened last time playing in her mind.
The two kids were in the infirmary, with both their mothers present, and Izuku sitting upright on the hospital bed.
"Auntie Inko ... I'm really sorry. It was all my fault. I should have looked where I was using my quirk. Now Izuku's hurt because of me" the blue haired girl apologized, looking very downcast.
Inko rubbed the girls back comforting her. She did seem like she took it pretty hard.
"It's okay Nejire-chan. Accidents happen"
"Yeah. It was out of your control. I can't blame you if your quirk tweaked out. We'll just be careful next time" Izuku added with a small smile.
Masumi face palmed, though it was actually to hide the smirk that she wore. Now wasn't the time to bring up something like that, but she couldn't help but to dwell on the thought. Izuku was really a sweet boy.
"And you'll have to learn to keep your emotions in check Nejire. You don't want to hurt anyone else by accident again do you?"
Nejire replied to her mothers question with a shake of her head. She wouldn't hurt anyone with her quirk again - unless they deserved it.
"Then that's that. If you train hard enough, you'll be able to use your quirk without losing control, and you'll be the best hero out there! Don't worry Nejire. I'm rooting for you" Izuku said to encourage her.
The girl wrapped him in a tight hug and let out a few tears.
"I promise I'll become better with my quirk, I'll train super hard and become super strong"
"You feeling better now?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah ... much better"
"Oh Izuku, you're spoiling her too much. Don't you want to get back at her? Even just a little?" Masumi asked with a teasing tone.
"No, not really ... should I?" the boy asked confused.
She had done what she said. Nejire trained her ass off, more than what people would think she did. She became a student at UA, and earned the title as one of the strongest students in the school. Her quirk was powerful, but it was the promise she made to herself, and to Izuku that pushed her to become stronger, but then she went ahead and got him hurt ... again ...
On the outside he ran into Momo, who was also heading towards the nurse's office. She noticed the small trail of blood and asked what happened, trailing a finger over the line of red on his neck. Izuku jumped back in slight surprise.
"It's just a minor wound, I was training" he explained.
"Ah, I see" she replied with a nod of understanding.
"Hey Yaoyorozu"
"Yes?"
"I know this may seem a bit weird to ask, but how do you know you're in love with someone?"
Momo stopped and gave him a look of surprise. Why was he suddenly asking such a question, and to her of all people. Surely there were better sources for an answer right?
"Yeah ... nevermind that question" the boy apologized, realizing that it may have been a bit much for her to answer.
"No, I don't mind answering, but why ask me? I think Ashido would be a much better source for an answer"
Izuku immediately shook his head disagreeing with her reply.
"Ashido is the last person I would ask this question. You know how she gets, and I'm not keen on her stalking me everyday" he said with a small chuckle.
"I suppose you have a point there. So to answer your question ..." she began, but paused to think about what she was going to say.
"I can honestly only answer you from my personal experience with said emotion, so it may seem ambiguous"
"Do you like someone?!" Izuku asked surprised. He didn't expect her of all people to harbour such an emotion - or at least not admit it so easily.
"Yes. I do, unfortunately, my feelings haven't really ... gotten to the person in question" she said taking a short glance at him.
"Oh ... sorry about that. I hope they do eventually"
"I don't quite think so Midoriya"
"Don't give me such hope ..."
xXx
RING! RING!
"Ah finally! It's over!"
"We're free!"
"Settle down! We're still in school premises!"
"Oh chill out Iida"
The last class of the year had just concluded. It had been an exhausting two weeks for them, having to take their exams and all. The likes of Todoroki and Bakugo had now gotten their provisional hero licenses, which made both boys happy that they had caught up to the class.
Over this time, Izuku did notice one thing. Nejire had stopped following him around as often. He had come to like her company, and having her absent was definitely a strange feeling for him. She always seemed to dodge him, at one point ran away when he approached her. Was it because of his bump? He had told her not to worry about it, apparently she still did. He wasn't mad at her. He couldn't be.
Izuku made up his mind to clear it all out before their Christmas party, and if it meant he'd take the initiative, or have to do something out of character for his reserved self, then so be it. He didn't even wait for his classmates, who wondered where on earth he was going to with such urgency.
As he reached the third year class, he stopped at the door. Here he was, only a door standing between he and his senpai.
"Izuku?"
He turned hearing the familiar voice of Yuyu, and greeted.
"Hey there Haya-senpai. Have you seen Nejire?"
Nejire was just behind him, about to sneak off.
"Nah, haven't seen her since she left class" the girl answered, but she motioned behind him with a small gesture.
Izuku seemed to get the message and sharply turned, just as Nejire went round the corner.
"Thanks Haya-senpai. I owe you one!"
The girl chuckled as Izuku ran after her friend. Nejire didn't run far, but chose to hide. She didn't pick the best spot, because Izuku tapped her shoulder from behind.
"What are you hiding from?"
"GAH!"
Izuku stood in front of her with a somewhat serious look on his face, which made her look down shyly.
"Nejire ... are you avoiding me?" he asked after a moment of silence.
She looked at him, trying to bring herself to lie, but she couldn't and just nodded slowly.
"Is it because of what happened?"
She nodded again. "I hurt Izuku, because I got carried away ... not the first time it's happened either" she said directing the last part at herself.
Izuku couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Was she really beating herself up because of something that trivial? He hurt himself way worse training with All Might.
"You're such a child y'know" he said.
"Hey! I'm being serious about this. You can't just let it go like that" she cut back.
"So what you're saying is ... you want me to punish you ..." Izuku asked as he stopped chuckling.
"W-W-Well y-yeah ... "
Masochis- "Are you serious?"
Izuku surprised her, by taking her hand and leading her away from the small crowd that was gathering around them. He stopped when they were alone again and turned to her.
"Okay, so your 'punishment' ... "
Weirdly enough, she looked more content now than she did a moment ago. Was she a maso-
"... go on a date with me ... "